Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Ulinastatin and Septic Cardiac Dysfunction

Sepsis is a common disease in the domain of Critical Care Medicine. It is a systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS), which is response to infection. And severe sepsis may lead to septic shock and multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS). The pathogenesy underlying cardiac dysfunction in sepsis is still incompletely understood and the mortality is high, although considerable effort has been applicable to understand the mechanism of inflammatory cascade response and multiple-system organ failure induced by sepsis (Wheeler and Bernard 1999). The research also found that the incidence rates of severe sepsis in the patients of hospitalization were annualized increase by 8.7 percent in the United States in the past decades years ago (Bernard et al. 1997; Martin et al. 2003; Melamed and Sorvillo 2009). However the mortality decreased in a certain, from 27.8 percent 1979 to 17.9 percent in 1995 (Martin et al. 2003; Melamed and Sorvillo 2009). But in the ICUs, incidence rate of severe sepsis occurs was still high which is up to 11% of the patients, and the mortality rates range from 18% to 55% in the developed country (Finfer et al. 2004; Karlsson et al. 2007).
Strong reproductive isolation and narrow genomic tracts of differentiation among three woodpecker species in secondary contact

Hybrid zones allow the measurement of gene flow across the genome, producing insight into the genomic architecture of speciation. Such analysis is particularly powerful when applied to multiple pairs of hybridizing species, as patterns of genomic differentiation can then be related to age of the hybridizing species, providing a view into the build‐up of differentiation over time. We examined 33 809 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in three hybridizing woodpecker species: Red‐breasted, Red‐naped and Yellow‐bellied sapsuckers (Sphyrapicus ruber, Sphyrapicus nuchalis and Sphyrapicus varius), two of which (ruber and nuchalis) are much more closely related than each is to the third (varius). To identify positions of SNPs on chromosomes, we developed a localization method based on comparative genomics. We found narrow clines, bimodal distributions of hybrid indices and genomic regions with decreased rates of introgression. These results suggest moderately strong reproductive isolation among species and selection against specific hybrid genotypes. We found 19 small regions of strong differentiation between species, partly shared among species pairs, but no large regions of differentiation. An association analysis revealed a single strong‐effect candidate locus associated with plumage, possibly explaining mismatch among the three species in genomic relatedness and plumage similarity. Our comparative analysis of species pairs of different age and their hybrid zones showed that moderately strong reproductive isolation can occur with little genomic differentiation, but that reproductive isolation is incomplete even with much greater genomic differentiation, implying there are long periods of time when hybridization is possible if diverging populations are in geographic contact.
A Journey into the Dark Arts of Quantitative Finance

We derive a closed-form expansion of option prices in terms of Black-Scholes prices and higher-order Greeks. We show how the true price of an option less its BlackScholes price is given by a series of premiums on higher-order risks that are not priced under the Black-Scholes model assumptions. The expansion can be used for a broad class of option pricing models with dynamics governed by time-changed Brownian motions. Specifically, we study expansions for exponential Levy models such as the Variance Gamma and the Normal Inverse Gaussian models as well as their stochastic volatility counterparts, e.g., the VGSV and NIGSV models. Moreover, we consider extensions of the expansion to a more general subclass of affine jump-diffusion models for which the pricing transform may not be known in closed form.
Why Do Merchants Accept Payment Cards?

This short article explains why merchants accept expensive payment cards when merchants are Cournot competitors. The same acceptance rule as the Hotelling price competition model of Rochet and Tirole (2002) is derived. Unlike the models used in the existing literature, in the Cournot setting without free entry of merchants, payment card acceptance expands merchant output and increases merchant profit in equilibrium. With free entry, payment card acceptance increases the number of merchants in the industry and industry output.
Small Business Policy in the United Kingdom: The Inheritance of the Small Business Service and Implications for its Future Effectiveness

The launch of the Small Business Service in the United Kingdom stimulated a review of small business policy and support in the United Kingdom. The Service inherited a substantial number of policies and initiatives which have been criticised for their poorly stated aims and overall lack of coherence. The authors examine justifications for small business policy in Britain and the role of research in small business policymaking. They suggest that research has had relatively little impact, and some reasons why this has been the case. They also suggest ways of setting a small business research agenda—raising standards and ensuring the independence of research. Attention is given to the evaluation of small business policy and initiatives. It is argued that currently this is not sufficiently independent or rigorous, and the authors suggest remedies. Both quantitative and qualitative evaluation approaches are examined in order to redefine good practice. The overall aim is to suggest how the Small Business Service can be better supported by research and evaluation, enabling it to function more successfully than its predecessors.
The lipid‐lowering effect of trans‐dehydrocrotonin, a clerodane diterpene from Croton cajucara Benth. in mice fed on high‐fat diet

The clerodane diterpene trans‐dehydrocrotonin extracted and isolated from the stem bark of Croton cajucara Benth. was investigated for its lipid‐lowering effect in mice fed on a high‐fat diet. Mice fed on a high‐fat diet for a two‐week period demonstrated significantly increased blood levels of total cholesterol and triglycerides, compared with normal controls. Oral treatment with trans‐dehydrocrotonin at a dose of 25 or 50 mg kg−1 daily markedly suppressed the high‐fat‐diet associated rise in total cholesterol and triglyceride levels. The hypocholesterolaemic effect of trans‐dehydrocrotonin was more prominent at the dose of 50 mg kg−1 with significant decreases in high‐density lipoprotein, very‐low‐density lipoprotein and low‐density lipoprotein cholesterol levels. The lower atherogenic index of the trans‐dehydrocrotonin‐treated groups suggests the hypolipidaemic potential of this plant‐based drug. These results indicate that orally administered trans‐dehydrocrotonin is effective in suppressing high‐fat‐diet‐induced hyperlipidaemia in mice and suggest its likely beneficial use as anti‐atherogenic agent.
Critical behavior in gravitational collapse of radiation fluid: A renormalization group (linear perturbation) analysis.

A scenario is presented, based on renormalization group (linear perturbation) ideas, which can explain the universality and scaling observed in a numerical study of gravitational collapse of radiation fluid. In particular, it is shown that the critical exponent $\ensuremath{\beta}$ and the largest Lyapunov exponent $\mathrm{Re}\ensuremath{\kappa}$ of the perturbation is related by $\ensuremath{\beta}\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}=\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}(\mathrm{Re}\ensuremath{\kappa}{)}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$. We find the relevant perturbation mode numerically, and obtain a fairly accurate value of the critical exponent $\ensuremath{\beta}\ensuremath{\simeq}0.35580192$, also in agreement with that obtained in numerical simulation.
Long-Term Results of Partial Nasal Reconstructions with Indian Flap.

UNLABELLED The aim of the study was clinical evaluation of the results following reconstruction with the Indian flap in patients with partial nasal defects, and estimation of their postoperative life quality in functional and aesthetic aspects. MATERIAL AND METHODS We analyzed results in 38 patients who underwent reconstructions with the Indian flap in the Department of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery between years 2000‑2013. The patients were followed-up for at least 2 years. We estimated their life quality in aesthetic and functional aspects after surgery. RESULTS Observed complications of nasal reconstruction were alar asymmetry in 6 patients (15.8%), nasal obstruction in 6 persons (15.8%), wide postoperative scar in 4 (10.5%), and non-aesthetic appearance of the donor site in two cases (5.3%). Estimation of life quality post surgery in the examined group of patients revealed significant postoperative improvement in both functional and aesthetic aspects. CONCLUSIONS 1. Reconstructions of nasal defects with the Indian flap resulted in satisfactory longterm postoperative results, which confirms the efficiency of the applied technique. 2. Reconstructive surgery with Indian flap of individuals with partial nasal defects contributed to significant postoperative improvement in both functional and aesthetic aspects and their life quality.
Requirements for Glucose Beyond Sperm Capacitation During In Vitro Fertilization in the Mouse1

Abstract In both the mouse and the human, it is a point of controversy whether glucose is necessary for in vitro fertilization. Some of this controversy has resulted from a failure to distinguish between requirements for glucose during sperm capacitation versus requirements during the multistage process of fertilization. Using the mouse as a model, we performed a series of experiments designed to identify specific processes that might require glucose. We observed a positive correlation between increasing glucose concentrations during capacitation and fertilization, and increasing fertilization of zona pellucida (ZP)-intact eggs. These data supported a requirement for glucose in the fertilization medium even when sperm were first capacitated in the presence of 5.5 mM glucose. This glucose requirement was observed for both ZP-intact and ZP-free eggs. During ZP-free in vitro fertilization, some binding and fusion between the plasma membrane of the sperm and egg occurred in the absence of glucose and at concentrations less than 1 mM, suggesting that this substrate is not absolutely required. However, glucose concentrations of 1 mM or higher greatly facilitated both binding and fusion under these conditions. These subtle distinctions suggest that during ZP-free in vitro fertilization, 1 mM glucose represents a threshold level that facilitates binding and fusion. Taken as a whole, the data suggest requirements for glucose during both capacitation and fertilization under normal physiologic conditions.
Model-Free Policy Gradients for Multi-Agent Shape Formation

Distributed solutions for tasks that require tight coordination between multiple robots present a significant challenge, due to the requirements for robots to model their own state, the states and actions of other robots, and any communication available. Common approaches for multi-agent coordination either depend on full observability and deterministic policies, like Q-learning algorithms [1], or use models that cannot scale above a few agents [2]. These techniques cannot be applied in larger groups or scenarios with only partial observability. They also cannot adapt to unknown or changing environments, like those that would be encountered in search and rescue after a natural disaster, where maps may be inaccurate and communication unreliable. In this work, we study shape formation, where a group of agents in a 2-D space must arrange themselves into a desired shape. Agents can move within the space with limited velocity and observe other agents nearby, but cannot uniquely identify or explicitly communicate with them. The shape may be located anywhere in the space, as only agents’ relative positions are important for task completion. Previous work on shape formation has used methods that require agents to be aware of their positions or use a fixed hierarchy, which are unrealistic requirements when sensing is limited and the environment is changing [3]. We introduce a model-free approach for a multi-agent system to learn distributed policies. The agents use gradient ascent to jointly reach policies to complete shape formation efficiently, and these policies and these policies perform better than Q-learning or model-based methods in known spaces and in spaces with unknown obstacles. While this problem provides a working example, the technique is much more general and can be applied to any cooperative problem and scaled to any size group.
Financial Reforms and Time-Varying Microstructures in Emerging Equity Markets

This paper seeks to investigate the impact of financial reforms on time-varying microstructures in emerging equity markets. We develop annual indicators of informational efficiency, market volatility and transaction costs, using daily data for a panel of 28 emerging markets over the 1996-2007 period. We then analyze the impact of insider trading regulations, trading system automation and accounting standardization on microstructures through a set of panel regressions controlling for financial development and simultaneous reforms. Our results suggest that emerging market microstructures are affected by economic and political context, are strongly related to one another and depend on specific institutional reforms.
Corporate re‐branding: is cultural alignment the weakest link?

Purpose – This study seeks to empirically examine cultural alignment with new corporate brand values in the rebranding aftermath.Design/methodology/approach – Focuses on a case study of a firm that recently underwent a corporate rebranding campaign. Analysis is based on data collected through 14 in‐depth interviews with senior managers, and questionnaire data from an intranet survey with the firm's employees.Findings – The empirical findings highlight that despite the firm's internal communication initiatives, current staff attitudes and behaviours are not aligned with the new corporate brand priorities. Resistance to change appears to play an important role in this respect. Yet, interestingly, some divisions view the current culture as more aligned to the new corporate brand than others. Moreover, staff that have joined the firm after the rebranding exercise view the current culture as more aligned to the new corporate brand values than those who have been with the firm since before the launch of the new.
Epigenetic Mechanisms Linking Diabetes and Synaptic Impairments

Diabetes is one of the major risk factors for dementia. However, the molecular mechanism underlying the risk of diabetes for dementia is largely unknown. Recent studies revealed that epigenetic modifications may play a role in the pathogenesis of diabetes. We hypothesized that diabetes may cause epigenetic changes in the brain that may adversely affect synaptic function. We found significant elevation in the expression of histone deacetylases (HDACs) class IIa in the brains of diabetic subjects compared with control subjects, and these changes coincide with altered expression of synaptic proteins. In a mouse model of diet-induced type 2 diabetes (T2D), we found that, similar to humans, T2D mice also showed increased expression of HDAC IIa in the brain, and these alterations were associated with increased susceptibility to oligomeric Aβ-induced synaptic impairments in the hippocampal formation and eventually led to synaptic dysfunction. Pharmacological inhibition of HDAC IIa restored synaptic plasticity. Our study demonstrates that diabetes may induce epigenetic modifications affecting neuropathological mechanisms in the brain leading to increased susceptibility to insults associated with neurodegenerative or vascular impairments. Our study provides, for the first time, an epigenetic explanation for the increased risk of diabetic patients developing dementia.
Vladimir Putin's last stand: the sources of Russia's Ukraine policy

The paper studies Russia's Ukraine policy since the Orange Revolution. Russia's policy toward its western neighbor has evolved from unhappy relations with Victor Yushchenko to rapprochement with Victor Yanukovich and then confrontation over the revolutionary power change in Kiev in February 2014. The paper argues that Vladimir Putin's actions following February revolution in Kiev demonstrate both change and continuity in Russia's foreign policy. Although these actions constituted a major escalation, relative to Russia's previous behavior toward Ukraine, the escalation of relations with Kiev also reflected a broader policy pattern of Russia's assertive relations with the Western nations adopted by the Kremlin since the mid-2000s. What made Russia's conflict with Ukraine possible, even inevitable, was the West's lack of recognition for Russia's values and interests in Eurasia, on the one hand, and the critically important role that Ukraine played in the Kremlin's foreign policy calculations, on the other. The paper provides an empirically grounded interpretation of Russia's changing policy that emphasizes Russia–Ukraine–West interaction and a mutually reinforcing dynamics of their misunderstanding. It also addresses four alternative explanations of Russia's Ukraine policy and discusses several dangers and possible solutions to the crisis.
Audio-visual emotion recognition using deep transfer learning and multiple temporal models

This paper presents the techniques used in our contribution to Emotion Recognition in the Wild 2017 video based sub-challenge. The purpose of the sub-challenge is to classify the six basic emotions (angry, sad, happy, surprise, fear and disgust) and neutral. Our proposed solution utilizes three state-of-the-arts techniques to overcome the challenges for the wild emotion recognition. Deep network transfer learning is used for feature extraction. Spatial-temporal model fusion is to make full use of the complementary of different networks. Semi-auto reinforcement learning is for the optimization of fusion strategy based on dynamic outside feedbacks given by challenge organizers. The overall accuracy of the proposed approach on the challenge test dataset is 57.2%, which is better than the challenge baseline of 40.47% .
Using economic and other performance measures to evaluate a municipal drought plan

This paper explores the welfare costs associated with drought plan transactions between a public municipal water agency, the El Dorado Irrigation District (EID) in California in the USA and its customers. The EID imposes a tiered pricing plan for municipal customers, which was analyzed as a discrete continuous choice (DCC) model by water users within a climate driven water evaluation and planning (WEAP) model of the EID water system. The DCC is subsequently used to estimate the compensating variation (CV) measure of the loss of consumer welfare in the case where a customer does not receive water that matches a preferred level of demand. In addition to monetized welfare loss, we look at other metrics of performance such as reservoir storage and hydropower generation. For the drought-of-record under full build-out, results show that the welfare loss to EID customers from the imposed drought plan is far less than if no drought plan were in place. This suggests that current consumption is well beyond essential needs and, without a drought plan, water shortages in the later period of a drought would generate a much greater welfare loss. Most of the cost associated with the drought plan is born by EID in the form of reduced revenues.
Trends in investments in global energy research, development, and demonstration

Recent national trends in investments in global energy research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) are inconsistent around the world. Public RD&D investments in energy are the metric most commonly used in international comparative assessments of energy‐technology innovation, and the metric employed in this article. Overall, the data indicate that International Energy Agency (IEA) member country government investments have been volatile: they peaked in the late 1970s, declined during the subsequent two decades, bottomed out in 1997, and then began to gradually grow again during the 2000s. The allocation of funding for different energy‐technology areas also varies hugely across different countries, but investments in fossil fuel and nuclear technologies continue to dominate spending. We have very poor data for private investments, but it is very likely that they have decreased as a result of the recent recession. Despite their increasing significance in the world's energy sector, little is known about public or private energy innovation investments in the rapidly developing countries. None of the six ‘BRIMCS’ countries reviewed here are members of the IEA, which is one of the few agencies that collects international statistical data on energy RD&D budgets. Like energy RD&D patterns in the United States and other IEA countries, BRIMCS country energy RD&D appears to take place predominantly in fossil fuel and nuclear technologies. WIREs Clim Change 2011 2 373–396 DOI: 10.1002/wcc.112
Plasma anti‐inflammatory cytokines and monocyte human leucocyte antigen‐DR expression in patients with acute pancreatitis

Background: Immune suppression plays a role in the pathogenesis of acute pancreatitis. The purpose was to describe plasma anti‐inflammatory cytokines and blood monocyte human leucocyte antigen (HLA)‐DR expression, a cellular marker of immune suppression, in relation to clinical outcome in acute pancreatitis. Methods: We studied 74 patients with acute pancreatitis admitted within 72 h after symptom onset; 27 had mild disease and 47 severe disease, of whom 20 developed organ failure. Plasma cytokine concentrations and monocyte HLA‐DR density were determined at admission and 1, 2, 3, 7, 14 and 21 days later. Results: The levels of interleukin‐1 receptor antagonist, interleukin‐6 and interleukin‐10 correlated inversely to monocyte HLA‐DR expression; each marker correlated with disease severity. Interleukin‐4, ‐11 and ‐13 levels were low. Organ failure occurred at median 36 h (range 8 to 158) after admission and was predicted at admission by the combination of interleukin‐6 and interleukin‐10 with sensitivity of 95%, specificity of 88% and positive likelihood ratio of 7.6 (95% confidence interval 3.3 to 17). Patients with secondary infections had a lower proportion of HLA‐DR positive monocytes than did controls at day 14 (median: 32% versus 65%; n = 7) and at day 21 (median: 49% versus 83%; n = 6), P < 0.05 each. In the organ failure group, HLA‐DR expression did not differ between survivors and non‐survivors. Conclusions: Determining the severity of anti‐inflammatory reaction at admission and monitoring the course of immune suppression provide a means for predicting clinical outcome in acute pancreatitis.
On the Expected Duration of PERT Type Networks

In PERT-type networks, where activity times are random variables, the expected duration of the total project can be approximated by first substituting the expected values of the individual activities, and then evaluating the length of the critical path. This paper develops two improved estimates. Both estimates approach the true expected duration from below, i.e., they are both optimistic estimates.