Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Estimation of Stable Distributions by Indirect Inference

This article deals with the estimation of the parameters of an -stable distribution by the indirect inference method with the skewed-t distribution as an auxiliary model. The latter distribution appears as a good candidate for an auxiliary model since it has the same number of parameters as the -stable distribution, with each parameter playing a similar role. To improve the properties of the estimator in finite sample, we use a variant of the method called Constrained Indirect Inference. In a Monte Carlo study, we show that this method delivers estimators with good properties in finite sample. In particular they are much more efficient than two other prevalent methods based on the characteristic function and the empirical quantiles. We provide an empirical application to hedge fund returns.
Fear of Fat and the Dream Process: A Correlational Investigation

Dream characteristics of 27 women from a graduate counseling program were correlated with the Goldfarb Fear of Fat Scale. Significant positive correlations were obtained for scores with recurrent nightmares (.38) and dreaming one is dreaming (.40). An inverse relationship was noted between sexual content of dreams and scores for fear of fat (−.41). Results were discussed in terms of associations among dissociation, body image, and the dream process.
Genetics and cardiovascular disease—causes and prevention of unexpected sudden adult death: the role of the SADS clinic

Sudden arrhythmic death syndrome (SADS) accounts for approximately 500 deaths in England and Wales per year. Clinical screening of the surviving first-degree relatives can identify an inherited cardiovascular condition in up to half of families, permitting lifestyle modification and confirmed effective prophylactic therapies to prevent further sudden deaths. Mechanisms for molecular autopsy are available to improve the diagnostic yield but practical barriers to its successful implementation exist. This article reviews the clinical screening of the first-degree relatives of SADS patients, molecular autopsy of probands and the broader implications of national recommendations for the investigation of sudden cardiac death.
Fault analysis of VSC-HVDC system with saturated iron-core superconductive fault current limiter

VSC-HVDC is one of the important development directions in smart grid. However, VSCs are vulnerable to dc-cable short-circuit faults due to the high discharge current from the dc-link capacitance. The huge current is a great threat to the capacitors and diodes. In order to limit the fault current to a relatively low level, the superconductive fault current limiter is introduced into the VSC-HVDC network and becomes an effective solution. The cardinal principle and electrical properties of SFCL are presented first. The transient process of the inter-pole short circuit fault in VSC-HVDC network with SFCL is analyzed. The effectiveness of SFCL is demonstrated through the comparison of fault current and voltage on network with and without SFCL. The correctness of the theoretical analysis is testified by simulation results in PSCAD/EMTDC.
A perspective on future naval satcom antennas

There are numerous current problems associated with naval antenna systems that arise because of the large number of antennas that must be accommodated with the attendant problems such as electromagnetic interference and blockage. For naval satellite communications, the increasing requirements for bandwidth, multiple bands, and low observability exacerbate the existing problems. In this paper, approaches that address these issues are discussed. It is shown that the traditional use of one or two mechanically steered dishes with hemispheric scanning coverage will likely be transitioned to multiple antennas of reduced coverage area distributed about the ship. A variety of reduced-coverage antenna solutions, from phased arrays to novel low-profile scanned antennas, are compared
Can Defined Contribution Health Insurance Reduce Cost Growth?

This paper focuses on one key question: can a widespread shift to defined contribution health plan arrangements (DC health) lower the growth rate of health care costs? The answer to this question is in two parts: (1) What are the root causes of health care cost inflation? (2) What will be the price responsiveness of workers with structured incentives to choose among health plans?
Technology's limited role in resolving debates over digital surveillance

Teasing apart technical issues from social and political issues Although it has been known for many years that the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) has engaged in electronic surveillance, its scope and scale were not widely understood in the United States or abroad before the revelations of the past year based on documents obtained from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. Today, an important public debate is over how policy-makers balance between two goals: identifying evil-doers and thwarting their activities without unduly intruding on the rights and lives of law-abiding people who pose no threat to society.
Influence of traditional Chinese anti‐inflammatory medicinal plants on leukocyte and platelet functions

The enzymes 5‐lipoxygenase and elastase are therapeutic targets in dermatological disorders such as psoriasis. Fifteen extracts from traditional Chinese medicinal plants used to treat topical inflammations were screened for their inhibitory effect on lipoxygenase, cyclooxygenase and elastase activity in intact leukocytes and platelets. Astragalus membranaceus, Forsythia suspensa and Poria cocos inhibited 5‐lipoxygenase, with IC50 values of 141, 80 and 141 μg mL−1, respectively. The latter two species, along with Angelica dahurica and Angelica pubescens, also inhibited elastase (IC50 values of 80, 123, 68 and 93 μg mL−1, respectively), while A. pubescens, Atractylodes macrocephala, Lentinus edodes, Rehmannia glutinosa and Paeonia lactiflora selectively inhibited 12‐(S)‐HHTrE production, a valid marker of cyclooxygenase activity. The inhibition of phospholipase A2 activity by P. cocos is discussed. Dehydrotumulosic and pachymic acids, which have been isolated from P. cocos, were shown to inhibit leukotriene B4 release. The results indicate that both P. cocos and F. suspensa are potentially valuable species in the management of skin pathologies involving chronic inflammation.
Performance and core loss of concentrated winding IPMSM with different core treatment

This paper investigates the performance of two identical interior permanent magnet synchronous machines IPMSM. One machine is constructed using laminations that are subject to stress relief annealing (SRA) while the other machine has not been subject to annealing (non-SRA). Both machines have the same physical dimensions and are concentrated winding (IPMSM) designed to operate at constant power over a wide speed range. The magnetic properties data of SRA and non-SRA laminations have been measured by Epstein frame testing and incorporated in a finite element (FE) model to investigate the performance of IPMSM motors. Torque, power, voltage, inductance, core loss values are compared for both machines. Both machines are also investigated for different torque point without applying the field weakening current which gives a comparative study of both machines. Efficiency map and efficiency over wide speed ranges of both machines are pointed out.
In vitro inhibition of pathogenic Verticillium dahliae, causal agent of potato wilt disease in China by Trichoderma isolates

Twenty (20) of Verticillium dahliae were isolated from wilted potato specimens collected from six districts in Guizhou, China. All the isolates were evaluated for pathogenicity on two potato cultivars, Favorita (susceptible) and Hui-2 (resistant) using the root dip inoculation (RDI) and microsclerotia inoculation (MI). All of the V. dahliae isolates appeared to be pathogenic on both cultivars but VGZ-HZ-4 isolate gave the highest wilt incidence comparing to the others, seconded by VGZ-SC-1 and VGZ-XW-1. Combined analysis of wilt incidence resulting from using two inoculation methods for VGZ-HZ-4 and VGZ-XW-1 isolates on the two potato cultivars showed that the MI gave a higher wilt incidence than that of the RDI and cultivar Favorita had a higher wilt incidence than that of Hui-2. These two V. dahliae isolates were further used as representative isolates for mycelial inhibition (MyI) test with 33 Trichoderma isolates under a dual culture condition on potato dextrose agar plate. The 33 Trichoderma isolates consisting of 21 isolates isolated from potato soils from seven districts of Guizhou, 11 isolates from single spore isolates of the TGZ-150 isolate preserved at Guizhou Institute of Plant Protection (GZIPP) and one isolate TGZ-OLD-81 also preserved at the GZIPP. Most of the single spore isolates and TGZ-SC-4 were found to have higher MyI efficiency than that of the rest. The results indicate that the Trichoderma isolates in this study have initial modes of action of biological control to protect potato crop against V. dahlia. Key words: Trichoderma, potato wilt disease, growth inhibition, Verticillium dahliae, antagonistic fungi.
In vitro synthesis of antibodies to acetylcholine receptor by peripheral blood mononuclear cells of patients with myasthenia gravis

We studied the in vitro synthesis of antibodies to acetylcholine receptor (anti-AChR) by peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBM) of patients with myasthenia gravis (MG) and normal subjects (NS). PBM from three of eight patients with generalized MG (MG-G) synthesized anti-AChR in vitro in the absence of pokeweed mitogen (PWM), and seven of eight did so in the presence of PWM. In individual subjects with MG-G, the levels of anti-AChR secreted in vitro by PBM correlated with serum anti-AChR antibody levels (r = 0.77) but not with the amount of IgG secreted in vitro (r = 0.44). No anti-AChR secretion was seen in culture of PBM from a patient with ocular MG, a patient with thymoma without MG, or six NS.
In Vitro Differentiation of MSC into Cells with a Renal Tubular Epithelial-Like Phenotype

Bone marrow mesenchymal stem (stromal) cells (MSCs) are shown to differentiate into different renal lineages in in vivo injury models. Nevertheless, the in vitro differentiation of MSCs into a renal tubular epithelial lineage has not been investigated. We hypothesize that the injured renal epithelial cells express renotypic factors that may influence the differentiation of MSCs into a renal tubular epithelial lineage. MSCs were cocultured for up to seven days with injured or uninjured murine cortical tubular renal epithelial cells (MCTs), which are separated by a physical barrier; following the coculture, MSCs were examined for the expression of two renal tubular epithelial-specific markers, kidney-specific cadherin (Ksp-cadherin) and aquaporin-1 (AQP1). MSCs differentiated into a tubular epithelial-like phenotype, as shown by the appearance of Ksp-cadherin and AQP1 by day 7 when cocultured with injured MCTs. Further, MSCs showed tubulogenic characteristics when cocultured in a three-dimensional matrix. Nonetheless, MSCs cultured with the conditioned medium from injured MCTs, cocultured with ureteric bud cells, or treated with nephrogenic factors did not differentiate into renal epithelial cells. Based on our findings, we conclude that MSCs can differentiate into a renal epithelial lineage independent of cell fusion when cocultured with injured renal cells.
Global Regulatory Functions of Oaf1p and Pip2p (Oaf2p), Transcription Factors That Regulate Genes Encoding Peroxisomal Proteins in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

ABSTRACT Two transcription factors, Oaf1p and Pip2p (Oaf2p), are key components in the pathway by which several Saccharomyces cerevisiae genes encoding peroxisomal proteins are activated in the presence of a fatty acid such as oleate. By searching the S. cerevisiae genomic database for the consensus sequence that acts as a target for these transcription factors, we identified 40 genes that contain a putative Oaf1p-Pip2p binding site in their promoter region. Quantitative Northern analysis confirmed that the expression of 22 of the genes identified is induced by oleate and that either one or both of these transcription factors are required for the activation. In addition to known peroxisomal proteins, the regulated genes encode novel peroxisomal proteins, a mitochondrial protein, and proteins of unknown location and function. We demonstrate that Oaf1p regulates certain genes in the absence of Pip2p and that both of these transcription factors play a role in maintaining the glucose-repressed state of one gene. Furthermore, we provide evidence that the defined consensus binding site is not required for the regulation of certain oleate-responsive genes.
Movable Rendezvous Channel Selection for Distributed Cognitive Radio Networks

Cognitive Radio (CR) technology has emerged as a suitable technology for providing a possible solution to the lack of the spectrum problem. For this, CR has to identify opportunistically and heuristically the available spectrum, in which primary users (PUs) do not exist on it. It is critical that the secondary users (SUs) use the vacant portions of the spectrum without causing a loss of efficiency for PUs and without any interference effects on PUs in CR networks. Among the recent research on CR MAC protocols, we focused on the selection of rendezvous channel (RC), which is the core of the Cognitive MAC (C-MAC) protocol. In this paper, we propose a new RC selection scheme that can always maintain only one RC at a certain time. The design and performance of our scheme is presented and evaluated in this paper.
Why Should We Worry About Sea Level Change?

Around 250 million people live by the coast, less than 5 m above the sea. Changes in sea level affect people through flooding, when water in rivers cannot flow into the ocean because the sea is too high and when seawater surges onto the land during storms. If the sea water finds its way to farms and reservoirs, it can harm our drinking water and our ability to grow crops. Because of this, knowledge of how and why sea level is changing is of importance to society.
Upregulation of BST-2/Tetherin by HIV Infection In Vivo

ABSTRACT The interferon-inducible antiviral factor BST-2 prevents several enveloped viruses, including HIV, from escaping infected cells. The HIV protein Vpu antagonizes this host defense. Little is known about the expression of BST-2 during HIV infection in vivo and whether it can be modulated to the host's advantage. We studied the expression of BST-2 on blood cells from HIV-infected patients during the acute and chronic phases of disease as well as after antiretroviral treatment (ART). The expression of BST-2 was increased on mononuclear leukocytes, including CD4-positive T lymphocytes from HIV-positive patients, compared to that on cells of uninfected controls. The expression of BST-2 was highest during acute infection and decreased to levels similar to those of uninfected individuals after ART. Treatment of primary blood mononuclear cells in vitro with alpha interferon or with Toll-like receptor (TLR) agonists increased the expression of BST-2 to levels similar to those found during infection in vivo. The interferon-induced levels were sufficient to overcome the Vpu protein in vitro, reducing the release of wild-type HIV. These data show that BST-2 is upregulated during HIV infection, consistent with its role as an interferon-stimulated gene. The data further suggest that this upregulation is sufficient to saturate the activity of Vpu and inhibit wild-type HIV.
An Unexpected Link between the Secretory Path and the Organization of the Nucleus*

Yeast sec mutations define the machinery of vesicular traffic. Surprisingly, many of these mutations also inhibit ribosome biogenesis by reducing transcription of rRNA and genes encoding ribosomal proteins. We observe that these mutants reversibly inhibit protein import into the nucleus, with import cargo accumulating at the nucleoplasmic face of nuclear pore complexes, as when Ran-GTP cannot bind importins. They also rapidly and reversibly relocate multiple nucleolar and nucleoplasmic proteins to the cytoplasm. The import block and relocation are antagonized by overexpression of yeast Ran, Hog1p kinase, or Ssa/Hsp70 proteins or by inhibition of protein synthesis. These nucleocytoplasmic signaling events document an extraordinary plasticity of nuclear organization.
Correlates of suicidal ideation among HIV-positive persons

Objectives:The present investigation sought to determine the extent to which demographic characteristics, illness-related burdens, alcohol and other substance use, and psychosocial factors are independently associated with suicidal ideation in HIV-positive individuals. Design:HIV-positive individuals in four US cities (San Francisco, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, and New York City) were screened between July 2000 and January 2002 for recruitment into a randomized behavioral prevention trial. Utilizing data from this screening visit, rates and correlates of suicidal ideation were examined in a diverse sample of 2909 HIV-positive individuals. Methods:Using binary logistic regression study sites, demographic characteristics, illness-related burdens, alcohol and substance use, and psychosocial factors were entered as predictors of suicidal ideation. This cross-sectional model thus examined the independent effects of each factor. Results:Approximately one-fifth (19%) of participants reported thoughts of suicide in the past week. We observed that participants who were not heterosexual, rated HIV-related symptoms and medication side effects as more severe, reported regular marijuana use, and described elevated affective symptoms of depression were those who were more likely to report suicidal ideation. Conversely, participants who identified as Hispanic/Latino, individuals in a primary romantic relationship, and those who reported greater self-efficacy for coping were less likely to report suicidal ideation. Conclusion:Suicidal ideation among HIV-positive individuals is relatively common and is associated with multiple factors. These independent correlates may assist with identifying HIV-positive individuals who are at increased risk of suicidal ideation so that they may be assessed regularly and referred for psychological treatment when appropriate.
“Feeling frumpy”: The relationships between body image and sexual response changes in midlife women

This study investigated the relationships between self‐rated attractiveness and self‐reported sexual response changes (over the past decade) and current sexual satisfaction in 307 heterosexual, midlife women. Results indicated that regardless of the woman's specific age, she was more likely to consider herself more attractive when she was 10 years younger, and her self‐perceived attractiveness did not significantly differ based on her menopausal status. The more a woman perceived herself as less attractive than before, the more likely she was to report a decline in sexual desire or frequency of sexual activity. The more she perceived herself as attractive, the more likely she was to experience an increase in sexual desire, orgasm, enjoyment, or frequency of sexual activity. There were no significant statistical relationships between a woman's perception of her own attractiveness as she aged and her current sexual satisfaction.
Pulsed dye laser treatment of benign cutaneous pigmented lesions

Superficial benign cutaneous pigmented lesions that commonly present to the dermatologists and plastic surgeons have been treated by many conventional modalities such as dermabrasion, depigmenting creams as well as several types of lasers. Many of these treatment modalities lack specificity of injury, which has meant that normally pigmented and even non‐pigment containing structures such as collagen as well as the hyperpigmented lesion itself have all been indiscriminately destroyed. This has resulted variously in hypopigmentation, hyperpigmentation, in addition to scar formation in some cases.
Relationship Between Body Mass Index and Rehabilitation Outcomes in Chronic Stroke

ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and change in motor impairment and functional mobility after a gait rehabilitation intervention in chronic stroke subjects. DesignCorrelation and linear regression analyses of pretreatment and end-of-treatment Fugl-Meyer scores and modified Emory Functional Ambulation Profile scores from hemiparetic subjects (n = 108, >3 mos post stroke) who participated in a randomized controlled trial comparing two 12-wk ambulation training treatments were generated. ResultsA series of linear regression models that controlled for age, sex, stroke type, interval post-stroke, and training device found the change in the Fugl-Meyer score to be significantly negatively associated with pretreatment BMI (&bgr; = −0.207, P = 0.036) and the change in the “up and go” modified Emory Functional Ambulation Profile score to be significantly positively associated with BMI (&bgr; = 0.216, P = 0.03). Changes in modified Emory Functional Ambulation Profile scores in floor, carpet, obstacles, or stair climbing were not significantly associated with BMI. ConclusionsChronic stroke subjects with a higher BMI were less likely to demonstrate improvement in motor impairment and up and go functional mobility performance in response to ambulation training, irrespective of treatment intervention. Stroke rehabilitation clinicians should consider BMI when formulating rehabilitation goals. Further studies are necessary to determine whether obesity is a predictor of longer-term post-stroke motor and functional recovery.
Cdk5 regulates multiple cellular events in neural development, function and disease

Cyclin‐dependent kinases (CDKs) generally regulate cell proliferation in dividing cells, including neural progenitors. In contrast, an unconventional CDK, Cdk5, is predominantly activated in post‐mitotic cells, and involved in various cellular events, such as microtubule and actin cytoskeletal organization, cell–cell and cell–extracellular matrix adhesions, and membrane trafficking. Interestingly, recent studies have indicated that Cdk5 is associated with several cell cycle‐related proteins, Cyclin‐E and p27kip1. Taking advantage of multiple functionality, Cdk5 plays important roles in neuronal migration, layer formation, axon elongation and dendrite arborization in many regions of the developing brain, including cerebral cortex and cerebellum. Cdk5 is also required for neurogenesis at least in the cerebral cortex. Furthermore, Cdk5 is reported to control neurotransmitter release at presynaptic sites, endocytosis of the NMDA receptor at postsynaptic sites and dendritic spine remodeling, and thereby regulate synaptic plasticity and memory formation and extinction. In addition to these physiological roles in brain development and function, Cdk5 is associated with many neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. In this review, I will introduce the physiological and pathological roles of Cdk5 in mammalian brains from the viewpoint of not only in vivo phenotypes but also its molecular and cellular functions.