Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A MODEL OF HOUSEHOLD TYPE SPECIFIC FOOD DEMAND BEHAVIOUR IN HUNGARY

The paper describes a two stage model of Hungarian households' food demand. Demand for the food aggregate is represented by a Working-Leser type single equation model while demand for seven distinct food types is modelled in a complete demand system using the LA/AIDS functional form. Estimation is based on household budget survey data for 1996. Demand elasticities are estimated for average households as well as for specific groups defined by sociodemographic characteristics. Fruit and vegetables are found to be the food types with most elastic demand but in general, differences between elasticities for different products as well as between different sociodemographic groups are relatively small.
Epidermal Growth Factor Stimulation of Human Breast Cancer Cells in Culture 1

Epidermal growth factor (EGF), a polypeptide found in human and animal blood and secretions, has been found to stimulate a variety of tissues in vitro including normal and malignant rodent mammary epithelium and human breast epithelial cells and fibroadenoma. We have studied the influence of EGF on malignant human breast tissue with a model system comprising human breast carcinoma cells growing in tissue culture. EGF stimulated growth of MCF-7 cells in serum-free medium. After 7 days in culture, a 2-fold increase in cell number and DMA content and a 3-fold increase in total protein were observed in cells incubated with EGF (10 ng/ml). As little as 0.01 ng/ml of EGF stimulated growth; 10 ng/ml was maximal. EGF effects on growth were noted for cells plated at a high as well as sparse (cloning) density. EGF also stimulated the rates of thymidine, uridine, and leucine incorporation into macromolecules in a doseand time-dependent fashion. Stimulation of uridine and leucine incorporation was evident by 3 hr, whereas EGF stimulation of thymidine incorporation was delayed until 12 to 18 hr. EGF increased the proportion of cells active in DMA synthesis by nearly 2-fold. The combination of optimal concentrations of insulin (also a growth factor for these cells) and EGF did not stimulate growth above that seen with either hormone alone, suggesting a common step in their mechanism of action. The EGF effect was not dependent on the presence of serum and was not enhanced by dexamethasone as reported for other types of cells. EGF had no effect on another human breast cancer cell line, the MDA-231. These studies suggest that growth of some human breast cancers may be influenced by EGF.
An incremental self-organizing neural network based on enhanced competitive Hebbian learning

Self-organizing neural networks are important tools for realizing unsupervised learning. Recently, a difficult task has involved the incremental, efficient and robust learning in noisy environments. Most of the existing techniques are poor in this regard. In this paper, we first propose a new topology generating method called enhanced competitive Hebbian learning (enhanced CHL), and then propose a novel incremental self-organizing neural network based on the enhanced CHL method, called enhanced incremental growing neural gas (Hi-GNG). The experiments presented in this paper show that the Hi-GNG algorithm can automatically and efficiently generate a topological structure with a suitable number of neurons and that the proposed algorithm is robust to noisy data.
Study of GPR81, the Lactate Receptor, from Distant Species Identifies Residues and Motifs Critical for GPR81 Functions

Receptors from distant species may have conserved functions despite significant differences in protein sequences. Whereas the noncritical residues are often changed in distant species, the amino acids critical in receptor functions are often conserved. Studying the conserved residues between receptors from distant species offers valuable information to probe the roles of residues in receptor function. We identified two zebrafish receptors (zGPR81-1 and zGPR81-2) that show approximately 60% identity to human GPR81, GPR109a, and GPR109b but respond only to l-lactate and not to the GPR109a ligands. Protein sequence comparison among zebrafish GPR81s, mammalian GPR81s, GPR109a, and GPR109b identified a common structure (six Cys residues at the extracellular domains that potentially form three disulfide bonds) in this subfamily of receptors. In addition, a number of residues conserved in all GPR81s but not in GPR109s have been identified. Furthermore, we identified a conserved motif, C165-E166-S167-F168, at the second extracellular loop of GPR81. Using site-directed mutagenesis, we showed that Arg71 at the transmembrane domain 2 is very critical for GPR81 function. In addition, we demonstrated that the C165-E166-S167-F168 motif at the second extracellular loop is critical for GPR81 function, and the conserved six Cys residues at the extracellular regions are necessary for GPR81 function. It is important to mention that for those residues important for GPR81 function, the corresponding residues or motifs in GPR109a are also critical for GPR109a function. These findings help us better understand the interaction between lactate and GPR81 and provide useful information for GPR81 ligand design.
Global Financial Crisis Impacts Forest Conservation in Cameroon

SUMMARY The forests of SE Cameroon lie within the Sangha tri-national landscape (TNS), a priority area for biodiversity conservation under the Congo Basin Forest Partnership. A monitoring program showed minimal changes in conservation and local livelihoods indicators from 2006 to 2008. Following the global financial crisis in late 2008 global demand for timber decreased and this led to suspension of logging activities and lay-offs of staff by logging companies; both biodiversity and livelihood indicators deteriorated. The unemployed workers lost their incomes, experienced declining living standards and reverted to poaching and slash and burn agriculture. Pygmies were no longer able to obtain employment in Bantu agricultural plots, sell forest products to logging company employees or sell bushmeat to passing logging trucks. These global economic forces had greater impact on livelihoods and the environment than local interventions by conservation organizations. Livelihood indicators improved in 2010 and 2011 when the economy picked-up but those for environmental values did not recover as rapidly.
Neuronal Substrates of Sensory Processing for Song Perception and Learning in Songbirds : Lessons from the Mormyrid Electric Fish

The sensory processing and decoding of behaviorally relevant information is a basic problem that animals must resolve in order to succeed in an ever-changing environment. Sensory systems of various modalities have specialized in detecting key features conveying information for purposes as diverse as feeding, navigation , identification of conspecifics, defense from predators, and reproduction. A growing body of evidence indicates that sensory systems often compare incoming external patterns of sensory stimulation with predictions or expectations about these patterns. These predictions can be based on previous knowledge of self-generated sensory patterns, as occurs in some electric fish, or on sensory memories acquired through experience and learning, as is the case in songbirds. Sensory systems of different modalities sometimes solve similar computational problems of information processing. By studying the mechanisms of sensory processing in one system, we can develop new hypotheses of mechanisms in another system. The electrosensory system of mormyrid electric fish provides a good example of a well-characterized sensory system that has developed mechanisms to distinguish self-generated sensory stimuli from stimuli that arise from external sources. Songbirds, on the other hand, need to compare the sounds of the songs they and their neighbors produce with previously formed song auditory memories in order to effectively perform the perceptual discriminations and vocal learning required for reproductive success. This chapter explores aspects of the mormyrid electrosensory system that may help us to understand how the songbird brain is organized to extract behaviorally relevant information from auditory signals, either to identify other individual birds or to generate and maintain the bird's own song (BOS).
Time Based Fault Detection and Isolation in Wireless Sensors Network

Wireless sensor networks have paved the way for the creation of a new generation of applications in a variety of fields. The main aim of this article is to simulate some faults in the behavior of wireless sensor networks. These faults can be classified as “failures” or “intrusions”, and in our work, we have focused on the three following faults: external factors (such as Animals, weather .), a jamming attack in which the attacker is a mobile entity, and finally an inundation attack (successive Hello messages). In order to address the above issues we have designed a method for the detection and isolation of a faulty sensor and a simulator to show the influence of failures and to test the effectiveness of our solution using C++ programming language. This simulation is Capable of detecting and isolating a faulty sensor even in the case when multiple sensors break down at the same time.
Analog Front-End Design for ECG Systems Using Delta-Sigma ADCs

This document discusses the characteristics of electrocardiogram (ECG) signals and different front-end approaches for ECG signal acquisition. The tradeoffs between different approaches and the effects on overall system design are discussed. The report also includes descriptions of potential implementations of the front-end architecture using the ADS1258 and ADS1278 and respective noise measurement results.
Spatial price transmission and market integration in Senegal’s groundnut market

The groundnut sector is the largest of Senegal’s agricultural sectors. It has been subject to various degrees of intervention since the country’s independence. Some, including the determination of farm prices by the government have survived the wave of reforms of the 1980s. Groundnut pricing policies have been the source of major transfers from farmers to the groundnut milling industry, which until 2007, was dominated by SONACOS, a publicly owned parastatal. The state was thus a major beneficiary of the transfers. In 2007, the company was privatized and is now privately owned, raising even greater concerns about the distribution of implications of pricing policies for groundnuts. The paper examines the potential ramifications of liberalizing groundnut prices in terms of its impact on prices received by producers and paid by the milling industry. One fundamental question in the analysis is the extent to which local markets would respond to such a move. To answer this question, the paper presents a dynamic model of price formation that uses estimates of spatial integration across local markets to measure the response of local agricultural prices to policy changes. We then apply this model to simulate the impact of liberalizing groundnut prices to allow domestic prices to reflect their international levels. We find that doing so would change prices in the border city of Dakar, which happens to be the central market that determines prices in the local markets of the producing regions of Kaolack and Fatick. We also find that if markets had been fully liberalized when SONACOS was privatized in January 2007, then groundnut prices would have been higher and that the increase in prices would have been passed on almost entirely to producers in Kaolack and, to a lesser extent, to producers in Fatick. Such reforms would have reversed the longstanding discrimination of groundnut farmers. Prices received by farmers in Kaolack over a period of one year would have increased from 352 FCFA/kg to 494 FCFA/kg of shelled groundnuts. For farmers in the Fatick region, prices would increase from 389 FCFA/kg to 474 FCFA/kg.
Distilling Co-Movements from Persistent Macro and Financial Series

We provide a methodology to disentangle the long-run relation between variables from their own dynamics. Macroeconomic and aggregate financial series have a high degree of inertia. If this persistence is not properly accounted for, spurious correlations will give rise to paradoxes. Our procedure shows that the Uncovered Interest Parity (UIP) puzzle evaporates when the dynamics are properly modelled: the forward premium loses all the predictive power that it seemed to have. We also show how the stock market grows in long cycles around a trend given by GDP, in a stable relation that does not break. JEL Classification: E37
Understanding Tutor Learning: Knowledge-Building and Knowledge-Telling in Peer Tutors’ Explanations and Questions

Prior research has established that peer tutors can benefit academically from their tutoring experiences. However, although tutor learning has been observed across diverse settings, the magnitude of these gains is often underwhelming. In this review, the authors consider how analyses of tutors’ actual behaviors may help to account for variation in learning outcomes and how typical tutoring behaviors may create or undermine opportunities for learning. The authors examine two tutoring activities that are commonly hypothesized to support tutor learning: explaining and questioning. These activities are hypothesized to support peer tutors’ learning via reflective knowledge-building, which includes self-monitoring of comprehension, integration of new and prior knowledge, and elaboration and construction of knowledge. The review supports these hypotheses but also finds that peer tutors tend to exhibit a pervasive knowledge-telling bias. Peer tutors, even when trained, focus more on delivering knowledge rather than developing it. As a result, the true potential for tutor learning may rarely be achieved. The review concludes by offering recommendations for how future research can utilize tutoring process data to understand how tutors learn and perhaps develop new training methods.
Resistance of Wheat Accessions to the English Grain Aphid Sitobion avenae

The English grain aphid, Sitobion avenae, is a major pest species of wheat crops; however, certain varieties may have stronger resistance to infestation than others. Here, we investigated 3 classical resistance mechanisms (antixenosis, antibiosis, and tolerance) by 14 wheat varieties/lines to S. avenae under laboratory and field conditions. Under laboratory conditions, alatae given the choice between 2 wheat varieties, strongly discriminated against certain varieties. Specifically, the ‘Amigo’ variety had the lowest palatability to S. avenae alatae of all varieties. ‘Tm’ (Triticum monococcum), ‘Astron,’ ‘Xanthus,’ ‘Ww2730,’ and ‘Batis’ varieties also had lower palatability than other varieties. Thus, these accessions may use antibiosis as the resistant mechanism. In contrast, under field conditions, there were no significant differences in the number of alatae detected on the 14 wheat varieties. One synthetic line (98-10-30, a cross between of Triticum aestivum (var. Chris) and Triticum turgidum (var. durum) hybridization) had low aphid numbers but high yield loss, indicating that it has high antibiosis, but poor tolerance. In comparison, ‘Amigo,’ ‘Xiaoyan22,’ and some ‘186Tm’ samples had high aphid numbers but low yield loss rates, indicating they have low antibiosis, but good tolerance. Aphid population size and wheat yield loss rates greatly varied in different fields and years for ‘98-10-35,’ ‘Xiaoyan22,’ ‘Tp,’ ‘Tam200,’ ‘PI high,’ and other ‘186Tm’ samples, which were hybrid offspring of T. aestivum and wheat related species. Thus, these germplasm should be considered for use in future studies. Overall, S. avenae is best adapted to ‘Xinong1376,’ because it was the most palatable variety, with the greatest yield loss rates of all 14 wheat varieties. However, individual varieties/lines influenced aphid populations differently in different years. Therefore, we strongly recommend a combination of laboratory and long-term field experiments in targeted planting regions to identify varieties/lines that consistently show high resistance to S. avenae infestation.
Causal Laws and Multi-Valued Fluents

This paper continues the line of work on representing properties of actions in nonmonotonic formalisms that stresses the distinction between being"true"and being"caused", as in the system of causal logic introduced by McCain and Turner and in the action language C proposed by Giunchiglia and Lifschitz. The only fluents directly representable in language C+ are truth-valued fluents, which is often inconvenient. We show that both causal logic and language C can be extended to allow values from arbitrary nonempty sets. Our extension of language C, called C+, also makes it possible to describe actions in terms of their attributes, which is important from the perspective of elaboration tolerance. We describe an embedding of C+ in causal theories with multi-valued constants, relate C+ to Pednault's action language ADL, and show how multi-valued constants can be eliminated in favor of Boolean constants.
Hhex and Cer1 Mediate the Sox17 Pathway for Cardiac Mesoderm Formation in Embryonic Stem Cells

Cardiac muscle differentiation in vivo is guided by sequential growth factor signals, including endoderm‐derived diffusible factors, impinging on cardiogenic genes in the developing mesoderm. Previously, by RNA interference in AB2.2 mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs), we identified the endodermal transcription factor Sox17 as essential for Mesp1 induction in primitive mesoderm and subsequent cardiac muscle differentiation. However, downstream effectors of Sox17 remained to be proven functionally. In this study, we used genome‐wide profiling of Sox17‐dependent genes in AB2.2 cells, RNA interference, chromatin immunoprecipitation, and luciferase reporter genes to dissect this pathway. Sox17 was required not only for Hhex (a second endodermal transcription factor) but also for Cer1, a growth factor inhibitor from endoderm that, like Hhex, controls mesoderm patterning in Xenopus toward a cardiac fate. Suppressing Hhex or Cer1 blocked cardiac myogenesis, although at a later stage than induction of Mesp1/2. Hhex was required but not sufficient for Cer1 expression. Over‐expression of Sox17 induced endogenous Cer1 and sequence‐specific transcription of a Cer1 reporter gene. Forced expression of Cer1 was sufficient to rescue cardiac differentiation in Hhex‐deficient cells. Thus, Hhex and Cer1 are indispensable components of the Sox17 pathway for cardiopoiesis in mESCs, acting at a stage downstream from Mesp1/2. Stem Cells 2014;32:1515–1526
Business object design and implementation workshop

2. Abstract The OOPSLA Workshop on Business Object Design and Implementation was jointly sponsored by the Accredited Standards Committee X3H7 (Object Information Management) and the Object Management Group (OMG) Business Object Management Special Interest Group (BOMSIG). A variety of papers were presented on business object architectures, reusable component requirements, specification of distributed systems, and patterns which should be used in design of business systems. The Workshop concluded that reengineering and rapid delivery of new business functionality would require significant changes in current development tools and methodologies. Software development has traditionally supported tightly coupled components built with loosely coupled analysis, design, and implementation methods. New systems will require that loosely coupled, reusable, plug compatible components be constructed using a tightly coupled development method that combines business process reengineering, analysis, design, implementation, and reusable component market delivery systems similar to today’s custom IC chip industry. 2.1 X3H7 Object Information Management In 1994, the X3H7 Object Information Management Technical Committee projected that over the next decade, more than 80% of new object-oriented software systems would be built in three objectoriented languages (Smalltalk, C++, and 00 COBOL) and communicate through a Object Request Broker to four primary external environments (SQL databases, Object Databases, Microsoft OLE/COM, and CORBA objects). Interoperability of large grained objects existing in these environments was identified as a core activity in the standards process.
Biomarkers of Hemodynamic Stress and Aortic Stiffness after STEMI: A Cross-Sectional Analysis

Aim. Increased aortic stiffness might adversely affect cardiac structure, function, and perfusion. Release of biomarkers of hemodynamic stress is thought to be enhanced by these alterations. We aimed to evaluate the association between biomarkers of hemodynamic stress and aortic stiffness assessed at a chronic stage after ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). Methods. Fifty-four patients four months after STEMI were enrolled in this cross-sectional, single-center study. N-terminal pro–B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP), mid-regional pro–A-type natriuretic peptide (MR-proANP), and mid-regional proadrenomedullin (MR-proADM) levels were measured by established assays. Aortic stiffness was assessed by the measurement of pulse wave velocity using phase-contrast cardiovascular magnetic resonance. Results. NT-proBNP, MR-proANP, and MR-proADM concentrations were all correlated with aortic stiffness in univariate analysis (r = 0.378, r = 0.425, and r = 0.532; all P < 0.005, resp.). In multiple linear regression analysis, NT-proBNP (β = 0.316, P = 0.005) and MR-proADM (β = 0.284, P < 0.020) levels were associated with increased aortic stiffness independently of age, blood pressure, and renal function. NT-proBNP was the strongest predictor for high aortic stiffness (area under the curve: 0.82, 95% CI 0.67–0.96). Conclusion. At a chronic stage after STEMI, concentrations of biomarkers for hemodynamic stress, especially NT-proBNP, are positively correlated with aortic stiffness. These biomarkers might also be useful as predictors of high aortic stiffness after STEMI.
Obligations in Multiagent Systems

The contribution of this paper 1 is threefold: First, we outline some possibilities for use of deontic logics (the logics of obligation and permission) in multiagent systems. Second, we point out some problems pertaining to the formalisation of obligations in a well known approach to multiagent systems (i.e. AOP). Third, we ooer our view on how a set of deontic operators might be fruitfully employed in the analysis of multiagent systems, and how a particular combination of them may be used to avoid the problems in AOP.
An algorithm to determine the Heegaard genus of simple 3–manifolds with nonempty boundary

We provide an algorithm to determine the Heegaard genus of simple 3‐manifolds with nonempty boundary. More generally, we supply an algorithm to determine (up to ambient isotopy) all the Heegaard splittings of any given genus for the manifold. As a consequence, the tunnel number of a hyperbolic link is algorithmically computable. Our techniques rely on Rubinstein’s work on almost normal surfaces, and also on a new structure called a partially flat angled ideal triangulation.