Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Permanent Portfolio

We investigate the performance of the ‘Permanent Portfolio’ in the United States and international markets. This simple approach to asset allocation involves investors splitting their portfolio equally between stocks, bonds, gold and cash. The Permanent Portfolio does not consistently generate returns that are greater than those to a buy-and-hold stock portfolio or to stock and bond portfolios. By construction, its returns are the average of the four component asset classes. However, the Permanent Portfolio does outperform traditional portfolios on a risk-adjusted basis. It generates larger Sharpe ratios, larger Jensen alphas and has less downside risk.
Genetic Characterization of H1N2 Influenza A Viruses Isolated from Pigs throughout the United States

ABSTRACT An H1N2 influenza A virus was isolated from a pig in the United States for the first time in 1999 (A. I. Karasin, G. A. Anderson, and C. W. Olsen, J. Clin. Microbiol. 38:2453-2456, 2000). H1N2 viruses have been isolated subsequently from pigs in many states. Phylogenetic analyses of eight such viruses isolated from pigs in Indiana, Illinois, Minnesota, Ohio, Iowa, and North Carolina during 2000 to 2001 showed that these viruses are all of the same reassortant genotype as that of the initial H1N2 isolate from 1999.
Replication Dynamics of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in Chronically Infected Mice

ABSTRACT The dynamics of host-pathogen interactions have important implications for the design of new antimicrobial agents to treat chronic infections such as tuberculosis (TB), which is notoriously refractory to conventional drug therapy. In the mouse model of TB, an acute phase of exponential bacterial growth in the lungs is followed by a chronic phase characterized by relatively stable numbers of bacteria. This equilibrium could be static, with little ongoing replication, or dynamic, with continuous bacterial multiplication balanced by bacterial killing. A static model predicts a close correspondence between “viable counts” (live bacteria) and “total counts” (live plus dead bacteria) in the lungs over time. A dynamic model predicts the divergence of total counts and viable counts over time due to the accumulation of dead bacteria. Here, viable counts are defined as bacterial CFU enumerated by plating lung homogenates; total counts are defined as bacterial chromosome equivalents (CEQ) enumerated by using quantitative real-time PCR. We show that the viable and total bacterial counts in the lungs of chronically infected mice do not diverge over time. Rapid degradation of dead bacteria is unlikely to account for the stability of bacterial CEQ numbers in the lungs over time, because treatment of mice with isoniazid for 8 weeks led to a marked reduction in the number of CFU without reducing the number of CEQ. These observations support the hypothesis that the stable number of bacterial CFU in the lungs during chronic infection represents a static equilibrium between host and pathogen.
Entrepreneurs' innovation benefitting from their education and training and from national policy and culture: a global study

Abundant ideology and scarce evidence favour ideas about benefits for entrepreneurs’ innovativeness from their formal education and entrepreneurial training during and upon schooling and also from policy supporting entrepreneurship and culture emphasising individualism. The ideas are tested using hierarchical linear mixed modelling on an approximately representative sample of 21,174 entrepreneurs in 38 countries surveyed in Global Entrepreneurship Monitor. Entrepreneurs’ innovativeness is found to benefit from education, especially from training during schooling and also from training upon graduation, controlling for other characteristics. Innovation is also promoted by public policy support for entrepreneurship. A culture emphasising entrepreneurial individualism moderates the benefit in the way that it amplifies the benefit of education for innovation.
Recent stock price relationships between Japanese and US stock markets

Purpose – This paper, using daily data, sets out to present an empirical analysis of the relationship between recent Japanese stock prices and macroeconomic variables under the quantitative easing policy in Japan. Design/methodology/approach – The theoretical framework of the analysis is provided followed by application of the empirical method and analysis of the deterministic elements of stock prices in Japan. Vector error correction method is applied. Findings – The results indicate that interest rates, especially the domestic interest rate, have not impacted Japanese stock prices. Exchange rates also have not been a significant determinant of Japanese stock prices. US stock prices have significantly influenced Japanese stock prices. Moreover, there exists a long-term stable relationship between Japanese and US stock market prices. Originality/value – The Bank of Japan's monetary policy, especially quantitative monetary easing, has not yet been fully determined. The effect of the policy on stock prices has not been discussed at all. Analyzing this effect is important because of its impact on the Japanese economic recovery, which has prevailed for more than ten years. Moreover, little research exists on the effect of the exchange rate on stock prices. This paper uses daily data. Some past studies on this topic have used quarterly or monthly data.
Isotopomer Profiling of Leishmania mexicana Promastigotes Reveals Important Roles for Succinate Fermentation and Aspartate Uptake in Tricarboxylic Acid Cycle (TCA) Anaplerosis, Glutamate Synthesis, and Growth*

Leishmania parasites proliferate within nutritionally complex niches in their sandfly vector and mammalian hosts. However, the extent to which these parasites utilize different carbon sources remains poorly defined. In this study, we have followed the incorporation of various 13C-labeled carbon sources into the intracellular and secreted metabolites of Leishmania mexicana promastigotes using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and 13C NMR. [U-13C]Glucose was rapidly incorporated into intermediates in glycolysis, the pentose phosphate pathway, and the cytoplasmic carbohydrate reserve material, mannogen. Enzymes involved in the upper glycolytic pathway are sequestered within glycosomes, and the ATP and NAD+ consumed by these reactions were primarily regenerated by the fermentation of phosphoenolpyruvate to succinate (glycosomal succinate fermentation). The initiating enzyme in this pathway, phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase, was exclusively localized to the glycosome. Although some of the glycosomal succinate was secreted, most of the C4 dicarboxylic acids generated during succinate fermentation were further catabolized in the TCA cycle. A high rate of TCA cycle anaplerosis was further suggested by measurement of [U-13C]aspartate and [U-13C]alanine uptake and catabolism. TCA cycle anaplerosis is apparently needed to sustain glutamate production under standard culture conditions. Specifically, inhibition of mitochondrial aconitase with sodium fluoroacetate resulted in the rapid depletion of intracellular glutamate pools and growth arrest. Addition of high concentrations of exogenous glutamate alleviated this growth arrest. These findings suggest that glycosomal and mitochondrial metabolism in Leishmania promastigotes is tightly coupled and that, in contrast to the situation in some other trypanosomatid parasites, the TCA cycle has crucial anabolic functions.
MONETARY POLICY OVER TIME

Progress in stochastic macroeconomic modeling justifies revisiting Milton Friedman's program on the relation between macroeconomic stability and active stabilization policies. In the lecture, we use a standard new Keynesian model but depart from rational expectations by assuming that agents behave in line with adaptive learning, which increase the potential for instability in the economy. Optimal policy under adaptive learning displays some similarity with optimal policy under commitment in the rational expectations setting. Specifically, we find that optimal policy responds in a persistent manner when expectations threaten to become unhinged. Finally, we illustrate the dynamics associated with the change from a simple regime that ignores the expectation formation, to the optimal policy that does. The results are not unlike the behavior of the U.S. economy around the Volcker transition (October 1979).
Developer and realtor perspectives on factors that influence development, sale, and perceived demand for activity-friendly communities.

BACKGROUND Although public support for physical activity-friendly Traditional Neighborhood Developments (TNDs) appears to be growing, information is lacking on private sector perspectives and how economic factors (eg, fuel prices) might influence the development and sale of TNDs. METHODS A sample of realtors from the National Association of Realtors (n = 4950) and developers from the National Association of Home Builders (n = 162) were surveyed in early 2009 to assess factors influencing homebuyers' decisions; incentives and barriers to developing TNDs; effects of depressed housing market conditions and financing on sales; trends in buying; and energy considerations (eg, green building). RESULTS Realtors believed that homebuyers continue to rank affordability, safety and school quality higher than TND amenities. Developers reported numerous barriers to TNDs, including the inability to overcome governmental/political hurdles, lack of cooperation between government agencies, and lack of market demand. Yet, realtors believed clients are increasingly influenced by gas and oil prices, and developers reported that clients are looking for energy efficient homes, reduced commute time, and walkable neighborhoods. Respondents reported consumers are more interested in living in a TND than 5 years ago. CONCLUSIONS Activity-friendly TNDs appear to be increasing in demand, but developers and realtors reported significant barriers to creating these communities.
The effects of stock index futures trading on stock index volatility: An analysis of the asymmetric response of volatility to news

The asymmetric response of volatility to news has been attributed to leverage effects, but the authors show that noise trading is an important contributor to asymmetric effects. Contrary to the traditional view, introducing futures trading has no detrimental impact on the underlying markets. Futures trading improves market dynamics in processing news by transferring noise trading from spot to futures markets.
The relationship between short-term and forward interest rates: a structural time-series analysis

In this paper, the structural time-series (STS) approach is used to examine the relationship between short-term and forward interest rates on US Treasury bills and, to decompose the biased predictions of the future short rate by the forward rate, into systematic expectation errors and systematic time-varying term premiums. Results confirm many of the empirical characteristics of short and forward rates and, findings reveal that both expectation errors and time-varying expected term premiums are important in explaining the forward rate bias.
Testing for a Structural Break in the Volatility of Real GDP Growth in Canada

This study tests for a structural break in the volatility of real GDP growth in Canada following the methodology of McConnell and Quiros (1998). A break is found in the first quarter of 1991. Based on disaggregated data, the tests indicate a break in the volatility of the rate of change of investment in residential structures and a break in the volatility of the rate of growth of personal expenditures on goods. Three possible explanations are given for the break in the data: a more service-oriented economy, improved inventory management, and a change in monetary policy.
A PDE-Based Approach to Three-Dimensional Seismic Data Fusion

We present a new method for the denoising and fusion, which is dedicated to multiazimuth seismic data. We propose to combine low-level fusion and diffusion processes through the use of a unique model based on partial differential equations. The denoising process is driven by the seismic fault preserving diffusion equation. Meanwhile, relevant information (as seismic faults) is injected in the fused 3-D images by an inverse diffusion process. One of the advantages of such an original approach is to improve the quality of the results in case of noisy inputs, which are frequently occurring in seismic unprocessed data. Some examples on synthetic and real seismic data will demonstrate the efficiency of our method.
Association between vitamin D and age-related macular degeneration in the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1988 through 1994.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the associations between levels of vitamin D (25-hydroxyvitamin D) in serum and prevalent age-related macular degeneration (AMD). METHODS AND DESIGN Cross-sectional associations of serum vitamin D and early and advanced AMD, assessed from nonmydriatic fundus photographs, were evaluated in the third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, a multistage nationally representative probability sample of noninstitutionalized individuals (N = 7752; 11% with AMD). RESULTS Levels of serum vitamin D were inversely associated with early AMD but not advanced AMD. The odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) for early AMD among participants in the highest vs lowest quintile of serum vitamin D was 0.64 (95% CI, 0.5-0.8; P trend <.001). Exploratory analyses were conducted to evaluate associations with important food and supplemental sources of vitamin D. Milk intake was inversely associated with early AMD (OR, 0.75; 95% CI, 0.6-0.9). Fish intake was inversely associated with advanced AMD (OR, 0.41; 95% CI, 0.2-0.9). Consistent use vs nonuse of vitamin D from supplements was inversely associated with early AMD only in individuals who did not consume milk daily (early AMD: OR, 0.67; 95% CI, 0.5-0.9). CONCLUSION This study provides evidence that vitamin D may protect against AMD. Additional studies are needed to confirm these findings.
Effects of Export on Technological Innovation: An Analysis Based on the Current Economic Crisis

China’s export has been inevitably impacted by the current economic crisis, and many export enterprises are striving against the pressure of international market. Further and continual development of these enterprises depends on technology innovation, thus, this paper tries to identify the other side of the current crisis influences namely the technological innovation opportunity. The finding is that technological innovation can be improved through competition effect and spillover effect by means of learning by exporting and connection. The corresponding policies and measures are also explored. Keywordseconomic crisis, export enterprises, technological innovation
Adaptive control of a DC motor with uncertain deadzone nonlinearity at the input

This paper presents an adaptive control scheme for systems with uncertain deadzone nonlinearity at the input of a linear plant. A new model for deadzone inverse is developed and used in conjunction with any conventional controllers in order to reduce the effect of deadzone nonlinearity. The deadzone inverse model is notationally compact and is simpler to implement than existing schemes [1]. Two cases are considered: The case where the deadzone spacing is known as well as the case of uncertain deadzone spacing. For the latter case, an adaptive update law is developed to estimate the deadzone spacing. The adaptive deadzone inverse controller is a breakaway from existing deadzone compensators which are implemented in discrete-time and can easily be combined with any of the advanced control methodologies. The stability of the closed-loop system is shown using Lyapunov arguments. Simulation results show that the control methodology greatly improves tracking performance over a PD type controller.
An NT4/TrkB‐dependent increase in innervation links early‐life allergen exposure to persistent airway hyperreactivity

Children who are exposed to environmental respiratory insults often develop asthma that persists into adulthood. In this study, we used a neonatal mouse model of ovalbumin (OVA)‐induced allergic airway inflammation to understand the long‐term effects of early childhood insults on airway structure and function. We showed that OVA sensitization and challenge in early life led to a 2‐fold increase in airway smooth muscle (ASM) innervation (P<0.05) and persistent airway hyperreactivity (AHR). In contrast, OVA exposure in adult life elicited short‐term AHR without affecting innervation levels. We found that postnatal ASM innervation required neurotrophin (NT)‐4 signaling through the TrkB receptor and that early‐life OVA exposure significantly elevated NT4 levels and TrkB signaling by 5‐ and 2‐fold, respectively, to increase innervation. Notably, blockade of NT4/TrkB signaling in OVA‐exposed pups prevented both acute and persistent AHR without affecting baseline airway function or inflammation. Furthermore, biophysical assays using lung slices and isolated cells demonstrated that NT4 was necessary for hyperreactivity of ASM induced by early‐life OVA exposure. Together, our findings show that the NT4/TrkB‐dependent increase in innervation plays a critical role in the alteration of the ASM phenotype during postnatal growth, thereby linking early‐life allergen exposure to persistent airway dysfunction. —Aven, L. , Paez‐Cortez, J., Achey, R. , Krishnan, R. , Ram‐Mohan, S. , Cruikshank, W. W. , Fine, A. , Ai X. An NT4/TrkB‐dependent increase in innervation links early‐life allergen exposure to persistent airway hyperreactivity. FASEB J. 28, 897–907 (2014). www.fasebj. org
[Huntington chorea in children].

BACKGROUND The onset of Huntington's disease, a dominantly inherited degeneration of the basal ganglia, usually occurs in middle age; cases of childhood onset are rare. CASE REPORTS Case 1. A boy from a family including several cases of Huntington's disease gradually developed behavior disorders from the age of 5 years. He had learning and language disorders at 7 years of age and at 11 years he suffered from generalized seizures and progressive rigidity. The disease led to dementia at 17 years and the patient died a few months later. CT scan showed diffuse cortical atrophy. Case 2. A girl aged 5 years, was first examined for gait disorders. At that time she had dystonia and spasticity. Rigidity gradually developed, and 2 months later several cases of Huntington's disease were identified in her father's family. Case 3. A boy developed gait disorders from the age of 5 years. He gradually developed dystonia, rigidity, learning disorders, and finally mental retardation. The CT scan showed cortical atrophy and atrophy of the caudate nucleus. His father and others members of the paternal family had Huntington's disease that appeared in the adulthood. CONCLUSION The clinical manifestations of Huntington's disease in childhood are different from those seen in adults. Progressive alteration of mental development and dementia can occur. Diagnosis may be difficult except when a parent has the fully developed disease.
A 10 Gbps SerDes for wireless chip-to-chip communication

This paper presents a 10 Gbps serializer/deserializer (SerDes) with a phase interpolator (PI) based clock and data recovery (CDR) circuit for high-speed and short-range wireless chip-to-chip communication. The SerDes performs 4:1 muxing and 1:4 demuxing functions. The PI-based CDR uses an 8-phase delay-locked loop (DLL) to produce a set of evenly spaced reference clock phases. The phase vernier, then transforms the 8-phases to sampling clocks for the sampler, which performs 2× oversampling to recover the data from the input signal. Implemented in a 65 nm CMOS process, the proposed SerDes achieves a data rate of 10 Gbps and a recovered peak-to-peak clock jitter of 36.25 ps. The 10 Gbps SerDes occupies an active area of 0.095mm2 and dissipates 88 mW.
Tourism in China and professionalism: An insider's perspective

This paper starts with an overview of tourism development in China in the past two decades. While highlighting much of the government initiative which makes progress possible, it tries to pinpoint the primary cause of the existing problems China faces. It is the lack of professionalism, which can be found in government decision making, business management and operation, education and training. The solutions will come mainly from the inside, and one can see efforts being made by policy‐makers and the front‐line people, but it is believed that overseas professionals have a positive role to play, as they have done in China's hospitality industry in the past.
Grad-seq guides the discovery of ProQ as a major small RNA-binding protein

Significance Understanding the functions of cellular transcripts based on their sequence is challenging, in particular for noncoding RNAs, which tend to lack easily recognizable motifs. A more functionally relevant criterion is the association of RNAs with cognate RNA-binding proteins. Here, we describe the gradient profiling by sequencing (Grad-seq) approach to draft global RNA landscapes through partitioning all cellular transcripts into diverse coding and noncoding groups based on their shared RNA–protein interactions. Grad-seq has enabled us to define a large class of structured small RNAs that commonly associate with the conserved RNA-binding protein ProQ and appears to constitute a new branch of posttranscriptional control in bacteria. The generic nature of the Grad-seq approach will help to rapidly describe functional RNA landscapes in numerous understudied microbes. The functional annotation of transcriptomes and identification of noncoding RNA (ncRNA) classes has been greatly facilitated by the advent of next-generation RNA sequencing which, by reading the nucleotide order of transcripts, theoretically allows the rapid profiling of all transcripts in a cell. However, primary sequence per se is a poor predictor of function, as ncRNAs dramatically vary in length and structure and often lack identifiable motifs. Therefore, to visualize an informative RNA landscape of organisms with potentially new RNA biology that are emerging from microbiome and environmental studies requires the use of more functionally relevant criteria. One such criterion is the association of RNAs with functionally important cognate RNA-binding proteins. Here we analyze the full ensemble of cellular RNAs using gradient profiling by sequencing (Grad-seq) in the bacterial pathogen Salmonella enterica, partitioning its coding and noncoding transcripts based on their network of RNA–protein interactions. In addition to capturing established RNA classes based on their biochemical profiles, the Grad-seq approach enabled the discovery of an overlooked large collective of structured small RNAs that form stable complexes with the conserved protein ProQ. We show that ProQ is an abundant RNA-binding protein with a wide range of ligands and a global influence on Salmonella gene expression. Given its generic ability to chart a functional RNA landscape irrespective of transcript length and sequence diversity, Grad-seq promises to define functional RNA classes and major RNA-binding proteins in both model species and genetically intractable organisms.
Active vs. Passive Investing

Equity market troubles have rattled active and passive investment-makers alike. Indexed providers, having weathered the downturn, are looking to new indexing alternatives and markets. Active managers, outperforming today, must continue to add value if they hope to compete against the future growth of indexing. In this article, Jonathan Barnes addresses how the ongoing active vs. passive debate is affecting today's investment strategies.