Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Bayesian analysis of equity-linked savings contracts with American-style options

In this paper, a full Bayesian procedure is developed and implemented for the market consistent valuation of a fairly general class of equity-linked savings contracts. The developed procedure allows several combinations of contract properties. For example, the contract returns may include a guaranteed interest rate and a bonus depending on the yield of a total return equity index. Especially, the contract may include an American-style path-dependent surrender option. The underlying asset and interest rate processes are estimated using the Markov chain Monte Carlo method, and their simulation is based on their posterior predictive distribution, which is, however, adjusted to give risk-neutral dynamics. Financial guarantees and equity-linked components are common in many life insurance products. From the insurance company’s viewpoint, this paper provides a realistic and flexible modelling tool for product design and risk analysis. The focus is on a novel application of advanced theoretical and computational methods, which enable us to deal with a fairly realistic valuation framework and to address model and parameter error issues. Our empirical results support the use of elaborated instead of stylized models for asset dynamics in practical applications.
Effects of caffeine intake on the pharmacokinetics of melatonin, a probe drug for CYP1A2 activity.

AIMS The aim of this study was to assess the influence of concomitant caffeine intake on the pharmacokinetics of oral melatonin, a probe drug for CYP1A2 activity. METHODS Twelve healthy subjects, six smokers and six nonsmokers, were given melatonin (6 mg) either alone or in combination with caffeine (3 x 200 mg). Blood samples for the analysis of melatonin or caffeine and paraxanthine were taken from 1 h before until 6 h after intake of melatonin. Subjects were genotyped with respect to the CYP1A2*1F (C734A) polymorphism. RESULTS When caffeine was coadministered the Cmax and AUC of melatonin were increased on average by 142% (P = 0.001, confidence interval on the difference 44, 80%) and 120% (P < 0.001, confidence interval on the difference 63, 178%), respectively. The inhibitory effect of caffeine was more pronounced in nonsmokers and in individuals with the *1F/*1F genotype. CONCLUSION The results of this study revealed a pronounced effect of caffeine on the bioavailability of orally given melatonin, most probably due to inhibition of CYP1A2 activity.
House Members' Communication Styles: Newsletters and Press Releases

The literature on Congress offers no systematic analysis of representatives' communications with their constituents. This paper argues that such communications constitute an important linkage between representative and represented and, as such, are indicators of House members' interelection reelection strategies. Mayhew's categories of member activities were used for classifying communication styles in House members' newsletters and press releases; however, in order to delineate styles which discriminate among members in different electoral circumstances, it proved necessary to modify those categories to include consideration of geographic focus. The distinction between nationally oriented and locally oriented position taking was found to be particularly important. Thus, communication style was found to be a function of district and member characteristics; more ideologically extreme members from affluent suburban districts emphasize position taking on national issues; while relatively senior members from poor districts tend to present a particularized credit-claiming style.
A Novel Search Approach for Blur Kernel Estimation of Defocused Image Restoration

In this letter, we propose a novel search approach to blur kernel estimation for defocused image restoration. An adaptive binary search on consensus is the main contribution of our research. It is based on binary search and random sample consensus set (RANSAC). Moreover an evaluating function which uses a histogram of gradient distribution is proposed for assessing restored images. Simulations on an image benchmark dataset shows that the proposed algorithm can estimate, on average, the blur kernels 15.14% more accurately than other defocused image restoration algorithms. key words: defocused image, out-of-focus, blind image deconvolution, RANSAC, gradient distribution
Nonnested Procedures in Econometric Tests of Asset Pricing Theories

In this paper nonnested tests are used to contrast the performance of the capital asset pricing (CAPM) and consumption capital asset pricing (CCAPM) theories in describing the United States stock market. The procedures employed include the N-test, the NT-test, the W-test, the J-test, and the Encompassing test. The tests are carried out using data on firms as well as portfolios based on beta, capitalization, and SIC. The findings indicate that while during the 1973-82 period the CAPM dominates the CCAPM, the results for the 1978-87 period are mixed and in the 1983-92 sample period the CCAPM is favored over the CAPM. The finding in favor of the CCAPM in the 1983-92 period conflicts with much of the existing literature, which favors the CAPM.
Does grade retention affect students’ achievement? Some evidence from Spain

Grade retention practices are at the forefront of the educational debate. In this article, we measure the effect of grade retention on Spanish students’ achievement by using data from Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). We find that grade retention has a negative impact on educational outcomes, but we confirm the importance of endogenous selection which makes observed differences between repeaters and nonrepeaters appear about 14% lower than they actually are. The effect on scores of repeating is much smaller (–10% of nonrepeaters’ average) than the counterfactual reduction that nonrepeaters would suffer had they been retained as repeaters (–24% of their average). Furthermore, those who repeated a grade during primary education suffered more than those who repeated a grade in secondary school, although the effect of repeating at both times is, as expected, larger.
gOCCF: Graph-Theoretic One-Class Collaborative Filtering Based on Uninteresting Items

We investigate how to address the shortcomings of the popular One-Class Collaborative Filtering (OCCF) methods in handling challenging “sparse” dataset in one-class setting (e.g., clicked or bookmarked), and propose a novel graph-theoretic OCCF approach, named as gOCCF, by exploiting both positive preferences (derived from rated items) as well as negative preferences (derived from unrated items). In capturing both positive and negative preferences as a bipartite graph, further, we apply the graph shattering theory to determine the right amount of negative preferences to use. Then, we develop a suite of novel graph-based OCCF methods based on the random walk with restart and belief propagation methods. Through extensive experiments using 3 real-life datasets, we show that our gOCCF effectively addresses the sparsity challenge and significantly outperforms all of 8 competing methods in accuracy on very sparse datasets while providing comparable accuracy to the best performing OCCF methods on less sparse datasets. The datasets and implementations used in the empirical validation are available for access: https://goo.gl/sfiawn.
Social Entrepreneurship: New Models of Sustainable Social Change

"Social Entrepreneurship" is a term that has come to be applied to the activities of grass-roots activists, NGOs, policy makers, international institutions, and corporations, amongst others, which address a range of social issues in innovative and creative ways. Themed around the emerging agendas for developing new, sustainable models of social sector excellence and systemic impact, Social Entrepreneurship offers, for the first time, a wide-ranging, internationally-focused selection of cutting-edge work from leading academics, policy makers, and practitioners. Together they seek to clarify some of the ambiguity around this term, describe a range of social entrepreneurship projects, and establish a clear set of frameworks with which to understand it. Included in the volume are contributions from Muhammad Yunus, winner of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize and the father of microfinance, Geoff Mulgan, former head of the British prime minister's policy unit, and Bill Drayton, founder of the Ashoka network of social entrepreneurs.
Wireless accelerometer configuration for monitoring Parkinson's disease hand tremor

Parkinson’s disease is neurodegenerative in nature and associated with characteristic movement disorders, such as hand tremor. Wireless accelerometer applications may advance the quality of care for Parkinson’s disease patients. The acceleration waveform of the respective hand tremor can be recorded and stored for post-processing and progressive status tracking. A wireless accelerometer configuration for monitoring Parkinson’s disease hand tremor is presented. The proposed configuration is envisioned to be conducted with the assistance of a caregiver. For initial engineering proof of concept simulated Parkinson’s disease tremor is recorded through a wireless accelerometer node and contrasted to a statically positioned and tandem activated wireless accelerometer node. Statistical significance is acquired regarding the quantification of the simulated Parkinson’s disease tremor acceleration waveform and statically positioned acceleration waveform, while demonstrating a considerable degree of accuracy, consistency, and reliability.
Proteomic and Metabolomic Analyses of Vanishing White Matter Mouse Astrocytes Reveal Deregulation of ER Functions

Vanishing white matter (VWM) is a leukodystrophy with predominantly early-childhood onset. Affected children display various neurological signs, including ataxia and spasticity, and die early. VWM patients have bi-allelic mutations in any of the five genes encoding the subunits of the eukaryotic translation factor 2B (eIF2B). eIF2B regulates protein synthesis rates under basal and cellular stress conditions. The underlying molecular mechanism of how mutations in eIF2B result in VWM is unknown. Previous studies suggest that brain white matter astrocytes are primarily affected in VWM. We hypothesized that the translation rate of certain astrocytic mRNAs is affected by the mutations, resulting in astrocytic dysfunction. Here we subjected primary astrocyte cultures of wild type (wt) and VWM (2b5ho) mice to pulsed labeling proteomics based on stable isotope labeling with amino acids in cell culture (SILAC) with an L-azidohomoalanine (AHA) pulse to select newly synthesized proteins. AHA was incorporated into newly synthesized proteins in wt and 2b5ho astrocytes with similar efficiency, without affecting cell viability. We quantified proteins synthesized in astrocytes of wt and 2b5ho mice. This proteomic profiling identified a total of 80 proteins that were regulated by the eIF2B mutation. We confirmed increased expression of PROS1 in 2b5ho astrocytes and brain. A DAVID enrichment analysis showed that approximately 50% of the eIF2B-regulated proteins used the secretory pathway. A small-scale metabolic screen further highlighted a significant change in the metabolite 6-phospho-gluconate, indicative of an altered flux through the pentose phosphate pathway (PPP). Some of the proteins migrating through the secretory pathway undergo oxidative folding reactions in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), which produces reactive oxygen species (ROS). The PPP produces NADPH to remove ROS. The proteomic and metabolomics data together suggest a deregulation of ER function in 2b5ho mouse astrocytes.
Neighbourhood social capital improves individual health quality of life in a national sample from Wales

Neighbourhood social capital is often claimed to improve health but in Britain this claim finds little support. I examine the effects of neighbourhood social capital on the Welsh health quality of life in 2007 using instrumental variable estimator. By extending the influential Grossman health production model and borrowing from the Blume-Brock-Durlauf statistical mechanics of social interactions model, suitable instruments for identification are readily obtained. Instruments (neighbourhood ethnic diversity and residence length) were collected from separate survey. Neighbourhood social capital and deprivation measures were likewise independently gathered from measures of individual socioeconomic status and health (SF-36). In the national sample there are 13,557 respondents residing in 1,152 neighbourhoods. Neighbourhood deprivations invariably reduce individual health quality of life but neighbourhood social capital more than compensate for this. Because the instruments are strong enough to identify the effects, I show that friendly neighbourhood and friendly neighbours, sense of community in the neighbourhood, trust, ready exchange of information and goods, and sense of belonging improve residents' health. Public health practitioners have these measures as additional tools in their box when formulating policy to improve public health.
Potential Novel Epitopes in the Extracellular Products of Oyster Homogenate-Supplemented Perkinsus marinus Cells Are Not Detected by Subtractive Immunization

The extracellular products (ECPs) of the oyster parasite Perkinsus marinus have been posed to contain virulence factors, including serine proteases. Supplementation of P. marinus cultures with oyster homogenates enhances infectivity and changes the ECP composition. Therefore, subtractive immunization was used to attempt creation of antibodies to proteins unique to ECPs produced following parasite exposure to oyster homogenates. While control mice remained competent to respond to an unrelated antigen, no serum titers against novel ECP epitopes were detected in experimental mice. Attempts to create discriminatory hybridomas resulted in no clones with anti-ECP specificity. These findings suggest that, because no unique epitopes can be found within ECPs generated following exposure of P. marinus to host homogenates, the changes to ECPs are greatly constrained.
LEAPS therapeutic vaccines as antigen specific suppressors of inflammation in infectious and autoimmune diseases.

The L.E. A.P.S. (™) (Ligand Epitope Antigen Presentation System) technology platform has been used to develop immunoprotective and immunomodulating small peptide vaccines for infectious and autoimmune diseases. Several products are currently in various stages of development, at the pre-clinical stage (in animal challenge efficacy studies). Vaccine peptides can elicit protection of animals from lethal viral (herpes simplex virus [HSV-1] and influenza A) infection or can block the progression of autoimmune diseases (e.g. rheumatoid arthritis as in the collagen induced arthritis (CIA] or experimental autoimmune myocarditis (EAM) models). L.E. A.P.S. technology is a novel T-cell immunization technology that enables the design and synthesis of non-recombinant, proprietary peptide immunogens. Combination of a small peptide that activates the immune system with another small peptide from a disease-related protein, thus a conjugate containing both an Immune Cell Binding Ligand (ICBL) and a disease specific epitope, which allows the L.E. A.P.S. vaccines to activate precursors to differentiate and become more mature cells that can initiate and direct appropriate T cell responses. As such, readily synthesized, defined immunogens can be prepared to different diseases and are likely to elicit protection or therapy as applicable in humans as they are in mice. L.E. A.P.S. vaccines have promise for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and other inflammatory diseases and for infections, such as influenza and HSV1. The protective responses are characterized as Th1 immune and immunomodulatory responses with increased IL-12p70 and IFN-γ (Th1 cytokines) but reduced inflammatory cytokines TNF-α, IL-1 and IL-17 (Th2 and Th17 cytokines) and concomitant changes in antibody subtypes. LEAPS immunogens have been used directly in vivo or as ex vivo activators of DC which are then administered to the host.
Ontological foundations for software requirements with a focus on requirements at runtime

The use of Requirements at Runtime (RRT) is an emerging research area. Many methods and frameworks that make use of requirements models during software execution can be found in the literature. However, there is still a lack of a formal and explicit representation of what RRT are and what are the primary goals of their use. Still, most RRT proposals have their own modeling languages and ways to represent, specify and make use of requirements at runtime, thus resulting in a domain with overloaded concepts. In this paper, we intend to clarify the main notions involved in RRT, establishing an explicit common conceptualization regarding this domain. To do so, we need first to understand what software execution is, as well as what requirements are. Thus, we present three related domain ontologies: the Software Ontology (SwO), an ontology about software nature and execution, the Reference Software Requirements Ontology (RSRO), which addresses what requirements are and types of requirements, and the Runtime Requirements Ontology (RRO), which extends SwO and RSRO to represent the nature and context of RRT. For developing these ontologies, we follow SABiO, a well-established Ontology Engineering method. Moreover, all the three ontologies are grounded in the Unified Foundational Ontology (UFO) and are integrated into the Software Engineering Ontology Network (SEON). Finally, as prescribed by SABiO, the ontologies are evaluated using ontology verification and validation techniques.
Characterization of a Human Pancreatic Carcinoid in Vitro: Morphology, Amine and Peptide Storage, and Secretion

The study of functioning human endocrine tumors has been hampered by a lack of suitable in vitro models. We have established the first permanent cell line of a human pancreatic carcinoid tumor (BON) in culture. BON cells grow in monolayer culture and form colonies in soft agar. Injection of BON cells into nude mice produces transplantable tumors in a dose-dependent fashion. The histology of tumors in athymic mice from injection of dispersed, cultured BON cells is similar to the original histology of the resected tumor. Significant amounts of neurotensin, pancreastatin, and serotonin (5-HT) are demonstrated in the cells by radioimmunoassay (RIA) and the presence of chromogranin A, bombesin, and 5-HT is confirmed by immunocytochemistry. Numerous round and pleomorphic dense-core neurosecretory granules are present on electron microscopy. Functional receptors for acetylcholine, 5-HT, isoproterenol, and so-matostatin are present on cultured cells. BON cells possess a specific transport system for uptake of 5-HT from the medium; this uptake system may be a route for regulation of autocrine effects of 5-HT on carcinoid cells. This unique human carcinoid tumor cell line should provide the opportunity for new insight into the biology of carcinoid tumors and of specific intracellular mechanisms for secretagogue action in the release of amines and peptides.
Direct and cytokine-mediated activation of protein kinase C induces human immunodeficiency virus expression in chronically infected promonocytic cells

The chronically infected promonocytic clone U1 expresses low-to-undetectable constitutive levels of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Virus replication in these cells can be increased up to 25-fold by phorbol esters (phorbol-12-myristate-13-acetate), recombinant cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor-alpha, and cytokine-enriched mononuclear cell supernatants. We have tested specific activators of protein kinases (PK) and PK inhibitors (isoquinolinesulfonamide derivatives), as well as calcium-mobilizing agents, for their effect on constitutive and induced virus expression in U1 cells. Virus expression was measured by reverse transcriptase, Western blot, and nuclear run-on analysis. Activation of PKC by 1-oleyl,2-acetylglycerol, a synthetic analog of the natural ligand 1,2-diacylglycerol, and bryostatin 1 (a recently described specific PKC activator) resulted in a two- to eightfold increase in virus production. In contrast, activators of cyclic-nucleotide-dependent PKs were not effective in inducing virus expression. PK inhibitors were tested for their effect on HIV upregulation by cytokines and other inducing agents. The isoquinolinesulfonamide derivative H7, a potent inhibitor of PKC activation, effectively blocked (70 to 90%) HIV induction by cytokines and phorbol-12-myristate-13-acetate. The derivative HA1004, which is more selective for cyclic-nucleotide-dependent kinases, did not suppress viral induction. In addition, increases in intracellular calcium levels dramatically enhanced HIV production induced by both specific PKC activators and cytokines. These results indicate that activation of PKC is a common pathway involved in the upregulation of HIV expression in chronically infected cells stimulated by cytokines and other inducing agents.
Ramp-Preserving Denoising for Conductivity Image Reconstruction in Magnetic Resonance Electrical Impedance Tomography

In magnetic resonance electrical impedance tomography, among several conductivity image reconstruction algorithms, the harmonic Bz algorithm has been successfully applied to Bz data from phantoms and animals. The algorithm is, however, sensitive to measurement noise in Bz data. Especially, in in vivo animal and human experiments where injection current amplitudes are limited within a few milliampere at most, measured Bz data tend to have a low SNR. In addition, magnetic resonance (MR) signal void in outer layers of bones and gas-filled organs, for example, produces salt-pepper noise in the MR phase and, consequently, Bz images. The Bz images typically present areas of sloped transitions, which can be assimilated to ramps. Conductivity contrasts change ramp slopes in Bz images and it is critical to preserve positions of those ramps to correctly recover edges in conductivity images. In this paper, we propose a ramp-preserving denoising method utilizing a structure tensor. Using an eigenvalue analysis, we identified local regions of salt-pepper noise. Outside the identified local regions, we applied an anisotropic smoothing to reduce noise while preserving their ramp structures. Inside the local regions of salt-pepper noise, we used an isotropic smoothing. After validating the proposed denoising method through numerical simulations, we applied it to in vivo animal imaging experiments. Both numerical simulation and experimental results show significant improvements in the quality of reconstructed conductivity images.