Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Combination Forecasting Reversion Strategy for Online Portfolio Selection

Machine learning and artificial intelligence techniques have been applied to construct online portfolio selection strategies recently. A popular and state-of-the-art family of strategies is to explore the reversion phenomenon through online learning algorithms and statistical prediction models. Despite gaining promising results on some benchmark datasets, these strategies often adopt a single model based on a selection criterion (e.g., breakdown point) for predicting future price. However, such model selection is often unstable and may cause unnecessarily high variability in the final estimation, leading to poor prediction performance in real datasets and thus non-optimal portfolios. To overcome the drawbacks, in this article, we propose to exploit the reversion phenomenon by using combination forecasting estimators and design a novel online portfolio selection strategy, named Combination Forecasting Reversion (CFR), which outputs optimal portfolios based on the improved reversion estimator. We further present two efficient CFR implementations based on online Newton step (ONS) and online gradient descent (OGD) algorithms, respectively, and theoretically analyze their regret bounds, which guarantee that the online CFR model performs as well as the best CFR model in hindsight. We evaluate the proposed algorithms on various real markets with extensive experiments. Empirical results show that CFR can effectively overcome the drawbacks of existing reversion strategies and achieve the state-of-the-art performance.
Common and differential crosstalk characterization on the silicon substrate

Integrated circuit pad-to-pad crosstalk characterization structures were fabricated and measured over a 8000 μm×2500 μm area using Al pads on a silicon substrate. The structures were tested by a pure-mode network analyzer to yield common- and differential-mode crosstalk at 1 and 2 GHz. Differential-mode signals introduce far less substrate noise. This novel technique can characterize substrate noise levels near sensitive radio frequency (RF) and microwave circuits.
Performance of an Efficient Parallel Data Transmission System

A parallel quadrature AM data transmission system may be implemented with a number of overlapping channels, each carrying a signaling rateb, spacedb/2apart in frequency. When a large number of channels are used, the system allows transmission speeds very close to the Nyquist rate, with little sensitivity to delay and amplitude distortion of the transmission medium. The receiver requires precise phasing of the demodulating carriers and sampling times in order to keep crosstalk between channels small. In the presence of delay and amplitude distortion, better results are obtained when half cosine roll-offs are used for shaping each channel than for full cosine roll-off. This transmission scheme appears to be a promising technique for achieving good performance at high information rates over bandlimited dispersive transmission media.
Echocardiographic assessment of pulmonary hypertension: a guideline protocol from the British Society of Echocardiography

Pulmonary hypertension is defined as a mean arterial pressure of ≥25 mmHg as confirmed on right heart catheterisation. Traditionally, the pulmonary arterial systolic pressure has been estimated on echo by utilising the simplified Bernoulli equation from the peak tricuspid regurgitant velocity and adding this to an estimate of right atrial pressure. Previous studies have demonstrated a correlation between this estimate of pulmonary arterial systolic pressure and that obtained from invasive measurement across a cohort of patients. However, for an individual patient significant overestimation and underestimation can occur and the levels of agreement between the two is poor. Recent guidance has suggested that echocardiographic assessment of pulmonary hypertension should be limited to determining the probability of pulmonary hypertension being present rather than estimating the pulmonary artery pressure. In those patients in whom the presence of pulmonary hypertension requires confirmation, this should be done with right heart catheterisation when indicated. This guideline protocol from the British Society of Echocardiography aims to outline a practical approach to assessing the probability of pulmonary hypertension using echocardiography and should be used in conjunction with the previously published minimum dataset for a standard transthoracic echocardiogram.
Thermal Erosion of Electrical Insulating Materials

The erosion of synthetic insulating materials by surface discharges constitutes an important problem in the application of these materials for high-voltage outdoor applications. A method of erosion testing is described that simulates the heat flux from surface discharges by radiant energy from a thermal imaging source. This permits accurate measurement of erosion. A theory of erosion is developed that is found to agree well with experiments performed on several cycloaliphatic epoxy resin systems.
Acidic cell elongation drives cell differentiation in the Arabidopsis root

In multicellular systems, the control of cell size is fundamental in regulating the development and growth of the different organs and of the whole organism. In most systems, major changes in cell size can be observed during differentiation processes where cells change their volume to adapt their shape to their final function. How relevant changes in cell volume are in driving the differentiation program is a long‐standing fundamental question in developmental biology. In the Arabidopsis root meristem, characteristic changes in the size of the distal meristematic cells identify cells that initiated the differentiation program. Here, we show that changes in cell size are essential for the initial steps of cell differentiation and that these changes depend on the concomitant activation by the plant hormone cytokinin of the EXPAs proteins and the AHA1 and AHA2 proton pumps. These findings identify a growth module that builds on a synergy between cytokinin‐dependent pH modification and wall remodeling to drive differentiation through the mechanical control of cell walls.
Video Data Compression

In conventional video transmission systems, data is scanned at a constant rate with a fixed optical resolution and transmitted with a given magnitude accuracy. In adaptive video transmission systems, more efficient utilization of bandwidth and/or power is accomplished by varying the optical resolution and amplitude accuracy as a function of picture detail. In picture areas where there is high detail, video information is scanned with high optical resolution and its magnitude is transmitted with low accuracy. This is possible because the eye is relatively insensitive to magnitude errors in high detail regions. Correspondingly, areas of low detail are scanned with low optical resolution but transmitted with high amplitude accuracy. This paper describes several methods for implementing these concepts. It is shown how redundancy reductionalgorithms, employing "a posteriori" curve fitting techniques, are used to adaptively change the effective resolution as a function of picture detail. Adaptive aperture is also demonstrated as a technique for changing video data accuracy in accordance with picture detail. Several examples of compressed and reconstructed video are shown. These include TIROS video, RANGER photos, and high resolution aerial reconnaissance photographs. The reduction in bandwidth obtained is demonstrated to be as high as 6 to 1. A complete system for compressing video data, encoding the compressed data, transmitting it, and reconstructing the data into the original form is also described.
Short-term use of atorvastatin affects glucose homeostasis and suppresses the expression of LDL receptors in the pancreas of mice

Low-density lipoprotein receptors (LDLRs) may serve a role in the diabetogenic effect of statins; however, the effects of statins on LDLR expression and its regulation in the pancreas and islets have yet to be determined. To exclude the long-term effects of treatment with atorvastatin, which allows mice to adapt, male C57BL/j and apolipoprotein E-deficient mice were acutely treated with oral atorvastatin for 6 weeks, and glucose homeostasis and LDLR expression in the pancreas and islets were examined. In the present study, it was observed that the short-term use of atorvastatin affected insulin sensitivity in normal mice and glucose tolerance in hyperlipidemic mice. Furthermore, it was identified that 6 weeks of treatment with atorvastatin suppressed LDLR expression in the pancreas and pancreatic islets in C57BL/j mice, and an increase in proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 expression was additionally observed in the pancreas. However, 6 weeks of treatment with atorvastatin did not affect LDLR expression in the pancreas of hyperlipidemic mice. It may be concluded that the short-term use of atorvastatin disturbs glucose homeostasis and suppresses LDLR expression in the pancreas and pancreatic islets in C57BL/j mice, suggesting that the role of LDLR in the diabetogenic effect of statins requires further investigation.
Early Return to Play With Thumb Spica Gauntlet Casting for Ulnar Collateral Ligament Injuries Complicated by Adjacent Joint Dislocations in Collegiate Football Linemen

Background: Treatment of thumb ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) ruptures in elite athletes aims to restore thumb stability while minimizing lost playing time. Thus, surgical repair with early protected return to play in a thumb spica cast has been advocated. The purpose of this study was to document adjacent joint dislocations after primary surgical repair sustained during protected return to play with thumb spica casting in elite-level football players. Methods: Three Division I collegiate starting linemen sustaining adjacent joint dislocations in thumb spica casts following acute surgical repair of ipsilateral thumb UCL ruptures were retrospectively reviewed. Demographic data were recorded as well as the timeline for injury, treatment, and subsequent return to sport. Quick Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand (QuickDASH) scores were obtained at final follow-up. Results: The mean time from thumb UCL injury to surgical repair was 8.7 days, and the mean return to sport was 13.3 days from surgery. There were 4 simple dislocations including 3 proximal interphalangeal (PIP) joints and 1 elbow. Each PIP dislocation was close reduced and treated with buddy straps with immediate return to play. The elbow dislocation was close reduced and splinted with return to play 22 days after injury. The mean QuickDASH score was 2.3 at 12 month follow-up. Conclusions: This report highlights that while thumb spica casting protects the surgically repaired thumb UCL and allows for earlier return to play, it risks placing additional stress upon adjacent joints and therefore adjacent injury. Appropriate counseling of the risks and benefits of this treatment strategy is essential.
Enabling Biocatalysis by High-Throughput Protein Engineering Using Droplet Microfluidics Coupled to Mass Spectrometry

Directed Evolution is a key technology driving the utility of biocatalysis in pharmaceutical synthesis. Conventional approaches to Directed Evolution are conducted using bacterial cells expressing enzymes in microplates, with catalyzed reactions measured by HPLC, high-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS), or optical detectors, which require either long cycle times or tailor-made substrates. To better fit modern, fast-paced process chemistry development where solutions are rapidly needed for new substrates, droplet microfluidics interfaced with electrospray ionization (ESI)-MS provides a label-free high-throughput screening platform. To apply this method to industrial enzyme screening and to explore potential approaches that may further improve the overall throughput, we optimized the existing droplet–MS methods. Carryover between droplets, traditionally a significant issue, was reduced to undetectable level by replacing the stainless steel ESI needle with a Teflon needle within a capillary electrophoresis (CE)–MS source. Throughput was improved to 3 Hz with a wide range of droplet sizes (10–50 nL) by tuning the sheath flow within the CE–MS source. The optimized method was demonstrated by screening reactions using two different transaminase libraries. Good correlations (r2 ∼ 0.95) were found between the droplet–MS and LC–MS methods, with 100% match on hit variants. We further explored the capability of the system by performing in vitro transcription–translation inside the droplets and directly analyzing the intact reaction mixture droplets by MS. The synthesized protein attained comparable activity to the protein standard, and the complex samples appeared well tolerated by the MS. The success of the above applications indicates that the MS analysis of the microfluidic droplets is an available option for considerably accelerating the screening of enzyme evolution libraries.
A qualitative study of proportional navigation

This paper represents a study of the trajectories of an ideal missile homing on a target according to the proportional navigation law. A qualitative study is performed and conditions are determined which enable one to demonstrate that: 1) the missile always reaches the target regardless of the initial conditions at launch; 2) the rotational rate of the line of sight is decreasing at the pursuit end.
Inhibitory effect of timolol on topical glucocorticoid-induced skin telangiectasia

The aim of the present study wasto investigate the potential inhibitory effect of timolol on topical glucocorticoid-induced skin telangiectasia. In rabbits, flumethasone ointment was used to induce skin telangiectasia in the inner ear. Subsequently, timolol maleate (0.5%) eye drops (TMEDs) were administered twice daily for 4 weeks. Expression of the antibacterial peptides 37-amino acid peptide (LL-37) and kallikrein-5 (KLK5) was detected using quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and semi-quantitative reverse transcription-PCR. In patients with facial skin telangiectasia, one cheek of each patient was assigned to a treatment group and the other to a control group. For the treatment group cheeks, topical application of TMEDs was combined with 0.1% tacrolimus ointment once or twice daily for 8 weeks. The control group cheeks were administered with 0.1% tacrolimus ointment alone. Alterations in lesions were recorded by dermoscopy, and the L, a and b values of lesions were measured, based on the Commission Internationale de l'Éclairage system, with a chromameter prior to and at 1, 2, 4 and 8 weeks following treatment. The results indicated that erythema, papules and telangiectasia were significantly diminished following 4 weeks of treatment with TMEDs in rabbits. Notably, the expression of LL-37 and KLK5 mRNA was increased in the negative control group; however, it was decreased in the trial and blank groups. Clinical and dermoscopy images demonstrated that erythema was reduced in the 2 groups for 1 week, and that telangiectasia in the treatment group was markedly reduced compared with the control group at 4 weeks. The difference of the L and a values of lesions between the treatment and control group was significant (P<0.05). Overall, the present results suggested that the abnormal expression of LL-37 may be one of the mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis of facial corticosteroid addiction dermatitis (FCAD) and TMEDs may inhibit the mRNA expression of LL-37 by downregulating KLK5; in this regard, TMEDs may serve a role in attenuating telangiectasia, which may be beneficial in improving the telangiectasia symptoms of FCAD.
Orientation and Adhesion of Particles

The high adhesion of electrostatically deposited dust as compared to a mechanically pressed sample has been attributed to dipole characteristics of particles and alignment by the field. Recent tests show that if the dust is deposited as single particles and without an electric field a high adhesion is obtained. Other tests indicate that some particles behave like dipoles but most particles appear to have multiple positive and negative areas so that alignment by the field is limited. It appears that the high adhesion is due to Coulomb forces between adjacent particles but that an individual particle arriving at a surface can align itself without the aid of an external field.
Forces in Turbine Generator Stator Windings

Experience has shown that the forces on turbine generator armature windings during short-circuit conditions are large. The windings may be seriously damaged if adequate consideration is not given to the design of the coil bracing and support. In this paper the forces are calculated for a particular case by the use of images, by the change of flux interlinkages, and by the ∫ H2 d s over some surface in air which surrounds the conductor under consideration. A new and relatively simple proof is given for the validity of the latter method. The limitations and desirable applications of each method are considered. Forces on conductors in armature slots are computed when saturation is considered, and when neglected. Approximate formulas are derived for the forces on coil sides within one layer of the conical end winding, and for the straight coil extensions from the slots. A numerical example is given in each of those cases. The applicability of certain of these formulas to the phase connecting rings is pointed out. The force on the entire conical surface of the end winding is discussed qualitatively. Certain desirable features of end winding bracing are mentioned. In most of these cases, the instant considered is that following a line-to-neutral short circuit when the maximum possible instantaneous current is flowing.
Skin Effect in Tubular and Flat Conductors

A method is presented for calculating the skin effect resistance ratio of a tube, which is a form of conductor to be recommended for high-frequency work. A formula is also developed by means of which the asymptote to the curve of the ratio R'/R may be drawn, and thus the magnitude of the skin effect at extremely high frequencies may be obtained. The values of the ratio R'/R for tubes of various thicknesses, are plotted in a set of curves (Fig. 3) which may be used for the solution of practical problems. A similar method is described for the calculation of skin effect in a thin strap. Although the calculations cannot be carried out for as high frequencies as the calculation for tube, it indicates a method of coordinating the test results for straps, which have been published. A set of empirical curves for straps is given in Fig. 7, from which approximate values of R'/R for any case may be read.
CrossTalk proposal: mucosal acidification drives early progressive lung disease in cystic fibrosis

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is the most common life-threatening inherited disorder affecting Caucasians. It is caused by mutations in the CFTR gene that generate impaired cystic fibrosis transmembrane regulator (CFTR) anion channels leading to a multi-organ disease including chronic airway infection/lung deterioration and increased morbidity/mortality (Fajac & Wainwright, 2017). Despite identification of the CF gene in 1989, the initial phases of CF lung disease remain controversial (Luckie & Mauri, 2013). One of the biggest questions is how the loss of CFTR-mediated anion secretion initiates chronic lung infections. It has been known since the early 1990s that CFTR can conduct HCO3− and that CF epithelia exhibit defective bicarbonate transport (Gray et al. 1990; Smith & Welsh, 1992; Poulsen et al. 1994). Based on studies in CF piglets and in primary CF airway cultures, it is thought that CF airways are not hyperinflammatory and that
High spontaneous clearance of symptomatic iatrogenic acute hepatitis C genotype 4 infection

Acute hepatitis C (AHC) infection resolves spontaneously in 15% to 40% of patients. Factors favoring spontaneous viral clearance remain undefined. In this study, predictors of spontaneous viral clearance in patients with symptomatic AHC were investigated. Epidemiological, clinical, and virologic parameters were also examined. Patients with symptomatic AHC were enrolled and followed up prospectively. The patients were followed up every 2 weeks in the first month and then monthly for the following 5 months, with a follow‐up visit 6 months after the last hepatitis C virus (HCV)‐RNA negative sample for those who had cleared the virus. Interleukin (IL)‐28B.rs12979860 single‐nucleotide polymorphism and HCV genotype were tested at baseline. HCV‐RNA was tested during each visit. Patients who remained RNA‐positive at 24 weeks were treated with pegylated interferon plus ribavirin for 24 weeks. A total of 30 patients, mostly with iatrogenically acquired AHC genotype 4 infections completed 6‐months’ follow‐up, to either spontaneous clearance or start of treatment. The mean age of the patients was 37 ± 13 years. In total, 67% of patients were females, and the mean incubation period was 7.6 ± 3.5 weeks. Viral clearance occurred spontaneously in 19 (63.3%) patients. The average time to clearance was 24.3 ± 9.6 weeks. A total of 11 patients received therapy, and 8 (72.7%) cleared the virus and had a sustained virologic response to the treatment 24 weeks after the therapy. A total of three patients were treatment nonresponders. IL28B.rs12979860 CC genotype, female gender, and viremia level were not associated with self‐limiting AHC in this cohort. In conclusion, patients with symptomatic AHC genotype 4 infection caused by an iatrogenic exposure had higher rates of spontaneous resolution than previously reported. Predicting spontaneous viral clearance after iatrogenic AHC exposure was not possible in this population.
Lung management protocols increase the incidence of lung procurement and organ transplantation: A meta-analysis

ABSTRACT Background: Improved donor management, including respiratory physiotherapy, may optimize donor suitability and increase successful lung procurement. This review aimed to determine the efficacy of lung management protocols on the incidence of successful lung procurement and transplantation. Methods: Searches were completed in MEDLINE, CINAHL, EMBASE, PubMed, PEDRO, and Cochrane Registry of Controlled Clinical Trials, from database inception to March 2018. Randomized controlled trials and observational studies, with a control or comparison group, of humans, published in English, in peer-reviewed journals were included. Any respiratory management was eligible. Two investigators assessed eligibility and study quality. Meta-analysis and narrative analysis were completed. Results: Ten of 430 articles identified were eligible for inclusion. Implementation of protocols in potential donors increased the incidence of lung procurement, odds ratio (OR), 95% CI: 3.42 (2.48, 4.71) and transplantation procedures OR 2.56 (1.41, 4.62) compared to control groups. Recipient survival was significantly higher, in favor of lung management protocols compared to control groups at 30 days (OR 2.37 (1.14, 4.95)) and 1 year (OR 1.82 (1.02, 3.27)). Pooling of randomized controlled trials was not possible due to heterogeneity between interventions. No studies reported adverse events associated with lung management protocols or the incidence of ventilator-associated pneumonia. Despite differences in intervention design and study quality, observational studies reported consistent direction and magnitude of effects in favor of protocolized interventions. Conclusions: Lung management protocols appear to increase transplantation success. High-quality randomized trials are warranted to test observed effects and ascertain the effects of specific protocol components on transplantation outcomes.