Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Can the Consumption-Free Nonexpected Utility Model Solve the Risk Premium Puzzle? An Empirical Study of the Japanese Stock Market

This paper investigates whether the consumption-free two-beta intertemporal capital asset-pricing model developed by Campbell and Vuolteenaho (2004) is able to solve the risk premium puzzle in the Japanese stock market over the period 1984-2002. Using the cash flow and discount rate betas as risk factors, the model is able to explain about half of the market returns by selection of suitabe vector autoregression variables. On this basis, the model proposed solves the risk premium puzzle in Japan, thereby suggesting that Japanese investors are less risk averse than US investors. However, a model including only the cash flow beta better explains returns than a model with both betas. The analysis also tests and rejects the simple capital asset-pricing model in Japan.
FTIR reveals structural differences between native β‐sheet proteins and amyloid fibrils

The presence of β‐sheets in the core of amyloid fibrils raised questions as to whether or not β‐sheet‐containing proteins, such as transthyretin, are predisposed to form such fibrils. However, we show here that the molecular structure of amyloid fibrils differs more generally from the β‐sheets in native proteins. This difference is evident from the amide I region of the infrared spectrum and relates to the distribution of the ϕ/ψ dihedral angles within the Ramachandran plot, the average number of strands per sheet, and possibly, the β‐sheet twist. These data imply that amyloid fibril formation from native β‐sheet proteins can involve a substantial structural reorganization.
Expression of the adhesion molecules CD49d and CD49e on G-CSF-mobilized CD34+ cells of patients with solid tumors or non-Hodgkin's and Hodgkin's lymphoma and of healthy donors is inversely correlated with the amount of mobilized CD34+ cells.

The yield of CD34+ PBPC and colony-forming units-granulocyte-macrophage (CFU-GM) in leukapheresis products and the expression of the adhesion molecules CD11a, CD31, CD49d, CD49e, CD54, CD58, CD62L, c-kit (CD117), Thy-1 (CD90), CD33, CD38, and HLA-DR on CD34+ PBPC were analyzed in patients with cancer of the testis (n = 10), breast cancer (n = 10), Hodgkin's disease (n = 20), high-grade (n = 20) and low-grade (n = 20) non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, and healthy donors (n = 20) undergoing G-CSF (filgrastim)-stimulated PBPC mobilization. For each disease entity, G-CSF was administered in two different doses, 10 microg G-CSF/kg body weight (BW)/day s.c. vs. 24 microg G-CSF/kg BW s.c. /day in steady-state condition. Data were compared for each dose group separately. Patients with cancer of the testis and breast cancer mobilized significantly more CD34+ cells than patients with high-grade and low-grade non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and Hodgkin's disease (p<0.05). Correspondingly, expression of CD49d on CD34+ PBPC was significantly lower in the same patients with cancer of the testis compared with high-grade and low-grade non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and Hodgkins' disease and in patients with breast cancer compared with high-grade and low-grade non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, Hodgkins's disease, and healthy donors. Similar results were obtained for CD49e. These data suggest that the expression of the adhesion molecules CD49d and CD49e on G-CSF-mobilized CD34+ cells of patients with solid tumors, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease, and healthy donors is inversely correlated with the amount of mobilized CD34+ cells.
Metabolic Dysregulation and Adipose Tissue Fibrosis: Role of Collagen VI

ABSTRACT Adipocytes are embedded in a unique extracellular matrix whose main function is to provide mechanical support, in addition to participating in a variety of signaling events. During adipose tissue expansion, the extracellular matrix requires remodeling to accommodate adipocyte growth. Here, we demonstrate a general upregulation of several extracellular matrix components in adipose tissue in the diabetic state, therefore implicating “adipose tissue fibrosis” as a hallmark of metabolically challenged adipocytes. Collagen VI is a highly enriched extracellular matrix component of adipose tissue. The absence of collagen VI results in the uninhibited expansion of individual adipocytes and is paradoxically associated with substantial improvements in whole-body energy homeostasis, both with high-fat diet exposure and in the ob/ob background. Collectively, our data suggest that weakening the extracellular scaffold of adipocytes enables their stress-free expansion during states of positive energy balance, which is consequently associated with an improved inflammatory profile. Therefore, the disproportionate accumulation of extracellular matrix components in adipose tissue may not be merely an epiphenomenon of metabolically challenging conditions but may also directly contribute to a failure to expand adipose tissue mass during states of excess caloric intake.
Kernel-Based Domain-Invariant Feature Selection in Hyperspectral Images for Transfer Learning

This paper presents a kernel-based feature selection method for the classification of hyperspectral images. The proposed method aims at selecting a subset of the original features that are both 1) relevant (discriminant) for the considered classification problem, i.e., preserve the functional relationship between input and output variables, and 2) invariant (stable) across different domains, i.e., minimize the data-set shift between the source and the target domains. Domains can be associated with hyperspectral images collected either on different geographical areas or on the same area at different times. We propose a novel measure of data-set shift for evaluating the domain stability, which computes the distance of the conditional distributions between the source and target domains in a reproducing kernel Hilbert space. Such a measure is defined on the basis of the kernel embeddings of the conditional distributions resulting in a nonparametric approach that does not require estimating the distribution of the classes. The adopted search strategy is based on a multiobjective optimization algorithm, which optimizes the two terms of the criterion function for the estimation of the Pareto-optimal solutions. This results in an effective approach of performing feature selection in a transfer learning setting. The experimental results obtained on two hyperspectral images show the effectiveness of the proposed method in selecting features with high generalization capabilities.
Evaluation of Oxford Nanopore MinIONTM Sequencing for 16S rRNA Microbiome Characterization

In this manuscript we evaluate the potential for microbiome characterization by sequencing of near-full length 16S rRNA gene region fragments using the Oxford Nanopore MinION (hereafter ‘Nanopore’) sequencing platform. We analyzed pure-culture E. coli and P. fluorescens, as well as a low-diversity mixed community sample from hydraulic fracturing produced water. Both closed and open reference operational taxonomic unit (OTU) picking failed, necessitating the direct use of sequences without OTU picking. The Ribosomal Database Project classifier against the Green Genes database was found to be the optimal annotation approach, with average pure-culture annotation accuracies of 93.8% and 82.0% at the phyla and genus levels, respectively. Comparative analysis of an environmental sample using Nanopore and Illumina MiSeq sequencing identified high taxonomic similarity when using a weighted metric (Bray-Curtis), and significantly reduced similarity when using an unweighted metric (Jaccard). These results highlight the great potential of Nanopore sequencing to analyze broad microbial community trends, and the challenge of applying Nanopore sequencing to discern rare taxa in mixed microbial communities. Finally, we observed that between-run carryover following washes on the same flowcell accounted for >10% of sequence reads, necessitating future development to either prevent carryover or filter sequences of interest (e.g. barcoding).
Training in geriatric mental health: two innovative outpatient training sites.

The author briefly reviews previous research on educational programs which have been effective in improving students' attitudes toward mentally ill elderly, then describes two model outpatient programs which have been successfully used as training sites. Geriatric and Family Services is a University based, family oriented clinic specializing in the diagnosis and management of Alzheimer's Disease. The other program described in the paper is the Geriatric Evaluation Team, a community based crisis intervention outreach service. Current training activities must be greatly expanded if the needs of mentally ill elderly are to be met adequately.
Lateral Asymmetry and Tactile Sensitivity

Weinstein found in 1963 that the left female breast is more sensitive to tactile stimulation than the right breast. Saling and Cooke in 1984 hypothesized that this asymmetry in breast sensitivity underlies the well-documented leftward bias in maternal cradling behaviour, which is independent of manual specialization. Our interest in the Saling and Cooke hypothesis led to an attempt to replicate Weinstein's 1963 study. His findings were not supported. Further, a review of the literature on the lateral distribution of cutaneous thresholds showed that there is little experimental support for the widely held belief that the left side of the body is uniformly more sensitive than the right.
Stationary Visual Texture and the Estimation of Slant Angle

Gibson (1950a) has suggested that a gradient of retinal stimulation from an irregularly textured surface is used in the estimation of slant. There are several measures that could form such a gradient. Eight pictures of slanting surfaces were constructed with the aid of a computer. These consisted only of texture elements: in this case, outline circles and ellipses. Subjects studied pairs of pictures and indicated which had the greater tilt. By varying separately the gradients of element size and element density, it was possible to show that only the former contributed appreciably to the impression of slant. Only some of the measures considered are consistent with this result.
The Ego and Motility in Sleepwalking

Reconsideration of sleepwalking from the viewpoint of developmental and ego psychology may be of interest both clinically and theoretically. Sleepwalking, still a dramatic and rather puzzling symptom, is also a phenomenon related to the problem of consciousness. The author was fortunate in being able to study seven cases of somnambulism. One was an adult woman referred for somnambulism. She was analyzed and studied over a period of more than five years. Six additional cases in children treated in outpatient clinics also were studied. ’ Early studies of sleepwalking had emphasized the relationship to hysteria and hypnotic phenomena. However, the role of the ego in dreams and sleep has been emphasized by French (4) and others. That ego development, self-assertion, and aggression are intimately connected with skilled motor activity such as locomotion and manipulation has been discussed by Hartmann, Kris, and Loewenstein (S) and more recently by Riittelmann (15). In the five recent conferences on problems of consciousness sponsored by the Josiah hIacy Jr., Foundation, sleeprvalking was touched on only incidentally by Rapaport (16) and Kleitman (12). Rapaport, in a discussion of a case of hysterical amnesia drew comparisons between sleepivalking, amnesia and fugue states. TVhat they have in common is that unconscious wishes are acted out rather than expressed in symbolic form as in dreams. Earlier workers, Ferenczi (3), Coriat (2), and Sadger (17), had also done this. Kleitman, who as a physiologist has for many years concerned himself with the problem of sleep, pointed out that in somnambulism and in other states of altered consciousness many “side branchings” occur, as
Mental Health Status of Home Care Elderly in Michigan

This study describes the mental health status of community-living frail elders in Michigan and identifies subgroups who are vulnerable to mental health problems. We analyzed the baseline assessment data collected from older adults admitted to two community-based longterm care programs in Michigan (N = 18,939). Results show that 40.5% of the sample have recognized mental disorders, 39.6% use psychotropic medications, 24.5% have probable depression, and 1.4% have self-injury thoughts or attempts. Frail elders who are white, younger, and female--as well as those who experience more pain, disease burden, cognitive impairment and IADL limitations--are more prone to psychological distress. Mental health care is greatly needed by community-living frail elders.
Implementation of a Switched Capacitor Control Scheme using User-Defined Dynamic Load Models

The use of switched capacitor banks is very important in distribution and transmission systems for power factor and voltage regulation applications. This white paper discusses the implementation of a voltage control switch capacitor scheme by means of the user-defined dynamic modeling (UDM) tools in ETAP. The paper focuses on the controller model and its definite or inverse-time characteristic operational delays and time constants. The paper also discusses the control set points and the progressive capacitor switching implementation.
Analysis of the Diffuse Domain Approach for a Bulk-Surface Coupled PDE System

We analyze a diffuse interface type approximation, known as the diffuse domain approach, of a linear coupled bulk-surface elliptic PDE system. The well-posedness of the diffuse domain approximation is shown using weighted Sobolev spaces and we prove that the solution to the diffuse domain approximation converges weakly to the solution of the coupled bulk-surface elliptic system as the approximation parameter tends to zero. Moreover, we can show strong convergence for the bulk quantity, while for the surface quantity, we can show norm convergence and strong convergence in a weighted Sobolev space.
Single crystalline and core–shell indium-catalyzed germanium nanowires—a systematic thermal CVD growth study

Germanium nanowires were synthesized using thermal chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and indium as a catalyst. The process parameter space for successful growth was studied. By optimizing the growth temperature and gas pressure, high aspect ratio germanium nanowires have been obtained. Scanning electron microscopy investigations indicate that the final diameter of the nanowires is strongly influenced by the growth temperature and the germane partial pressure. High resolution transmission electron microscopy reveals that nanowires grow either as high quality single crystalline, or with a high quality single-crystalline core and a concentric amorphous shell. The occurrence of these two morphologies is found to only depend on the wire diameter. Chemical analysis of the nanowire tip indicates the presence of indium, validating its role as a catalyst. Raman spectroscopy measurements reveal a higher incidence of core–shell structures for nanowires synthesized at 30 Torr and indicate the presence of tensile strain. These results are important towards obtaining high quality germanium nanowires without the use of gold as a catalyst, which is known to degrade the wires’ electrical and optical properties.
Sequential Sentinel SNP Regional Association Plots (SSS‐RAP): An Approach for Testing Independence of SNP Association Signals Using Meta‐Analysis Data

Genome‐Wide Association Studies (GWAS) frequently incorporate meta‐analysis within their framework. However, conditional analysis of individual‐level data, which is an established approach for fine mapping of causal sites, is often precluded where only group‐level summary data are available for analysis. Here, we present a numerical and graphical approach, “sequential sentinel SNP regional association plot” (SSS‐RAP), which estimates regression coefficients (beta) with their standard errors using the meta‐analysis summary results directly. Under an additive model, typical for genes with small effect, the effect for a sentinel SNP can be transformed to the predicted effect for a possibly dependent SNP through a 2×2 2‐SNP haplotypes table. The approach assumes Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium for test SNPs. SSS‐RAP is available as a Web‐tool (http://apps.biocompute.org.uk/sssrap/sssrap.cgi). To develop and illustrate SSS‐RAP we analyzed lipid and ECG traits data from the British Women's Heart and Health Study (BWHHS), evaluated a meta‐analysis for ECG trait and presented several simulations. We compared results with existing approaches such as model selection methods and conditional analysis. Generally findings were consistent. SSS‐RAP represents a tool for testing independence of SNP association signals using meta‐analysis data, and is also a convenient approach based on biological principles for fine mapping in group level summary data.
A hybrid model of VSM and LDA for text clusteing

In today's era, the number of today's web text is exploding. The analysis of the text is still a hot topic. The traditional VSM model in the weight statistics and similarity calculation, due to the data latitude is too high, lack of understanding and other issues, will lead to the final clustering inaccurate. In view of this, this paper presents a hybrid model of VSM and LDA for text clustering. Through the collection of text, filtering, application of statistical methods we calculated VSM model and LDA model similarity respectively. The two similarity models are combined by linear addition method, and the mixed similarity is obtained. Then through the K-means algorithm for text clustering and the three models of clustering results we can get the visual effect of clustering. Finally we can judge the merits of the model. The experimental results show that this hybrid model is effective.
Estimating cell death in G2M using bivariate BrdUrd/DNA flow cytometry

In an accompanying paper (Asmuth et al.) it was found necessary to include cell death explicitly to estimate parameters of cell proliferation. The use of bivariate flow cytometry to estimate the phase durations and the doubling times of cells labeled with thymidine analogues is well established. However, these methods of analysis do not consider the possibility of cell death. This report demonstrates that estimating cell death in G2/M is possible.
A case‐control study of prostatic cancer in Kyoto, Japan: Sexual risk factors

A case‐control study on prostatic cancer was conducted in Kyoto, Japan, from 1981–1984, including 100 patients with prostatic cancer (PC) and age, hospital, and date‐of‐admission matched controls of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) patients and general hospital patients. Analysis of several sexual factors obtained through a self‐administered questionnaire revealed the following observations: (1) cancer patients had fewer sex partners before marriage (relative risk, RR = 0.35; 95% confidence interval: 0.13–0.93 than the hospital controls; (2) they had more vigorous sexual activities in the third (RR = 2.89: 1.01–8.28 and fourth decades of life (RR = 2.26: 1.03–4.95) than hospital controls, but no significantly different sexual activities from controls in other decades; (3) they had less frequent orgasms (RR = 2.55; 1.11–5.83) than BPH controls or (RR = 4.96: 1.78–13.9) hospital controls, and sexual intercourse appeared to be less satisfactory (RR = 2.08: 1.05–4.13) than that of hospital controls; and (4) they had less frequent episodes of sexually transmitted diseases (RR = 0.36: 0.16–0.83) than BPH controls. Marital status, fertility, ejaculation, masturbation, nocturnal emission, contraceptive use, and wife's episodes of sexually transmitted disease were not linked to prostatic cancer risk.
Optimally maintaining a multi-state system with limited imperfect preventive repairs

In this paper, the optimal maintenance policy for a multi-state system with no observation is considered. Different from most existing works, only a limited number of imperfect preventive maintenance actions can be performed between two successive replacements. Assume that the system's deterioration state cannot be observed during its operation expected after each replacement, and it evolves as a discrete-time Markov chain with a finite state space. After choosing the information state as state variable, the problem is then formulated as a Markov decision process over the infinite time horizon. In order to increase the computational efficiency, several key structural properties are developed by minimising the total expected cost per unit time. The existence of the optimal threshold-type maintenance policy is proved and the monotonicity of the threshold is obtained. Finally, a numerical example is given to illustrate the optimal policy.
Establishment of a Paclitaxel Resistant Human Breast Cancer Cell Strain (MCF-7/Taxol) and Intracellular Paclitaxel Binding Protein Analysis

Multidrug resistance of tumours is one of the most important factors that leads to chemotherapy failure. A multidrug-resistant breast cancer cell line, MCF-7/Taxol, was established from the drug-sensitive parent cell line MCF-7. The biological properties of MCF-7/Taxol, including its drug resistance profile and profile of paclitaxel binding proteins, were analysed and compared with the parent cell line. A number of paclitaxel binding proteins were present in MCF-7 cells but absent from MCF-7/Taxol cells, namely heat shock protein 90, actinin and dermcidin precursor. The identification of differential paclitaxel binding proteins between the multidrug-resistant MCF-7/Taxol cell line and the parent drug-sensitive cell line MCF-7 provides insight into possible mechanisms involved in resistance to these chemotherapy drugs.
The dynamics of trickle infections with Ancylostoma ceylanicum in inbred hamsters

SUMMARY Trickle infections with a hamster-adapted strain of the hookworm Ancylostoma ceylanicum were studied by administering doses of 5–30 larvae twice weekly to inbred DSN hamsters. The worm burdens were regulated at very low levels, and this was found to be independent of the size of the infective dose. It is likely that there is some turnover of adult worms during trickle infection, as larvae of all stages were recovered from most time-points. This regulation is immunologically mediated and both the worm burdens and fecundity were increased in hamsters that were immunosuppressed by cortisone treatment. A trickle infection regime also induced a 67% protective immunity to a single subsequent challenge. The resistance that occurred during trickle infections was, however, incomplete, and some worms were found to survive in hamsters that had been repeatedly infected for over 10 weeks. Thus, although hamsters are capable of regulating the infection, some worms are capable of surviving the host immune effectors.