Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cellular Service Demand: Biased Beliefs, Learning, and Bill Shock

By April 2013, the FCC's recent bill-shock agreement with cellular carriers requires consumers be notified when exceeding usage allowances. Will the agreement help or hurt consumers? To answer this question, we estimate a model of consumer plan choice, usage, and learning using a panel of cellular bills. Our model predicts that the agreement will lower average consumer welfare by $2 per year because firms will respond by raising monthly fees. Our approach is based on novel evidence that consumers are inattentive to past usage (meaning that bill-shock alerts are informative) and advances structural modeling of demand in situations where multipart tariffs induce marginal-price uncertainty. Additionally, our model estimates show that an average consumer underestimates both the mean and variance of future calling. These biases cost consumers $42 per year at existing prices. Moreover, absent bias, the bill-shock agreement would have little to no effect.
Administration of Human Peripheral Blood-Derived CD133+ Cells Accelerates Functional Recovery in a Rat Spinal Cord Injury Model

Study Design. Magnetically isolated, peripheral blood-derived CD133+ cells were used as the therapeutic agent of spinal cord injury (SCI). A rat model was used to investigate the hypothesis that the cell therapy using this clinically accessible cell fraction could be an attractive option for injured spinal cord. Objective. Given the capacity for the peripheral blood-derived CD133+ cells in vivo to produce neurogenesis via vasculogenesis as the feasible candidate for SCI in the clinical setting, the focus of the experiment was to investigate whether the cells could contribute to histologic and functional recovery of SCI after transplantation. Summary of Background Data. No evidence for peripheral blood-derived CD133+ cells application to SCI and no experimental studies showed functional recovery from SCI using this cell fraction have been published. Methods. Contusion SCI was induced by placing a 25-g rod onto the spinal cord for 90 seconds in athymic nude rats. CD133+ cells or phosphate-buffered saline was administered intravenously immediately after SCI. The animals were analyzed at specific times after transplantation by several methods to examine histologic vasculogenesis and neurogenesis and to confirm functional recovery from SCI. Results. After cell transplantation, intrinsic angiogenesis and axonal regeneration were enhanced, and cavity formation was reduced in injured spinal cord, histologically, with significant functional recovery. Gene expression of vascular endothelial growth factor increased in the cell-administrated group. Conclusion. The administration of CD133+ cells has a therapeutic potential to a rat spinal cord injury model and could be an optional treatment for spinal cord injury in the clinical settings.
B-1a B Cells Regulate T Cell Differentiation Associated with Pregnancy Disturbances

During pregnancy, the maternal immune system faces a double dilemma: tolerate the growing semi-allogeneic fetus and at the same time protect the mother and the progeny against pathogens. This requires a fine and extremely regulated equilibrium between immune activation and tolerance. As professional antigen presenting cells, B cells and in particular B-1a B cells, can activate or tolerize T cells and thus participate in the generation or regulation of the immune response. B-1a B cells were involved in the humoral immune response leading to pre-eclampsia, one of the main medical complications during pregnancy. Here we demonstrated that B-1a B cells are additionally involved in cellular immune mechanisms associated with pregnancy complications. Using a mouse model of pregnancy disturbances, we showed that B-1a B cells from animals suffering pregnancy disturbances but not from those developing normal pregnancies induce the differentiation of naïve T cells into Th17 and Th1 cells. This differential role of B-1a B cells during pregnancy seems to be associated with the co-stimulatory molecule CD86 as normal pregnant mice showed lower percentages of CD86 expressing B-1a B cells as compared to pregnant mice developing pregnancy disturbances or to non-pregnant animals. Our data bring to light a new and not explored role of B-1a B cells in the context of pregnancy.
Modelling of the McKibben artificial muscle: A review

The so-called McKibben artificial muscle is one of the most efficient and currently one of the most widely used fluidic artificial muscles, due to the simplicity of its design, combining ease of implementation and analogous behaviour with skeletal muscles. Its working principle is very simple: The circumferential stress of a pressurized inner tube is transformed into an axial contraction force by means of a double-helix braided sheath whose geometry corresponds to a network of identical pantographs. However, behind this apparent simplicity lie two phenomena, which must be considered so as to fully understand how the McKibben muscle works. First, the non-linear relationship between stress and strain inside the inner tube elastomer, together with the complex relationship between physical artificial muscle parameters and its effective working pressure range. Second, the behaviour of the braided sheath which acts like a ‘flexible joint structure’ able to adapt itself during contraction to the increasing radius muscle in its middle portion, with the boundary constraint of rigid tips. By distinguishing an ideal model with a zero inner tube thickness from a real model with a non-zero inner tube thickness, we attempted to synthesize static models by including and excluding an elastic force component. However, we also highlight the possible need, in further modelling, to distinguish modelling thin-walled from thick-walled inner tube McKibben muscles. In our attempt to understand the hysteresis peculiar to the muscle, it seems, resulting from our review, that this hysteresis phenomenon is essentially due to strand-on-strand friction inside the weave. Nevertheless, although Hertz’s contact theory has shown its relevance in tackling this problem, friction modelling in a McKibben muscle is particularly hard due to the difficulties, first, to correctly determine the real contact surface strand-on-strand and, second, to estimate the friction coefficient and its possible dependence on pressure and velocity with the weaving peculiar to McKibben braided sheaths. We propose in a future approach to better integrate textile physics into this very complex modelling problem. Moreover, because we consider friction to be velocity-dependent, a distinction between static and dynamic modelling appears necessary to us and can help, in our view, towards a better understanding of the Hill-like character (or not) debate concerning artificial muscles.
Physical Data Warehouse Design on NoSQL Databases - OLAP Query Processing over HBase

Nowadays, data warehousing and online analytical processing (OLAP) are core technologies in business intelligence and therefore have drawn much interest by researchers in the last decade. However, these technologies have been mainly developed for relational database systems in centralized environments. In other words, these technologies have not been designed to be applied in scalable systems such as NoSQL databases. Adapting a data warehousing environment to NoSQL databases introduces several advantages, such as scalability and flexibility. This paper investigates three physical data warehouse designs to adapt the Star Schema Benchmark for its use in NoSQL databases. In particular, our main investigation refers to the OLAP query processing over column-oriented databases using the MapReduce framework. We analyze the impact of distributing attributes among column-families in HBase on the OLAP query performance. Our experiments showed how processing time of OLAP queries was impacted by a physical data warehouse design regarding the number of dimensions accessed and the data volume. We conclude that using distinct distributions of attributes among column-families can improve OLAP query performance in HBase and consequently make the benchmark more suitable for OLAP over NoSQL databases.
Brief Summary of General Relativity and Canonical Quantization 2 . 1 Classical General Relativity

These notes summarize the lectures delivered in the V Mexican School of Particle Physics, at the University of Guanajuato. We give a survey of the application of Ashtekar’s variables to the quantization of General Relativity in four dimensions with special emphasis on the application of techniques of analytic knot theory to the loop representation. We discuss the role that the Jones Polynomial plays as a generator of nondegenerate quantum states of the gravitational field. 1 Quantum Gravity: why and how? I wish to thank the organizers for inviting me to speak here. This may well be a sign of our times, that a person generally perceived as a “General Relativist” would be invited to speak at a Particle Physics School. It just reflects the higher degree of interplay these two fields have enjoyed over the last years. In these lectures we will see more reasons for this enhanced interplay. We will see several notions from Gauge Theories, as Wilson Loops for instance, playing a central role in gravitation. An even greater interplay takes place with Topological Field Theories. We will see the important role that the ChernSimons form, the Jones Polynomial and other notions of knot theory seem to play in General Relativity. The quantization of General Relativity is a problem that has defied resolution for the last sixty years. In spite of the long time that has been invested in trying to solve it, we believe that several people do not necessarily fully appreciate the reasons of our failure and the magnitude of the problem. It is a general perception –especially among particle physicists– that “General Relativity is nonrenormalizable” and that is the basic problem with the theory. This statement is misleading in three ways: a) The fact that a theory is nonrenormalizable does not necessarily mean that the theory has an intrinsic problem or is “bad” in any way. It merely says that perturbation ∗To appear in “Proceedings of the Vth Mexican School of Particles and Fields”, J. L. Lucio, editor, World Scientific, Singapore (1993).
Tertiary bone grafting with or without premaxilla osteotomy in adult alveolar clefts—Techniques and early outcome

The outcome of alveolar bone grafting in adult patients is sparsely reported. Here, we present a description of the surgical techniques used in a Nigerian teaching hospital and a preliminary report of the first five cases of adult alveolar cleft bone grafting accomplished with or without repositioning the premaxilla. Although, evidence of bone resorption was observed within 6 months after the operation, satisfactory bone level and aesthetic outcome was recorded in all cases. We concluded that tertiary alveolar bone grafting is desirable for all cases where alveolar clefts have persisted into adulthood to enhance the psyche of the cleft patients and to motivate them for further rehabilitation. Prompt placement of dental implant into the grafted area is recommended to mitigate subsequent resorption of the bone graft.
Randomized Trial of Onsite Versus Referral Primary Medical Care for Veterans in Addictions Treatment

Background:Patients presenting for treatment of substance use disorders (SUDs) often exhibit medical comorbidities that affect functional health status and healthcare costs. Providing primary care within addictions clinics (onsite care) may improve medical and SUD treatment outcomes in this population. Objective:The objective of this study was to compare outcomes among Veterans’ Administration (VA) patients who receive medical care within the SUD clinic and those referred to a general medicine clinic at the same facility. Methods:Veterans entering SUD treatment with a chronic medical condition and no current primary care were randomized to receive primary medical care: 1) onsite in the VA SUD clinic (n = 358), or 2) in the VA general internal medicine clinic (n = 362). Subjects were assessed at baseline and at 3, 6, and 12 months postrandomization. Intention-to-treat analyses used random-effects regression. Measures:Measures included SF-36 Physical and Mental Component Summaries (PCS, MCS), VA service utilization, SUD treatment retention, Addiction Severity Index (ASI) scores, 30-day abstinence, and total VA healthcare costs. Results:Over the study year, patients assigned to onsite care were more likely to attend primary care (adjusted odds ratio [OR] = 2.20; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.53–3.15) and to remain engaged in SUD treatment at 3 months (adjusted OR = 1.36; 1.00–1.84). Overall, outcomes on the MCS (but not the PCS) and the ASI improved significantly over time but did not differ by treatment condition. Total VA healthcare costs did not differ reliably across conditions. Conclusions:Compared with referral care, providing primary care within a VA addiction clinic increased primary care access and initial SUD treatment retention but showed no effect on overall health status or costs.
Low Salinity and High-Level UV-B Radiation Reduce Single-Cell Activity in Antarctic Sea Ice Bacteria

ABSTRACT Experiments simulating the sea ice cycle were conducted by exposing microbes from Antarctic fast ice to saline and irradiance regimens associated with the freeze-thaw process. In contrast to hypersaline conditions (ice formation), the simulated release of bacteria into hyposaline seawater combined with rapid exposure to increased UV-B radiation significantly reduced metabolic activity.
Meeting Report on Experimental Approaches to Evolution and Ecology Using Yeast and Other Model Systems

The fourth EMBO-sponsored conference on Experimental Approaches to Evolution and Ecology Using Yeast and Other Model Systems (https://www.embl.de/training/events/2016/EAE16-01/), was held at the EMBL in Heidelberg, Germany, October 19–23, 2016. The conference was organized by Judith Berman (Tel Aviv University), Maitreya Dunham (University of Washington), Jun-Yi Leu (Academia Sinica), and Lars Steinmetz (EMBL Heidelberg and Stanford University). The meeting attracted ∼120 researchers from 28 countries and covered a wide range of topics in the fields of genetics, evolutionary biology, and ecology, with a unifying focus on yeast as a model system. Attendees enjoyed the Keith Haring-inspired yeast florescence microscopy artwork (Figure 1), a unique feature of the meeting since its inception, and the 1 min flash talks that catalyzed discussions at two vibrant poster sessions. The meeting coincided with the 20th anniversary of the publication describing the sequence of the first eukaryotic genome, Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Many of the conference talks focused on important questions about what is contained in the genome, how genomes evolve, and the architecture and behavior of communities of phenotypically and genotypically diverse microorganisms. Here, we summarize highlights of the research talks around these themes. Nearly all presentations focused on novel findings, and we refer the reader to relevant manuscripts that have subsequently been published.
Design of an On-Chip Reflectance Map

A reflectance map design is described which uses a minimal amount of memory for the table, in order to be applicable as an on-chip shader. The shader is designed for use with the volumetric super resolution hardware, which performs shading at supersampled locations. However, the design may be used as well to support surface visualization applications. Despite the small table size, the image quality obtained is excellent, even on smooth surfaces.
Multi-Phase Composite Nanofibers via Electrospinning of Latex Containing Nanocapsules with Core-Shell Morphology

Nanocapsules containing hexadecane (HD) as core material and polystyrene (PS) as shell, were electrospun with polyethylene oxide (PEO) as a matrix material into the fiber webs. The morphology and thermal properties of PEO fibers containing (1) both PS nanocapsules with core-shell morphology and solid PS particles, (2) only solid PS particles, and (3) without any PS particles, were compared and the effect of PEO concentration on morphology of the resultant fibers have been studied. The resultant fibers were characterized by means of Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), and Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA). Both TEM observation and DSC analyses confirmed that the PS nanocapsules were encapsulated within the PEO nanofibers. The fibers had an average diameter of 950 nm for nanocapsules containing parts, 300 nm for solid particles containing parts, and 150 nm for usual parts. The phase change temperatures and phase transition heat of the produced fibers were determined by DSC analyses. TGA was also used to confirm the preparation of multi phase fibers and to determine the amount of HD within the fibers.
Growth Performance, Carcass Characteristics and Plasma Mineral Chemistry as Affected by Dietary Chloride and Chloride Salts Fed to Broiler Chickens Reared under Phase Feeding System

Requirements of dietary chloride (dCl) and chloride salts were determined by using 4×2 factorial arrangement under four phase feeding program. Four levels (0.31, 0.45, 0.59 and 0.73%) and two sources (NH4Cl and CaCl2) of the dCl were allocated to 1,472 chicks in eight dietary treatments in which each treatment was replicated four times with 46 birds per replicate. The four phase feeding program was comprised of four dietary phases: Prestarter (d 1 to 10), Starter (d 11 to 20), Grower (d 21 to 33) and Finisher (d 34 to 42); and diets were separately prepared for each phase. The cations, anions, pH, dissolved oxygen (DO), temperature, electrical conductivity (EC), total dissolved solids (TDS) and salinity were analyzed in drinking water and were not affected by dietary treatments. BW gain (BWG; p≤0.009) and feed:gain (FG; p≤0.03) were improved in CaCl2 supplemented diets during d 1 to 10. The maximum response of BWG and FG was observed at 0.38% and 0.42% dCl, respectively, for d 34 to 42. However, the level of dCl for BWG during d 21 to 33 (p≤0.04) and d 34 to 42 (p≤0.009) was optimized at 0.60% and 0.42%, respectively. The level of dCl for optimized feed intake (FI; p≤0.006), FG (p≤0.007) and litter moisture (LM; p≤0.001) was observed at 0.60%, 0.38% and 0.73%, respectively, for d 1 to 42. Water intake (DWI) was not affected by increasing dCl supplementation (p>0.05); however, the ratio between DWI and FI (DWI:FI) was found highest at 0.73% dCl during d 1 to 10 (p≤0.05) and d 21 to 33 (p≤0.009). Except for d 34 to 42 (p≤0.006), the increasing level of dCl did not result in a significant difference in mortality during any phase. Blood pH and glucose, and breast and thigh weights (percentage of dressed weight) were improved while dressing percentage (DP) and gastrointestinal health were exacerbated with NH4Cl as compared to CaCl2 supplemented diets (p≤0.001). Higher plasma Na+ and HCO3− and lower Cl− and Ca++ were observed in NH4Cl supplemented diets (p≤0.001). Increasing supplementation of dCl increased plasma Cl− (p≤0.04; quadratically) and linearly reduced plasma K+ (p≤0.001), Ca++ (p≤0.003), HCO3− (p≤0.001), and Na+ (p≤0.001; quadratically). Consequently, higher requirements of dietary chloride are suggested for feed intake; nevertheless, lower levels of dietary chloride are sufficient to support optimal BWG and FG with increasing age. The NH4Cl supplemented diets ameliorate breast and thigh meat yield along with overall energy balance (glucose).
Transcriptional analysis of differential carbohydrate utilization by Clostridium acetobutylicum.

Transcriptional analysis was performed on Clostridium acetobutylicum with the goal of identifying sugar-specific mechanisms for the transcriptional regulation of transport and metabolism genes. DNA microarrays were used to determine transcript levels from total RNA isolated from cells grown on media containing eleven different carbohydrates, including two pentoses (xylose, arabinose), four hexoses (glucose, mannose, galactose, fructose), four disaccharides (sucrose, lactose, maltose, cellobiose) and one polysaccharide (starch). Sugar-specific induction of many transport and metabolism genes indicates that these processes are regulated at the transcriptional level and are subject to carbon catabolite repression. The results show that C. acetobutylicum utilizes symporters and ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters for the uptake of pentose sugars, while disaccharides and hexoses are primarily taken up by phosphotransferase system (PTS) transporters and a gluconate : H(+) (GntP) transporter. The transcription of some transporter genes was induced by specific sugars, while others were induced by a subset of the sugars tested. Sugar-specific transport roles are suggested, based on expression comparisons, for various transporters of the PTS, the ABC superfamily and members of the major facilitator superfamily (MFS), including the GntP symporter family and the glycoside-pentoside-hexuronide (GPH)-cation symporter family. Additionally, updates to the C. acetobutylicum genome annotation are proposed, including the identification of genes likely to encode proteins involved in the metabolism of arabinose and xylose via the pentose phosphate pathway.
Designing a tone mapping algorithm for road visibility experiments

Road visibility studies can take strong benefit from the use of computer graphics images through driving simulation and psychovisual experiments. But display devices are unable to render the complex visual environment of the driver. A Tone Mapping (TM) algorithm aims to convert high dynamic radiance (HDR) images into images that can be displayed. The goal of our TM algorithm is to preserve the visual perception of the observer.
EPIROME - A novel framework to investigate high-level episodic robot memory

Episodic memory has been examined in different disciplines such as psychology and neuroscience for more than 30 years. Now, engineering and computer science are developing an increasing interest in episodic memory for artificial systems. In this paper, we propose a novel framework referred to as EPIROME to develop and investigate high-level episodic memory mechanisms which can be used to model and compare episodic memories of high-level events for technical systems. We applied the framework in the domain of service robotics to enable our service robot TASER to collect autobiographical memories to improve action planning based on past experiences. The framework provides the robot with a life-long memory since past experiences can be stored and reloaded. In practise, one main advantage of our episodic memory is that it provides one- shot learning capabilities to our robot. This reduces the demerit of other learning strategies where learning takes too long when used with a real robot system in natural environments and therefore is not feasible.