Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Tatonnement for Linear and Gross Substitutes Markets

A central question in economics and computer science is when and how markets can arrive at an equilibrium. Many existing algorithms for computing equilibria in classes of Arrow-Debreu markets rely on full knowledge of the utility functions of all agents, while in reality we often face unknown markets without this information. A classic approach to unknown markets from economics is tatonnement -- dynamic price update processes that only require oracle access to query the aggregate demand of each good. In this paper, we design a new class of tatonnement algorithms. For the first time, we show how tatonnement can converge in polynomial time to market equilibria in linear markets and spending constraint markets, where the main obstacle is a non-continuous demand function. This also gives the first polynomial-time algorithm for spending constraint markets and settles an open question raised in [Duan and Mehlhorn, ICALP'13]. Moreover, our algorithms can be applied to unknown markets with weak gross substitutes (WGS) property, in which they converge to $(1+\epsilon)$-approximate market equilibria in time polynomial in market parameters and $\log(1/\epsilon)$. This exponentially improves the previous convergence rate of polynomial in market parameters and $1/\epsilon$. Our approach uses ideas developed for full information linear markets and applies them in unknown linear and non-linear markets. Since our oracles return demands based on real utility functions, precision and representation of prices and demands become a major technical challenge. Here we develop new tools and insights, which may be of independent interest.
Deriving Greenberg's Universal 20 and Its Exceptions

Of the 24 mathematically possible orders of the four elements demonstrative, numeral, adjective, and noun, only 14 appear to be attested in the languages of the world. Some of these are unexpected under Greenberg's Universal 20. Here it is proposed that the actually attested orders, and none of the unattested ones, are derivable from a single, universal, order of Merge (Dem > Num > Adj > N) and from independent conditions on phrasal movement.
Induction of labour for suspected fetal macrosomia.

Women with a suspected macrosomic fetus are at risk of difficult operative delivery or caesarean section. Neonatal trauma may complicate the delivery. Induction of labour may reduce these risks by limiting the fetal growth and, therefore, decrease the birthweight. However, this intervention per se may be associated with an increased risk of caesarean section. To assess the effects of a policy of labour induction for suspected fetal macrosomia on method of delivery and maternal or perinatal morbidity.
Structure and Efficiency of Computer Programs

Much fundamental research in computer science is driven by two complementary notions of beauty in programming, that arising from the structure of a program and that arising from the efficiency of an algorithm. As Lewin famously said, “there’s nothing so practical as good theory” [Marrow, 1984]. Decades of experience has borne out the remarkable efficacy of theory in improving the practice of programming. Programming language theory is the study of the structural aspects of programming. The central notion is that of compositionality, the construction of a program by composition of separable parts. Results are formulated in terms of programming languages defined by type systems, which mediate composition of components, and semantics, which determines the execution behavior of those programs. Notable theorems include the parametricity theorem, which provides the mathematical foundation for the informal concept of data abstraction. Algorithm theory is the study of the efficiency aspects of programming. The central notion is of asymptotic analysis of the time and space usage of a program, expressed in terms of a size measure or a probability distribution on the inputs. Results are formulated in terms of machine models of computation, such as TM’s or RAM’s, which define the basic steps of an algorithm and their exceution cost, perhaps relative to parameters such as the number of processors on a PRAM. Algorithms are expressed in “high-level assembler”, a simple imperative programming language, for which the translation to the “official” machine model is readily understood. Often algorithms are expressed in terms of explicit representations of data structures using “pointers” and “words” to manage storage. By and large the algorithms and programming languages communities operate in isolation from one another. Programming languages researchers focus on the practicalities of building large software systems, and are seldom concerned about efficiency. Algorithms researchers focus on the efficiency of core programming techniques, and are seldom concerned about composition. (These are, of course, caricatures of reality, but it seems to me that they contain an element of truth.)
A Semantic Web Services Framework for Distributed E-Learning Environments

E-learning is evolving towards distributed environments, in which various providers offer not only their resources but a variety of services to a common user. Such services constitute a new layer on top of the e-learning resources that enables greater flexibility for the location and use of educational contents. Limitations arise when the service layer is based on current Web Service technologies, as their possibilities for dynamic service location, composition, and interoperation are rather restricted. In this paper, we address these issues in the context of a metadata oriented P2P network for e-learning. We analyze the need for semantic descriptions of Web Services in this scenario and introduce a proposal for a Web Services modelling ontology. Our Web Services modelling ontology aims at providing the basis for a flexible and scalable definition of the service layer in the e-learning domain presented, as well as for other envisioned applications.
Arginase induction in Aspergillus nidulans. The appearance and decay of the coding capacity of messenger.

The induction of arginase in the fungus Aspergillus nidulans depends on the synthesis of messenger and its subsequent translation, as is shown by selective inhibition of the two processes by proflavine and actidione. In mycelium grown at 30°C messenger synthesis starts with no measurable delay but the enzyme appears 6 min after arginine addition. The stability of the enzyme is accompanied by the lability of its messenger, the coding capacity of which decays with the half-life of 2.7 min. The synthesis of messenger can be separated from its translation by including actidione (5 μg/ml) in an arginine-supplemented culture. After the withdrawal of inducer and inhibitor the expression of arginase messenger takes place. The 4.5-fold increased stability of messenger observed under conditions of blocked translation may be responsible for its accumulation in presence of actidione.
Intelligent Nudging to Support Interactive Exploration of a Data Graph

This research investigates how to support the user exploration through big data graphs. Current successful approaches to interactive exploration take into account the utility from a user’s point of view. In this PhD, we are focusing on knowledge utility – how useful the trajectories in a data graph are for expanding user’s domain knowledge. The main goal of this research is to design intelligent nudging techniques to direct the user to ‘good’ trajectories for knowledge expansion. Our earlier work investigating empirical nudging strategies for users exploration, suggests that paths which start with familiar and highly inclusive entities and bring something unfamiliar are likely to increase the learning effect of users exploration. This direct us to investigate subsumption theory for meaningful learning and adopt it as our underpinning theoretical model to generate good trajectories, where familiar and highly inclusive entities are used as knowledge anchors to bring and learn new knowledge. This calls for developing an automatic approach to identify knowledge anchors in a data graph. We follow an analogy with basic level objects in domain taxonomies that underpin our automated approach for identifying knowledge anchors. Several metrics for extracting knowledge anchors in a data graph are developed and examined.
Glycoprotein Ic-IIa functions as an activation-independent fibronectin receptor on human platelets

Soluble fibronectin binds specifically to glycoprotein (GP) IIb-IIIa on thrombin-activated platelets, and this binding is not observed with platelets of patients with Glanzmann's thrombasthenia (GT) which lack GPIIb-IIIa. Here we report that GT platelets retain the ability to interact with fibronectin-coated surfaces. Adhesion to fibronectin does not require platelet activation and is inhibited by soluble fibronectin, antibodies specific for fibronectin, peptides containing the sequence Arg-Gly-Asp and polyclonal antibodies specific for band 3 of the chicken embryo fibroblast fibronectin receptor (anti-band 3). Using anti-band 3, we have purified a second fibronectin receptor from human platelets, a heterodimer composed of glycoproteins previously designated GPIc and GPIIa. The GPIc-IIa complex is found on both GT and normal platelets and appears to be identical to the GP138 kD-GP160 kD complex recently immunopurified by Giancotti et al. (1986. Exp. Cell Res. 163:47-62) and by Sonnenberg et al. (1987. J. Biol. Chem. 268:10376-10383). In this report, we provide the first evidence that GPIc-IIa actually mediates adhesion of platelets to fibronectin-coated surfaces. GPIc-IIa thus represents a second functional fibronectin receptor, distinct from GPIIb-IIIa, that is largely responsible for the adhesion of nonactivated platelets to fibronectin-coated surfaces.
C-Reactive Protein Overexpression Exacerbates Pressure Overload–Induced Cardiac Remodeling Through Enhanced Inflammatory Response

Serum C-reactive protein (CRP) elevation predicts the development of heart failure in patients with hypertension. CRP activates macrophages and enhances oxidative stress. We hypothesize that CRP itself has a pathogenic role in the development of pressure overload–induced cardiac remodeling. Transgenic mice with human CRP overexpression (CRPtg) and nontransgenic littermates (CON) were subjected to transverse aortic constriction (TAC/CRPtg and TAC/CON) or sham operation (Sham/CRPtg and Sham/CON). One week after operation, in TAC/CRPtg, myocardial mRNA levels of interleukin (IL)-6, CD68, glutathione peroxidase-3 (GPx3), 47-kDa &agr;-subunit of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate oxidase (p47phox), and collagen-I, the number of infiltrating Mac-2–positive macrophages, nuclear localization of phosphorylated NF-&kgr;B/p65 (p-p65) in cardiomyocytes, nuclear NF-&kgr;B-DNA-binding activity, and reactive oxygen species (ROS) content were increased compared to those in TAC/CON. Cardiac fibrosis was more prominent in TAC/CRPtg compared to TAC/CON. Four weeks after operation, heart and lung weights, cardiomyocyte cross-sectional area, and the extent of cardiac fibrosis were greater in TAC/CON than in Sham/CON, and these differences were further augmented in TAC/CRPtg compared to TAC/CON. Left ventricular (LV) fractional shortening was less and LV end-diastolic pressure was higher in TAC/CRPtg than in TAC/CON. Myocardial mRNA levels of angiotensin type 1 receptor, atrial natriuretic factor, IL-6, GPx3, p47phox, collagen-I, and transforming growth factor (TGF)-&bgr;1, the protein level of TGF-&bgr;1, and the numbers of Mac-2–positive macrophages and p-p65–positive cells were higher in TAC/CRPtg than in TAC/CON. In conclusion, CRP itself may have a pathogenic role in the development of pressure overload–induced cardiac remodeling, possibly through enhanced inflammation and oxidative stress.
Computer simulations of high-pass filtering in zebrafish larval muscle fibres

SUMMARY Larval somatic muscle of the zebrafish, Danio rerio, like that of some other organisms, responds to a sustained depolarization with one, and only one, action potential. Here, we report computer simulations, using the NEURON simulation programme, of sodium and potassium currents of somatic muscle of larval Danio rerio to investigate their possible contribution to once-only firing. Our computer model incorporated simulated sodium and potassium ion channels based on steady-state and kinetic parameters derived from a recent electrophysiological study. The model responded to sustained depolarizations with a single action potential at all levels of depolarization above threshold. By varying several parameters of the sodium and potassium currents systematically, the minimum changes necessary to produce repetitive firing were found to be a positive shift in the half-inactivation and a negative shift in the half-activation potentials for the sodium current, accompanied by a slowing of the rate of inactivation to half of the experimentally observed values. This suggests that once-only spiking can be attributed to the steady-state values of activation and inactivation of the sodium current, along with a slower rate of inactivation. Mapping of the resultant firing properties against steady-state and kinetic ion channel parameters revealed a high safety factor for once-only firing and showed that the time constant of inactivation of the sodium current was the key determinant of once-only or repetitive firing. The rapidly inactivating potassium current does not influence once-only firing or the maximum rate of firing in response to periodic excitation in these simulations. Although a contribution of other currents to produce once-only firing has not been excluded, this model suggests that the properties of the sodium current are sufficient to account for once-only firing.
Predicting Volatility

Uncertainty is inherent in every financial model. It is driven by changing fundamentals, human psychology, and the manner in which the markets discount potential future states of the macroeconomic environment. While defining uncertainty in financial markets can quickly escalate into philosophical discussions, volatility is widely accepted as a practical measure of risk. Most market variables remain largely unpredictable, but volatility has certain characteristics that can increase the accuracy of its forecasted values. The statistical nature of volatility is one of the main catalysts behind the emergence of volatility targeting and risk parity strategies.
Intersegmental coupling and recovery from perturbations in freely running cockroaches

Cockroaches are remarkably stable runners, exhibiting rapid recovery from external perturbations. To uncover the mechanisms behind this important behavioral trait, we recorded leg kinematics of freely running animals in both undisturbed and perturbed trials. Functional coupling underlying inter-leg coordination was monitored before and during localized perturbations, which were applied to single legs via magnetic impulses. The resulting transient effects on all legs and the recovery times to normal pre-perturbation kinematics were studied. We estimated coupling architecture and strength by fitting experimental data to a six-leg-unit phase oscillator model. Using maximum-likelihood techniques, we found that a network with nearest-neighbor inter-leg coupling best fitted the data and that, although coupling strengths vary among preparations, the overall inputs entering each leg are approximately balanced and consistent. Simulations of models with different coupling strengths encountering perturbations suggest that the coupling schemes estimated from our experiments allow animals relatively fast and uniform recoveries from perturbations.
Real R&D options1: Real R&D options

Real options have been growing in popularity in recent years, and this has been accompanied by improvements in their modelling and valuation. Real options enable companies or managers to value projects more accurately by incorporating managerial flexibilities into the valuation model. This is in contrast to traditional discounted cash flow valuation, where projects are assumed to proceed as planned, regardless of future events. One area where real option techniques have been used extensively is in R&D. This paper gives a review of the research on real R&D options, starting with the fundamentals, then detailing more innovative and up-to-date models as well as discussing the difficulties of applying these models, particularly with reference to parameter estimation. It also attempts to provide a "best practice" for practitioners wishing to value R&D projects using real options.
ODB: a database for operon organizations, 2011 update

ODB (Operon DataBase) aims to collect data of all known and conserved operons in completely sequenced genomes. Three newly updated features of this database have been added as follows: (i) Data from included operons were updated. The genome-wide analysis of transcription and transcriptional units has become popular recently and ODB successfully integrates these high-throughput operon data, including genome-wide transcriptional units of five prokaryotes and two eukaryotes. The current version of our database contains information from about 10 000 known operons in more than 50 genomes, and more than 400 000 conserved operons obtained from more than 1000 bacterial genomes. (ii) ODB proposes the idea of reference operons as a new operon prediction tool. A reference operon, a set of possible orthologous genes that organize operons, is defined by clustering all known operons. A large number of known operons, including the recently added genome-wide analysis of operons, allowed us to define more reliable reference operons. (iii) ODB also provides new graphical interfaces. One is for comparative analyses of operon structures in multiple genomes. The other is for visualization of possible operons in multiple genomes obtained from the reference operons. The 2011 updated version of ODB is now available at http://operondb.jp/.
Financial Development and Economic Growth: Evidence from Ten New EU Members

This paper reviews the main features of the banking and financial sector in ten new EU members, and then examines the relationship between financial development and economic growth in these countries by estimating a dynamic panel model over the period 1994-2007. The evidence suggests that the stock and credit markets are still underdeveloped in these economies, and that their contribution to economic growth is limited owing to a lack of financial depth. By contrast, a more efficient banking sector is found to have accelerated growth. Furthermore, Granger causality test indicate that causality runs from financial development to economic growth, but not in the opposite direction.
Effect of eliminating compensation for pain and suffering on the outcome of insurance claims for whiplash injury.

BACKGROUND AND METHODS The incidence and prognosis of whiplash injury from motor vehicle collisions may be related to eligibility for compensation for pain and suffering. On January 1, 1995, the tort-compensation system for traffic injuries, which included payments for pain and suffering, in Saskatchewan, Canada, was changed to a no-fault system, which did not include such payments. To determine whether this change was associated with a decrease in claims and improved recovery after whiplash injury, we studied a population-based cohort of persons who filed insurance claims for traffic injuries between July 1, 1994, and December 31, 1995. RESULTS Of 9006 potentially eligible claimants, 7462 (83 percent) met our criteria for whiplash injury. The six-month cumulative incidence of claims was 417 per 100,000 persons in the last six months of the tort system, as compared with 302 and 296 per 100,000, respectively, in the first and second six-month periods of the no-fault system. The incidence of claims was higher for women than for men in each period; the incidence decreased by 43 percent for men and by 15 percent for women between the tort period and the two no-fault periods combined. The median time from the date of injury to the closure of a claim decreased from 433 days (95 percent confidence interval, 409 to 457) to 194 days (95 percent confidence interval, 182 to 206) and 203 days (95 percent confidence interval, 193 to 213), respectively. The intensity of neck pain, the level of physical functioning, and the presence or absence of depressive symptoms were strongly associated with the time to claim closure in both systems. CONCLUSIONS The elimination of compensation for pain and suffering is associated with a decreased incidence and improved prognosis of whiplash injury.
A robot centric perspective on the HRI paradigm

The industrial revolution undoubtedly defined the role of machines in our society, and it directly shaped the paradigm for human machine interaction - a paradigm which was inherited by the field of Human Robot Interaction (HRI) as the machines became robots. This paper argues that, for a foreseeable set of interactions, reshaping this paradigm would result in more effective and more often successful interactions. This paper presents our Robot Centric paradigm for HRI. Evidence in the form of summaries of relevant literature and our past efforts in developing social-robotics enabling technology is presented to support our paradigm. A definition and a set of recommendations for designing the key enabling component, sociocontextual cues, of our paradigm are presented. Finally, empirical evidence generated through a number of experiments and field studies (N = 456 and N = 320) demonstrates our paradigm is both feasibly incorporated into HRI and moreover, yields significant contributions to the successfulness of a set of HRIs.
Opposing effects of allogrooming on disease transmission in ant societies

To prevent epidemics, insect societies have evolved collective disease defences that are highly effective at curing exposed individuals and limiting disease transmission to healthy group members. Grooming is an important sanitary behaviour—either performed towards oneself (self-grooming) or towards others (allogrooming)—to remove infectious agents from the body surface of exposed individuals, but at the risk of disease contraction by the groomer. We use garden ants (Lasius neglectus) and the fungal pathogen Metarhizium as a model system to study how pathogen presence affects self-grooming and allogrooming between exposed and healthy individuals. We develop an epidemiological SIS model to explore how experimentally observed grooming patterns affect disease spread within the colony, thereby providing a direct link between the expression and direction of sanitary behaviours, and their effects on colony-level epidemiology. We find that fungus-exposed ants increase self-grooming, while simultaneously decreasing allogrooming. This behavioural modulation seems universally adaptive and is predicted to contain disease spread in a great variety of host–pathogen systems. In contrast, allogrooming directed towards pathogen-exposed individuals might both increase and decrease disease risk. Our model reveals that the effect of allogrooming depends on the balance between pathogen infectiousness and efficiency of social host defences, which are likely to vary across host–pathogen systems.