Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Survey of the fatty acid composition of Canadian beef: Backfat and longissimus lumborum muscle

A survey of Canadian retail beef was undertaken with emphasis on the trans fatty acid (TFA) and conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) isomers, and compared with current health recommendations. Thirty striploin steaks were collected in the winter and summer from major grocery stores in Calgary (Alberta, Canada). Steak fatty acid compositions (backfat and longissimus lumborum muscle analysed separately) showed minor seasonal differences with lower total saturates (P < 0.05) and higher total monounsaturates (P < 0.01) in winter, but no differences in total polyunsaturated fatty acids. The ratio of n-6 and n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid in longissimus lumborum averaged 5.8. The average TFA content in longissimus lumborum was 0.128 g 100 g-1 serving size, and 10t-18:1 was found to be the predominant isomer (32% of total trans), while vaccenic acid was second most abundant (15% of total trans). The CLA content in longissimus lumborum was similar to that of backfat, ranging from 0.43 to 0.60% and rumenic acid represent.
All-optical silicon simplified passive modulation

In this paper we present an all-optical silicon based modulator suggested also for high power operation and for pulse picker application being used as part of fiber lasers system. The paper theoretically and experimentally investigates several new and important insights involving the dependence of the relative transmission on the pump pulse energy for different finesse values of the constructed cavity as well as the dependence of the response rate of the device to the pump wavelength due to coexistence of two physical recombination processes: fast surface effect and slow bulk recombination. To adapt the constructed silicon based cavity to be used in lasers applications, we aligned the pump and the signal beams to co-propagate through the device while the usage of a cavity allowed a low power pump to yield a significant extinction ratio at the output of the device.
Developing Toward Generality : Overcoming Catastrophic Forgetting with Developmental Compression

General intelligence is the exhibition of intelligent behavior across multiple problems in a variety of settings, however intelligence is defined and measured. Endemic in approaches to realize such intelligence in machines is catastrophic forgetting, in which sequential learning corrupts knowledge obtained earlier in the sequence or in which tasks antagonistically compete for system resources. Methods for obviating catastrophic forgetting have either sought to identify and preserve features of the system necessary to solve one problem when learning to solve another, or enforce modularity such that minimally overlapping sub-functions contain task-specific knowledge. While successful in some domains, both approaches scale poorly because they require larger architectures as the number of training instances grows, causing different parts of the system to specialize for separate subsets of the data. Presented here is a method called developmental compression that addresses catastrophic forgetting in the neural networks of embodied agents. It exploits the mild impacts of developmental mutations to lessen adverse changes to previously evolved capabilities and ‘compresses’ specialized neural networks into a single generalized one. In the absence of domain knowledge, developmental compression produces systems that avoid overt specialization, alleviating the need to engineer a bespoke system for every task permutation, and does so in a way that suggests better scalability than existing approaches. This method is validated on a robot control problem and may be extended to other machine learning domains in the future.
Strategic Voting in Proportional Representation Systems

We propose a model of voter decision-making in proportional representation systems: ultra-rational strategic voters construct expectations of coalitions and policy outcomes based on expected seat distributions and vote to maximize their expected utility from the implemented policy. We examine the predictions of our model using data from the Netherlands and successfully predict the voting behavior of significant numbers of voters. Nevertheless, other factors matter more than our strategic prediction. Three main take-aways follow: (1) At least to some extent, voters seem to take complex coalition considerations into account. (2) There is a need for large-scale quantitative studies about voter decision-making in proportional representation systems. (3) Narrowly defined strategic voting might matter less in proportional representation systems than in plurality systems.
Anaplerosis in cancer: Another step beyond the warburg effect

Biosynthesis is up-regulated in tumors and thus the demand for anabolic intermediates is increased. The metabolic routes providing the building blocks for macromolecules are thus a very attractive target as they are not normally up-regulated in a normal quiescent cell. Some routes for glycolysis-derived intermediates production have been identified, but these do not constitute the whole pool of biosynthetic molecules in the cell, as many of these derive from mitochondria in the Krebs cycle. Indeed, this metabolic pathway is considered a “biosynthetic hub” from which anabolism is fed. If a metabolite efflux is indeed occurring, anaplerotic reactions must keep a steady supply of substrates. In spite of this obvious relevance of anaplerosis, it has been poorly characterized in the malignant cell context. Glutaminolysis and and pyruvate carboxylation are two pathways that function in an anaplerotic fashion. In spite of the increasing evidence implicating these two processes in cancer metabolism their role as intermediate providers is overlooked. In this review we analyze the implications of an active anaplerosis in cancer and we discuss experimental evidence showing the relevance of these metabolic routes in tumor physiology.
How we should measure "change": Or should we?

Procedures previously recommended by various authors for the estimation of "change" scores, "residual" or "basefree" measures of change, and other kinds of difference scores are examined. A procedure proposed by Lord is extended to obtain more precise estimates, and an alternative to the Tucker-Damarin-Messick procedure is offered. A consideration of the purposes for which change measures have been sought in the past leads to a series of recommended procedures which solve research and personnel-decision problems without estimation of change scores for individuals.
A Method for Training a Fuzzy Constraint Network

: The architectures and learning procedures underlying ANFIS (Adaptive Network-based Fuzzy Inference System) and M-ANFIS (Mamdani-ANFIS) were presented and successfully applied in many fields of science areas. Based on principles of ANFIS and M-ANFIS, with the learning procedures of these two architectures, we proposed the so-called C-ANFIS (Constraint-ANFIS), being useful for training a fuzzy constraint network.
Engaging the Disengaged via Performance in Online Virtual Worlds

In 2010 an estimated 3 billion hours were spent weekly playing online games. Only recently, however, have these environments been considered more than entertainment. After an initial failed approach following media exuberance of these environments as a panacea for marketing and alternative meeting and work space, companies, governments, universities, non-profit organizations, and marketers are beginning to re-explore the use of these games for social engagement as well as opportunities to engage workers, volunteers and consumers. As more is known about performance in these virtual spaces as experienced through immersion, interactivity and the sense of presence, these environments may indeed offer creative solutions to the challenges of shrinking budgets, displaced workers and socio-economic or cultural alienation. Using digital ethnography to understand the nature of 3-D game culture, this 2-year study explored the development of relationships and the strength of trust and reciprocity in Second Life, a 3-D online immersive social environment. This study supported previous findings of online trust as participants reported a willingness to trust their virtual counterparts equally (40%) or greater (32%) in the virtual world as they did in their real lives. This trust was often attributed to a sense of safety as a function of role play and anonymity in these environments. Implications of this research add to growing evidence of using virtual environments for business, education, and as viable cultures unique to the virtual world; where individuals from the edges who may feel marginalized and disengaged as a result of physical world barriers such as age, gender, race, or even extreme shyness may feel empowered to participate and collaborate in planning and problem resolution.
Review of Clinically Relevant Factors to Long-Term Survival After Colic Surgery

Practitioners and owners use available information on long-term survival data after colic surgery in the decision-making process when discussing treatment options for horses requiring exploratory celiotomy for acute abdominal diseases. Veterinarians involved in all aspects of managing horses with surgical colic can use the same survival data to provide a more accurate prognosis before and after surgery. Author’s address: University of Florida, College of Veterinary Medicine, PO Box 100136, Gainesville, FL 32610; e-mail: freemand@ufl.edu. © 2012 AAEP.
Structural Breaks and Cross-Continental Real Estate Securities Diversification: Evidence From Spanning Tests

Abstract This study uses mean-variance spanning tests to examine the role of Asian and European real estate securities in real estate-only portfolios from a U.S. investor’s perspective. The results show that including overseas real estate securities helps enhance the meanvariance efficient frontier only when the portfolio does not include direct real estate assets. Furthermore, the diversification benefit of investing in Asian real estate stocks appears only in the vintage REIT era; it disappears in the new REIT era and after the Asian financial crisis. Moreover, after stripped out the equity market influence from international real estate stocks, the results indicate that trading noise in the equity markets could cause real estate stocks to deviate from their real estate fundamentals and thus reduce the diversification benefits to U.S. real estate investors.
KOF Working Papers

We focus on the role that the transmission of information between a multilateral (the IMF) and a country has for the optimal design of conditional reforms. Our model predicts that when agency problems are especially severe, and/or IMF information is valuable, a centralized control is indeed optimal. To the contrary, when local knowledge is more important than the agency bias we expect delegation to dominate. Controlling for economic and political factors, our empirical tests show that the number of IMF conditions is lower in countries with a greater social complexity, while it increases with the bias of the countries’ authorities, openness, and transparency, consistently with the theory. ∗A preliminary verison of this paper was presented at the Workshop on Sovereign and Public Debt and Default (University of Warwick, 2008), ASSET meeting (EUI, 2008), Workshop on Political Economy (Silvaplana, 2008), Bank of Finland monthly research seminar (Helsinky, 2008), the Annual Meetings of the Political Economy of International Organizations (Ascona, 2008 and Geneva, 2009). We would like to thank Pascal Courty, Jakob de Haan, Francesco de Sinopoli, Federico Etro, Raquel Fernandez, Patrizio Tirelli, Julien Reynaud, Stephanie Rickard, Michele Santoni, Randall Stone, Tuomas Takalo, Otto Toivanen, Mark L.J. Wright for useful comments. Corresponding author: Silvia Marchesi, Dipartimento di Economia Politica, Piazza dell’Ateneo Nuovo 1, I-20126 Milano. Tel. +39 02 6448 3057; Fax. +39 02 6448 3085; E-mail: silvia.marchesi@unimib.it.
Gender Differences in PTSD: Susceptibility and Resilience

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is anxiety disorder that has been estimated to affect individuals who are exposed to traumatic events. Women are diagnosed with PTSD approximately twice as often as men. In this review, we outline the evidence of gender differences related to PTSD, and the factors of resilience and susceptibility differ between men and women.
Accounting for Chinas Growth

China has achieved impressive growth over the last three decades. However, there has been debate over the sources of the growth, and the role of the intensive versus extensive margin. Growth accounting exercises at the aggregate level (Rawski and Perkins, 2008; Bosworth and Collins, 2008) suggest an equal role for both. For the non-agricultural sector, there have been doubts about the contribution of TFP improvements to growth. For the period between 1978 and 1998, Young (2003) stresses the role of labor deepening, including the reallocation from agriculture, while more recent analysis points to the role of rising rates of investment. Because labor reallocation across sectors, TFP growth at the sector level and investment are all inter-related, simple growth decompositions that are often used in the literature are not appropriate for quantifying their contributions to growth. In this paper, we develop a three-sector dynamic model to quantify the sources of Chinas growth. The sectors include agriculture, and within non-agriculture, the state and non-state components. We nd only a modest role for labor reallocation from agriculture and capital deepening, and identify rising TFP in the non-state non-agricultural sector as the key driver of growth. We also nd signi cant misallocation of capital: The less e¢ cient state sector continues to absorb more than half of all xed investment. If capital had been allocated e¢ ciently, China could have achieved the same growth performance without any increase in the rate of aggregate investment. This has important implications for China as it tries to re-balance its growth. Finally, in light of important concerns over data, we examine the robustness of our key results to alternative data sets.
Increasing Video Saliency Model Generalizability by Training for Smooth Pursuit Prediction

Saliency prediction even for videos is traditionally associated with fixation prediction. Unlike images, however, videos also induce smooth pursuit eye movements, for example when a salient object is moving and is tracked across the video surface. Nevertheless, current saliency data sets and models mostly ignore pursuit, either by combining it with fixations, or discarding the respective samples. In this work, we utilize a state-of-the-art smooth pursuit detector and a Slicing Convolutional Neural Network (S-CNN) to train two saliency models, one targeting fixation prediction and the other targeting smooth pursuit. We hypothesize that pursuit-salient video parts would generalize better, since the motion patterns should be relatively similar across data sets. To test this, we consider an independent video saliency data set, where no pursuit-fixation differentiation is performed. In our experiments, the pursuit-targeting model outperforms several state-of-the-art saliency algorithms on both the test part of our main data set and the additionally considered data set.
Application of Long-Acting β2-Agonists in the Treatment of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease in Patients with Concomitant Ischemic Heart Disease

The aim of the investigation was to study clinical efficacy and cardio safety of long-acting β2-agonist indacaterol in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) I–II grade in the stage of moderate exacerbation with concomitant ischemic heart disease. Material and Methods. Twenty patients (10 men and 10 women) with COPD and associated ischemic heart disease aged from 46 to 66 years (average age 57.2±7.9 years) have been examined. All patients received 150 μg/day of β2-agonist indacaterol for the treatment COPD during the entire period of observation. Prior to and 3 weeks after the treatment, a complex examination was carried out, including external respiratory function examination 6-minute walk test, and daily ECG monitoring. Results. By week 3 all patients noted decrease of the main respiratory symptoms. Forced expiratory volume in 1 s before the treatment was 57.64±9.67%, after it reached 64.72±5.45%. Physical load tolerance increased, which is confirmed by 6-minute walk test (initially 345.4±59.2 m, after the treatment 412.8±11.1 m). The results of repeated daily ECG monitoring (at week 3) did not show any new cases of arrhythmia or aggravation of myocardium ischemia. Conclusion. 150 μg/day of indacaterol in patients with I–II grade COPD in the stage of moderate exacerbation with concomitant cardiovascular pathology does not affect cardio safety.
Comparison of differential leukocyte counts in fish of economic and indicator importance

Modra. H . Z. Svobodova. 1. Kolafova: Comparison of Differential Leukocyte Counts in Fish of Economic and Indicator Importance. Acta vet. Bmo 1998. 67: 215-226. The aim of this study was to determine the percentage of indi vidual types of leukocytes in fish of economic (carp - C)prinus carpio L. tench - Tinca tinca L. European catfish - Silurus glanis L. rainbow trout - Oncorhynchus mykiss Walb . ) and indicator importance (bream - Abramis brama L. perch - Percajhn'iatilis L. chub - Leuciscus cephalus L. brown trout - Salmo IrLllla m.fario L.). In all. we examined 191 fish specimens caught in non-contaminated or insignificantly contaminated localities in good state of health during the vegetation season and not within the season of their reproduction. Leukocytes stained according to Giemsa were classified as: lymphocytes. monocytes. myelocytes. metamyelocytes. neutrophilic granulocytes with band and segmented nuclei. eosinophils and basophils. Blood of all the fish species examined was oflymphocytic character. The mean percentage of individual lymphocytes varied from 84.2 ± 5.08 to 99.1 ± 0.99'k. The lowest percentage oflymphocytes was found in the rainbow and brown trout (84.2 ± 5.08 and 87.3 ± 7.21 %. respectively). while the highest values were in the perch (99.1 ± 0.99 and 97.5 ± 3.19'k). Monocytes were sporadic in all the fish species; with the highest mean value found in the female spawner European catfish (1.42 ± 1.74'k. The highest percentage of granulocytic series cells was found in rainbow (15.4 ± 7 .80'k) and brown trout (11.6 ± 7.23%): whereas the lowest values in the perch (0.8 ± 1.01 and 2.4 ± 3.15%). As far as the granulocytic series cells are concerned. metamyelocytes were most common with regards to their percentage in all the fish species excepting salmonids. There were prevailing band and segmented neutrophils in the rainbow and brown trout. Granulocytes were mostly represented by neutrophils in all the fish species studied. Eosinophilic granulocytes were found sporadically in the tench (0.17 ± 0.59%) and in 3-year old carp (0.10 ± 0.19%). Basophilic granulocytes were not found in any of the fish species examined. We found practically equal percentage of indi vidual types of leukocytes in the carp. bream and perch of various age categories caught under the same conditions and in the same season of the year. There were no significant differences in the percentage of individual leukocytes in male and female spawners of 3-year-old carp. 3-year-old tench. and 2- to 3-year-old brown trout. Our results contribute to the use and help in introducing the examination of differential leukocyte counts as a biological monitoring method to evaluate surface water contamination.
The Impact of ECB Monetary Policy Decisions and Communication on the Yield Curve

We use intraday changes in money market rates to construct indicators of news about monetary policy stemming separately from policy decisions and from official communication of the ECB, and study their impact on the yield curve. We show that communication may lead to substantial revisions in expectations of monetary policy and, at the same time, exert a significant impact on interest rates at longer maturities. Thereby, the maturity response pattern to communication is hump-shaped, while that to policy decisions is downward sloping.
Clarification of Factor Five with the help of the AB5C Model

The Abridged Big Five‐Dimensional Circumplex (AB5C) Model of Hofstee, De Raad and Goldberg (1992) represents trait terms as blends of factors. Analyses suggest that different scales for measuring Factor V (Mentality) may reflect blends of this factor with either Factor 111 (Constraint) or Factor I (Extraversion/Surgency). Measures saturated primarily by Factor V alone (V+V+ in the AB5C terms of Hofstee et al.) represent Creative Mentality. Measures that blend Factor V with the positive pole of Factor III represent Constrained Mentality (V+III+ ), with the negative pole, Unconstrained Mentality (V+III–). Measures that blend Factors V and I represent Surgent Mentality (V+I+). While all of these variants are perfectly valid forms of Factor V, Creative Mentality seems to be the central core of Factor V and is represented by the Openness to Ideas and Openness to Aesthetics Scales of Costa and McCrae (1992) and by the Generates Ideas and Culture Scales of Hogan and Hogan (1992).
Retrieval of snowflake microphysical properties from multifrequency radar observations

Abstract. We have developed an algorithm that retrieves the size, number concentration and density of falling snow from multifrequency radar observations. This work builds on previous studies that have indicated that three-frequency radars can provide information on snow density, potentially improving the accuracy of snow parameter estimates. The algorithm is based on a Bayesian framework, using lookup tables mapping the measurement space to the state space, which allows fast and robust retrieval. In the forward model, we calculate the radar reflectivities using recently published snow scattering databases. We demonstrate the algorithm using multifrequency airborne radar observations from the OLYMPEX–RADEX field campaign, comparing the retrieval results to hydrometeor identification using ground-based polarimetric radar and also to collocated in situ observations made using another aircraft. Using these data, we examine how the availability of multiple frequencies affects the retrieval accuracy, and we test the sensitivity of the algorithm to the prior assumptions. The results suggest that multifrequency radars are substantially better than single-frequency radars at retrieving snow microphysical properties. Meanwhile, triple-frequency radars can retrieve wider ranges of snow density than dual-frequency radars and better locate regions of high-density snow such as graupel, although these benefits are relatively modest compared to the difference in retrieval performance between dual- and single-frequency radars. We also examine the sensitivity of the retrieval results to the fixed a priori assumptions in the algorithm, showing that the multifrequency method can reliably retrieve snowflake size, while the retrieved number concentration and density are affected significantly by the assumptions.