Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Credit Default Swaps and Debt Overhang

We analyze the impact of credit default swaps (CDSs) trading on firm investment, long-term debt financing, and valuation. In our model, the firm is endowed with a real option to initiate a project and enhance its future growth. Its creditors have access to CDS contracts that hedge them against default losses. We show that CDS protection increases the firm’s pledgable income: that is, the maximum amount of debt it can raise. However, at the same time CDS protection decreases asset growth and impedes project initiation. As a result, CDS trading could reduce firm value, and the negative effects are stronger when the firm is riskier, where shareholders have stronger bargaining power, and growth opportunities are less valuable. Using simulated cross-sections of firms, we find that CDS trading increases corporate default rates and deters investment. Altogether, CDS firms tend to have a lower firm value and more volatile equity returns than non-CDS firms. This paper was accepted by Gustavo Manso, finance.
Fatty Acid Oxidation and Ketogenesis by Astrocytes in Primary Culture

Abstract: The oxidation of the fatty acids octanoate and palmitate to CO2 and the ketone bodies acetoacetate and D‐(–)‐3‐hydroxybutyrate was examined in astrocytes that were prepared from cortex of 2‐day‐old rat brain and grown in primary culture to confluence. Accumulation of acetoacetate (by mass) in the culture medium of astrocytes incubated with octanoate (0.3–0.5 mM) was 50–90 nmol C2 units h−1 mg of protein−1. A similar rate was obtained using radiolabeled tracer methodology with [1‐14C]octanoate as labeled substrate. The results from the radiolabeled tracer studies using [1‐14C]‐ and [7‐14C]octanoate and [1‐14C]‐, [13‐14C]‐, and [15‐14C]palmitate indicated that a substantial proportion of the ω‐terminal fourcarbon unit of these fatty acids bypassed the β‐ketothiolase step of the β‐oxidation pathway and the 3‐hydroxy‐3‐methylglutaryl (HMG)‐CoA cycle of the classic ketogenic pathway. The [14C]acetoacetate formed from the 1‐14C‐labeled fatty acids, obligated to pass through the acetyl‐CoA pool, contained 50% of the label at carbon 3 and 50% at carbon 1. By contrast, the [14C]acetoacetate formed from (ω‐1)‐labeled fatty acids contained 90% of the label at carbon 3 and 10% at carbon 1, whereas that formed from the (ω‐3)‐labeled fatty acid contained 20% of the label at carbon 3 and 80% at carbon 1. These results indicate that acetoacetate is primarily formed either by the action of 3‐oxo‐acid‐CoA transferase (EC 2.8.3.5) or acetoacetyl‐CoA deacylase (EC 3.1.2.11) or both on acetoacetyl‐CoA and not by the action of the mitochondrial HMG‐CoA cycle involving HMG‐CoA lyase (EC 4.1.3.4), which was readily detected, and HMG‐CoA synthase (EC 4.1.3.5), which was barely measurable.
Numerical studies of electrically induced pattern formation by coupling liquid dielectrophoresis and two‐phase flow

Electrically induced patterning process, as a novel micro‐ or nano‐structuring approach for fabrication of various micro‐ or nano‐systems, is usually implemented by applying a voltage to an electrode pair consisting of a patterned or non‐patterned template and a polymer‐coated substrate separated in parallel by an air gap, followed by photo‐ or thermo‐curing of the fluidic and dielectric polymer. The analyses performed so far to characterize this patterning process have been based on linear thermodynamics for a thermally instable thin film perturbed by an electrostatically induced hydraulic pressure. For mathematical simplicity, these analyses were formulated only for a flat template and a flat film surface with infinite planar area, demonstrating the tendency of initial pattern growth on the polymer film, but being unable to visualize the dynamic evolution of micro‐ or nano‐structure growth throughout the patterning process for a real‐life template in practical applications. This paper attempts to provide another insight into this patterning process from a viewpoint of liquid dielectrophoresis (L‐DEP), by presenting an approach for numerical simulation of the patterning process based on a coupling of L‐DEP and two‐phase flow theories. First, a numerical analysis has been made for the electrocoalescence of a water droplet with bottom water in silicone oil to benchmark effectiveness of the proposed numerical approach against published experimental observations. More numerical results have then been provided to show effects of some process variables on the evolution of the polymer micro‐ or nano‐structures for this patterning process.
Development of a tactile stimulator with simultaneous visual and auditory stimulation using E-Prime software

In this study, a tactile stimulator was developed, which can stimulate visual and auditory senses simultaneously by using the E-Prime software. This study tried to compensate for systematic stimulation control and other problems that occurred with previously developed tactile stimulators. The newly developed system consists of three units: a control unit, a drive unit and a vibrator. Since the developed system is a small, lightweight, simple structure with low electrical consumption, a maximum of 35 stimulation channels and various visual and auditory stimulation combinations without delay time, the previous systematic problem is corrected in this study. The system was designed to stimulate any part of the body including the fingers. Since the developed tactile stimulator used E-Prime software, which is widely used in the study of visual and auditory senses, the stimulator is expected to be highly practical due to a diverse combination of stimuli, such as tactile–visual, tactile–auditory, visual–auditory and tactile–visual–auditory stimulation.
Design of discrete time notch filter for biomedical applications

The challenge in obtaining accurate recordings of biomedical signals such as EEG and ECG is to deal with the interference that is caused due to power line, which is a low frequency signal at 50Hz/60Hz. In order to yield accurate readings from ECG/EEG there is a need to eliminate this interfering signal. This paper presents the design of discrete-time notch filter to eliminate 60Hz, The filter is implemented in CMOS 180nm technology. The Tow-Thomas topology is used for the implementation of the filter which includes fully differential operational amplifier and switched capacitor based resistors. The conventional approach of filter design i.e continuous time approach using resistors consumed large silicon area, hence a discrete time approach is presented in this paper which replaces the resistors by switched-capacitor network. The results of discrete time filter show a notch depth of 62.3dB consuming power of 9. 936μΨ. The design is simulated using Cadence Virtuoso and the post layout simulations are presented.
Renin-angiotensin blockade lowers MCP-1 expression in diabetic rats.

BACKGROUND Glomerular macrophage accumulation in diabetes implicates monocyte recruitment mechanisms in the pathogenesis of diabetic nephropathy. To test the hypothesis that overexpression of monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1), a monocyte chemoattractant, is attenuated by renin-angiotensin system (RAS) inhibition, we assessed expression of genes regulating monocyte transmigration in the glomeruli of diabetic rats. METHODS Competitive reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was used to semiquantitate mRNA expression in glomeruli harvested by sieving at serial intervals after the induction of diabetes by streptozotocin in Munich-Wistar rats. Although subject to limitations, competitive RT-PCR provides an objective measure suited to the minute quantities of RNA extractable from glomerular isolates. RESULTS Time-dependent elevation of MCP-1 expression was dramatically suppressed by treatment with the angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor enalapril or the AT1 receptor antagonist candesartan, and was closely associated with effects on proteinuria and glomerular macrophage number. By contrast, no sustained suppression of the cell adhesion molecules intercellular adhesion molecule-1 or vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 or the classic MCP-1 stimulators tumor necrosis factor-alpha or interleukin-1beta followed RAS inhibition, and suppression of transforming growth factor-beta1 expression was transient. CONCLUSION These data suggest that glomerular macrophage recruitment in experimental diabetes is largely determined by angiotensin-stimulated MCP-1 expression. We conclude that the RAS is an important regulator of local MCP-1 expression, either directly or through glomerular hemodynamic effects, and that our data strongly implicate macrophage recruitment and activation in the pathogenesis of early diabetic glomerular injury.
Deep Learning Works in Practice. But Does it Work in Theory?

Deep learning relies on a very specific kind of neural networks: those superposing several neural layers. In the last few years, deep learning achieved major breakthroughs in many tasks such as image analysis, speech recognition, natural language processing, and so on. Yet, there is no theoretical explanation of this success. In particular, it is not clear why the deeper the network, the better it actually performs. We argue that the explanation is intimately connected to a key feature of the data collected from our surrounding universe to feed the machine learning algorithms: large non-parallelizable logical depth. Roughly speaking, we conjecture that the shortest computational descriptions of the universe are algorithms with inherently large computation times, even when a large number of computers are available for parallelization. Interestingly, this conjecture, combined with the folklore conjecture in theoretical computer science that $ P \neq NC$, explains the success of deep learning.
Automatic Extraction of Moving Objects from Image and LIDAR Sequences

Detecting and segmenting moving objects in an image sequence has always been a crucial task for many computer vision applications. This task becomes especially challenging for real-world image sequences of busy street scenes, where moving objects are ubiquitous. Although it remains technologically elusive to develop an effective and scalable image-based moving object detection, modern street side imagery are often augmented with sparse point clouds captured with depth sensors. This paper develops a simple but effective system for moving object detection that fully harnesses the complementary nature of 2D image and 3D LIDAR point clouds. We demonstrate how moving objects can be much more easily and reliably detected with sparse 3D measurements and how such information can significantly improve segmentation for moving objects in the image sequences. The results of our system are highly accurate "joint segmentation" of 2D images and 3D points for all moving objects in street scenes, which can serve many subsequent tasks such as object removal in images, 3D reconstruction and rendering.
The inverse and direct Hofmeister series for lysozyme

Anion effects on the cloud-point temperature for the liquid−liquid phase transition of lysozyme were investigated by temperature gradient microfluidics under a dark field microscope. It was found that protein aggregation in salt solutions followed 2 distinct Hofmeister series depending on salt concentration. Namely, under low salt conditions the association of anions with the positively charged lysozyme surface dominated the process and the phase transition temperature followed an inverse Hofmeister series. This inverse series could be directly correlated to the size and hydration thermodynamics of the anions. At higher salt concentrations, the liquid–liquid phase transition displayed a direct Hofmeister series that correlated with the polarizability of the anions. A simple model was derived to take both charge screening and surface tension effects into account at the protein/water interface. Fitting the thermodynamic data to this model equation demonstrated its validity in both the high and low salt regimes. These results suggest that in general positively charged macromolecular systems should show inverse Hofmeister behavior only at relatively low salt concentrations, but revert to a direct Hofmeister series as the salt concentration is increased.
Aperiodic Compositions and Classical Integer Sequences

In this paper we define the notion of singular composition of a positive integer. We provide a characterization of these compositions, together with methods for decomposing and also extending a singular composition in terms of other singular compositions. Consecutive extensions of particular compositions determine sequences of integers which coincide with classical integer sequences involving Fibonacci and Lucas numbers.
Commercialization, Collaboration and Conflict of Interest: An Institutional Work Analysis of Academic Entrepreneurship in Canada

Recent health research and innovation policies have encouraged academic biomedical scientists to engage research commercialization and collaborations with the health products industry. These activities of ‘academic entrepreneurship’ have been valued for their ability to produce social, economic, and health impacts. However, these initiatives have also been met with concern for their potential to create conflicts of interest. This study examines how publicly-funded academic biomedical scientists in Canada value the activities of academic entrepreneurship and manage conflict of interest concerns. Drawing on neo-institutional theories, this research explores the institutional logic of entrepreneurial science, and the micro-level negotiations of ‘institutional work’ conducted by academic entrepreneurs in legitimizing entrepreneurial initiatives. This mixed-methods study draws from a national survey of publicly-funded biomedical researchers (n = 1,618), and in-depth interviews with 24 academic entrepreneurs and 14 trainees. Analyses indicate that the institutional logic of entrepreneurial science tends to
α-Synuclein gene duplication is present in sporadic Parkinson disease

SPORADIC PARKINSON DISEASE To the Editor: Ahn et al.1 reported that -synuclein gene (SNCA) multiplications were present in 2/878 patients with sporadic Parkinson disease (PD), a frequency of approximately 0.2%. Previous investigations of SNCA mutations were performed primarily in PD families with autosomal dominant inheritance.2 5 We searched for SNCA multiplications in 101 patients with early onset sporadic PD, mostly of European (84%) and North African (4%) origin. The molecular analysis was performed with the SALSA MLPA kit P051 (MRC Holland, Amsterdam, the Netherlands), as recommended by the supplier. Peak areas representing exons 1, 3–6 of SNCA (figure e-1, A, on the Neurology Web site at www.neurology.org) were approximately 1.5 times larger in one of the patients (1%) compared to the control, suggesting that the entire SNCA gene was duplicated. This was confirmed by dosage of microsatellites within the SCNA gene (figure e-1, B). 2 The patient, a 41-year-old woman with early onset sporadic PD, first noted bradykinesia and rest tremor in the right arm at 35 years of age. PD was diagnosed and she was treated with ropinirole, up to 18 mg/day. She responded favorably to the medication and was able to continue working as a secretary. A few years later, levodopa was added. When she was seen at our center, she was taking ropinirole 15 mg/d and had recently been started on levodopa 50 mg/ entacapone 200 mg/carbidopa 12.5 mg. No falls were reported and no cognitive impairment was observed (Mini-Mental State Examination 30). Postural hypotension developed after the introduction of levodopa, but other symptoms of autonomic dysfunction were absent. On follow-up, motor fluctuations and dyskinesias worsened, without other complications. The patient is currently undergoing a workup for deep brain stimulation. Our series, which included another patient with a duplication of the SNCA gene without a family history of the disease, extends the findings of Ahn et al. This emphasizes the importance of mutations in what otherwise appear to be patients with sporadic PD. It also shows that genes other than those involved in autosomal recessive parkinsonism can be associated with early onset PD.
Effects of Physical Exercise on Neuroinflammation, Neuroplasticity, Neurodegeneration, and Behavior

Physical exercise is a cornerstone in the management of many neurodegenerative disorders, such as Parkinson’s disease, dementia, and stroke. However, much of its beneficial effects on improving motor functions and cognition as well as decreasing neurodegeneration and neuroinflammation are not yet well understood. The obvious limitations of studying the protective mechanisms behind exercise, for example, brain plasticity and neurodegeneration, could be overcome by generating novel animal models of neurodegenerative disorders. In this narrative review, we discuss the beneficial effects of exercise performed in animal models of neurodegenerative disorders and how the results from animal studies can be used in clinical settings. From preclinical studies, the positive effects of exercise have been related to increased levels of neurotrophic factors, elevated expression of anti-inflammatory cytokines, and reduced levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines and activated microglia. It is clear that parameters influencing the effect of exercise, such as intensity, still remain to be investigated in animal studies in order to find the optimal program that can be translated into exercise interventions for patients with neurodegenerative diseases.
The Effect of International Monetary Policy Expansions on Costa Rica

This paper studies if the international monetary policy has a major effect on the Costa Rican economy. The analysis is performed estimating a structural Bayesian vector autoregression (SBVAR) and a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) small open economy model estimated with Bayesian maximum likelihood methods using data from 2000 to 2014. The SBVAR estimation provides evidence that shocks to us interest rates, us inflation and us output in conjunction accounts for the following share of fluctuations: 43.2%, of nominal exchange rates; 52.2% of Costa Rican interest rates; 35.1% of Costa Rican inflation; 51.4% of Costa Rican output; 36.7% of exports; and 39.3% of imports. The DSGE model describes the mechanisms through which the local and foreign disturbances affect Costa Rica. An unexpected increase in the local interest rates means that the holding of local assets by the rest of the world increases; and it also incentives savings, which means postponed consumption. Households substitute depsits, local and foreign currency, with government debt. As expected the substitution of savings by government debt means there is no greater investment in the economy due to an increase in the risk premium. Meanwhile, an unexpected expansion in the us interest rate causes an outflow of resources from the economy, which along with the interest rate increase causes a depreciation of the currency and an increase in the local interest rate. Therefore consumption decreases and exports increase.
Recommending with limited number of trusted users in social networks

To estimate the reliability of an unknown node in social networks, existing works involve as many opinions from other nodes as possible. Though this makes it possible to approximate the real property of the unknown nodes, the computational complexity increases as the scale of social networks getting bigger and bigger. We therefore propose a novel method which involve only limited number of social relations to predict the trustworthiness of the unknown nodes. The proposed method involves four rating prediction mechanisms: FM use the recommendation given by the most reliable recommender with the shortest trust propagation distance from the active user as the predicted rating, FMW weights the recommendation in FM, FA uses the mean value of recommendations with the shortest trust propagation distance from the active user as the predicted rating, and FAW weights recommendations in FA. The simulation results show that the proposed method can greatly reduce the rating prediction calculation, while the rating prediction losses are reasonable.
Telomere length analysis in monoclonal B-cell lymphocytosis and chronic lymphocytic leukemia Binet A

Monoclonal B-cell lymphocytosis (MBL) is an asymptomatic clinical entity characterized by the proliferation of monoclonal B cells not meeting the diagnosis criteria for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). MBL may precede the development of CLL, but the molecular mechanisms responsible for disease progression and evolution are not completely known. Telomeres are usually short in CLL and their attrition may contribute to disease evolution. Here, we determined the telomere lengths of CD5+CD19+ cells in MBL, CLL, and healthy volunteers. Twenty-one CLL patients, 11 subjects with high-count MBL, and 6 with low-count MBL were enrolled. Two hundred and sixty-one healthy volunteers aged 0 to 88 years were studied as controls. After diagnosis confirmation, a flow cytometry CD19+CD5+-based cell sorting was performed for the study groups. Telomere length was determined by qPCR. Telomere length was similar in the 3 study groups but shorter in these groups compared to normal age-matched subjects that had been enrolled in a previous study from our group. These findings suggest that telomere shortening is an early event in CLL leukemogenesis.
Pro-collagenase-1 (Matrix Metalloproteinase-1) Binds the α2β1 Integrin upon Release from Keratinocytes Migrating on Type I Collagen*

In injured skin, collagenase-1 (matrix metalloproteinase-1 (MMP-1)) is induced in migrating keratinocytes. This site-specific expression is regulated by binding of the α2β1 integrin with dermal type I collagen, and the catalytic activity of MMP-1 is required for keratinocyte migration. Because of this functional association among substrate/ligand, receptor, and proteinase, we assessed whether the integrin also directs the compartmentalization of MMP-1 to its matrix target. Indeed, pro-MMP-1 co-localized to sites of α2β1 contacts in migrating keratinocytes. Furthermore, pro-MMP-1 co-immunoprecipitated with α2β1 from keratinocytes, and α2β1 co-immunoprecipitated with pro-MMP-1. No other MMPs bound α2β1, and no other integrins interacted with MMP-1. Pro-MMP-1 also provided a substrate for α2β1-dependent adhesion of platelets. Complex formation on keratinocytes was most efficient on native type I collagen and reduced or ablated on denatured or cleaved collagen. Competition studies suggested that the α2 I domain interacts with the linker and hemopexin domains of pro-MMP-1, not with the pro-domain. These data indicate that the interaction of pro-MMP-1 with α2β1 confines this proteinase to points of cell contact with collagen and that the ternary complex of integrin, enzyme, and substrate function together to drive and regulate keratinocyte migration.