Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Irrelevance of Conventional Microeconomic: A Revision of the Traditional Industrial Models

Except in markets for standardized commodities, most markets for industrial products and services do not meet the assumptions of industrial models of conventional microeconomics. Firms, far from being price-takers and competitive, are “price-setters” and contend with a limited number of important but differentiated competitors on unequal size. As industrial economics is the study of rivalry among heterogeneous firms rather than the study of perfect or imperfect competition, conventional microeconomics is inappropriate and requires mayor amendments to analyze real-world industries. Most criticisms about the irrelevance of textbook microeconomics have focused on the limitations of the assumption of perfect rationality, but conventional microeconomics is based on many other assumptions that entail to be relaxed to build a better theoretical model capable to analyze actual industrial sectors. This paper discusses the explicit and implicit assumptions that bound the explanatory capacity of conventional microeconomics to describe modern industrial sectors. This paper also argues that it is possible to relax these assumptions by introducing a number of increasing returns mechanisms. The integration of these increasing-returns mechanisms in a theoretical framework results in an increasing- returns microeconomics that, in a sharp contrast with the traditional decreasing-returns microeconomic theory, it is more suitable to explain complex markets.
SPEEDING UP THE INFERENCE IN GAUSSIAN PROCESS MODELS

OF DOCTORAL DISSERTATION AALTO UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY P.O. BOX 11000, FI-00076 AALTO http://www.aalto. fi Author Jarno Vanhatalo Name of the dissertation Manuscript submitted 15.6. 2010 Manuscript revised 9.9. 2010 Date of the defence 19.10. 2010 Article dissertation (summary + original articles) Monograph Faculty Department Field of research Opponent(s) Supervisor Instructor Abstract
The HIV-1 nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors stavudine and zidovudine alter adipocyte functions in vitro

Objectives: Nucleoside analogues are suspected of playing a role in peripheral fat loss in patients during long-term treatment with antiretroviral drugs. Design and methods: We compared the long-term effects of stavudine (10 μM), zidovudine (1 μM), didanosine (10 μM), abacavir (4 μM), lamivudine (10 μM), and tenofovir (1 μM), near their maximum concentration values, on the differentiation, lipid accumulation, survival and mitochondrial function of differentiating 3T3-F442A and differentiated 3T3-L1 adipocytes. Results: None of the nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTI) markedly altered the differentiation of 3T3-F442A cells, as shown by the unmodified percentage of cells with lipid droplets on day 7 and the expression of the early differentiation markers CCAAT/enhancer binding protein (C/EBP) β (on day 2) and sterol regulatory element-binding protein. However, stavudine and zidovudine altered the lipid phenotype, decreasing the lipid content and expression of markers involved in lipid metabolism, namely C/EBPα, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ, adipocyte lipid binding protein 2, fatty acid synthase and acetyl-coenzyme A carboxylase. Stavudine and zidovudine, contrary to the other NRTI, drove 5–10% of 3T3-F442A cells towards apoptosis, and reduced the lipid content and survival of differentiated 3T3-L1 adipocytes. Stavudine and zidovudine increased mitochondrial mass by two to fourfold, and lowered the mitochondrial membrane potential (JC-1 stain) as did zalcitabine (0.2 μM). Co-treatment with zidovudine plus lamivudine, or zidovudine plus lamivudine and abacavir, did not increase the effect of zidovudine on cell viability or apoptosis. Conclusion: The thymidine analogues stavudine and zidovudine decreased lipid content, mitochondrial activity, and adipocyte survival in vitro.
Functional and Developmental Impact of Cytosolic Protein N-Terminal Methionine Excision in Arabidopsis1[w]

Protein N-terminal methionine (Met) excision (NME) is carried out by two types of Met aminopeptidases (MAPs), MAP1 and MAP2, in eukaryotes. Three enzymes, MAP1A, MAP2A, and MAP2B, have been identified in the cytoplasm of Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana). MAP transcript quantification revealed a predominance of MAP2B and developmental and organ-specific regulation of both MAP1A and MAP2s. By combining reverse genetics and reverse chemogenomics in transgenic plant lines, we have devised specific and reversible switches for the investigation of the role of cytoplasmic NME in Arabidopsis and of the respective contributions of the two types of cytoplasmic MAPs throughout development. dsRNA interference and knockout (KO) plant lines targeting either MAP1A alone or both MAP2s simultaneously were constructed and shown to display wild-type phenotypes. In the MAP1A KO context, modulating MAP2 activity by treatment with various concentrations of the specific drug fumagillin impaired plant development, with particularly strong effects on the root system. Reciprocally, complete MAP2 inhibition in various MAP1A knocked-down genetic backgrounds also generated a gradient of developmentally abnormal plants, but the effects on the root system were milder than in the KO context. In the absence of MAP2 activity, the severity of the phenotype in the MAP1A knocked-down lines was correlated to the extent of MAP1A mRNA accumulation. Complete cytoplasmic NME inactivation blocked development after plant germination. Thus, in plants, (1) cytoplasmic NME is essential; (2) MAP1A and MAP2s are functionally interchangeable, which is not the case in fungi and animals, as a complete block of either MAP-type activity does not cause any visible molecular or phenotypic effect; and (3) a minimal level of cytoplasmic MAP is required for normal development.
QUANTUM DESIGNS: FOUNDATIONS OF A NONCOMMUTATIVE DESIGN THEORY

This is a one-to-one translation of a German-written Ph.D. thesis from 1999. Quantum designs are sets of orthogonal projection matrices in finite(b)-dimensional Hilbert spaces. A fundamental differentiation is whether all projections have the same rank r, and furthermore the special case r = 1, which contains two important subclasses: Mutually unbiased bases (MUBs) were introduced prior to this thesis and solutions of b + 1 MUBs whenever b is a power of a prime were already given. Unaware of those papers, this concept was generalized here under the notation of regular affine quantum designs. Maximal solutions are given for the general case r ≥ 1, consisting of r(b2 - 1)/(b - r) so-called complete orthogonal classes whenever b is a power of a prime. For b = 6, an infinite family of MUB triples was constructed and it was — as already done in the author's master's thesis (1991) — conjectured that four MUBs do not exist in this dimension. Symmetric informationally complete positive operator-valued measures (S.
Object manipulation by hand using whole-body motion coordination

This paper addresses a control system for the coordination of whole body motion with hand manipulation. The goal is to control the position of the hand and/or external force at the hand. Whole-body motion control is necessary for both maintaining balance and realizing a wide workspace. Turning a crank is selected as the manipulation task. We describe a control strategy for turning the crank. We present a torso position and posture control method for extending the workspace while maintaining balance. Furthermore we demonstrate a stable walking control system that operates concurrently with manipulation and enables further expansion of the workspace. Experiments on a full-size humanoid are presented to demonstrate the performance of the system.
Aggressive B‐cell lymphomas in the update of the 4th edition of the World Health Organization classification of haematopoietic and lymphatic tissues: refinements of the classification, new entities and genetic findings

The update of the 4th edition of the World Health Organization Classification of Haematopoietic and Lymphatic Tissues portends important new findings and concepts in the diagnosis, classification and biology of lymphomas. This review summarizes the basic concepts and cornerstones of the classification of aggressive B‐cell lymphomas and details the major changes. Of importance, there is a new concept of High‐grade B‐cell lymphomas (HGBL), partly replacing the provisional entity of B‐cell lymphoma, unclassifiable, with features intermediate between diffuse large B‐cell lymphoma (DLBCL) and Burkitt lymphoma, the so‐called grey zone lymphomas. They either harbour MYC translocations together with a BCL2 and/or a BCL6 rearrangement (HGBL‐Double Hit) or HGBL, not otherwise specified (NOS), lacking a double or triple hit constellation. In addition, the requirement for providing the cell‐of‐origin classification in the diagnostic work‐up of DLBCLs, the role of MYC alterations in DLBCL subtypes, and newer findings in the specific variants/subtypes are highlighted.
Wrapping WWW information sources

As information over the World-Wide Web (WWW) is proliferating rapidly and the demand to access it is also escalating, the need to efficiently and effectively make use of the various knowledge resources is highly imperative. Research to extract maximum benefit from the Internet is still in its infancy. Different research areas like data mining, information retrieval, machine learning and knowledge discovery, are giving the problem due attention and all seem to converge onto a common theme-wrappers. Wrappers provide access to heterogeneous information sources by converting or translating queries into source specific queries or commands. We discuss improvements on a distinctive approach, wrapper conduction, to automatically generate a wrapper once an information source has been identified. We will show how different information filtering systems we developed employ numerous Internet information sources in an attempt to exploit this knowledge base by automatically wrapping the source to safeguard the evolvability of the same system once new sources become available on the WWW. We examine and compare the performance these systems achieved when employing wrapper-conducted queries in contrast to tailored hand-coded ones; comparative results are presented.
The way to engineering EV wireless charging: DACIA electron

Wireless power transmission is a special concern of electrical engineering with major implications in the life of society. It is manifested both in the scientific field through the large number of congresses and prestigious journals publications as well as in various practical applications ranging from medical care to robotics, communications and military technique. After a latency of more than 100 years since Tesla's inventions, advances in microelectronics and power electronics have led to the capitalization of this field. Now is the time when different wireless power transmission techniques are used starting from powers in the order of some W to powers of tenths of kW. This paper presents for the first time details about the 3.7 kW equipment for the wireless battery charging for Dacia Sandero Electron EV. There is a very special interest for such systems because it is part of the preparations for the next generation of driverless EV cars.
Postfire soil water repellency in piñon–juniper woodlands: Extent, severity, and thickness relative to ecological site characteristics and climate

Abstract Wildfires can create or intensify water repellency in soil, limiting the soil's capacity to wet and retain water. The objective of this research was to quantify soil water repellency characteristics within burned piñon–juniper woodlands and relate this information to ecological site characteristics. We sampled soil water repellency across forty‐one 1,000 m2 study plots within three major wildfires that burned in piñon–juniper woodlands. Water repellency was found to be extensive—present at 37% of the total points sampled—and strongly related to piñon–juniper canopy cover. Models developed for predicting SWR extent and severity had R 2 adj values of 0.67 and 0.61, respectively; both models included piñon–juniper canopy cover and relative humidity the month before the fire as coefficient terms. These results are important as they suggest that postfire water repellency will increase in the coming years as infilling processes enhance piñon–juniper canopy cover. Furthermore, reductions in relative humidity brought about by a changing climate have the potential to link additively with infilling processes to increase the frequency and intensity of wildfires and produce stronger water repellency over a greater spatial extent. In working through these challenges, land managers can apply the predictive models developed in this study to prioritize fuel control and postfire restoration treatments.
Strategic interpretation on sustainability issues – eliciting cognitive maps of boards of directors

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of cognitive diversity on strategic issue interpretation among the boards of directors making sense of sustainability management. The study also investigated the centrality of the corporate sustainability issues to identify common interpretative patterns in the shared cognitive maps among the companies. In addition, the aim was to advance quantitative methods for the analysis of decision-makers’ cognition. Design/methodology/approach – The research was an exploratory study analyzing 43 individual cognitive maps collected through surveys from the boards of nine cleantech companies. For the elicitation of the cognitive maps, the study used the hybrid cognitive mapping technique. The diversity of the shared cognitive maps was analyzed using the distance ratio formula and the graph analysis method with eigenvector to measure the centrality of the strategic issue interpretation in the maps. Findings – This study provides evidence through the analysis o.
Nearly Optimal Sampling Algorithms for Combinatorial Pure Exploration

We study the combinatorial pure exploration problem Best-Set in stochastic multi-armed bandits. In a Best-Set instance, we are given $n$ arms with unknown reward distributions, as well as a family $\mathcal{F}$ of feasible subsets over the arms. Our goal is to identify the feasible subset in $\mathcal{F}$ with the maximum total mean using as few samples as possible. The problem generalizes the classical best arm identification problem and the top-$k$ arm identification problem, both of which have attracted significant attention in recent years. We provide a novel instance-wise lower bound for the sample complexity of the problem, as well as a nontrivial sampling algorithm, matching the lower bound up to a factor of $\ln|\mathcal{F}|$. For an important class of combinatorial families, we also provide polynomial time implementation of the sampling algorithm, using the equivalence of separation and optimization for convex program, and approximate Pareto curves in multi-objective optimization. We also show that the $\ln|\mathcal{F}|$ factor is inevitable in general through a nontrivial lower bound construction. Our results significantly improve several previous results for several important combinatorial constraints, and provide a tighter understanding of the general Best-Set problem. We further introduce an even more general problem, formulated in geometric terms. We are given $n$ Gaussian arms with unknown means and unit variance. Consider the $n$-dimensional Euclidean space $\mathbb{R}^n$, and a collection $\mathcal{O}$ of disjoint subsets. Our goal is to determine the subset in $\mathcal{O}$ that contains the $n$-dimensional vector of the means. The problem generalizes most pure exploration bandit problems studied in the literature. We provide the first nearly optimal sample complexity upper and lower bounds for the problem.
Homothetic tube MPC for constrained linear difference inclusions

The paper considers robust model predictive control (MPC) for constrained linear difference inclusions. In particular, the recent homothetic tube MPC (HTMPC) synthesis is generalized to obtain a robust MPC synthesis for constrained linear discrete time systems subject to both the multiplicative and additive uncertainty. Under natural assumptions, the proposed method induces strong system theoretic properties. The on-line optimization necessary for the implementation of the developed framework is computationally practicable, and its complexity is marginally increased compared to those associated with the existing TMPC.
Testing the violation of conservatism accounting principle. Case study on Romanian listed entities

Abstract From the beginning of the debates regarding the conservatism principle, the concept experienced a significant development. As it is one of the most controversial and violated accounting principle, we started to seek how can we help one of the auditor’s challenge in the audit mission: to identify and evaluate the risks from the financial statement level. The most affected accounting principle in Romania is the conservatism principle. After a long time of debates, it was stated that the conservatism principle, considered to be complementary to the “fair view” concept, which means that financial reports shall be required to submit information so impartial and in such a manner as to enable the reader to understand them clearly. Considered as a risk that should be identified, this study demonstrates a relationship between the violation of the conservatism principle and the analysis of the financial indicators, such as: Long-Term-Debt-to-Equity Ratio; Debt-to-Equity Ratio; Global Solvency Ratio; Operating Margin Ratio; Current Finance Ratio; Period of Activity Indicator and Auditor Indicator. Based on a quantitative method, this analyze was realized through three econometric model performed on annual financial statements of the companies from Bucharest Stock Exchange. After validating the sample and analyzing the factorial variables, we selected the best model: the probit model. In conclusion, as can be seen in the paper, the econometric function is efficient, reliable and can be applied to assess the risk likelihood for violating the conservatism principle by a Romanian company.
Fibroblast Growth Factor Signaling Is Required for the Generation of Oligodendrocyte Progenitors from the Embryonic Forebrain

Fibroblast growth factors (FGFs) comprise a family of developmental regulators implicated in a wide variety of neurological functions. FGF receptors 1, 2, and 3 (Fgfrs) are expressed in the embryonic forebrain, including regions overlapping with ventral sites of oligodendrocyte progenitor (OLP) generation. Although FGF signaling is known to influence the proliferation of OLPs in vitro, functions of different Fgfrs in vivo are lacking. Here, we examined single and double mutants with conditional disruption of Fgfrs, specifically in the embryonic forebrain, to investigate the effect of FGFs on the generation and proliferation of OLPs in vivo. FGF signaling, through cooperation between Fgfr1 and Fgfr2 but not Fgfr3, is required for the initial generation of OLPs in the mouse ventral forebrain, with Fgfr1 being a stronger inducer than Fgfr2. In cultures derived from embryonic mutant forebrains or from normal forebrains grown in the presence of Fgfr inhibitor, a strong attenuation of OLP generation was observed, supporting the role of FGF signaling in vivo. Contrary to in vitro findings, Fgfr1 and Fgfr2 signaling is not required for the proliferation of OLPs in vivo. Finally, failure of OLP generation in the Fgfr mutants occurred without loss of sonic hedgehog (Shh) signaling; and pharmacological inhibition of either Fgfr or hedgehog signaling in parallel cultures strongly inhibited OLP generation, suggesting that Fgfrs cooperate with Shh to generate OLPs. Overall, our results reveal for the first time an essential role of FGF signaling in vivo, where the three Fgfrs differentially control the normal generation of OLPs from the embryonic ventral forebrain.
Evaluating performance of multivariable vibration isolators: A frequency domain identification approach applied to an industrial AVIS

Vibration isolation is essential for industrial high-precision systems in suppressing the influence of external disturbances. The aim of this paper is to develop an identification method to estimate the transmissibility matrix for such systems. The transmissibility matrix is a key performance indicator in vibration isolation, but its identification is severely limited by the heavy weight and size of many industrial systems. Two non-parametric system identification methods based on periodic and spectral analysis are compared. It is shown that spectral analysis can benefit from random floor excitations at low frequencies and periodic shaker excitations at high frequencies. Using this method, a transmissibility matrix between 1 and 100 Hz is successfully measured on an industrial active vibration isolation system (AVIS), demonstrating that the proposed method is suitable for identification of these heavy-weight systems.
Catheter-Based Renal Denervation for Resistant Hypertension: 12-Month Results of the EnligHTN I First-in-Human Study Using a Multielectrode Ablation System

Renal denervation has emerged as a novel approach for the treatment of patients with drug-resistant hypertension. To date, only limited data have been published using multielectrode radiofrequency ablation systems. In this article, we present the 12-month data of EnligHTN I, a first-in-human study using a multielectrode ablation catheter. EnligHTN I enrolled 46 patients (average age, 60±10 years; on average 4.7±1.0 medications) with drug-resistant hypertension. Eligible patients were on ≥3 antihypertensive medications and had a systolic blood pressure (BP) ≥160 mm Hg (≥150 mm Hg for diabetics). Bilateral renal artery ablation was performed using a percutaneous femoral approach and standardized techniques. The average baseline office BP was 176/96 mm Hg, average 24-hour ambulatory BP was 150/83 mm Hg, and average home BP was 158/90 mm Hg. The average reductions (mm Hg) at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months were as follows: office: −28/−10, −27/−10, −26/−10, and −27/−11 mm Hg (P<0.001 for all); 24-hour ambulatory: −10/−5, −10/−5, −10/−6 (P<0.001 for all), and −7/−4 for 12 months (P<0.0094). Reductions in home measurements (based on 2-week average) were −9/−4, −8/−5,−10/−7, and −11/−6 mm Hg (P<0.001 at 12 months). At 12 months, there were no signals of worsening renal function and no new serious or life-threatening adverse events. One patient with baseline nonocclusive renal artery stenosis progressed to 75% diameter stenosis, requiring renal artery stenting. The 12-month data continue to demonstrate safety and efficacy of the EnligHTN ablation system in patients with drug-resistant hypertension. Home BP measurements parallel measurements obtained with 24-hour ambulatory monitoring.
The Impact of Physics on Pricing in Energy Networks

Pricing of access to energy networks is an important issue in liberalized energy sectors because of the natural monopoly character of the transport infrastructures. We introduce a general pricing framework for potential-driven and arbitrarily structured energy transport networks. In different specifications of our general pricing model we discuss first- and second-best pricing results and compare different pricing outcomes of potential-free and potential-driven energy flow models. Our results show that regarding the laws of physics leads to significantly different pricing results on networks and that these differences can only be seen in sufficiently complex networks as they can be found in real-world situations.