Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Multiple-model approach to finite memory adaptive filtering

The multiple-model technique is proposed for the purpose of finite memory adaptive filtering of nonstationary signals. Its most important feature is the parallel structure of computation: not one but several identification algorithms characterized by different memory-controlling parameters are run in parallel and combined appropriately. The results substantially improve the robustness of the adaptive scheme to the experimenter's choice of design parameters such as forgetting factors, adaptation gains, and model orders. The author suggests a technique which allows for a rational decision to be made when several competitive adaptive filters work simultaneously. The results obtained can also be used for the purpose of model order determination, and their close correspondence to Rissanen's predictive least squares principle and Akaike's concept of model likelihoods is noted. >
CXCL12/CXCR4 Transactivates HER2 in Lipid Rafts of Prostate Cancer Cells and Promotes Growth of Metastatic Deposits in Bone

Chemokines and their receptors function in migration and homing of cells to target tissues. Recent evidence suggests that cancer cells use a chemokine receptor axis for metastasis formation at secondary sites. Previously, we showed that binding of the chemokine CXCL12 to its receptor CXCR4 mediated signaling events resulting in matrix metalloproteinase-9 expression in prostate cancer bone metastasis. A variety of methods, including lipid raft isolation, stable overexpression of CXCR4, cellular adhesion, invasion assays, and the severe combined immunodeficient–human bone tumor growth model were used. We found that (a) CXCR4 and HER2 coexist in lipid rafts of prostate cancer cells; (b) the CXCL12/CXCR4 axis results in transactivation of the HER2 receptor in lipid rafts of prostate cancer cells; (c) Src kinase mediates CXCL12/CXCR4 transactivation of HER2 in prostate cancer cells; (d) a pan-HER inhibitor desensitizes CXCR4-induced transactivation and subsequent matrix metalloproteinase-9 secretion and invasion; (e) lipid raft–disrupting agents inhibited raft-associated CXCL12/CXCR4 transactivation of the HER2 and cellular invasion; (f) overexpression of CXCR4 in prostate cancer cells leads to increased HER2 phosphorylation and migratory properties of prostate cancer cells; and (g) CXCR4 overexpression enhances bone tumor growth and osteolysis. These data suggest that lipid rafts on the cell membrane are the key site for CXCL12/CXCR4–induced HER2 receptor transactivation. This transactivation contributes to enhanced invasive signals and metastatic growth in the bone microenvironment. (Mol Cancer Res 2008;6(3):446–57)
A Further Examination of Appraisal Data and the Potential Bias in Real Estate Return Indexes: Comment and Clarification

This comment points out a flaw in Gau and Wang's recent empirical analysis of appraisal return bias and clarifies a point in Geltner's previous article that may have misled Gau and Wang as well as others. In examining appraisal bias in returns it is important to distinguish between cross-sectional versus time-series moments. In dealing with time-series data, both the arithmetic mean and the geometric mean returns offer useful information and can complement each other in correcting for appraisal bias in the first moment of returns series. Copyright American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association.
The Fisher equation controversy re-examined

The objective of this paper is to provide an examination of the controversy surrounding the existence of the Fisher or the Inverted Fisher hypothesis proposed by Carmichael and Stebbing (1983). We show that the data used by Carmichael and Stebbing (CS) do not support either hypothesis. Employing recent developments in co-integrated variables, we show that their data is compatible with the existence of a long-run relationship between the nominal interest rates and the rates of inflation as postulated by the Fisher hypothesis. Using an error correction modelling approach which allows direct estimation of the long-run coefficients, we show that for the data used by CS the nominal interest rates have not adjusted sufficiently to compensate individuals for either the effect of inflation or taxes on interest income.
Increased Esophageal Sensitivity to Acid and Saline in Patients With Nonerosive Gastro-esophageal Reflux Disease

Goals To investigate the features of nonerosive reflux disease (NERD). Background NERD is not considered as a milder form of erosive gastro-esophageal reflux disease (eGERD). Although the prevalence of NERD was reported to be high in our country, there have been very few studies about NERD. Study We performed upper gastrointestinal endoscopy to confirm the diagnosis of GERD. The modified acid perfusion test and saline perfusion test were performed in 7 control subjects, 14 NERD, and 11 eGERD patients. The stimulus-response function to acid and saline was quantified by the duration of typical symptom perception (minutes), total sensory intensity rating (0 to 10), and the perfusion sensory score (SS), which was defined as the product of minutes and the sensory intensity rating. Results The mean value of SS by saline was 0 in control subjects, 12.0 in NERD patients, and 1.5 in eGERD patients (P<0.01 control vs. NERD, P<0.01 NERD vs. eGERD). The mean SS with acid was 0.9 in control subjects, 52.5 in NERD patients, and 23.0 in eGERD patients (P<0.01 control vs. NERD, control vs. eGERD, P<0.05 NERD vs. eGERD). A statistically significant association was shown between the acid and saline perfusion SSs with a correlation coefficient value of r=0.57 in the NERD group (P<0.05). Conclusions Both eGERD and NERD, but especially NERD, exhibited esophageal hypersensitivity not only to acid but also saline perfusion, suggesting that hyperalgesia to acid and other factors (eg, psychologic and/or autonomic nerve disturbance) may play some roles in symptom generation in NERD.
Interfirm differences in scale economies and the evolution of market shares

Evolutionary and resource‐based theories imply that firms in an industry with different resources and capabilities may differ in critical characteristics of their production functions, such as economies of scale. This paper measures these inter‐firm differences in economies of scale and examines how they affect the subsequent evolution of the market share distribution in the money market mutual fund industry. The findings indicate that fund families with larger marginal benefits to increasing their scale do subsequently gain market share at the expense of their rivals, but that this effect diminishes as the fund family ages, perhaps as a consequence of imitation. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Are Spanish auditors effective in transmitting manipulation practices? An analysis of the ambiguity implicit in modified reports

This study proposes auditors' effectiveness in the transmission (AET) of GAAP misstatements as a new measure of audit quality that is obtained from the audit report. We carry out a content analysis of the audit reports of a sample of 533 pre-bankrupt Spanish firms and find that the poorly enforced Spanish environment results in strategies of a lower than expected effectiveness in three aspects: the type of qualification chosen, the wording used and the adjustments proposed. We subsequently use AET to test for audit quality differences in three dimensions: auditor size, audit market experience and the client's closeness to failure. Larger auditors are more effective in the transmission of the GAAP misstatements. We also find increasing audit quality throughout our 1990-2001 period of analysis and with the clients' closeness to failure. Our results constitute a reference for regulators, not only in Spain, but also in similar European code-law regimes where qualifications for GAAP violations are usually included in the audit reports.
Neutrophil dysfunction in alcoholic hepatitis superimposed on cirrhosis is reversible and predicts the outcome

Mortality in patients with alcoholic hepatitis (AH) remains high, and although corticosteroids are widely used for treatment, the results vary considerably. In AH, neutrophils are primed and infiltrate the liver to produce injury, but paradoxically, the main cause of death in such patients is infection. Our prospective study addressed this paradox of primed neutrophils on the one hand and increased risk of infection on the other. We hypothesized that the full activation of neutrophils by a humoral factor such as endotoxin renders them unable to respond to further bacterial challenge. We analyzed neutrophil oxidative burst and phagocytosis in whole blood by fluorescence‐activated cell sorting analysis in 63 alcoholic patients with cirrhosis and patients with cirrhosis with superimposed AH (cirrhosis+AH). In 16 patients, ex vivo studies determined whether the removal of endotoxin restored neutrophil function. A resting burst greater than or equal to 5%, indicating neutrophil activation and a reduced phagocytic capacity lower than 42%, was associated with significantly greater risk of infection, organ failure, and mortality. This defective neutrophil function was transmissible through patients' plasma to normal neutrophils, and patients' neutrophil function could be restored by normal plasma. The ex vivo removal of endotoxin from patients' plasma decreased the resting burst and increased the phagocytic function. Conclusions: Our study provides the rationale for a goal‐directed approach to the management of patients with cirrhosis and AH, in which the assessment of neutrophil function may be an important biomarker to select patients for immunosuppressive therapy. The neutrophil dysfunction in cirrhosis and AH is reversible, with endotoxin‐removal strategies providing new targets for intervention. (HEPATOLOGY 2007.)
Resource Allocation in OFDM based Multihop Wireless Networks

OFDM modulation and multihop transmission are two important techniques for future wireless networks. This paper discusses the adaptive subcarrier and power allocation in OFDM based multihop networks. Both OFDM-TDMA and OFDM-FDMA access methods are considered. For OFDM-TDMA based multihop networks, a power allocation algorithm is proposed to maximize the end-to-end capacity for the constraint of the overall transmit power of all hops. For OFDM-FDMA based multihop networks, a joint subcarrier and power allocation algorithm is proposed. The performances of the proposed algorithms are evaluated, in both symmetric case (each hop has same average channel gain) and asymmetric case (the hops have different average channel gain). The results show that the OFDM-FDMA access method achieves a higher end-to-end capacity than the OFDM-TDMA access method, and the proposed adaptive resource allocation algorithms perform better than the fixed resource allocation strategy, in both cases
A Study of the “Crossover Population”: Aged Persons Entitled to Both Medicare and Medicaid

This study focused on persons 65 years of age and over who were dually entitled to Medicare and Medicaid in 1978. The paper examines their age, sex, and race characteristics, and their Medicare utilization and mortality rates in comparison to persons eligible for Medicare only. The study showed that the group entitled to both Medicare and Medicaid was relatively much older than those with Medicare only, with a mean age of 76.6 years compared to 73.6 years. In the group entitled to both Medicare and Medicaid, the proportion of persons of minority races was four times as great as the proportion in the remaining population. Nevertheless, nearly three out of four persons entitled to both programs were white. In the group with dual eligibility, 71 percent were women, compared to only 59 percent In the Medicare-only population. Thus, the dually covered group may be characterized as being relatively older than other Medicare enrollees, largely composed of white persons and women, and as having a higher proportion of minority persons than the general population. The study showed that a much higher proportion of dually entitled persons were users of the Medicare program than were persons eligible for Medicare only. On a per-enrollee basis, reimbursement was substantially higher for those dually eligible. The study also found differences in the diagnostic conditions of the dually entitled. The data indicate (after being standardized for age) that the death rate was 50 percent higher for the dually entitled. This difference in mortality is partly attributable to the relatively high mortality rates for the medically needy; nonetheless, the mortality rate for the dually entitled who also received cash assistance was 20 percent higher than those for other Medicare enrollees. The excess mortality among this group was notably higher for the age group 65-69, with a 50 percent excess mortality, and for the age group 70-79, the excess mortality was 30 percent. Thus, the dually entitled, in general, experience higher mortality rates than those with Medicare only, and that fact very likely explains to a large extent the higher utilization rates found for the dually entitled in this study. The paper concludes by raising some possible consequences of either Medicare or Medicaid coverage being altered or tightened.
Venezuela: Crowding Out the Opposition

The acceleration of authoritarianism in Venezuela since 2004, together with Hugo Chávez's reelection in 2006, cannot be explained easily with functional theories. Instead, we focus on political opportunities: specifically, economic resources at the state's disposal together with weakened institutions of representation helped crowd out the opposition. We show how clientelism and electoral authoritarianism feed each other. Together with deliberate strategies of polarization, impunity, and job discrimination, lavish spending has allowed the state to mobilize majorities and emerge undefeatable at the polls. This invincibility is, paradoxically, the reason that the Venezuelan state has become an unreliable force for promoting democracy.
Capital mobility, diminishing returns and wage inequality

This article sets up a new economic geography model with diminishing marginal returns to labor and capital and examines the effect of capital liberalization on industrial agglomeration and wage inequality. The simulation results indicate that, for a country with strict capital controls, capital liberalization is able to reduce the wage difference between countries in both nominal and real terms. It is also shown that the diminishing marginal returns and the increasing returns to scale have opposite effects on the location of economic activities: the effect of increasing returns to scale is prone to agglomerating economic activities into larger economies, while the effect of diminishing marginal returns tends to decentralize economic activities.
Update in podocyte biology: putting one's best foot forward

Purpose of reviewThe rapidly developing field of podocyte cell biology is reviewed, focusing on papers published in the last 12 months. Recent findingsFour areas of particular progress can be discerned. First, podocytes proliferate during early metanephric development, are quiescent after the capillary loop stage, and re-enter the cell cycle only in the disease group termed collapsing glomerulopathy. We have learned that control of the podocyte cell cycle involves both expression of cell-cycle regulating proteins and the process of cytokinesis. Second, the podocyte slit diaphragm is the final component of the filtration barrier. The structure and maintenance of the slit diaphragm has been a major focus of research activity, and a multiplicity of relevant molecular interactions have been defined. Significant advances have been made in understanding the complex and interacting role of nephrin and podocin mutations in the genesis of clinical glomerular disease. Third, several proteins essential to controlling discrete podocyte transcriptional programs have been defined. Finally, conditionally-immortalized podocyte cell lines, derived from mouse and human tissue, have proven their worth as models to advance investigations of podocyte biology. SummaryPodocyte injury occurs as a consequence of genetic mutation, immunological injury, viral infection, or abnormal hemodynamic forces within the glomerulus. As we understand more about the podocyte proteome and cell biology, we gain an increasingly detailed molecular understanding of podocyte structure and function. In this drama we have many molecular players and increasing stretches of molecular dialogue, but the script remains largely to be deciphered. Nevertheless, we do understand the consequences that arise when the podocyte cannot put its best foot (processes) forward.
Induction of antitumor immunity with dendritic cells transduced with adenovirus vector-encoding endogenous tumor-associated antigens.

Dendritic cells (DCs) are professional Ag-presenting cells that are being considered as potential immunotherapeutic agents to promote host immune responses against tumor Ags. In this study, recombinant adenovirus (Ad) vectors encoding melanoma-associated Ags were used to transduce murine DCs, which were then tested for their ability to activate CTL and induce protective immunity against B16 melanoma tumor cells. Immunization of C57BL/6 mice with DCs transduced with Ad vector encoding the hugp100 melanoma Ag (Ad2/hugp100) elicited the development of gp100-specific CTLs capable of lysing syngeneic fibroblasts transduced with Ad2/hugp100, as well as B16 cells expressing endogenous murine gp100. The induction of gp100-specific CTLs was associated with long term protection against lethal s.c. challenge with B16 cells. It was also possible to induce effective immunity against a murine melanoma self Ag, tyrosinase-related protein-2, using DCs transduced with Ad vector encoding the Ag. The level of antitumor protection achieved was dependent on the dose of DCs and required CD4+ T cell activity. Importantly, immunization with Ad vector-transduced DCs was not impaired in mice that had been preimmunized against Ad to mimic the immune status of the general human population. Finally, DC-based immunization also afforded partial protection against established B16 tumor cells, and the inhibition of tumor growth was improved by simultaneous immunization against two melanoma-associated Ags as opposed to either one alone. Taken together, these results support the concept of cancer immunotherapy using DCs transduced with Ad vectors encoding tumor-associated Ags.
Time Cells in Hippocampal Area CA3

Studies on time cells in the hippocampus have so far focused on area CA1 in animals performing memory tasks. Some studies have suggested that temporal processing within the hippocampus may be exclusive to CA1 and CA2, but not CA3, and may occur only under strong demands for memory. Here we examined the temporal and spatial coding properties of CA3 and CA1 neurons in rats performing a maze task that demanded working memory and a control task with no explicit working memory demand. In the memory demanding task, CA3 cells exhibited robust temporal modulation similar to the pattern of time cell activity in CA1, and the same populations of cells also exhibited typical place coding patterns in the same task. Furthermore, the temporal and spatial coding patterns of CA1 and CA3 were equivalently robust when animals performed a simplified version of the task that made no demands on working memory. However, time and place coding did differ in that the resolution of temporal coding decreased over time within the delay interval, whereas the resolution of place coding was not systematically affected by distance along the track. These findings support the view that CA1 and CA3 both participate in encoding the temporal and spatial organization of ongoing experience. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Hippocampal “time cells” that fire at specific moments in a temporally structured memory task have so far been observed only in area CA1, and some studies have suggested that temporal coding within the hippocampus is exclusive to CA1. Here we describe time cells also in CA3, and time cells in both areas are observed even without working memory demands, similar to place cells in these areas. However, unlike equivalent spatial coding along a path, temporal coding is nonlinear, with greater temporal resolution earlier than later in temporally structured experiences. These observations reveal both similarities and differences in temporal and spatial coding within the hippocampus of importance to understanding how these features of memory are represented in the hippocampus.
A survey instrument for standardizing TQM modeling research

For over a decade, total quality management has been a principle focus of business managers and academic researchers alike. The myriad prescriptions and practices, all purporting to represent this management philosophy, have been implemented with varying degrees of success. Despite the significant failure rate of TQM programs, the successes, as indicated by Baldrige Award winners, support continued interest in TQM. The search for linkages between current descriptive models and proposed prescriptive models of TQM spawned our research, which, in turn, required creation of a survey instrument. This paper describes the initial sources and development of this instrument, the rigorous sequence of testing that it has been subjected to, and its application for current and future research. The successful achievement of key survey statistics suggests that this instrument can be used for TQM data collection with confidence by researchers elsewhere who will investigate other proposed models.
Combining Convolution and Recursive Neural Networks for Sentiment Analysis

This paper addresses the problem of sentence-level sentiment analysis. In recent years, Convolution and Recursive Neural Networks have been proven to be effective network architecture for sentence-level sentiment analysis. Nevertheless, each of them has their own potential drawbacks. For alleviating their weaknesses, we combined Convolution and Recursive Neural Networks into a new network architecture. In addition, we employed transfer learning from a large document-level labeled sentiment dataset to improve the word embedding in our models. The resulting models outperform all recent Convolution and Recursive Neural Networks. Beyond that, our models achieve comparable performance with state-of-the-art systems on Stanford Sentiment Treebank.
Leading through Negotiation: Harnessing the Power of Gender Stereotypes

With the controversy surrounding Larry Summers's comments about innate differences between men and women as a backdrop, this article examines whether and when gender differences exist in the competitive negotiation arena. It reviews research that documents the impact of negotiators' beliefs and motivations on performance, focusing on gender stereotypes and their message regarding women's inability to perform on par with their male counterparts in business dealings. It documents the distinct performance impact of stereotypes that operate below the threshold of consciousness versus stereotypes that are out in the open; and it specifically explores gender stereotypes in the context of the broader issue of bargaining power. Such stereotypes affect both objective and subjective power at the bargaining table. After providing insights into the way that gender stereotypes operate, this article identifies strategies for mitigating their potentially harmful effects and instead using them to encourage performance gains.