Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Do Investors Read Too Much into News? How News Sentiment Causes Price Formation

It is a well-known fact that financial markets react to information. Even though this relationship seems simple, finding evidence is not easy since information is embedded in textual news releases. Only recent have researchers started to look at the content of news. Interestingly, previous work avoids the inference of a causal relationship between news messages and abnormal returns. In this paper, we concentrate on the oil market from which we identify a (strong) instrument, namely, the number of terroristic attacks, and can reasonably account for the endogeneity problem associated with news releases. In addition, we study how news releases affect stock prices temporally. Thus, we find that a change in news sentiment entails a large change in oil prices.
Antimicrobial activity of four essential oils against pigmenting Pseudomonas fluorescens and biofilmproducing Staphylococcus aureus of dairy origin

Essential oils (EOs) are mixtures of secondary metabolites of plant origin with many useful properties, among which the antimicrobial activity is also of interest for the food industry. EOs can exert their antimicrobial potential both directly, in food products and active packaging, and indirectly, as sanitizing and anti-biofilm agents of food facility surfaces. Aim of this research was to evaluate the antimicrobial activity of four EOs (bergamot, cinnamon, manuka and thyme) against Pseudomonas fluorescens and Staphylococcus aureus isolated from milk and dairy products. The chemical composition of EOs was evaluated by Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry analysis. Minimum Inhibitory Concentration values were determined by a microplate method against 9 Ps. fluorescens from marketed mozzarella with blue discoloration defect, and 3 biofilm-producing S. aureus from milk. Reference ATCC strains were included. Pigment production activity by Ps. fluorescens was assessed both in culture and in cheese. EOs of manuka (leptospermone 23%) and thyme (carvacrol 30%, pcymene 20%, thymol 15%) showed the highest antimicrobial activity against S. aureus, MIC values were 0.012%-0.024% and 0.024% v/v, respectively; meanwhile EOs from thyme and cinnamon (cinnamaldehyde 55%) exhibited the best activity against Ps. fluorescens with MIC values of 0.098%-0.195% and 0.195%-0.391% v/v, respectively. The antimicrobial activity of these EOs is promising and they could be exploited in the dairy production chain.
A minocycline-releasing PMMA system as a space maintainer for staged bone reconstructions—in vitro antibacterial, cytocompatibility and anti-inflammatory characterization

In the present work, we study the development and biological characterization of a polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA)-based minocycline delivery system, to be used as a space maintainer within craniofacial staged regenerative interventions. The developed delivery systems were characterized regarding solid state characteristics and assayed in vitro for antibacterial and anti-inflammatory activity, and cytocompatibility with human bone cells. A drug release profile allowed for an initial burst release and a more sustained and controlled release over time, with minimum inhibitory concentrations for the assayed and relevant pathogenic bacteria (i.e., Staphylococcus aureus, slime-producer Staphylococcus epidermidis and Escherichia coli) being easily attained in the early time points, and sustained up to 72 h. Furthermore, an improved osteoblastic cell response—with enhancement of cell adhesion and cell proliferation—and increased anti-inflammatory activity were verified in developed systems, compared to a control (non minocycline-loaded PMMA cement). The obtained results converge to support the possible efficacy of the developed PMMA-based minocycline delivery systems for the clinical management of complex craniofacial trauma. Here, biomaterials with space maintenance properties are necessary for the management of staged reconstructive approaches, thus minimizing the risk of peri-operative infections and enhancing the local tissue healing and early stages of regeneration.
The suppression effect in visuospatial and verbal working memory span tasks in patients with Alzheimer’s disease: a 2-year follow-up study

ABSTRACT This study adapted a new task to assess visuospatial and verbal working memory impairments in patients with Alzheimer Disease (AD), including an executive strategy of information suppression. The aim was to examine the visuospatial and verbal difficulties, and additionally to explore the average sex differences, during a 2-year follow-up study. The results indicated that patients with AD showed a significantly lower performance, compared with healthy elderly controls, especially with the suppression of information required in this new task. However, suppression did not lead to a significantly greater decline in the performance of patients when compared with the control group.
Three-Dimensional Ultrastructural Study of Oil and Astaxanthin Accumulation during Encystment in the Green Alga Haematococcus pluvialis

Haematococcus pluvialis is a freshwater species of green algae and is well known for its accumulation of the strong antioxidant astaxanthin, which is used in aquaculture, various pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics. High levels of astaxanthin are present in cysts, which rapidly accumulate when the environmental conditions become unfavorable for normal cell growth. It is not understood, however, how accumulation of high levels of astaxanthin, which is soluble in oil, becomes possible during encystment. Here, we performed ultrastructural 3D reconstruction based on over 350 serial sections per cell to visualize the dynamics of astaxanthin accumulation and subcellular changes during the encystment of H. pluvialis. This study showcases the marked changes in subcellular elements, such as chloroplast degeneration, in the transition from green coccoid cells to red cyst cells during encystment. In green coccoid cells, chloroplasts accounted for 41.7% of the total cell volume, whereas the relative volume of astaxanthin was very low (0.2%). In contrast, oil droplets containing astaxanthin predominated in cyst cells (52.2%), in which the total chloroplast volume was markedly decreased (9.7%). Volumetric observations also demonstrated that the relative volumes of the cell wall, starch grains, pyrenoids, mitochondria, the Golgi apparatus, and the nucleus in a cyst cell are smaller than those in green coccid cells. Our data indicated that chloroplasts are degraded, resulting in a net-like morphology, but do not completely disappear, even at the red cyst stage.
Pollen differentiation as well as pollen tube guidance and discharge are independent of the presence of gametes

ABSTRACT After meiosis, an unequal cell division generates the male gamete lineage in flowering plants. The generative cell will undergo a second division, giving rise to the two gametes, i.e. the sperm cells. The other cell will develop into the vegetative cell that plays a crucial role in pollen tube formation and sperm delivery. Recently, the vegetative cell has been suggested to be important for programming of the chromatin state in sperm cells and/or the resulting fertilization products. Blocking the initial unequal division genetically, we first highlight that the default differentiation state after male meiosis is a vegetative fate, which is consistent with earlier work. We find that uni-nucleated mutant microspores differentiated as wild-type vegetative cells, including chromatin remodeling and the transcriptional activation of transposable elements. Moreover, live-cell imaging revealed that this vegetative cell is sufficient for the correct guidance of the pollen tube to the female gametes. Hence, we conclude that vegetative cell differentiation and function does not depend on the formation or presence of the actual gametes but rather on external signals or a cell-autonomous pace keeper. Summary: Cell biological analyses in Arabidopsis show that the vegetative cell differentiates without the presence of the actual gametes, and is solely sufficient for pollen tube germination, guidance, ovule penetration and pollen tube discharge.
Individual Differences that Predict Interactions in Mixed-Initiative Teams

Humans and machines are collaborating in new ways and organizations are increasingly leveraging mixed-initiative teams. We examine the effect that an individual's personality has on his or her willingness to: (1) seek assistance from and/or (2) accept the recommendations of an automated teammate. We use a game of pure strategy with a perfectly accurate decision-assisting automated agent to examine how personality predicts these interactions. Forty-nine participants played 3 rounds of a decision game called "Pirate Island. " Each participant made 27 total decisions (9 decisions per round over 3 rounds) and had the option to solicit assistance from an automated agent for each decision. Participants were not told that the agent was 100% accurate, only that it could help them. We found that people low on extroversion and high on agreeableness were highly correlated to soliciting recommendations from an agent. However, only those high on agreeableness actually accepted recommendations.
Damage Mechanics Implementation of Material Design Simulator for Layered Ceramic Composites

The objective of this study is to establish a numerical technique applicable for the assessment of damage characteristics of laminate ceramic. A numerical simulator, which can be used for the optimal material design, was developed based on the damage mechanics approach. To evaluate the internal damage evolution behavior within composite material, generalized damage evolution equation was developed and implemented in way of finite element method. By virtue of an automatic data interface between the commercial FEA results and damage calculation, a simple and cost-effective damage evaluation system is constructed. It was found that the developed system can be used for the evaluation of the material performance of composite.
Mid-infrared (MIR) photonics: MIR passive and active fiberoptics chemical and biomedical, sensing and imaging

The case for new, portable, real-time mid-infrared (MIR) molecular sensing and imaging is discussed. We set a record in demonstrating extreme broad-band supercontinuum (SC) generated light 1.4-13.3 μm in a specially engineered, step-index MIR optical fiber of high numerical aperture. This was the first experimental demonstration truly to reveal the potential of MIR fibers to emit across the MIR molecular ”fingerprint spectral region” and a key first step towards bright, portable, broadband MIR sources for chemical and biomedical, molecular sensing and imaging in real-time. Potential applications are in the healthcare, security, energy, environmental monitoring, chemical-processing, manufacturing and the agriculture sectors. MIR narrow-line fiber lasers are now required to pump the fiber MIR-SC for a compact all-fiber solution. Rare-earth-ion (RE-) doped MIR fiber lasers are not yet demonstrated ≥4 μm wavelength. We have fabricated small-core RE-fiber with photoluminescence across 3.5-6 μm, and long excited-state lifetimes. MIR-RE-fiber lasers are also applicable as discrete MIR fiber sensors in their own right, for applications including: ship-to-ship free-space communications, aircraft counter-measures, coherent MIR imaging, MIR-optical coherent tomography, laser-cutting/ patterning of soft materials and new wavelengths for fiber laser medical surgery.
Mineralization of wood by calcium carbonate insertion for improved flame retardancy

Abstract Wood can be considered as a highly porous, three-dimensional organic scaffold. It can be mineralized to create hierarchically structured organic-inorganic hybrid materials with novel properties. In the present paper, the precipitation of CaCO3 mineral in Norway spruce and European beech wood has been studied by alternating impregnation with aqueous and alcoholic electrolyte solutions. Microstructural imaging by SEM and confocal Raman microscopy shows the distribution of calcite and vaterite as two CaCO3 polymorphs, which are deposited deep inside the cellular structure of the wood. The confined microenvironment of the wood cell wall seems to favor a formation of vaterite, as visible by XRD and Raman spectroscopy. In view of a practical application, the mineralization of wood opens up ways for sustainable wood-based hybrid materials with a significantly improved fire resistance, as proven via pyrolysis combustion flow calorimetry and cone calorimetry tests. Beyond that, this versatile solute-exchange approach provides an opportunity for the incorporation of a broad range of different mineral phases into wood for novel material property combinations.
Increasing the Value of Big Data Projects -- Investigation of Industrial Success Stories

This paper investigates the constituents of Big Data and their contribution to its success. The starting point is the mainstream understanding of Big Data, which defines the volume, variety and velocity (3V) of the underlying data as main properties of the Big Data phenomenon. This definition is challenged through the presented analysis of more than 100 success stories which are offered by vendors of Big Data technology and solutions. By applying elements of the grounded theory method, the paper goes beyond an overview. The property of variety (which seems to be of particular interest) and structures of the outcome of Big Data projects are discussed. A major implication is that there is a crucial difference between Big Data use cases incorporating all 3Vs and those incorporating less. When all three properties are involved, a new phenomenon arises from embracing new data sources that are within and beyond the organizational borders.
Dancing Honey bee Robot Elicits Dance-Following and Recruits Foragers

The honey bee dance communication system is one of the most popular examples of animal communication. Forager bees communicate the flight vector towards food, water, or resin sources to nestmates by performing a stereotypical motion pattern on the comb surface in the darkness of the hive. Bees that actively follow the circles of the dancer, so called dance-followers, may decode the message and fly according to the indicated vector that refers to the sun compass and their visual odometer. We investigated the dance communication system with a honeybee robot that reproduced the waggle dance pattern for a flight vector chosen by the experimenter. The dancing robot, called RoboBee, generated multiple cues contained in the biological dance pattern and elicited natural dance-following behavior in live bees. By tracking the flight trajectory of departing bees after following the dancing robot via harmonic radar we confirmed that bees used information obtained from the robotic dance to adjust their flight path. This is the first report on successful dance following and subsequent flight performance of bees recruited by a biomimetic robot.
Discovery of an Endosymbiotic Nitrogen-Fixing Cyanobacterium UCYN-A in Braarudosphaera bigelowii (Prymnesiophyceae)

Braarudosphaera bigelowii (Prymnesiophyceae) is a coastal coccolithophore with a long fossil record, extending back to the late Cretaceous (ca. 100 Ma). A recent study revealed close phylogenetic relationships between B. bigelowii, Chrysochromulina parkeae (Prymnesiophyceae), and a prymnesiophyte that forms a symbiotic association with the nitrogen-fixing cyanobacterium UCYN-A. In order to further examine these relationships, we conducted transmission electron microscopic and molecular phylogenetic studies of B. bigelowii. TEM studies showed that, in addition to organelles, such as the nucleus, chloroplasts and mitochondria, B. bigelowii contains one or two spheroid bodies with internal lamellae. In the 18S rDNA tree of the Prymnesiophyceae, C. parkeae fell within the B. bigelowii clade, and was close to B. bigelowii Genotype III (99.89% similarity). Plastid 16S rDNA sequences obtained from B. bigelowii were close to the unidentified sequences from the oligotrophic SE Pacific Ocean (e.g. HM133411) (99.86% similarity). Bacterial16S rDNA sequences obtained from B. bigelowii were identical to the UCYN-A sequence AY621693 from Arabian Sea, and fell in the UCYN-A clade. From these results, we suggest that; 1) C. parkeae is the alternate life cycle stage of B. bigelowii sensu stricto or that of a sibling species of B. bigelowii, and 2) the spheroid body of B. bigelowii originated from endosymbiosis of the nitrogen-fixing cyanobacterium UCYN-A.
On the optimality of multiple photodiode receivers using precoding schemes for visible light communications

The use of multiple light sources for visible light communications (VLC) naturally configures a multi-user multiple-input multiple-output (MU-MIMO) channel. Several transmit precoding (TPC) schemes based on Channel State Information (CSI) have been proposed for increasing the achievable rates in multi-user scenarios regarding the orthogonal resource allocation schemes. However, the particular characteristics of the light transmission leads to more likely correlated channel responses among the users. In this work, we propose the use of photodetectors equipped with multiple photodiodes able to provide distinct linearly independent channel responses by varying the architecture, i.e., orientation, filtering or shaping connected to a single signal processing chain. This approach allow to generate a photodiode selection scheme that obtains an uncorrelated set of channel responses improving considerably the performance of the TPC schemes in VLC systems. Moreover, since only one of the photodiodes of the photodetector is selected in each symbol time, the proposed approach involves a energy consumption reduction regarding traditional multi-photodiode architectures.
Effects of seawater immersion on water absorption and mechanical properties of GFRP composites

Water absorption behavior and mechanical properties of specimens of an epoxy resin casting and the glass fiber reinforced epoxy matrix composites (GFRP) with two fiber volume fractions (Vf) immersed into artificial seawater were investigated. The composite specimens absorbed less water than the resin casting because water absorption by the matrices was the main way in the composites. The composites with a Vf of 44% absorbed more water than the composites with a Vf of 34% because there were more micropores inside the fiber bundles and capillary paths in the higher fiber volume fractions. Due to the reversible and irreversible changes in the resin casting and the failure of the fiber/matrix interface, the tensile strength, the flexural strength, and the ILSS of the composite specimens after 42 days’ immersion decreased 13%, 43%, 50%, respectively. And the tensile strength, the flexural strength and the ILSS of the specimens after desorption were 97%, 38%, and 43% of the original state, respectively.
Estimation of the individual residual risk of cervical cancer after vaccination with the nonavalent HPV vaccine

ABSTRACT Background: The nonavalent HPV (9vHPV) vaccine is indicated for active immunisation of individuals from the age of 9 years against cervical, vulvar, vaginal and anal premalignant lesions and cancers causally related to vaccine HPV high risk types 16, 18, 31, 33, 45, 52 and 58, and to the HPV low risk types 6 and 11, causing genital warts. Objective: To estimate the lifetime risk (up to the age of 75 years) for developing cervical cancer after vaccinating a HPV naïve girl (e.g. 9 to 12 years old) with the 9vHPV vaccine in the hypothetical absence of cervical cancer screening. Methods: We built Monte Carlo simulation models using historical pre-screening age-specific cancer incidence data and current mortality data from Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden and the UK. Estimates of genotype contribution fractions and vaccine efficacy were used to estimate the residual lifetime risk after vaccination assuming lifelong protection. Results: We estimated that, in the hypothetical absence of cervical screening and assuming lifelong protection, 9vHPV vaccination reduced the lifetime cervical cancer and mortality risks 7-fold with a residual lifetime cancer risks ranging from 1/572 (UK) to 1/238 (Denmark) and mortality risks ranging from 1/1488 (UK) to 1/851 (Denmark). After decades of repetitive cervical screenings, the lifetime cervical cancer and mortality risks was reduced between 2- and 4-fold depending on the country. Conclusion: Our simulations demonstrate how evidence can be generated to support decision-making by individual healthcare seekers regarding cervical cancer prevention.
External inputs, stable equilibria and complete stability of CNNs

We construct two cellular neural networks (CNNs) of three cells to show that a CNN can have stable equilibria, but is not completely stable and that the complete stability of CNN depends on the choice of external inputs. These phenomena cannot occur for two‐cell CNNs. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Diffusion driving the formation of functional nanoscale machines in cell membranes

A great fraction of functions in cells is taken care of by membrane proteins. Their biological relevance is thereby quite exceptional, yet they do not work alone. Instead, to become functional, membrane proteins require an appropriate pool of lipids around them, and the lipids have an important function as they modulate or even govern the activation of the proteins in question through specific or membranemediated interactions. The key process driving the formation of functional nanoscale protein-lipid units (lipid rafts) is diffusion.
Integrated metabolite and gene expression profiles identify lipid biomarkers associated with progression of hepatocellular carcinoma and patient outcomes.

BACKGROUND & AIMS We combined gene expression and metabolic profiling analyses to identify factors associated with outcomes of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). METHODS We compared metabolic and gene expression patterns between paired tumor and nontumor tissues from 30 patients with HCC, and validated the results using samples from 356 patients with HCC. A total of 469 metabolites were measured using liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. Metabolic and genomic data were integrated, and Kaplan-Meier and Cox proportional hazards analyses were used to associate specific patterns with patient outcomes. Associated factors were evaluated for their effects on cancer cells in vitro and tumor formation in nude mice. RESULTS We identified 28 metabolites and 169 genes associated with aggressive HCC. Lipid metabolites of stearoyl-CoA-desaturase (SCD) activity were associated with aberrant palmitate signaling in aggressive HCC samples. Expression of gene products associated with these metabolites, including SCD, were associated independently with survival times and tumor recurrence in the test and validation sets. Combined expression of SCD and α-fetoprotein were associated with outcomes of patients with early-stage HCC. Levels of monounsaturated palmitic acid, the product of SCD activity, were increased in aggressive HCCs; monounsaturated palmitic acid increased migration and invasion of cultured HCC cells and colony formation by HCC cells. HCC cells that expressed small interfering RNA against SCD had decreased cell migration and colony formation in culture and reduced tumorigenicity in mice. CONCLUSIONS By using a combination of gene expression and metabolic profile analysis, we identified a lipogenic network that involves SCD and palmitate signaling and was associated with HCC progression and patient outcomes. The microarray platform and data have been submitted to the Gene Expression Omnibus public database at NCBI following MIAME guidelines. Accession numbers: GPL4700 (platform), and GSE6857 (samples).