Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Asset pricing implications of two financial accelerator models

This paper compares two financial accelerator models by analyzing their respective cyclical characteristics of the external finance premium and its implications for the equity premium. We answer the question posed by Gomes, Yaron and Zhang (2003) - Can the desirable business cycle implications of financial accelerator models be reconciled with the empirically observed cyclical characteristics of the finance premium and an “amplified” equity premium? We show that the answer is yes. We thereby contradict the claim of Gomes et al and note that their result is not general. We constrast the result of Gomes et al with a different financial accelerator model by Bernanke, Gertler and Gilchrist (2000). In that model two key assumptions are different and the asset pricing results are in line with the facts. The two key assumptions are (i) firms have self-financing (leverage) ratios that are sensitive to changes in capital prices and (ii) a broad group of firms are potentially credit constrained.
Hydrogen Sulfide Inhibits Transforming Growth Factor Beta-1 Induced Bronchial Epithelial-mesenchymal Transition

IntroductIon Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is one of the leading causes of death in the developed world and associated with a high individual and socioeconomic burden. [1] It is characterized by persistent airflow limitation that is usually progressive and associated with an enhanced chronic inflammatory response in the airways and the lung to noxious particles or gases. Peri‐bronchiolar fibrosis was occurred in small airways in the early state of COPD, and then followed by structure changes, and finally became persistent airflow limitation. [2] Recent researches have shown that epithelial‐mesenchymal transition (EMT) is one of the leading causes of fibrosis in various diseases.
Visual analytics in healthcare - opportunities and research challenges

As medical organizations modernize their operations, they are increasingly adopting electronic health records (EHRs) and deploying new health information technology systems that create, gather, and manage their information. As a result, the amount of data available to clinicians, administrators, and researchers in the healthcare system continues to grow at an unprecedented rate.1 However, despite the substantial evidence showing the benefits of EHR adoption, e-prescriptions, and other components of health information exchanges, healthcare providers often report only modest improvements in their ability to make better decisions by using more comprehensive clinical information.2,3 The large volume of clinical data now being captured for each patient poses many challenges to (a) clinicians trying to combine data from different disparate systems and make sense of the patient’s condition within the context of the patient’s medical history, (b) administrators trying to make decisions grounded in data, (c) researchers trying to understand differences in population outcomes, and (d) patients trying to make use of their own medical data. In fact, despite the many hopes that access to more information would lead to more informed decisions, access to comprehensive and large-scale clinical data resources has instead made some analytical processes even more difficult.4 Visual analytics is an emerging discipline that has shown significant promise in addressing many of these information overload challenges. Visual analytics is the science of analytical reasoning facilitated by advanced interactive visual interfaces.5 In order to facilitate …
Structural Models for Interactive Drama

We are designing computer programs for Interactive Drama, where the audience can act to modify the story while the computer responds to these acts and maintains the narrative nature of the experience. Such computer based Interactive Drama requires narrative models able to both simulate the narrative on a deep level, and allow the user to interact with it. We discuss in this paper the extent to which structuralist models are useful for this purpose. Then, we describe our own computer model and its structuralist sources. Finally we discuss the limits of Structuralism for our model. General Terms Algorithms, Design, Human Factors.
Designing stress management interventions for older adults to improve wellbeing

We are experiencing an increase in the number of older adults. This presents both challenges and opportunities in the field of HCI research in terms of health self-management technology. This paper presents on-going work to design a mobile application that supports older adults in managing stress and sleep. The aim is to explore if sensor technology and a tablet application can be used to present intuitive feedback on stress levels and sleeping patterns with a view to reducing stress, improving sleep quality and increasing health and well-being overall.
Introduction to Algebraic Coding Theory With Gap Fall 2006

∗The first versions of this book were written in Fall 2001 and June 2002 at Cornell University, respectively supported by an NSF VIGRE Grant and a Department of Mathematics Grant. The current version was written in 2005 at Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering supported by NSF CCLI DUE-0410517 Grant. Edits were made in 2006 under the same grant. If you wish to use this book, please simply let me know and keep me informed of any typos or other problems you find with the book.
A Visualization Technique for Access Patterns and Link Structures of Web Sites

There have been two types of Web visualization techniques: visualization of Web sites themselves based on such as link structures or lexical contents, and visualization of browsers’ behaviors. We think that integration of such two visualization techniques is very useful for Web site management, and therefore we are currently studying on visualization of access pattern and link structure on a single screen. This paper presents a Web visualization technique using our own multiple-category-embedded graph visualization technique. The presented technique constructs link structures using crawler software, and access patterns from access log files. It then integrates them and visualizes by our graph visualization technique. We expect that users can visually understand the relationship between access patterns and link structures, and utilize the knowledge for design and management of Web sites. This paper shows our case study and discusses typical access patterns we observed by the technique.
Reduced Order Modeling of Linear Section of Electrical Transformer using Particle Swarm Optimization and Bacterial Foraging Optimization Techniques for Comparative Study

The authors present here a comparative study of model order reduction of lumped parameter linear section of a transformer model into any sizeable order reductions as specified by the user. The two computational optimization techniques, namely, Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) and Bacterial Foraging Optimization (BFO) are employed here to obtain the lower order model. In PSO and BFO methods, the numerator and denominator polynomials of the reduced order model of the system are computed by minimizing the various integral square error between the original higher order system. Their performance is evaluated and compared with the help of various error criteria like Integral Square Error (ISE), Integral of Time multiplied Absolute Error (ITAE), Integral of Absolute Error (IAE), etc. PSO and BFO algorithm obtains a better lower order approximant that reflect the characteristics of the original higher order system and the performance evaluated using these methods are compared. The proposed method guarantees stability of the reduced order model, if the original high order system is stable. The method is illustrated with the help of an example using Mat lab 2010 environment.
Self-Adaptive 3D Face Recognition Based on Feature Division

The 3D face recognition attracts more and more attention recently, because of its insensitivity to the variance of illumination and pose. In this paper, a novel self-adaptive 3D face recognition algorithm based on face feature division is proposed. This algorithm first divides the 3D face into some block regions based on face features, and then, four face surface characters are extracted for all the block regions to represent the 3D face, and a novel self-adaptive 3D face recognition algorithm is proposed to balance the contributions of all the block regions. After that, a linear weighted strategy is adopted to hybrid the four characters and boost the recognition rate further. Finally, we test our algorithm on BJUT-3D face database and concluded that the performance of our algorithm and fusion strategy is satisfying.
Expression of mutant CHMP2B, an ESCRT‐III component involved in frontotemporal dementia, causes eye deformities due to Notch misregulation in Drosophila

Endosomal sorting complexes required for transport (ESCRTs) mediate sorting of ubiquitinated membrane proteins into multivesicular bodies en route to lysosomes for degradation. A mutation in CHMP2B (CHMP2BIntron5, an ESCRT‐III component) that is associated with a hereditary form of frontotemporal dementia (FTD3) disrupts the endosomal‐lysosomal pathway and causes accumulation of autophagosomes and multilamellar structures. We previously demonstrated that expression of CHMP2BIntron5 in the Drosophila eye using GMR‐Gal4 causes misregulation of the Toll receptor pathway. Here, we show that ectopic expression of CHMP2BIntron5 using eyeless‐Gal4 (ey>CHMP2BIntron5), a driver with different spatiotemporal expression attributes than GMR‐Gal4 in the Drosophila eye, causes eye deformities when compared to expression of wild‐type CHMP2B (CHMP2BWT) and the Drosophila homologue of CHMP2B (CG4618). In addition, ey>CHMP2BIntron5 flies showed defects in photoreceptor cell patterning and phototactic behavior. Furthermore, ey>CHMP2BIntron5 flies showed accumulation of Notch in enlarged endosomes and up‐regulation of Notch activity. Partial loss of Notch activity in ey>CHMP2BIntron5 flies significantly rescued eye deformities, photoreceptor patterning defect, and phototactic behavior defect, indicating that these defects are primarily due to Notch misregulation. These results demonstrate that CHMP2BIntron5 preferentially affects different receptor signaling pathways in a cellular and developmental context‐dependent manner. —Cheruiyot, A. , Lee, J‐A. , Gao, F‐B. , Ahmad, S. T. Expression of mutant CHMP2B, an ESCRT‐III component involved in frontotemporal dementia, causes eye deformities due to Notch misregulation in Drosophila. FASEB J. 28, 667–675 (2014). www.fasebj. org
Volatile organic compounds over Eastern Himalaya, India: temporal variation and source characterization using Positive Matrix Factorization

Abstract. A first ever study on the characterization of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) has been made over a Himalayan high altitude station in India. A total of 18 VOCs (mono aromatics-BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylene), non-BTEX substituted aromatics and halocarbon) have been measured over Darjeeling (27.01° N, 88.15° E, 2200 m a.s.l.) in the eastern Himalaya in India during the period of July 2011–June 2012. The annual average concentration of the sum of 18 target VOCs (TVOC) was 376.3 ± 857.2 μg m−3. Monoaromatics had the highest contribution (72%) followed by other substituted aromatics (22%) and halocarbon (6%) compounds. Toluene was the most abundant VOC in the atmosphere of Darjeeling with the contribution of ~37% to TVOC followed by benzene (~21%), ethylbenzene (~9%) and xylenes (~6%). TVOC concentrations were highest during the postmonsoon season with minimum solar radiation and lowest during the premonsoon season with maximum solar radiation. Anthropogenic activities related mainly to tourists like diesel and gasoline emissions, biomass and coal burning, use of solvent and solid waste emissions were almost equal in both the seasons. Seasonal variation in TVOCs over Darjeeling was mainly governed by the incoming solar radiation rather than the emission sources. Source apportionment study using Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF) model indicated that major fraction of (~60%) TVOC were contributed by diesel and gasoline exhausts followed by solvent evaporation (18%) and other sources. Diesel exhaust was also found to have the maximum potential in tropospheric ozone formation. The atmospheric loading of BTEX over Darjeeling was found to be comparable with several Indian metro cities and much higher than other cities around the world.
Getting routers out of the core: Building an optical wide area network with "multipaths"

We propose an all-optical networking solution for a wide area network (WAN) based on the notion of multipoint-to-multipoint lightpaths that, for short, we call "multipaths". A multipath concentrates the traffic of a group of source nodes on a wavelength channel using an adapted MAC protocol and multicasts this traffic to a group of destination nodes that extract their own data from the confluent stream. The proposed network can be built using existing components and appears less complex and more efficient in terms of energy consumption than alternatives like OPS and OBS. The paper presents the multipath architecture and compares its energy consumption to that of a classical router-based ISP network. A flow-aware dynamic bandwidth allocation algorithm is proposed and shown to have excellent performance in terms of throughput and delay.
Compact diversity antenna with polarization agility

This paper presents a planar inverted F antenna with polarization agility. This novel structure can switch between two linear orthogonal polarizations. PIN diodes are used to switch and select the desired antenna polarization. Simulated results of antenna radiation characteristics are presented. This 2.4 GHz antenna can be used in wireless applications using polarization diversity to overcome fading
Quality Oriented Logical Design for D ata W arehouse Development

To make an effective data warehouse logical design which is related to system performance, it is important to manage an appropriate methodology for data fragmentation, indexing and materialized view. Executing a query in a data warehouse may take hours or days to run without the proper optimization technique. This paper proposed a framework on integrating quality, deliverables in conceptual design as an input into the logical design, and the optimization technique to run query, to treat as continuous improvement from preceeding stage. Keywords—logical design, data warehouse, indexing, materialized view, fragmentation
Environmental Research and Public Health Physiological Effects of Nature Therapy: a Review of the Research in Japan

Humans have evolved into what they are today after the passage of 6–7 million years. If we define the beginning of urbanization as the rise of the industrial revolution, less than 0.01% of our species' history has been spent in modern surroundings. Humans have spent over 99.99% of their time living in the natural environment. The gap between the natural setting, for which our physiological functions are adapted, and the highly urbanized and artificial setting that we inhabit is a contributing cause of the " stress state " in modern people. In recent years, scientific evidence supporting the physiological effects of relaxation caused by natural stimuli has accumulated. This review aimed to objectively demonstrate the physiological effects of nature therapy. We have reviewed research in Japan related to the following: (1) the physiological effects of nature therapy, including those of forests, urban green space, plants, and wooden material and (2) the analyses of individual differences that arise therein. The search was conducted in the PubMed database using various keywords. We applied our inclusion/exclusion criteria and reviewed 52 articles. Scientific data assessing physiological indicators, such as brain activity, autonomic nervous activity, endocrine activity, and immune activity, are accumulating from field and laboratory experiments. We believe that nature therapy will play an increasingly important role in preventive medicine in the future.
Tuberculin Skin Test Distribution following a Change in BCG Vaccination Policy

Background Epidemiologic data regarding tuberculin skin test (TST) responses are an important basis for TB control strategies. This study analyzed TST responses in Korea, which experienced a rapid change in BCG vaccination status. Methods TST responses in young adults were examined over 5 years. Participants with active TB lesions were excluded. Results A total of 5,552 participants were enrolled with median age of 21 years. When an induration diameter ≥10 mm was used as the criterion for a positive test, TST positivity fell (from 28.0% in 2005 to 15.3% in 2009); however, they remained steady when the criterion was ≥15–20 mm. A positive TST was associated with a personal or family of TB, the presence of a Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) scar, and age (odds ratio [95% confidence interval] = 4.03 [2.61–6.22], 2.91 [1.80–4.71], 1.50 [1.31–1.72], and 1.15 [1.09–1.20], respectively). Among these factors, the decrease of participants with BCG scars was the most prominent change, which appeared to be associated with the change of TST positivity rate. Conclusion Overall, the rate of TST positivity in Korea decreased. However, this trend seems associated with the change of BCG vaccination strategy rather than successful control of LTBI. This study showed that change in BCG vaccination strategy can have great impact on TB epidemiologic survey based on TST.
Towards on-path caching alternatives in Information-Centric Networks

Information-Centric Networking (ICN), an alternative to the current Internet architecture, focuses on the distribution and retrieval of content instead of the transfer of information between specific endpoints. Approaches to ICN employ caches in the network to eliminate the transfer of information over lengthy communication paths from a source to consumers. The contribution of this paper lies in the placement of copies in on-path in-network caching. Our goal is to investigate the suitability of a probabilistic algorithm, Prob-PD, based on two variables, the content's popularity rates and the distance ratio of each node from the source, with regard to caching performance, i.e. cache hit rates, cache replacement rates and content delivery times. Towards this goal, we present an initial comparison of simulation results of the proposed caching mechanism and published alternatives showing significant gains of the algorithm.
Providing Dynamic Visual Information for Collaborative Tasks: Experiments With Automatic Camera Control

One possibility presented by novel communication technologies is the ability for remotely located experts to provide guidance to others who are performing difficult technical tasks in the real world, such as medical procedures or engine repair. In these scenarios, video views and other visual information seem likely to be useful in the ongoing negotiation of shared understanding, or common ground, but actual results with experimental systems have been mixed. One difficulty in designing these systems is achieving a balance between close-up shots that allow for discussion of detail and wide shots that allow for orientation or establishing a mutual point of focus in a larger space. Achieving this balance can be difficult without disorienting or overloading task participants. In this article we present results from two experiments involving three automated camera control systems for remote repair tasks. Results show that a system providing both detailed and overview information was superior to systems providing only one or the other in terms of performance but that some participants preferred the detail-only system.
Biofuel Potential of Plants Transformed Genetically with NAC Family Genes

NAC genes contribute to enhance survivability of plants under conditions of environmental stress and in secondary growth of the plants, thereby building biomass. Thus, genetic transformation of plants using NAC genes provides a possibility to tailor biofuel plants. Over-expression studies have indicated that NAC family genes can provide tolerance to various biotic and abiotic stresses, either by physiological or biochemical changes at the cellular level, or by affecting visible morphological and anatomical changes, for example, by development of lateral roots in a number of plants. Over-expression of these genes also work as triggers for development of secondary cell walls. In our laboratory, we have observed a NAC gene from Lepidium latifolium contributing to both enhanced biomass as well as cold stress tolerance of model plants tobacco. Thus, we have reviewed all the developments of genetic engineering using NAC genes which could enhance the traits required for biofuel plants, either by enhancing the stress tolerance or by enhancing the biomass of the plants.
Quantum Dots — Characterization, Preparation and Usage in Biological Systems

The use of fluorescent nanoparticles as probes for bioanalytical applications is a highly promising technique because fluorescence-based techniques are very sensitive. Quantum dots (QDs) seem to show the greatest promise as labels for tagging and imaging in biological systems owing to their impressive photostability, which allow long-term observations of biomolecules. The usage of QDs in practical applications has started only recently, therefore, the research on QDs is extremely important in order to provide safe and effective biosensing materials for medicine. This review reports on the recent methods for the preparation of quantum dots, their physical and chemical properties, surface modification as well as on some interesting examples of their experimental use.
A Distributed Multiagent System Architecture for Body Area Networks Applied to Healthcare Monitoring

In the last years the area of health monitoring has grown significantly, attracting the attention of both academia and commercial sectors. At the same time, the availability of new biomedical sensors and suitable network protocols has led to the appearance of a new generation of wireless sensor networks, the so-called wireless body area networks. Nowadays, these networks are routinely used for continuous monitoring of vital parameters, movement, and the surrounding environment of people, but the large volume of data generated in different locations represents a major obstacle for the appropriate design, development, and deployment of more elaborated intelligent systems. In this context, we present an open and distributed architecture based on a multiagent system for recognizing human movements, identifying human postures, and detecting harmful activities. The proposed system evolved from a single node for fall detection to a multisensor hardware solution capable of identifying unhampered falls and analyzing the users' movement. The experiments carried out contemplate two different scenarios and demonstrate the accuracy of our proposal as a real distributed movement monitoring and accident detection system. Moreover, we also characterize its performance, enabling future analyses and comparisons with similar approaches.
Mathematical descriptors of DNA sequences: development and applications

Over the last few years several authors have presented various methods to assign mathematical descriptors to DNA sequences in order to quantitatively compare the sequences and determine similarities and dissimilarities between them. The plethora of different methods used have made it necessary to compare them and determine which one(s), if any, best meet the needs required to characterize DNA sequences. With the very rapid rise in available DNA sequence data and the strong need for robust quantitative techniques to determine regions of interest in these sequences, numerical characterization of DNA and RNA sequences will be of great importance in filling a part of this need.