Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Are New Homes Special?

This article describes alternative ways of identifying new homes and, using a large dataset of property sales in Las Vegas, Nevada, tests for the extent to which new homes sell at a price premium relative to otherwise similar existing homes. We also investigate whether the results differ across time and location, including before and after the housing bust. Our results suggest that price premia for new homes arise primarily in circumstances in which the supply of new houses is relatively low. In some cases rising to over 20% relative to otherwise similar existing homes. When new homes are plentiful, they are not special and the premium disappears.
Challenges of Major Incident Management When Excess Resources are Allocated: Experiences from a Mass Casualty Incident after Roof Collapse of a Military Command Center

Abstract During a military exercise in northern Norway in March 2000, the snowladen roof of a command center collapsed with 76 persons inside. Twentyfive persons were entrapped and/or buried under snow masses. There were three deaths. Seven patients had serious injuries, three had moderate injuries, and 16 had minor injuries. A military Convalescence Camp that had been set up in a Sports Hall 125 meters from the scene was reorganized as a causality clearing station. Officers from the Convalescence Camp initially organized search and rescue. In all, 417 persons took part in the rescue work with 36 ambulances, 17 helicopters, three ambulance airplanes and one transport plane available. Two ambulances, five helicopters and one transport aircraft were used. Four patients were evacuated to a civilian hospital and six to a field hospital. The stretcher and treatment teams initially could have been more effectively organized. As resources were ample, this was a mass casualty, not a disaster. Firm incident command prevented the influx of excess resources.
On Credit and Output: Is the Supply of Credit Relevant?

The “new credit view” and “money view” hold that the aggregate supply of credit is largely irrelevant to making monetary policy decisions. Events during and since the financial crisis suggest this may no longer be the case. I reconsider the role of credit and find that credit is relevant, particularly in the post-2000 period. More specifically, there is a statistically significant relationship between lagged values of credit and the output gap, even when lagged values of real interest rates, money, and the output gap are included. The relationships between real interest rates, money, credit, and the output gap are all, however, temporally unstable. Economists and policymakers would therefore benefit from expanding their set of information variables and occasionally reassessing the relative weightings assigned to each one.
China's Nonfinancial Corporate Debt Dynamics

Since the global financial crisis broke out in 2008, China's nonfinancial corporate debt has been rising steadily and rapidly, posing serious threat to China's financial stability. China's rising corporate debt is mainly attributable to three factors: worsening capital efficiency, worsening corporate profitability and high funding costs. Based on a dynamic recursive model developed in the paper, we simulate the trajectories of China's corporate debt-to-GDP ratio, and find that if China fails to reverse the current trends in capital efficiency, corporate profitability and financing costs, China's nonfinancial corporate debt-to-GDP ratio will continue to rise without converging to a limit. Against most economists' intuition, given the current trends of changes in parameters, higher economic growth will not help China to escape the corporate debt trap. On the contrary, it will make China's corporate debt problem even worse. To avert a corporate debt crisis, China needs to speed up the structural reform and change the growth paradigm so as to enhance capital efficiency and firms' profitability, while reducing firms' financing costs.
Perceptual-Organizational Characteristics of the Rorschach Task

The present study was designed to begin to explore the perceptual and visuospatial organization required to respond to the Rorschach task. Previous research has shown a relative independence of Rorschach scores from other measures of neurocognitive functioning (e.g., Zillmer & Perry, 1996). However, many of the neuropsychological measures used in previous studies did not require the patient to organize a complex visuospatial stimulus in the same way that the Rorschach does. In this study, data from 27 children and adolescents administered the Rorschach and the Rey-Osterreith Complex Figure Test (ROCF) were examined. Results of analyses indicated that, accounting for age and Full Scale IQ, there were a number of significant relationships between accuracy of ROCF renditions and Rorschach measures of developmental quality and perceptual accuracy. Implications for the understanding the nature of the Rorschach response process and its utility in clinical neuropsychology are discussed.
A Robust Trust Management Scheme against the Malicious Nodes in Distributed P2P Network

Trust management evaluates the user trust value of participating nodes in the network based on the past behaviors and satisfaction of sharing resources. However, there also exists security issue even though it has been considered to be safe because malicious user is able to affect the trust management with negative feedback. This paper aims to propose a robust trust management scheme to improve reliability and effectiveness of distributed P2P network by identifying these malicious threats and then limiting the attacker's participation. Especially, our scheme effectively manages for some attacks such as bad mouthing, on-off and sybil. The proposed scheme is expected to effectively protect attacks from malicious peers with improving credibility as well as exactness.
Does cognitive function predict frequency compressed speech recognition in listeners with normal hearing and normal cognition?

Abstract Objective: The aim was to investigate the relationship between cognitive ability and frequency compressed speech recognition in listeners with normal hearing and normal cognition. Design: Speech-in-noise recognition was measured using Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers sentences presented over earphones at 65 dB SPL and a range of signal-to-noise ratios. There were three conditions: unprocessed, and at frequency compression ratios of 2:1 and 3:1 (cut-off frequency, 1.6 kHz). Working memory and cognitive ability were measured using the reading span test and the trail making test, respectively. Study sample: Participants were 15 young normally-hearing adults with normal cognition. Results: There was a statistically significant reduction in mean speech recognition from around 80% when unprocessed to 40% for 2:1 compression and 30% for 3:1 compression. There was a statistically significant relationship between speech recognition and cognition for the unprocessed condition but not for the frequency-compressed conditions. Conclusions:The relationship between cognitive functioning and recognition of frequency compressed speech-in-noise was not statistically significant. The findings may have been different if the participants had been provided with training and/or time to ‘acclimatize’ to the frequency-compressed conditions.
Hybrid Neural Network mixed with Random Forests and Perlin noise

Data mixed up with discrete and continuous features makes negative affect to the classification for existing models which discretizes the continuous features or even without any treatment is not able to deal with it. The noise which is not subject to Gaussian distribution also severely affected the result of classification. In this paper, a deep neural network mixed with random forests, Stacked Denoising Autoencoder and Multilayer Perception is proposed to improve the classification effect of mixed features input. Furthermore, to improve pre-training effect of the Stacked Denoising Autoencoder, Perlin noise is added to the Gaussian Noise in noise layer. A certain promotion of this method has been proved through the experiments with the crime data between 2003 and 2015 in San Francisco, and comparisons by 10-fold cross-validation with other common methods of classification shows that this method has advantages on data mixed up with discrete and continuous features.
Spatial response properties of acoustically responsive neurons in the superior colliculus of the ferret: a map of auditory space.

Extracellular single-unit recordings were made from auditory neurons in the superior colliculus of ferrets anesthetized with either a neuroleptic or a combination of barbiturate with paralysis. The response properties of these neurons were studied using white-noise bursts presented under free-field conditions in an anechoic chamber. Auditory neurons were found throughout the intermediate and deep layers of the superior colliculus. All neurons were spontaneously active, the rates of discharge varying from 0.1 to 61.1 spikes X s-1. Although the spontaneous discharge interspike-interval histograms for many units approximated to exponential distributions, the histograms of 44% had clear secondary peaks, indicating more than one preferred interval, and could not be modeled by a simple process. Most neurons (50%) responded only at stimulus onset, whereas 12% exhibited sustained discharges and 38% gave onset responses followed by a period of silence or reduced activity and then a period of elevated discharge, which was not apparently related to stimulus offset. Neurons with multipeaked response patterns were concentrated in the stratum griseum profundum. The latencies from arrival of the stimulus at the ear to the onset of neural activity ranged from 6 to 49 ms and decreased with increasing stimulus intensity. Although responsive to sounds over a large region of space, most neurons had clearly defined best positions at which the strongest response was obtained. The response declined as the speaker was moved away from this position, and nearly all units had peaked response profiles. The spatial tuning varied between different neurons, but most were more sharply tuned in elevation than in azimuth. Increasing the stimulus intensity did not, in general, alter the best positions of these neurons, but usually resulted in a broadening of the receptive fields, although other units became more sharply tuned. The best positions of auditory neurons varied systematically in azimuth from 20 degrees into the ipsilateral hemifield to 130 degrees into the contralateral hemifield as the electrode was moved from the rostrolateral to the caudomedial end of the superior colliculus. The best positions shifted in elevation along a rostromedial to caudolateral axis from 60 degrees above to 50 degrees below the visuoaural plane. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
The Adipocyte Fatty Acid-binding Protein Binds to Membranes by Electrostatic Interactions*

The adipocyte fatty acid-binding protein (AFABP) is believed to transfer unesterified fatty acids (FA) to phospholipid membranes via a collisional mechanism that involves ionic interactions between lysine residues on the protein surface and phospholipid headgroups. This hypothesis is derived largely from kinetic analysis of FA transfer from AFABP to membranes. In this study, we examined directly the binding of AFABP to large unilamellar vesicles (LUV) of differing phospholipid compositions. AFABP bound LUV containing either cardiolipin or phosphatidic acid, and the amount of protein bound depended upon the mol % anionic phospholipid. TheK a for CL or PA in LUV containing 25 mol % of these anionic phospholipids was approximately 2 × 103 m −1. No detectable binding occurred when AFABP was mixed with zwitterionic membranes, nor when acetylated AFABP in which surface lysines had been chemically neutralized was mixed with anionic membranes. The binding of AFABP to acidic membranes depended upon the ionic strength of the incubation buffer: ≥200 mmNaCl reduced protein-lipid complex formation in parallel with a decrease in the rate of FA transfer from AFABP to negatively charged membranes. It was further found that AFABP, but not acetylated AFABP, prevented cytochrome c, a well characterized peripheral membrane protein, from binding to membranes. These results directly demonstrate that AFABP binds to anionic phospholipid membranes and suggest that, although generally described as a cytosolic protein, AFABP may behave as a peripheral membrane protein to help target fatty acids to and/or from intracellular sites of utilization.
Medication review by a clinical pharmacist at the transfer point from ICU to ward: a randomized controlled trial

Drug‐related problems (DRPs) occur frequently in hospitalized patients. Patient discharge from the intensive care unit (ICU) to a non‐ICU ward is one of the most challenging and high‐risk transitions of care due to the number of medications, and the complexity and acuity of the medical conditions that characterize this patient group. Pharmacists could play an important role in preventing DRPs. This study was undertaken to evaluate the impact on the number and severity of drug‐related problems by assigning a clinical pharmacist to the transfer process from ICU to wards.
Blockade of TGF-β Signaling Greatly Enhances the Efficacy of TCR Gene Therapy of Cancer

TCR gene therapy is a promising approach for the treatment of various human malignancies. However, the tumoricidal activity of TCR-modified T cells may be limited by local immunosuppressive mechanisms within the tumor environment. In particular, many malignancies induce T cell suppression in their microenvironment by TGF-β secretion. In this study, we evaluate whether blockade of TGF-β signaling in TCR-modified T cells enhances TCR gene therapy efficacy in an autochthonous mouse tumor model. Treatment of mice with advanced prostate cancer with T cells genetically engineered to express a tumor-reactive TCR and a dominant-negative TGF-β receptor II induces complete and sustained tumor regression, enhances survival, and leads to restored differentiation of prostate epithelium. These data demonstrate the potential to tailor the activity of TCR-modified T cells by additional genetic modification and provide a strong rationale for the clinical testing of TGF-β signaling blockade to enhance TCR gene therapy against advanced cancers.
IP3Rs are sufficient for dendritic cell Ca2+ signaling in the absence of RyR1

Calcium (Ca2+) signaling plays a pivotal role in the function of dendritic cells (DC). The Type 1 ryanodine receptor (RyR), a major intracellular Ca2+ channel, is highly expressed in immature DC. We therefore investigated whether RyR1 plays a role in DC development and function by studying properties of DC derived from wild‐type (WT) and RyR1 null [knockout (KO)] mice. Fetal liver cells from WT and RyR1 KO mice retained full hematopoietic competence. Adoptive transfer of these cells into congenic hosts resulted in the generation of functionally equivalent DC populations. WT and RyR1 KO DC exhibited a similar capacity to mature in response to inflammatory and/or activation stimuli, to endocytose antigen, and to stimulate T cell proliferation. Moreover, the absence of RyR1 did not lead to de novo expression of RyR2 or RyR3. WT and RyR KO DC express all three isoforms of inositol 1,4,5‐trisphosphate receptor (IP3R), although Type 3 IP3R gene transcripts are predominant. Further, IP3‐mediated Ca2+ transients proceed normally after inhibition of RyRs with dantrolene. Signaling via IP3R may therefore be sufficient to drive essential DC Ca2+ signaling processes in the absence of RyR expression or function.
Food security base in China: a quantitative evaluation approach

Although the international societies, as well as countries throughout the world, have stressed food security and its conditions have been improved considerably since the 1970s, the future state will still be very severe because of population increase and agricultural productive condition deterioration. As to China, the productivity has been rising since the Reform and Openness. Chinese have gone out of the epoch of food shortage and the general level of food security has also improved substantially. But, there are still many factors restricting Chinese food security, such as population increase, productive resource shortage and so on. Therefore, to sustain China's food security is vital to realize Chinese social, economic and natural sustainability. Food productive and supply level, food structure diversity, habitant earning level or obtaining ability to maintain survival and other factors jointly affect food security level. In this paper, the meaning of food security is firstly discussed. Basing on fundamental factors influencing food security, the authors then select a set of evaluating indicators, formulate an integrated index evaluation model on food security. Using the evaluation model, food security integrated indexes covering 1950～1998 are calculated thirdly. A single-factor and multi-factor integrated evaluation on Chinese food security sustainability is carried out finally. The calculated results show that China was in a generally secure state of food in the 1950s, in an insecure state of food in the 1960s and the 1970s, and had entered a steady secure state of food in the 1980s through to the 1990s. Since the 1960s food security level in China has been rising year after year and since the 1980s a sustainable development trend has been maintained.
In vivo lipidomics using single-cell Raman spectroscopy

We describe a method for direct, quantitative, in vivo lipid profiling of oil-producing microalgae using single-cell laser-trapping Raman spectroscopy. This approach is demonstrated in the quantitative determination of the degree of unsaturation and transition temperatures of constituent lipids within microalgae. These properties are important markers for determining engine compatibility and performance metrics of algal biodiesel. We show that these factors can be directly measured from a single living microalgal cell held in place with an optical trap while simultaneously collecting Raman data. Cellular response to different growth conditions is monitored in real time. Our approach circumvents the need for lipid extraction and analysis that is both slow and invasive. Furthermore, this technique yields real-time chemical information in a label-free manner, thus eliminating the limitations of impermeability, toxicity, and specificity of the fluorescent probes common in currently used protocols. Although the single-cell Raman spectroscopy demonstrated here is focused on the study of the microalgal lipids with biofuel applications, the analytical capability and quantitation algorithms demonstrated are applicable to many different organisms and should prove useful for a diverse range of applications in lipidomics.
CMU LiveMedQA at TREC 2017 LiveQA: A Consumer Health Question Answering System

In this paper, we present LiveMedQA, a question answering system that is optimized for consumer health question. On top of the general QA system pipeline, we introduce several new features that aim to exploit domain-specific knowledge and entity structures for better performance. This includes a question type/focus analyzer based on deep text classification model, a tree-based knowledge graph for answer generation and a complementary structure-aware searcher for answer retrieval. LiveMedQA system is evaluated in the TREC 2017 LiveQA medical subtask, where it received an average score of 0.356 on a 3 point scale. Evaluation results revealed 3 substantial drawbacks in current LiveMedQA system, based on which we provide a detailed discussion and propose a few solutions that constitute the main focus of our subsequent work.
A New Method for Estimating the True Score of Subjects in the Assessment Based on the Binary Checklist

Assessments of subjects by multiple raters are completed in several health research and practice arenas. As observed in interrater comparisons of checklists during assessment, raters generally make mistakes in assessment. Despite these errors, the average scores on all the checklists have been historically used to represent the subjects’ true scores. The effect of the assessment rater error on these average scores has been seldom studied. In the present study, the effect of random rater error on subjects’ average scores was investigated mathematically. The analysis based on a mathematical model revealed that average scores were truly representative only in special cases where raters made no assessment errors. In addition, average scores were poor estimates of the true score due to random assessment error. A new, more precise formula to estimate subjects’ true scores was proposed. The method to apply this formula to actual checklist assessment data was demonstrated.
Brain oscillations reflecting pain-related behavior in freely moving rats

Abstract Recording oscillatory brain activity holds great promise in pain research. However, experimental results are variable and often difficult to reconcile. Some of these inconsistencies arise from the use of hypothesis-driven analysis approaches that (1) do not assess the consistency of the observed responses within and across individuals, and (2) do not fully exploit information sampled across the entire cortex. Here, we address these issues by recording the electrocorticogram directly from the brain surface of 12 freely moving rats. Using a hypothesis-free approach, we isolated brain oscillations induced by graded nociceptive stimuli and characterized their relation to pain-related behavior. We isolated 4 responses, one phase-locked event-related potential, 2 non–phase-locked event-related synchronizations, and one non–phase-locked event-related desynchronization (ERD), in different frequency bands (&dgr;/&thgr;-ERD, &thgr;/&agr;–event-related synchronization, and gamma-band event-related synchronization). All responses except the &dgr;/&thgr;-ERD correlated with pain-related behavior at within-subject level. Notably, the gamma-band event-related synchronization was the only response that reliably correlated with pain-related behavior between subjects. These results comprehensively characterize the physiological properties of the brain oscillations elicited by nociceptive stimuli in freely moving rodents and provide a foundational work to improve the translation of experimental animal findings to human physiology and pathophysiology.
Engagement of NKG2D by Cognate Ligand or Antibody Alone Is Insufficient to Mediate Costimulation of Human and Mouse CD8+ T Cells1

CD8+ T cells require a signal through a costimulatory receptor in addition to TCR engagement to become activated. The role of CD28 in costimulating T cell activation is well established. NKG2D, a receptor found on NK cells, CD8+ αβ-TCR+ T cells, and γδ-TCR+ T cells, has also been implicated in T cell costimulation. In this study we have evaluated the role of NKG2D in costimulating mouse and human naive and effector CD8+ T cells. Unexpectedly, in contrast to CD28, NKG2D engagement by ligand or mAb is not sufficient to costimulate naive or effector CD8+ T cell responses in conventional T cell populations. While NKG2D did not costimulate CD8+ T cells on its own, it was able to modify CD28-mediated costimulation of human CD8+ T cells under certain contitions. It is, therefore, likely that NKG2D acts as a costimulatory molecule only under restricted conditions or requires additional cofactors.