Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Bayesian optimization of ESG (Environmental Social Governance) financial investments

Financial experts seek to predict the variability of financial markets to ensure investors’ successful investments. However, there has been a big trend in finance in the last few years, which are the ESG (Economic, Social and Governance) criteria, due to the growing importance of investments being socially responsible, and because of the financial impact companies suffer when not complying with them. Consequently, creating a stock portfolio should consider not only its financial performance but compliance with ESG criteria. Portfolio optimization (PO) techniques previously applied to ESG portfolios, are all closed-form analytical ones. But the real world is rather a black box with unknown analytical expressions. Thus, in this paper we use Bayesian optimization (BO), a sequential state-of-the-art design strategy to optimize black-boxes with unknown analytical and costly-to-compute expressions, to maximize the performance of a stock portfolio under the presence of ESG criteria soft constraints incorporated into the objective function. And we compare it to two other black-box techniques widely applied for the optimization of ‘conventional portfolios’ (non-ESG ones): the metaheuristics Genetic algorithm (GA) and Simulated Annealing (SA). Although BO has many theoretical advantages over GA and SA, it has never been applied to PO. Thus, this paper investigates whether BO can be used in the ESG PO framework as an alternative and compares it with GA and SA. This is the research gap to which this paper responds. To show the empirical performance of BO, we carry out four illustrative experiments and find evidence of BO outperforming the baselines. Thus we add another different optimization approach to the world of ESG investing: a black-box non-heuristic optimization approach through BO. Our study is the first paper that leverages BO and ESG scores into a PO technique. This paper opens the door to many new research lines in (ESG) portfolio optimization.
Microporous/Macroporous Polycaprolactone Scaffolds for Dental Applications

This study leverages the advantages of two fabrication techniques, namely, melt-extrusion-based 3D printing and porogen leaching, to develop multiphasic scaffolds with controllable properties essential for scaffold-guided dental tissue regeneration. Polycaprolactone–salt composites are 3D-printed and salt microparticles within the scaffold struts are leached out, revealing a network of microporosity. Extensive characterization confirms that multiscale scaffolds are highly tuneable in terms of their mechanical properties, degradation kinetics, and surface morphology. It can be seen that the surface roughness of the polycaprolactone scaffolds (9.41 ± 3.01 µm) increases with porogen leaching and the use of larger porogens lead to higher roughness values, reaching 28.75 ± 7.48 µm. Multiscale scaffolds exhibit improved attachment and proliferation of 3T3 fibroblast cells as well as extracellular matrix production, compared with their single-scale counterparts (an approximate 1.5- to 2-fold increase in cellular viability and metabolic activity), suggesting that these structures could potentially lead to improved tissue regeneration due to their favourable and reproducible surface morphology. Finally, various scaffolds designed as a drug delivery device were explored by loading them with the antibiotic drug cefazolin. These studies show that by using a multiphasic scaffold design, a sustained drug release profile can be achieved. The combined results strongly support the further development of these scaffolds for dental tissue regeneration applications.
Case Studies of African Wave Disturbances in Gridded Analyses

Abstract African wave disturbances (AWDs), an important trigger of Sahel summer rainfall, are studied using ECMWF gridded datasets for July and August 1987 and 1988. Power spectra of time series of 700-mb meridional winds near Niamey taken from analyses at both 2° × 2.5° and 4° × 5° horizontal resolution are compared to spectra based on Niamey station data. In addition, spatial distributions of meteorological fields at both resolutions are discussed for three case studies, including the synoptic features of several AWDs. Additional examples are presented from GCM simulations at comparable horizontal resolutions. While vertical motion and divergence centers were more extreme at 2° × 2.5°, many of the deduced characteristics of an AWD were similar at both resolutions. The higher-resolution analyses and simulation show a sharp transition across wave troughs between lower-tropospheric convergence (uplift) on the west and divergence (subsidence) on the east for several AWDs. For the two more southerly AWDs ana.
Mathematical modeling on helper T cells in a tumor immune system

Activation of CD$8^+$ cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) is naturally regarded as a major antitumor mechanism of the immune system. In contrast, CD$4^+$ T cells are commonly classified as helper T cells (HTCs) on the basis of their roles in providing help to the generation and maintenance of effective CD$8^+$ cytotoxic and memory T cells. In order to get a better insight on the role of HTCs in a tumor immune system, we incorporate the third population of HTCs into a previous two dimensional ordinary differential equations (ODEs) model. Further we introduce the adoptive cellular immunotherapy (ACI) as the treatment to boost the immune system to fight against tumors. Compared tumor cells (TCs) and effector cells (ECs), the recruitment of HTCs changes the dynamics of the system substantially, by the effects through particular parameters, i.e., the activation rate of ECs by HTCs, $p$ (scaled as $\rho$), and the HTCs stimulation rate by the presence of identified tumor antigens, $k_2$ (scaled as $\omega_2$). We describe the stability regions of the interior equilibria $E^*$ (no treatment case) and $E^+$ (treatment case) in the scaled $(\rho,\omega_2)$ parameter space respectively. Both $\rho$ and $\omega_2$ can destabilize $E^*$ and $E^+$ and cause Hopf bifurcations. Our results show that HTCs might play a crucial role in the long term periodic oscillation behaviors of tumor immune system interactions. They also show that TCs may be eradicated from the patient's body under the ACI treatment.
Systemic Analyses of Cuproptosis-Related lncRNAs in Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma, with a Focus on the Molecular Mechanism of LINC00853

Pancreatic cancer (PC) is a deadly malignant digestive tumor with poor prognoses and a lack of effective treatment options. Cuproptosis, a recently identified copper-dependent programmed cell death type, has been implicated in multiple cancers. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are also linked to the progression of PC. However, the role and prognostic values of cuproptosis-related lncRNAs in pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PAAD) remain unclear. In this study, we systemically analyzed the differential expressions and prognostic values of 672 cuproptosis-related lncRNAs in PAAD. Based on this, a prognostic signature including four lncRNAs (LINC00853, AC099850.3, AC010719.1, and AC006504.7) was constructed and was able to divide PAAD patients into high- and low-risk groups with significantly different prognoses. Next, we focused on lncRNA LINC00853. The differential expressions of LINC00853 between normal tissue and PAAD samples were validated by qRT-PCR. LINC00853 was knocked down by siRNA in PC cell lines BxPC-3 and PANC-1 and the oncogenic role of LINC00853 was validated by CCK8, colony formation, and EdU assays. Subsequently, LINC00853 knockdown cells were subjected to tumor xenograft tests and exhibited decreased tumor growth in nude mice. Mechanistically, knockdown of LINC00853 significantly reduced cellular glycolysis and enhanced cellular mitochondrial respiration levels in PC cells. Moreover, knockdown of LINC00853 decreased the protein level of a glycolytic kinase PFKFB3. Finally, glycolysis tests and functional tests using LINC00853 and HA-PFKFB3 indicated that the effects of LINC00853 on glycolysis and cell proliferation were mediated by PFKFB3. In conclusion, our systemic analyses have highlighted the important roles of cuproptosis-related lncRNAs in PAAD while the prognostic signature based on them showed excellent performance in PAAD patients and is expected to provide clinical guidance for individualized treatment. In addition, our findings provide a novel mechanism by which the LINC00853-PFKFB3 axis critically regulates aerobic glycolysis and cell proliferation in PC cells.
Differential prognostic utility of adiposity measures in chronic kidney disease.

OBJECTIVE Adipose tissue contributes to adverse outcomes in chronic kidney disease (CKD), but there is uncertainty regarding the prognostic relevance of different adiposity measures. We analyzed the associations of neck circumference (NC), waist circumference (WC), and body mass index (BMI) with clinical outcomes in patients with mild to severe CKD. METHODS The German Chronic Kidney Disease (GCKD) study is a prospective cohort study, which enrolled Caucasian adults with mild to severe CKD, defined as estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR): 30-60 mL/min/1.73 m2, or >60 mL/min/1.73 m2 in the presence of overt proteinuria. Associations of NC, WC and BMI with all-cause death, major cardiovascular events (MACE: a composite of non-fatal stroke, non-fatal myocardial infarction, peripheral artery disease intervention, and cardiovascular death), kidney failure (a composite of dialysis or transplantation) were analyzed using multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression models adjusted for confounders and the Akaike information criteria (AIC) were calculated. Models included sex interactions with adiposity measures. RESULTS A total of 4537 participants (59% male) were included in the analysis. During a 6.5-year follow-up, 339 participants died, 510 experienced MACE, and 341 developed kidney failure. In fully adjusted models, NC was associated with all-cause death in women (HR 1.080 per cm; 95% CI 1.009-1.155), but not in men. Irrespective of sex, WC was associated with all-cause death (HR 1.014 per cm; 95% CI 1.005-1.038). NC and WC showed no association with MACE or kidney failure. BMI was not associated with any of the analyzed outcomes. Models of all-cause death including WC offered the best (lowest) AIC. CONCLUSION In Caucasian patients with mild to severe CKD, higher NC (in women) and WC were significantly associated with increased risk of death from any cause, but BMI was not.
Wide-angle, dual-polarized frequency selective rasorber based on the electric field coupled resonator using characteristic mode analysis

A wide-angle, dual-polarized frequency selective rasorber (FSR) with two absorption bands located at both sides of a passband is proposed. The structure comprises a lossy frequency selective surface (FSS), a bandpass FSS, and an air spacer located in between. A modified electric field coupled (ELC) resonator is used as a parallel resonance at the lossy layer to achieve a passband within the absorption band. The characteristic mode theory is utilized to investigate the absorption behavior of the lossy layer. Extensive simulations were carried out to assess the performance of the presented structure. Under the normal incidence, the proposed structure provides an operating bandwidth (|S11| < −10 dB) from 1.94 to 7.16 GHz, corresponding to a fractional bandwidth (FBW) of 114.7%. The achieved passband is around 4.3 GHz with a minimum insertion loss of 0.81 dB. The absorption bands with an absorption rate higher than 80% are 1.81–3.69 GHz (FBW of 68.4%) in the lower band and 4.95–7.43 GHz (FBW of 40%) in the upper band, respectively. It exhibits quite stable characteristics up to 50° angle of incidence. Furthermore, a prototype was fabricated and measured, which confirms that a good agreement exists between the experimental and simulation results. The proposed FSR is a suitable candidate for lowering the radar cross section (RCS) of the communication equipment or making them stealthy.
Systemic Prenatal Stress Exposure through Corticosterone Application Adversely Affects Avian Embryonic Skin Development

Simple Summary This study examined how prenatal stress affects embryonic skin development. For this purpose, the model organism of the chicken embryo was used to inject the stress hormone corticosterone at an early embryonic stage. After a certain period of stress hormone exposure, macroscopic observations and tissue examinations were undertaken in order to pursue this research question. The investigations demonstrated that physiological skin development was significantly impaired by prenatal stress. This could be attributed to the fact that both cell-internal and -external components promoting cellular integrity were downregulated by the effects of stress hormones. In addition, it could be shown that the physiological cell proliferation was decreased due to prenatal stress exposure. Since artificially-produced stress hormones, so-called synthetic glucocorticoids, are also frequently used in everyday clinical practice, the authors suggest a constant reevaluation of glucocorticoid-associated treatment strategies on the basis of these results. Abstract Prenatal stress exposure is considered a risk factor for developmental deficits and postnatal behavioral disorders. While the effect of glucocorticoid-associated prenatal stress exposure has been comprehensively studied in many organ systems, there is a lack of in-depth embryological investigations regarding the effects of stress on the integumentary system. To approach this, we employed the avian embryo as a model organism and investigated the effects of systemic pathologically-elevated glucocorticoid exposure on the development of the integumentary system. After standardized corticosterone injections on embryonic day 6, we compared the stress-exposed embryos with a control cohort, using histological and immunohistochemical analyses as well as in situ hybridization. The overarching developmental deficits observed in the stress-exposed embryos were reflected through downregulation of both vimentin as well as fibronectin. In addition, a deficient composition in the different skin layers became apparent, which could be linked to a reduced expression of Dermo-1 along with significantly reduced proliferation rates. An impairment of skin appendage formation could be demonstrated by diminished expression of Sonic hedgehog. These results contribute to a more profound understanding of prenatal stress causing severe deficits in the integumentary system of developing organisms.
Mathematical Models for Population Dynamics: Randomness versus Determinism

Mathematical models are used more and more frequently in Life Sciences. These may be deterministic, or stochastic. We present some classical models for population dynamics and discuss in particular the averaging eﬀect in the setting of large populations, to point at circumstances where randomness prevails nonetheless. 2010 Mathematics Subject Classiﬁcation. Primary 92D25; Secondary 60J85.
Stability estimates for the multidimensional elliptic obstacle problem

Abstract. A Hölder type stability estimate in the second order Sobolev space of functions is established for the solution of the elliptic obstacle problem with respect to variations of the coefficients of the corresponding differential operator. In modern finance, this estimate provides results on the sensitivity of a perpetual American option price with respect to variations of the volatilities in the underlying assets prices. To meet the objective of this paper, the stability result with respect to external force functions, which was proved by J.-F. Rodrigues under the nondegeneracy condition, is generalized to the case of arbitrary functions belonging to the space , .
Diameter and Rumour Spreading in Real-World Network Models

The so-called ‘small-world phenomenon’, observed in many real-world networks, is that there is a short path between any two nodes of a network, whose length is much smaller that the network’s size, typically growing as a logarithmic function. Several mathematical models have been defined for social networks, the WWW, etc., and this phenomenon translates to proving that such models have a small diameter. In the first part of this thesis, we rigorously analyze the diameters of several random graph classes that are introduced specifically to model complex networks, verifying whether this phenomenon occurs in them. In Chapter 3 we develop a versatile technique for proving upper bounds for diameters of evolving random graph models, which is based on defining a coupling between these models and variants of random recursive trees. Using this technique we prove, for the first time, logarithmic upper bounds for the diameters of seven well known models. This technique gives unified simple proofs for known results, provides lots of new ones, and will help in proving many of the forthcoming network models are small-world. Perhaps, for any given model, one can come up with an ad hoc argument that the diameter is O(log n), but it is interesting that a unified technique works for such a wide variety of models, and our first major contribution is introducing such a technique. In Chapter 4 we estimate the diameter of random Apollonian networks, a class of random planar graphs. We also give lower and upper bounds for the length of their longest paths. In Chapter 5 we study the diameter of another random graph model, called the random surfer Web-graph model. We find logarithmic upper bounds for the diameter, which are almost tight in the special case when the growing graph is a tree. Although the two models are quite different, surprisingly the same engine is used for proving these results, namely the powerful technique of Broutin and Devroye (Large deviations for the weighted height of an extended class of trees, Algorithmica 2006) for analyzing weighted heights of random trees, which we have adapted and applied to the two random graph models. Our second major contribution is demonstrating the flexibility of this technique via providing two significant applications. In the second part of the thesis, we study rumour spreading in networks. Suppose that initially a node has a piece of information and wants to spread it to all nodes in a network quickly. The problem of designing an efficient protocol performing this task is a fundamental one in distributed computing and has applications in maintenance of replicated databases, broadcasting algorithms, analyzing news propagation is social networks and the spread of viruses on the Internet. Given a rumour spreading protocol, its spread time is the time it takes for the rumour to spread in the whole graph.
Bayesian statistical inference on the material parameters of a hyperelastic body

We present a statistical method for recovering the material parameters of a heterogeneous hyperelastic body. Under the Bayesian methodology for statistical inverse problems, the posterior distribution encodes the probability of the material parameters given the available displacement observations and can be calculated by combining prior knowledge with a finite element model of the likelihood. In this study we concentrate on a case study where the observations of the body are limited to the displacements on the surface of the domain. In this type of problem the Bayesian framework (in comparison with a classical PDE-constrained optimisation framework) can give not only a point estimate of the parameters but also quantify uncertainty on the parameter space induced by the limited observations and noisy measuring devices. There are significant computational and mathematical challenges when solving a Bayesian inference problem in the case that the parameter is a field (i.e. exists infinite-dimensional Banach space) and evaluating the likelihood involves the solution of a large-scale system of non-linear PDEs. To overcome these problems we use dolfin-adjoint to automatically derive adjoint and higher-order adjoint systems for efficient evaluation of gradients and Hessians, develop scalable maximum aposteriori estimates, and use efficient low-rank update methods to approximate posterior covariance matrices.
P-ADIC REGULATORS AND P-ADIC FAMILIES OF MODULAR FORMS

The theme of this Thesis is Iwasawa theory of Hida p-adic analytic families of modular forms. Our main goal is to describe special values of Hida’s p-adic L-functions in the context of a p-adic Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture for the weight variable.
Designing Healing Environments: A Literature Review on the Benefits of Healing Gardens for Children in Healthcare Facilities and the Urgent Need for Policy Implementation

Despite the well-known benefits of healing gardens for children in healthcare facilities, policies and guidelines for their implementation are lacking, leading to their undervaluation by policymakers. This literature review investigates the advantages of healing gardens for children’s health and wellbeing, with a focus on public-funded healthcare facilities. The review explores the definition of a healing garden, theories, the value of play, the impact on children’s development, and the environmental benefits of healing gardens. Additionally, the review presents successful examples of healing gardens in practice, while acknowledging potential arguments against them and associated risks. During the literature review, research gaps were identified, and areas for future research were also examined. Finally, this review calls for evidence-based guidelines for policymakers and designers to incorporate healing gardens into healthcare facilities, providing a comprehensive argument for their adoption and regular access for children.
3D printed broadband transformation optics based all-dielectric microwave lenses

Quasi-conformal transformation optics is applied to design electromagnetic devices for focusing and collimating applications at microwave frequencies. Two devices are studied and conceived by solving Laplace’s equation that describes the deformation of a medium in a space transformation. As validation examples, material parameters of two different lenses are derived from the analytical solutions of Laplace’s equation. The first lens is applied to produce an overall directive in-phase emission from an array of sources conformed on a cylindrical structure. The second lens allows deflecting a directive beam to an off-normal direction. Full-wave simulations are performed to verify the functionality of the calculated lenses. Prototypes presenting a graded refractive index are fabricated through three-dimensional polyjet printing using solely dielectric materials. Experimental measurements carried out show very good agreement with numerical simulations, thereby validating the proposed lenses. Such easily realizable designs open the way to low-cost all-dielectric microwave lenses for beam forming and collimation.