Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Dynamic pricing in the presence of reference price effect and consumer strategic behaviour

This paper presents a model for designing two-stage dynamic pricing strategies when the seller faces strategic consumers in the presence of a reference price effect. The consumers form the utilities of two sequential periods based on anticipated future retail price in the second period and current retail price in the first period as the reference price, and then choose the purchasing timing, representing strategic behaviour. We first consider a centralised system where the seller chooses between two pricing policies: markdown pricing and markup pricing under a centralised system, and find that the seller will not adopt a markup pricing policy. We derive equilibrium prices and optimal pricing strategies for the seller under markdown pricing policy using equilibrium theory and backward induction method. We find that the seller’s profit decreases with the consumer strategic behaviour, and increases (decreases) with the reference price effect when consumer strategic behaviour is low (high), indicating a non-monotonity with respect to the coexistence of consumer strategic behaviour and reference price effect. We then extend our study from a centralised system to a decentralised system and find that double marginalisation is effectively weakened by the two effects. Interestingly, the centralised structure may not always be optimal relative to a decentralised structure, indicating a non-monotone relationship between the wholesale price and the profit in decentralised structure.
The Role of SDF-1/CXCR4/CXCR7 in Neuronal Regeneration after Cerebral Ischemia

Stromal cell-derived factor-1 is a chemoattractant produced by bone marrow stromal cell lines. It is recognized as a critical factor in the immune and central nervous systems (CNSs) as well as exerting a role in cancer. SDF-1 activates two G protein-coupled receptors, CXCR4 and CXCR7; these are expressed in both developing and mature CNSs and participate in multiple physiological and pathological events, e.g., inflammatory response, neurogenesis, angiogenesis, hematopoiesis, cancer metastasis, and HIV infection. After an ischemic stroke, SDF-1 levels robustly increase in the penumbra regions and participate in adult neural functional repair. Here we will review recent findings about SDF-1 and its receptor, analyse their functions in neurogeneration after brain ischemic injury: i.e., how the system promotes the proliferation, differentiation and migration of neural precursor cells and mediates axonal elongation and branching.
Replication-Based Highly Available Metadata Management for Cluster File Systems

In cluster file systems, the metadata management is critical to the whole system. Past researches mainly focus on journaling which alone is not enough to provide high-available metadata service. Some others try to use replication, but the extra latency accompanied is a main problem. To guarantee both availability and efficiency, we propose a mechanism for building highly available metadata servers based on replication, which integrates Paxos algorithm effectively into metadata service. The Packed Multi-Paxos is proposed to reduce the latency brought by replication, which is self-adaptive and can make the replication to achieve high throughput under heavy client load and low latency under light client load. By designing efficient architecture and coordination mechanism, all replica server nodes simultaneously provide metadata read-access service. This high-available mechanism could decrease the impact of server failures and there is no interruption of service. The performance results show that the latency caused by replication and redundancy is well under control, and the performance of metadata read operation gains improvement.
Child–Pugh Versus MELD Score for the Assessment of Prognosis in Liver Cirrhosis

AbstractChild–Pugh and MELD scores have been widely used for the assessment of prognosis in liver cirrhosis. A systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to compare the discriminative ability of Child–Pugh versus MELD score to assess the prognosis of cirrhotic patients.PubMed and EMBASE databases were searched. The statistical results were summarized from every individual study. The summary areas under receiver operating characteristic curves, sensitivities, specificities, positive and negative likelihood ratios, and diagnostic odds ratios were also calculated.Of the 1095 papers initially identified, 119 were eligible for the systematic review. Study population was heterogeneous among studies. They included 269 comparisons, of which 44 favored MELD score, 16 favored Child–Pugh score, 99 did not find any significant difference between them, and 110 did not report the statistical significance. Forty-two papers were further included in the meta-analysis. In patients with acute-on-chronic liver failure, Child–Pugh score had a higher sensitivity and a lower specificity than MELD score. In patients admitted to ICU, MELD score had a smaller negative likelihood ratio and a higher sensitivity than Child–Pugh score. In patients undergoing surgery, Child–Pugh score had a higher specificity than MELD score. In other subgroup analyses, Child–Pugh and MELD scores had statistically similar discriminative abilities or could not be compared due to the presence of significant diagnostic threshold effects.Although Child–Pugh and MELD scores had similar prognostic values in most of cases, their benefits might be heterogeneous in some specific conditions. The indications for Child–Pugh and MELD scores should be further identified.
New bounds on the entropy rate of hidden Markov processes

Let {X/sub t/} be a stationary finite-alphabet Markov chain and {Z/sub t/} denote its noisy version when corrupted by a discrete memoryless channel. Let P(X/sub t//spl isin//spl middot/|Z/sub -/spl infin///sup t/) denote the conditional distribution of X/sub t/ given all past and present noisy observations, a simplex-valued random variable. We present a new approach to bounding the entropy rate of {Z/sub t/} by approximating the distribution of this random variable. This approximation is facilitated by the construction and study of a Markov process whose stationary distribution determines the distribution of P(X/sub t//spl isin//spl middot/|Z/sub -/spl infin///sup t/). To illustrate the efficacy of this approach, we specialize it and derive concrete bounds for the case of a binary Markov chain corrupted by a binary symmetric channel (BSC). These bounds are seen to capture the behavior of the entropy rate in various asymptotic regimes.
Itraconazole therapy for blastomycosis and histoplasmosis. NIAID Mycoses Study Group.

OBJECTIVE To assess the efficacy and toxicity of orally administered itraconazole in the treatment of nonmeningeal, nonlife-threatening forms of blastomycosis and histoplasmosis. DESIGN Prospective, nonrandomized, open trial. SETTING Multicenter trial at 14 university referral centers. PATIENTS Eighty-five patients with culture or histopathologic evidence of blastomycosis (48 patients) or histoplasmosis (37 patients). Patients receiving other systemic antifungal therapy were excluded. INTERVENTIONS Itraconazole was administered orally at doses of 200 to 400 mg/d. Patients in whom treatment was considered a success were treated for a median duration of 6.2 months (blastomycosis) and 9.0 months (histoplasmosis). Disease activity was assessed at baseline; drug efficacy and toxicity were evaluated at monthly intervals during therapy, and efficacy was evaluated at regular follow-up visits after completion of therapy. The median duration of posttreatment evaluation for successfully treated patients was 11.9 months (blastomycosis) and 12.1 months (histoplasmosis). MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS Among the 48 patients with blastomycosis, success was documented in 43 (90%). The success rate for patients treated for more than 2 months was 95% (38 of 40). Among the 37 patients with histoplasmosis, success was documented in 30 (81%). The success rate for patients treated for more than 2 months was 86% (30 of 35). All patients with histoplasmosis in whom treatment failed had chronic cavitary pulmonary disease. Toxicity was minor; only 25 (29%) patients experienced any side effects, and itraconazole toxicity necessitated stopping therapy in only 1 patient. CONCLUSIONS Itraconazole is a highly effective therapy for nonmeningeal, nonlife-threatening blastomycosis and histoplasmosis. The drug is associated with minimal toxicity.
Psychiatric comorbidity of childhood obesity

Abstract The onset of psychiatric symptoms and disorders is relatively common in childhood, occurring among youths across the weight spectrum. However, available research suggests that certain psychiatric comorbidities are more prevalent in obese children and adolescents than in healthy weight youths. First, we review research on disordered eating, including evidence to suggest that loss of control eating is associated with weight gain and obesity in youths, as well as poor outcome in family-based treatment of paediatric obesity. Second, we highlight evidence on the relationship between depression and obesity, especially in girls. Third, we present data on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), particularly the symptoms of impulsivity and inattention, and childhood obesity. We also consider that some medical conditions and psychotropic medications contribute to weight gain and obesity in children and adolescents. Throughout the review, we emphasize that psychiatric comorbidity may be a cause or consequence of childhood obesity, or they may share common aetiological factors.
Scheduling Non-Preemptible Jobs to Minimize Peak Demand

This paper examines an important problem in smart grid energy scheduling; peaks in power demand are proportionally more expensive to generate and provision for. The issue is exacerbated in local microgrids that do not benefit from the aggregate smoothing experienced by large grids. Demand-side scheduling can reduce these peaks by taking advantage of the fact that there is often flexibility in job start times. We focus attention on the case where the jobs are non-preemptible, meaning once started, they run to completion. The associated optimization problem is called the peak demand minimization problem, and has been previously shown to be NP-hard. Our results include an optimal fixed-parameter tractable algorithm, a polynomial-time approximation algorithm, as well as an effective heuristic that can also be used in an online setting of the problem. Simulation results show that these methods can reduce peak demand by up to 50% versus on-demand scheduling for household power jobs.
Construction of unimodular sequence sets for periodic correlations

Sequence sets with good periodic correlation properties can be used in many areas, including communications, medical imaging, radar (such as over-the-horizon radar) and sonar. Practical hardware constraints, such as power amplifiers, usually require the transmitted waveforms be unimodular. We present herein new computationally efficient algorithms that can be used for the design of unimodular sequence sets with essentially zero auto-correlation sidelobes and cross-correlations in a specified time lag zone, as well as of sequence sets with good correlations over all time lags. The proposed algorithms start from random phase initializations and can generate many different sequence sets (including very long sequence sets) possessing similarly good correlation properties.
Multi-Attribute Evaluation and Selection of Broiler House for the Low Prevalence of Footpad Lesion

28/September/2017 Approved: 11/November/2018 ABSTRACT Intensive broiler production requires large flock density, which compromises litter quality and increases the prevalence of footpad lesions. The present study aimed at comparing the incidence of footpad dermatitis of broilers reared in two different rearing environments. Data from two broiler houses were recorded during 42 d. Air temperature and relative humidity; litter moisture, pH, and temperature; footpad surface temperature; and the incidence of footpad lesions was investigated. Litter quality was analyzed in a 2 x 4 factorial arrangement, with two house types (dark house or open-sided house) and four rearing phases (21, 28, 35, and 42 d of growth), with four replicates per treatment using 12 replicates. Four replicates were used for analyzing the air environment data. For the footpad lesion identification, a randomly factorial scheme of recording the surface temperature was built (2 x 2) using two houses, and the broiler sex using 15 replicates in the grow-out stages. The measures of association (odds ratio and risk ratio) were calculated. The multi-criteria analysis (Analytic Hierarchy Process - AHP) was applied for estimating the house that provided less prevalence of lesions. The field data did not provide enough evidence for selection of a particular house with less incidence of footpad dermatitis. However, when applying the measures of association data, and corresponding literature data to the AHP, there was an indication that the dark-house provided broiler rearing condition that reduced the incidence
The quantum communication complexity of sampling

Sampling is an important primitive in probabilistic and quantum algorithms. In the spirit of communication complexity, given a function f: X/spl times/Y/spl rarr/{0,1} and a probability distribution D over X/spl times/Y, we define the sampling complexity of (f,D) as the minimum number of bits Alice and Bob must communicate for Alice to pick x/spl isin/X and Bob to pick y/spl isin/Y as well as a valve z s.t. the resulting distribution of (x,y,z) is close to the distribution (D,f(D)). In this paper we initiate the study of sampling complexity, in both the classical and quantum model. We give several variants of the definition. We completely characterize some of these tasks, and give upper and lower bounds on others. In particular this allows us to establish an exponential gap between quantum and classical sampling complexity, for the set disjointness function. This is the first exponential gap for any task where the classical probabilistic algorithm is allowed to err.
A Dual Process Account of Coarticulation in Motor Skill Acquisition

ABSTRACT Many tasks, such as typing a password, are decomposed into a sequence of subtasks that can be accomplished in many ways. Behavior that accomplishes subtasks in ways that are influenced by the overall task is often described as “skilled” and exhibits coarticulation. Many accounts of coarticulation use search methods that are informed by representations of objectives that define skilled. While they aid in describing the strategies the nervous system may follow, they are computationally complex and may be difficult to attribute to brain structures. Here, the authors present a biologically- inspired account whereby skilled behavior is developed through 2 simple processes: (a) a corrective process that ensures that each subtask is accomplished, but does not do so skillfully and (b) a reinforcement learning process that finds better movements using trial and error search that is not informed by representations of any objectives. We implement our account as a computational model controlling a simulated two-armed kinematic “robot” that must hit a sequence of goals with its hands. Behavior displays coarticulation in terms of which hand was chosen, how the corresponding arm was used, and how the other arm was used, suggesting that the account can participate in the development of skilled behavior.
Mice lacking tartrate‐resistant acid phosphatase (Acp 5) have disordered macrophage inflammatory responses and reduced clearance of the pathogen, Staphylococcus aureus

Tartrate‐resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP) is a lysosomal di‐iron protein of mononuclear phagocytes and osteoclasts. Hitherto, no role for the enzyme in immunity has been identified; however, knockout mice lacking TRAP have a skeletal phenotype caused by an intrinsic osteoclast defect. To investigate a putative function for TRAP in macrophages (Mφ), we investigated proinflammatory responses and systemic microbial clearance in knockout mice compared with age‐ and gender‐matched congenic wild‐type mice. Phorbol 12‐myristate 13‐acetate (PMA)‐stimulated and interferon‐γ (IFN‐γ)‐induced superoxide formation was enhanced in peritoneal Mφ lacking TRAP; nitrite production in response to stimulation with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and IFN‐γ was also increased. In addition, secretion of the proinflammatory cytokines, tumour necrosis factor‐α (TNF‐α), interleukin (IL)‐1β and IL‐12, was significantly greater in TRAP‐deficient Mφ when stimulated with LPS, with or without addition of either TNF‐α or IFN‐γ. The activity of tartrate‐sensitive (lysosomal) acid phosphatase was increased in Mφ from the knockout mice but activities of the lysosomal hydrolases N‐acetyl β‐glucosaminidase and acid β‐glucuronidase were unchanged, indicating selective activation of compensatory acid phosphatase activity. Evidence of impaired Mφ function in vivo was obtained in TRAP knockout mice, which showed delayed clearance of the microbial pathogen, Staphylococcus aureus, after sublethal intraperitoneal inoculation. After microbial challenge, peritoneal exudates obtained from TRAP knockout mice had a reduced population of Mφ. As peritoneal Mφ and neutrophils lacking TRAP were able to phagocytose and kill S. aureus normally in vitro, TRAP may directly or indirectly influence recruitment of Mφ to sites of microbial invasion. Our study shows that TRAP participates in the inflammatory response of the Mφ and influences effector signalling pathways in innate immunity.
El rol de las creencias en contextos estratégicos: un estudio a través del género y las expectativas de los sujetos

This paper aims at analyzing the role played by beliefs in strategic situations. Specifically, we study how individuals' gender affects beliefs. That is, whether men and women perceive the same experimental situation and the behavior of other subjects differently. To do that, we compare two levels: behavior and expectations. We then analyze how these two dimensions interact with each other and how subjects' gender helps to explain such an interaction.
The Markov-Based Evaluation on Trust and Reputation in Peer-to-Peer

A Markov-based computing model correlating trust and reputation is proposed to evaluate the reliability of a peer in P2P. In order to obtain the correlated computing results of trust and reputation, we first define four criteria of evaluation according to the preferences of peers in P2P. Then a transitive probability matrix of Markov chain is constructed based on the evaluation criteria. Moreover, corresponding to the above criteria, four calculating types are proposed to obtain elements results of the matrix, which predicts possible future behaviors of the peers. Different with traditional linear sum correlating method, the Markov-based computing model estimates an evaluated peer's reliability based on these peers' behaviors that is more suitable for real P2P network environment
Evaluation of Bone Density, Serum Total and Ionized Calcium, Alkaline Phosphatase and 25-hydroxy Vitamin D in Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma, and their Relationship with TSH Suppression by Levothyroxine

Background: This study aimed to evaluate the situation of Bone Mineral Density (BMD), Z score, T score, serum level of corrected and ionized calcium, alkaline phosphatase and 25-hydroxy vitamin D in percutaneous transhepatic cholangiography (PTC) patients and correlation of these variants with thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) suppression level by levothyroxine. Materials and Methods: Among the patients referred to Esfahan's endocrinology research center, 34 PTC patients (aged 20– 50 years) with a history of thyroidectomy and conceived radioactive iodine and suppressive dose of levothyroxine were evaluated in this case– control study, and 38 healthy persons participated as the control group (matched by age and sex, body mass index). Bone density was evaluated with the DEXA method in four areas: Lumbar spine, femoral neck, and trochanter and distal of forearm. A reference laboratory assessed TSH, corrected and ionized calcium, Alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and 25OH vitamin D levels using fasting plasma and evaluated correlation of TSH level with variants by multivariate variance analysis. Results: There was no significant difference in bone density and laboratory data (unless TSH) between the groups. In the PTC group, there was no significant correlation between TSH and difference values of BMD, Z score or T score, corrected calcium (P value = 0.12), ionized calcium (P = 0.54), ALP (P = 0.22) and 25 OH vitamin D (P = 0.38). There was no significant correlation in the TSH subgroups with BMD. The TSH suppression level has no relation with the elevated prevalence of low BMD, hypocalcemia and vitamin D deficiency. Difference in odds ratio was not significant for osteopenia and osteoporosis between the TSH subgroups (TSH < 0.02, >0.02 and <0.1 and >0.1 mu/L). Conclusion: Suppressive therapy with levothyroxine cannot decrease BMD, Z score and T score in PTC patients.
N-body Simulations with Cohesion in Dense Planetary Rings

Title of Dissertation: N-body Simulations with Cohesion in Dense Planetary Rings Randall Patrick Perrine, Doctor of Philosophy, 2011 Dissertation directed by: Professor Derek C. Richardson Department of Astronomy This dissertation is primarily focused on exploring whether weak cohesion among icy particles in Saturn’s dense rings is consistent with observations—and if so, what limits can be placed on the strength of such cohesive bonds, and what dynamical or observable consequences might arise out of cohesive bonding. Here I present my numerical method that allows for N-body particle sticking within a local rotating frame (“patch”)—an approach capable of modeling hundreds of thousands or more colliding bodies. Impacting particles can stick to form non-deformable but breakable aggregates that obey equations of rigid body motion. I then apply the method to Saturn’s icy rings, for which laboratory experiments suggest that interpenetration of thin, frost-coated surface layers may lead to weak bonding if the bodies impact at low speeds—speeds that happen to be characteristic of the rings. This investigation is further motivated by observations of structure in the rings that could be formed through bottom-up aggregations of particles (i.e., “propellers” in the A ring, and large-scale radial structure in the B ring). This work presents the implementation of the model, as well as results from a suite of 100 simulations that investigate the effects of five parameters on the equilibrium characteristics of the rings: speed-based merge and fragmentation limits, bond strength, ring surface density, and patch orbital distance (specifically the center of either the A or B ring), some with both monodisperse and polydisperse particle comparison cases. I conclude that the presence of weak cohesion is consistent with observations of the A and B rings, and present a range of parameters that reproduce the observed size distribution and maximum particle size. The parameters that match observations differ between the A and B rings, and I discuss the potential implications of this result. I also comment on other observable consequences of cohesion for the rings, such as optical depth and scale height effects, and discuss the unlikelihood that very large objects are grown bottom-up from cohesion of smaller ring particles. Lastly, I include a brief summary of other projects in ring dynamics I have undertaken before and during my thesis work. N-body Simulations with Cohesion in Dense Planetary Rings by Randall Patrick Perrine Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland at College Park in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2011