Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Panel data estimation in finance : parameter consistency and the standard error

We examine the empirical validity of a key assumption that is necessary for common panel data estimation techniques to generate consistent parameter estimates. In a large set of canonical empirical finance models, we show that this assumption of strict exogeneity is almost always violated. This implies that many studies are not estimating the true parameter of interest, and larger samples or adjustments to the standard errors cannot ever hope to solve the problem. We discuss reasons why strict exogeneity is unlikely to hold in many common finance settings, and we offer evidence on the possible economic magnitude of the resulting estimation errors. While we cannot offer a comprehensive solution to this problem, we suggest an approach that exploits industry-year variation in the explanatory variable of interest. We provide some initial evidence on the usefulness of this approach in a specific setting.
The S-Layer Protein of the Anammox Bacterium Kuenenia stuttgartiensis Is Heavily O-Glycosylated

Anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) bacteria are a distinct group of Planctomycetes that are characterized by their unique ability to perform anammox with nitrite to dinitrogen gas in a specialized organelle. The cell of anammox bacteria comprises three membrane-bound compartments and is surrounded by a two-dimensional crystalline S-layer representing the direct interaction zone of anammox bacteria with the environment. Previous results from studies with the model anammox organism Kuenenia stuttgartiensis suggested that the protein monomers building the S-layer lattice are glycosylated. In the present study, we focussed on the characterization of the S-layer protein glycosylation in order to increase our knowledge on the cell surface characteristics of anammox bacteria. Mass spectrometry (MS) analysis showed an O-glycan attached to 13 sites distributed over the entire 1591-amino acid S-layer protein. This glycan is composed of six monosaccharide residues, of which five are N-acetylhexosamine (HexNAc) residues. Four of these HexNAc residues have been identified as GalNAc. The sixth monosaccharide in the glycan is a putative dimethylated deoxyhexose. Two of the HexNAc residues were also found to contain a methyl group, thereby leading to an extensive degree of methylation of the glycan. This study presents the first characterization of a glycoprotein in a planctomycete and shows that the S-layer protein Kustd1514 of K. stuttgartiensis is heavily glycosylated with an O-linked oligosaccharide which is additionally modified by methylation. S-layer glycosylation clearly contributes to the diversification of the K. stuttgartiensis cell surface and can be expected to influence the interaction of the bacterium with other cells or abiotic surfaces.
Impact of acute psychological stress on cardiovascular risk factors in face of insulin resistance

Abstract Individuals with insulin resistance (IR) are at greater risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD). Psychological stress may contribute to develop CVD in IR, although mechanisms are poorly understood. Our aim was to test the hypothesis that individuals with IR have enhanced emotional and physiological responses to acute psychological stress, leading to increased CVD risk. Sixty participants were enrolled into the study, and classified into IR group (n = 31) and insulin sensitive group (n = 29) according to the Quantitative insulin sensitivity check index, which was calculated based on an oral glucose tolerance test. The Trier social stress test, a standardized experimental stress paradigm, was performed on each participant, and emotional and physiological responses were examined. Blood was collected from each subject for insulin, cytokines, and cortisol measurements. Compared with the insulin-sensitive group, individuals with IR had significantly lower ratings of energy and calm, but higher fatigue levels in response to acute stressors. Individuals with IR also showed blunted heart rate reactivity following stress. In addition, the IR status was worsened by acute psychological stress as demonstrated by further increased insulin secretion. Furthermore, individuals with IR showed significantly increased levels of leptin and interleukin-6, but decreased levels of adiponectin, at baseline, stress test, and post-stress period. Our findings in individuals with IR under acute stress would allow a better understanding of the risks for developing CVD and to tailor the interventions for better outcomes.
A flexible new method for 3D measurement based on multi-view image sequences

Three-dimensional measurement is the base part for reverse engineering. The paper developed a new flexible and fast optical measurement method based on multi-view geometry theory. At first, feature points are detected and matched with improved SIFT algorithm. The Hellinger Kernel is used to estimate the histogram distance instead of traditional Euclidean distance, which is immunity to the weak texture image; then a new filter three-principle for filtering the calculation of essential matrix is designed, the essential matrix is calculated using the improved a Contrario Ransac filter method. One view point cloud is constructed accurately with two view images; after this, the overlapped features are used to eliminate the accumulated errors caused by added view images, which improved the camera’s position precision. At last, the method is verified with the application of dental restoration CAD/CAM, experiment results show that the proposed method is fast, accurate and flexible for tooth 3D measurement.
Factors associated with asthma expression in adolescents

ABSTRACT Objective: To evaluate risk factors associated with asthma symptoms in adolescents in the 13- to 14-year age bracket. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study involving adolescents enrolled in randomly selected public schools in the city of Belo Horizonte, Brazil, and conducted with the use of the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) questionnaire and its supplementary module for risk factor assessment. The ISAAC questionnaire was completed by the students themselves, whereas the supplementary questionnaire was completed by their parents or legal guardians. Variables showing p ≤ 0.25 in the univariate analysis were included in the multivariate analysis. Stepwise regression with backward elimination was used for variable selection. Results: We evaluated 375 adolescents, 124 (33.1%) of whom had asthma symptoms. The final multivariate analysis model revealed that asthma symptoms were associated with birth weight < 2,500 g (p < 0.001), day care center or nursery attendance (p < 0.002), maternal history of asthma (p < 0.001), contact with animals during the first year of life (p < 0.027), current contact with animals outside the home (dogs, cats, or farm animals; p < 0.005), and more than 20 cigarettes per day smoked by parents or other household members (p < 0.02). Conclusions: Exposure to animals in and outside the home is associated with asthma symptoms, as is environmental tobacco smoke exposure. Families, health professionals, and administrators of health care facilities should take that into account in order to prevent asthma and reduce asthma morbidity.
Robust and efficient fiducial tracking for augmented reality in HD-laparoscopic video streams

Augmented Reality (AR) is a convenient way of porting information from medical images into the surgical field of view and can deliver valuable assistance to the surgeon, especially in laparoscopic procedures. In addition, high definition (HD) laparoscopic video devices are a great improvement over the previously used low resolution equipment. However, in AR applications that rely on real-time detection of fiducials from video streams, the demand for efficient image processing has increased due to the introduction of HD devices. We present an algorithm based on the well-known Conditional Density Propagation (CONDENSATION) algorithm which can satisfy these new demands. By incorporating a prediction around an already existing and robust segmentation algorithm, we can speed up the whole procedure while leaving the robustness of the fiducial segmentation untouched. For evaluation purposes we tested the algorithm on recordings from real interventions, allowing for a meaningful interpretation of the results. Our results show that we can accelerate the segmentation by a factor of 3.5 on average. Moreover, the prediction information can be used to compensate for fiducials that are temporarily occluded or out of scope, providing greater stability.
Equilibrium States in Two-Temperature Systems

Systems characterized by more than one temperature usually appear in nonequilibrium statistical mechanics. In some cases, e.g., glasses, there is a temperature at which fast variables become thermalized, and another case associated with modes that evolve towards an equilibrium state in a very slow way. Recently, it was shown that a system of vortices interacting repulsively, considered as an appropriate model for type-II superconductors, presents an equilibrium state characterized by two temperatures. The main novelty concerns the fact that apart from the usual temperature T, related to fluctuations in particle velocities, an additional temperature θ was introduced, associated with fluctuations in particle positions. Since they present physically distinct characteristics, the system may reach an equilibrium state, characterized by finite and different values of these temperatures. In the application of type-II superconductors, it was shown that θ≫T, so that thermal effects could be neglected, leading to a consistent thermodynamic framework based solely on the temperature θ. In the present work, a more general situation, concerning a system characterized by two distinct temperatures θ1 and θ2, which may be of the same order of magnitude, is discussed. These temperatures appear as coefficients of different diffusion contributions of a nonlinear Fokker-Planck equation. An H-theorem is proven, relating such a Fokker-Planck equation to a sum of two entropic forms, each of them associated with a given diffusion term; as a consequence, the corresponding stationary state may be considered as an equilibrium state, characterized by two temperatures. One of the conditions for such a state to occur is that the different temperature parameters, θ1 and θ2, should be thermodynamically conjugated to distinct entropic forms, S1 and S2, respectively. A functional Λ[P]≡Λ(S1[P],S2[P]) is introduced, which presents properties characteristic of an entropic form; moreover, a thermodynamically conjugated temperature parameter γ(θ1,θ2) can be consistently defined, so that an alternative physical description is proposed in terms of these pairs of variables. The physical consequences, and particularly, the fact that the equilibrium-state distribution, obtained from the Fokker-Planck equation, should coincide with the one from entropy extremization, are discussed.
Exploiting dream-like simulation mechanisms to develop safer agents for automated driving: The “Dreams4Cars” EU research and innovation action

Automated driving needs unprecedented levels of reliably and safety before marked deployment. The average human driver fatal accident rate is 1 every 100 million miles. Automated vehicles will have to provably best these figures. This paper introduces the notion of dream-like mechanisms as a simulation technology to produce a large number of hypothetical design and test scenarios — especially focusing on variations of more frequent dangerous and near miss events. Grounded in the simulation hypothesis of cognition, we show here some principles for effective simulation mechanisms and an artificial cognitive system architecture that can learn from the simulated situations.
Mortality tradeoff between air quality and skin cancer from changes in stratospheric ozone

Skin cancer mortality resulting from stratospheric ozone depletion has been widely studied. Similarly, there is a deep body of literature on surface ozone and its health impacts, with modeling and observational studies demonstrating that surface ozone concentrations can be increased when stratospheric air mixes to the Earth’s surface. We offer the first quantitative estimate of the trade-off between these two effects, comparing surface air quality benefits and UV-related harms from stratospheric ozone depletion. Applying an idealized ozone loss term in the stratosphere of a chemistry-transport model for modern-day conditions, we find that each Dobson unit of stratospheric ozone depletion results in a net decrease in the global annual mortality rate of ~40 premature deaths per billion population (d/bn/DU). The impacts are spatially heterogeneous in sign and magnitude, composed of a reduction in premature mortality rate due to ozone exposure of ~80 d/bn/DU concentrated in Southeast Asia, and an increase in skin cancer mortality rate of ~40 d/bn/DU, mostly in Western Europe. This is the first study to quantify air quality benefits of stratospheric ozone depletion, and the first to find that marginal decreases in stratospheric ozone around modern-day values could result in a net reduction in global mortality due to competing health impact pathways. This result, which is subject to significant methodological uncertainty, highlights the need to understand the health and environmental trade-offs involved in policy decisions regarding anthropogenic influences on ozone chemistry over the 21st century.
Models and methods of inter-gate resynthesis at the transistor level for nanoelectronic circuits based on FinFETs

Sharing the methods of logical and physical synthesis can be an effective solution of the nanoelectronic circuits design problem. The logical resynthesis has a significant effect on the subsequent design efficiency. To solve this problem, models and methods of inter-gate resynthesis at the transistor level were developed earlier at the IPPM RAS. Proposed methods was adopted for structural optimization based on information about physical implementation of FinFET circuits. An effective algorithm of structural optimization was developed. A new layout description model based on the SP graph extension was proposed. In this case, degrees of freedom is retained due to the boolean graph, and high accuracy of power and area calculation is achieved through structural interpretation at the transistor level. According to preliminary estimates, the reduction in the area with the proposed approach will be about 20–30% compared to the results of the synthesis in commercial CAD systems.
SIRT 3 attenuates AngII-induced cardiac fibrosis by inhibiting myofibroblasts transdifferentiation via STAT 3-NFATc 2 pathway

Cardiac fibrosis is a maladaptive response to various stresses, characterized by increased interstitial collagen deposition and progressive cardiac dysfunction. The transdifferentiation of fibroblasts into myofibroblasts is an essential process in the pathogenesis of cardiac fibrosis. SIRT3, as a mitochondrial NAD+-dependent histone deacetylase, has been demonstrated beneficial in many cardiovascular diseases. However, the specific mechanism of its protective role in cardiac fibrosis needs to be elucidated further. Here, we determined the role of SIRT3 in cardiac fibrosis by subjecting Sirt3-knockout mice to chronic AngII infusion for four weeks in vivo. In this study, the Sirt3-knockout mice developed more serious cardiac fibrosis compared to wild-type controls. In vitro, primary cardiac fibroblasts from Sirt3-knockout mice transdifferentiated into myofibroblasts spontaneously and this phenotype conversion exaggerated after AngII stimulation. The SIRT3-KO myofibroblasts secret more fibrotic mediators including TGF-β to promote cardiac fibrosis. In addition, the overexpression of SIRT3 by lentivirus transfection attenuated myofibroblasts transdifferentiation. We further demonstrated that SIRT3 directly binds to and deacetylates STAT3 to inhibit its activity. Sequentially the downstream factor, known as NFATc2, showed a reduced expression. Taken together, these results revealed that SIRT3 can protect against cardiac fibrosis by inhibiting myofibroblasts transdifferentiation via the STAT3-NFATc2 signaling pathway.
Defining Remoteness from Health Care: Integrated Research on Accessing Emergency Maternal Care in Indonesia

The causes of maternal death are well known, and are largely preventable if skilled health care is received promptly. Complex interactions between geographic and socio-cultural factors affect access to, and remoteness from, health care but research on this topic rarely integrates spatial and social sciences. In this study, modeling of travel time was integrated with social science research to refine our understanding of remoteness from health care. Travel time to health facilities offering emergency obstetric care (EmOC) and population distribution were modelled for a district in eastern Indonesia. As an index of remoteness, the proportion of the population more than two hours estimated travel time from EmOC was calculated. For the best case scenario (transport by ambulance in the dry season), modelling estimated more than 10,000 fertile aged women were more than two hours from EmOC. Maternal mortality ratios were positively correlated with the remoteness index, however there was considerable variation around this relationship. In a companion study, ethnographic research in a subdistrict with relatively good access to health care and high maternal mortality identified factors influencing access to EmOC, including some that had not been incorporated into the travel time model. Ethnographic research provided information about actual travel involved in requesting and reaching EmOC. Modeled travel time could be improved by incorporating time to deliver request for care. Further integration of social and spatial methods and the development of more dynamic travel time models are needed to develop programs and policies to address these multiple factors to improve maternal health outcomes.
7.4 A 915MHz asymmetric radio using Q-enhanced amplifier for a fully integrated 3×3×3mm3 wireless sensor node with 20m non-line-of-sight communication

Enabling long range (>10m) wireless communication in non-line-of sight (NLOS) scenarios would dramatically expand the application space and usability of mm-scale wireless sensor nodes. The major technical challenges posed by a mm-scale form-factor are poor antenna efficiency and the small instantaneous current limit (∼10s of μA) of thin-film batteries. We address these challenges in several ways: 1) We found that a magnetic dipole antenna achieves better efficiency at an electrically-small size than an electric dipole, when the antennas are resonated with off-chip lumped components. In addition, the high impedance of electrically-small electric dipoles (∼4kΩ compared to 10Ω for the magnetic antenna) requires an impractically large off-chip inductor to resonate. 2) By simultaneously considering the magnetic dipole efficiency, frequency-dependent path-loss, and wall penetration loss, we found that a 915MHz carrier frequency is optimal for a 3×3×3mm3 sensor node in NLOS asymmetric communication with a gateway. This is despite the resulting low antenna efficiency (0.21%) which typically drives mm-scale radios to operate at ≫1GHz frequency [1]. 3) In transmit (TX) mode, instead of using a PA and PLL, we utilize a cross-coupled driver to resonate the magnetic antenna at 915MHz with a quality factor (Q) of 110 in order to reduce overall power consumption. 4) In receive (RX) mode, we propose an approach of reusing the cross-coupled driver in a non-oscillating mode to raise the Q of the resonant tank to 300, resulting in 49dB voltage gain at 43µW, thereby replacing a power-hungry LNA and bulky off-chip filter. 5) A sparse pulse-position modulation (PPM) combined with a sensor-initiation communication protocol [2] shifts the power-hungry calibration of frequency offset to the gateway, enabling crystal-free radio design. The complete radio, including the transceiver IC, a 3D antenna, off-chip capacitors, a processor, a power management unit (PMU) and memory, is integrated within a 3×3×3mm3 sensor node, demonstrating stand-alone bi-directional 20m NLOS wireless communication with variable data rates of 30b/s to 30.3kb/s for TX and 7.8kb/s to 62.5kb/s for RX. The transmitter generates −26.9 dBm equivalent isotropically radiated power (EIRP) consuming 2mW power and the receiver has a sensitivity of −93dBm consuming 1.85mW.
A Novel Endothelial L-Selectin Ligand Activity in Lymph Node Medulla That Is Regulated by α(1,3)-Fucosyltransferase-IV

Lymphocytes home to peripheral lymph nodes (PLNs) via high endothelial venules (HEVs) in the subcortex and incrementally larger collecting venules in the medulla. HEVs express ligands for L-selectin, which mediates lymphocyte rolling. L-selectin counterreceptors in HEVs are recognized by mAb MECA-79, a surrogate marker for molecularly heterogeneous glycans termed peripheral node addressin. By contrast, we find that medullary venules express L-selectin ligands not recognized by MECA-79. Both L-selectin ligands must be fucosylated by α(1,3)-fucosyltransferase (FucT)-IV or FucT-VII as rolling is absent in FucT-IV+VII−/− mice. Intravital microscopy experiments revealed that MECA-79–reactive ligands depend primarily on FucT-VII, whereas MECA-79–independent medullary L-selectin ligands are regulated by FucT-IV. Expression levels of both enzymes paralleled these anatomical distinctions. The relative mRNA level of FucT-IV was higher in medullary venules than in HEVs, whereas FucT-VII was most prominent in HEVs and weak in medullary venules. Thus, two distinct L-selectin ligands are segmentally confined to contiguous microvascular domains in PLNs. Although MECA-79–reactive species predominate in HEVs, medullary venules express another ligand that is spatially, antigenically, and biosynthetically unique. Physiologic relevance for this novel activity in medullary microvessels is suggested by the finding that L-selectin–dependent T cell homing to PLNs was partly insensitive to MECA-79 inhibition.
The “Food Polymer Science” approach to the practice of industrial R&D, leading to patent estates based on fundamental starch science and technology

ABSTRACT This article reviews the application of the “Food Polymer Science” approach to the practice of industrial R&D, leading to patent estates based on fundamental starch science and technology. The areas of patents and patented technologies reviewed here include: (a) soft-from-the-freezer ice creams and freezer-storage-stable frozen bread dough products, based on “cryostabilization technology” of frozen foods, utilizing commercial starch hydrolysis products (SHPs); (b) glassy-matrix encapsulation technology for flavors and other volatiles, based on structure-function relationships for commercial SHPs; (c) production of stabilized whole-grain wheat flours for biscuit products, based on the application of “solvent retention capacity” technology to develop flours with reduced damaged starch; (d) production of improved-quality, low-moisture cookies and crackers, based on pentosanase enzyme technology; (e) production of “baked-not-fried,” chip-like, starch-based snack products, based on the use of commercial modified-starch ingredients with selected functionality; (f) accelerated staling of a starch-based food product from baked bread crumb, based on the kinetics of starch retrogradation, treated as a crystallization process for a partially crystalline glassy polymer system; and (g) a process for producing an enzyme-resistant starch, for use as a reduced-calorie flour replacer in a wide range of grain-based food products, including cookies, extruded expanded snacks, and breakfast cereals.