Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An Empirical Bayes Approach to Efficient Portfolio Selection

Abstract When portfolio optimization is implemented using the historical characteristics of security returns, estimation error can degrade the desirable properties of the investment portfolio that is selected. Given the problem of estimation risk, it is natural to formulate rules of portfolio selection within a Bayesian framework. In this framework, portfolio selection is based on maximization of expected utility conditioned on the predictive distribution of security returns. Most researchers have addressed the problem of estimation risk by asserting a noninformative diffuse prior that reduces the detrimental effect of estimation risk, but does not directly reduce estimation error. Portfolio performance can be improved by specifying an informative prior that reduces estimation error. An informative prior that all securities have identical expected returns, variances, and pairwise correlation coefficients is asserted. This informative prior reduces estimation error by drawing the posterior estimates of each security's expected return, variance, and pairwise correlation coefficients toward the average return, average variance, and average correlation coefficient, respectively, of all the securities in the population. The amount that each of these parameters is drawn toward its grand mean depends upon the degree to which the sample is consistent with the informative prior. This empirical Bayes method is shown to select portfolios whose performance is superior to that achieved, given the assumption of a noninformative prior or by using classical sample estimates.
Platelet adhesion changes during storage studied with a novel method using flow cytometry and protein-coated beads

Abstract The aim of the present study was to set up and evaluate a novel method for studies of platelet adhesion and activation in blood and platelet suspensions such as platelet concentrate (PC) samples using protein-coated polystyrene beads and flow cytometry. To demonstrate its usefulness, we studied PCs during storage. PCs were prepared by aphaeresis technique (n = 7). Metabolic variables and platelet function was measured on day 1, 5, 7 and 12 of storage. Spontaneous and TRAP-6-induced adhesion to fibrinogen- and collagen-coated beads was analyzed by flow cytometry. P-selectin and phosphatidyl serine (PS) expression was assessed on platelets bound to beads as well as on non-adherent platelets. Platelet adhesion to fibrinogen beads had increased by day 12 and adhesion to collagen beads at day 7 of storage (p < 0.05). TRAP-6 stimulation significantly increased the platelet adhesion to fibrinogen beads (p < 0.05) as well as the P-selectin and PS exposure on platelets bound to beads (p < 0.01) during the first 7 days of storage, but by day 12, significant changes were no longer induced by TRAP-6 stimulation. We demonstrate that our adhesion assay using protein-coated polystyrene beads can be used to assess the adhesion properties of platelets during storage without the addition of red blood cells. Therefore it may offer a useful tool for future studies of platelet adhesive capacity in transfusion medicine and other settings.
Robust observer design for Sugeno systems with incremental quadratic nonlinearity in the consequent

Abstract This paper is concerned with observer design for nonlinear systems that are modeled by T-S fuzzy systems containing parametric and nonparametric uncertainties. Unlike most Sugeno models, the proposed method contains nonlinear functions in the consequent part of the fuzzy IF-THEN rules. This will allow modeling a wider class of systems with smaller modeling errors. The consequent part of each rule contains a linear part plus a nonlinear term, which has an incremental quadratic constraint. This constraint relaxes the conservativeness introduced by other regular constraints for nonlinearities such as the Lipschitz conditions. To further reduce the conservativeness, a nonlinear injection term is added to the observer dynamics. Simulation examples show the effectiveness of the proposed method compared with the existing techniques reported in well-established journals.
Helping people with severe mental illness to obtain work: systematic review

Abstract Objective: To determine the most effective way of helping people with severe mental illness to obtain competitive employment—that is, a job paid at the market rate, and for which anyone can apply. Design: Systematic review. Participants: Eligible studies were randomised controlled trials comparing prevocational training or supported employment (for people with severe mental illness) with each other or with standard community care. Outcome measures: The primary outcome was number of subjects in competitive employment. Secondary outcomes were other employment outcomes, clinical outcomes, and costs. Results: Eleven trials met the inclusion criteria. Five (1204 subjects) compared prevocational training with standard community care, one (256 subjects) compared supported employment with standard community care, and five (484 subjects) compared supported employment with prevocational training. Subjects in supported employment were more likely to be in competitive employment than those who received prevocational training at 4, 6, 9, 12, 15, and 18 months (for example, 34% v 12% at 12 months; number needed to treat 4.45, 95% confidence interval 3.37 to 6.59). This effect was still present, although at a reduced level, after a sensitivity analysis that retained only the highest quality trials (31% v 12%; 5.3, 3.6 to 10.4). People in supported employment earned more and worked more hours per month than those who had had prevocational training. Conclusion: Supported employment is more effective than prevocational training at helping people with severe mental illness obtain competitive employment.
A framework for noise-power spectrum analysis of multidimensional images.

A methodological framework for experimental analysis of the noise-power spectrum (NPS) of multidimensional images is presented that employs well-known properties of the n-dimensional (nD) Fourier transform. The approach is generalized to n dimensions, reducing to familiar cases for n = 1 (e.g., time series) and n = 2 (e.g., projection radiography) and demonstrated experimentally for two cases in which n = 3 (viz., using an active matrix flat-panel imager for x-ray fluoroscopy and cone-beam CT to form three-dimensional (3D) images in spatiotemporal and volumetric domains, respectively). The relationship between fully nD NPS analysis and various techniques for analyzing a "central slice" of the NPS is formulated in a manner that is directly applicable to measured nD data, highlights the effects of correlation, and renders issues of NPS normalization transparent. The spatiotemporal NPS of fluoroscopic images is analyzed under varying conditions of temporal correlation (image lag) to investigate the degree to which the NPS is reduced by such correlation. For first-frame image lag of approximately 5-8%, the NPS is reduced by approximately 20% compared to the lag-free case. A simple model is presented that results in an approximate rule of thumb for computing the effect of image lag on NPS under conditions of spatiotemporal separability. The volumetric NPS of cone-beam CT images is analyzed under varying conditions of spatial correlation, controlled by adjustment of the reconstruction filter. The volumetric NPS is found to be highly asymmetric, exhibiting a ramp characteristic in transverse planes (typical of filtered back-rojection) and a band-limited characteristic in the longitudinal direction (resulting from low-pass characteristics of the imager). Such asymmetry could have implications regarding the detectability of structures visualized in transverse versus sagittal or coronal planes. In all cases, appreciation of the full dimensionality of the image data is essential to obtaining meaningful NPS results. The framework may be applied to NPS analysis of image data of arbitrary dimensionality provided the system satisfies conditions of NPS existence.
Coordinated compliance control of dual-arm robot for payload manipulation: Master-slave and shared force control

With the rapid development of robotics, dual-arm robots have been more and more widely used. Compared with the traditional single manipulator, it is very challenging for a dual-arm robot in modelling, planning and control. In this paper, we propose two compliance control methods for dual arm coordination to meet different requirements of fine manipulation tasks, such as payload carrying, assembly and repairing. The first method is called master-slave force control strategy, and the second is shared force control strategy. For the former, the desired trajectory and operational force of master arm are given in advance. Then that of slave arm are calculated from the closed-chain constraint equation. On the contrary, the two arms can be controlled in shared mode, that is to say, the desired trajectory and operational force of the end-effectors of dual arms are decomposed from the closed-chain constraint equation directly. The coordinated kinematic and dynamic equations of dual-arm robot system are established by considering the closed-chain constraint relationship. According to the force balance equation of the objective payload, the common force is decomposed into the desired end-effector force of each manipulator. Finally, the control algorithms are verified by simulation and experiment.
Block-Wise MIMO Detection with Near-Optimal Performance and Low Complexity

A block-wise MIMO detection scheme which reduces the search space greatly comparing with the ML detection but still achieves the near-optimal performance is proposed. The specific feature of the proposed detection scheme is that, the search space is reduced as much as possible before performing the exhaustive search, in other words, the required search space that is large enough to guarantee the acceptable performance is obtained in a search space pre-determination stage. Based on the output of ZF equalization, the metrics used for determining the reduced search space, which are the posterior probabilities in this paper, can be computed. According to the simulation results, the near-optimal performance can be obtained while the detection complexity is far less than that of the ideal ML detection.
Childhood trauma associated with smaller hippocampal volume in women with major depression.

OBJECTIVE Smaller hippocampal volume has been reported only in some but not all studies of unipolar major depressive disorder. Severe stress early in life has also been associated with smaller hippocampal volume and with persistent changes in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. However, prior hippocampal morphometric studies in depressed patients have neither reported nor controlled for a history of early childhood trauma. In this study, the volumes of the hippocampus and of control brain regions were measured in depressed women with and without childhood abuse and in healthy nonabused comparison subjects. METHOD Study participants were 32 women with current unipolar major depressive disorder-21 with a history of prepubertal physical and/or sexual abuse and 11 without a history of prepubertal abuse-and 14 healthy nonabused female volunteers. The volumes of the whole hippocampus, temporal lobe, and whole brain were measured on coronal MRI scans by a single rater who was blind to the subjects' diagnoses. RESULTS The depressed subjects with childhood abuse had an 18% smaller mean left hippocampal volume than the nonabused depressed subjects and a 15% smaller mean left hippocampal volume than the healthy subjects. Right hippocampal volume was similar across the three groups. The right and left hippocampal volumes in the depressed women without abuse were similar to those in the healthy subjects. CONCLUSIONS A smaller hippocampal volume in adult women with major depressive disorder was observed exclusively in those who had a history of severe and prolonged physical and/or sexual abuse in childhood. An unreported history of childhood abuse in depressed subjects could in part explain the inconsistencies in hippocampal volume findings in prior studies in major depressive disorder.
The Interaction of Binocular Disparity and Motion Parallax in Determining Perceived Depth and Perceived Size

Although binocular disparity and motion parallax are powerful cues for depth, neither, in isolation, can specify information about both object size and depth. It has been shown that information from both cues can be combined to specify the size, depth, and distance of an object in a scene (Richards, 1985 Journal of the Optical Society of America A 2 343 – 349). Experiments are reported in which natural viewing and physical stimuli have been used to investigate the nature of size and depth perception on the basis of disparity and parallax presented separately and together at a range of viewing distances. Observers adjusted the relative position of three bright LEDs, which were constrained to form a triangle in plan view with the apex pointing toward the observer, so its dimensions matched that of a standard held by the subject. With static monocular viewing, depth settings were inaccurate and erratic. When both cues were present together accuracy increased and the perceptual outcome was consistent with an averaging of the information provided by both cues. When an apparent bias evident in the observers’ responses (the tendency to under-estimate the size of the standard) was taken into account, accuracy was high and size and depth constancy were close to 100%. In addition, given this assumption, the same estimate of viewing distance was used to scale size and depth estimates.
Frequency domain equalization with tone grouping in DMT/ADSL-receivers

Per tone equalization for DMT-receivers has been proposed as an alternative structure for time domain equalization combined with 1-tap frequency domain equalization. With comparable complexity during data transmission, higher capacity is obtained. In this paper the influence of grouping tones is studied. For each group, the optimal-per tone equalizer is computed only for the center tone and then reused for the whole group. For a practical example, it is shown that combining tones into groups of 11 tones does not reduce the capacity significantly while this means a significant complexity saving during modem initialization.
Chapter 6 Piece-Mold-Machine Manufacturing Planning

Automated planning is a branch of artificial intelligence which deals with the computation of the best strategies of action sequences, typically for execution by machines or robots (Russell & Norvig, 2003). In general, the automated planning solutions are complex, combinatory and have to be searched in a multidimensional space. Solutions usually resort to iterative trial and error processes commonly seen in artificial intelligence as the Iterated Local Search metaheuristic that we implement in this work. More precisely, this chapter examines a real manufacturing system with molds and machines requirements for the production of pieces. These characteristics include, for example, plastic injection systems. Such an enterprise has a certain demand of pieces to fulfill. To produce a piece on a machine it is necessary to use a mold, and if it is decided to produce another type of piece in that machine with ABSTRACT
The RD-tree Allowing Data in Interior Nodes of the R-tree

The RD-tree is a dynamic spatial access method which is a variant of the R-tree. The major difference between the R-tree and the RD-tree is the use of the RD-tree's interior nodes, which contains not only index entries but also data entries whenever possible. When an appropriate data object is stored in an interior node, instead of a leaf node in the subtree, the expansion of the minimum bounding rectangles (MBRs) in the subtree can be avoided. Thus, the overlapping area between MBRs can be reduced. As a result, the number of disk accesses in the RD-tree can be improved, compared to the R-tree. From the experiment, it is shown that the RD-tree clearly outperforms the R-tree when minimum bounding rectangles of the data are markedly oblong
Socioeconomic status moderates genetic and environmental effects on the amount of alcohol use.

BACKGROUND Much is unknown about the relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and alcohol use, including the means by which SES may influence risk for alcohol use. METHODS Using a sample of 672 twin pairs (aged 25 to 74) derived from the MacArthur Foundation Survey of Midlife Development in the United States, this study examined whether SES, measured by household income and educational attainment, moderates genetic and environmental influences on 3 indices of alcohol use: amount used, frequency of use, and problem use. RESULTS We found significant moderation for amount of alcohol used. Specifically, genetic effects were greater in low-SES conditions, shared environmental effects (i.e., environmental effects that enhance the similarity of twins from the same families) tended to increase in high-SES conditions, and nonshared environmental effects (i.e., environmental effects that distinguish twins) tended to decrease with SES. This pattern of results was found for both income and education, and it largely replicated at a second wave of assessment spaced 9 years after the first. There was virtually no evidence of moderation for either frequency of alcohol use or alcohol problems. CONCLUSIONS Our findings indicate that genetic and environmental influences on drinking amount vary as a function of the broader SES context, whereas the etiologies of other drinking phenomena are less affected by this context. Efforts to find the causes underlying the amount of alcohol used are likely to be more successful if such contextual information is taken into account.
Somatic and vicarious pain are represented by dissociable multivariate brain patterns

Understanding how humans represent others’ pain is critical for understanding pro-social behavior. ‘Shared experience’ theories propose common brain representations for somatic and vicarious pain, but other evidence suggests that specialized circuits are required to experience others’ suffering. Combining functional neuroimaging with multivariate pattern analyses, we identified dissociable patterns that predicted somatic (high versus low: 100%) and vicarious (high versus low: 100%) pain intensity in out-of-sample individuals. Critically, each pattern was at chance in predicting the other experience, demonstrating separate modifiability of both patterns. Somatotopy (upper versus lower limb: 93% accuracy for both conditions) was also distinct, located in somatosensory versus mentalizing-related circuits for somatic and vicarious pain, respectively. Two additional studies demonstrated the generalizability of the somatic pain pattern (which was originally developed on thermal pain) to mechanical and electrical pain, and also demonstrated the replicability of the somatic/vicarious dissociation. These findings suggest possible mechanisms underlying limitations in feeling others’ pain, and present new, more specific, brain targets for studying pain empathy. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.7554/eLife.15166. 001
Learning Which Features to Imitate in a Painting Task

Learning is essential for an autonomous agent to adapt to an environment. One method of learning is through trial and error, however, this method is impractical in a complex environment because of the long learning time required by the agent. Therefore, guidelines are necessary in order to expedite the learning process in such environments, and imitation is one such guideline. Sakato, Ozeki, and Oka (2012) recently proposed a computational model of imitation and autonomous behavior by which an agent can reduce its learning time through imitation. In this paper, we apply the model to a real robot, Nao, and evaluate the model using simple features in a simple environment. We also report on the progress of implementation of the model, and evaluations of the performance of imitation using the implemented model. Our experimental results indicate that the model adapted to the experimental environment by imitation.
Transfusion strategies for acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding.

BACKGROUND The hemoglobin threshold for transfusion of red cells in patients with acute gastrointestinal bleeding is controversial. We compared the efficacy and safety of a restrictive transfusion strategy with those of a liberal transfusion strategy. METHODS We enrolled 921 patients with severe acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding and randomly assigned 461 of them to a restrictive strategy (transfusion when the hemoglobin level fell below 7 g per deciliter) and 460 to a liberal strategy (transfusion when the hemoglobin fell below 9 g per deciliter). Randomization was stratified according to the presence or absence of liver cirrhosis. RESULTS A total of 225 patients assigned to the restrictive strategy (51%), as compared with 61 assigned to the liberal strategy (14%), did not receive transfusions (P<0.001) [corrected]. The probability of survival at 6 weeks was higher in the restrictive-strategy group than in the liberal-strategy group (95% vs. 91%; hazard ratio for death with restrictive strategy, 0.55; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.33 to 0.92; P=0.02). Further bleeding occurred in 10% of the patients in the restrictive-strategy group as compared with 16% of the patients in the liberal-strategy group (P=0.01), and adverse events occurred in 40% as compared with 48% (P=0.02). The probability of survival was slightly higher with the restrictive strategy than with the liberal strategy in the subgroup of patients who had bleeding associated with a peptic ulcer (hazard ratio, 0.70; 95% CI, 0.26 to 1.25) and was significantly higher in the subgroup of patients with cirrhosis and Child-Pugh class A or B disease (hazard ratio, 0.30; 95% CI, 0.11 to 0.85), but not in those with cirrhosis and Child-Pugh class C disease (hazard ratio, 1.04; 95% CI, 0.45 to 2.37). Within the first 5 days, the portal-pressure gradient increased significantly in patients assigned to the liberal strategy (P=0.03) but not in those assigned to the restrictive strategy. CONCLUSIONS As compared with a liberal transfusion strategy, a restrictive strategy significantly improved outcomes in patients with acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding. (Funded by Fundació Investigació Sant Pau; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00414713.).
Searching cultural heritage data: does structure help expert searchers?

On-line search requests of cultural heritage (CH) material are often very short and mainly focused on names and dates, while the data provides much more detail and is highly structured, based on classification systems and ontologies. Apparently, typical users make no use of the available information and structure. Expert users such as museum curators have extensive knowledge of the objects in the collection and the classification systems used to describe them, and have complex information needs. In this paper we investigate the impact of exploiting the metadata structure on retrieval effectiveness of complex queries. Our findings are that 1) expert queries require little smoothing as all terms are important for identifying the right objects, 2) the field structure of CH descriptions can help improve early precision, 3) combining free-text retrieval and structured Boolean retrieval leads to significant improvements on both approaches alone. Finally, from analysing the questions send to a museum, we find that non-experts have more complex information needs than what search logs show us, suggesting they can benefit from systems that exploit structure as well.