Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Incentives to Counter Bias in Human Computation

In online labor platforms such as Amazon Mechanical Turk, a good strategy to obtain quality answers is to take aggregate answers submitted by multiple workers, exploiting the wisdom of crowds. However, human computation issusceptible to systematic biases which cannot be corrected by using multiple workers.We investigate a game-theoretic bonus scheme, called peer truth serum (PTS), to overcome this problem. We report on the design and outcomes of a set of experiments to validate this scheme. Results show peer truth serum can indeed correct the biases and increase the answer accuracy by up to 80%.
A CASE STUDY OF THE INFLUENCE OF FREEWRITING ON WRITING FLUENCY AND CONFIDENCE OF EFL COLLEGE-LEVEL STUDENTS

Freewriting was one of the popular methods used during the late 1960s and early 1970s (Fox & Suhor, 1986) to improve writing fluency. Compared to the numerous studies done on freewriting in English as an L1 using quantitative approaches (Adams, 1971; Davis, 1979; Ganong, 1975; Gauntlett, 1978; Walker 1974; Wienke 1981), few studies have been done in ESL or EFL contexts (Briere, 1966; Cheshire, 1982; Potter 2008). Thus, examining the influence of freewriting on writing fluency in ESL or EFL contexts is required to examine how it can benefit learners in EAP contexts. This case study investigates three areas of importance to the field of L2 writing: (a) to examine the influence of practicing guided freewriting on EFL college-level students‟ writing fluency; (b) to observe if there are any fluency benefits of practicing guided freewriting that transfer to writing fluency in general; and (c) to illustrate how practicing guided freewriting helps improve students‟ confidence in English writing. During the study, a total 208 guided freewriting samples written by eight EFL college-level students over eight weeks were analyzed in terms of fluency by words per minute in order to measure writing fluency, and the results were analyzed using a repeated-measures one-way ANOVA. Students‟ pretest and posttest writings were then compared in terms of fluency (words per minute) by conducting paired-samples t-tests, and the same pretest and posttest writings were also rated for quality so as to observe whether the fluency benefits of freewriting were transferred to new writing done in this EAP context, where the pressure of feedback and grading typically exist. Finally, the results of a survey were analyzed using descriptive statistics to investigate how students perceive freewriting in terms of increasing their confidence in their English writing. The results showed that practicing guided freewriting for eight weeks had a statistically significant influence on improving the students‟ writing fluency. Moreover, it was found that the increased writing fluency might have been transferred to other writing done in this EAP context, where students have more pressure to write due to feedback or grading. Finally, most of the students agreed that practicing guided freewriting had a positive effect on their confidence in English writing. The results of the study highlight the importance of focusing on English writing fluency rather than giving central attention solely to grammatical accuracy in ESL or EFL classes.
Effect of treating severe nasal obstruction on the severity of obstructive sleep apnoea

An association between mouth breathing during sleep and increased propensity for upper airway collapse is well documented, but the effect of treatment for nasal obstruction on mouth breathing during sleep and simultaneous obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) severity has not been described previously. A randomised single blind placebo- and sham-controlled crossover study of treatment (topical decongestant and external dilator strip) for nasal obstruction was carried out in 10 patients (nine males; mean±sem 46±5 yrs) with nasal obstruction and OSA. All patients had normal acoustic pharyngometry. The effect of treatment on nasal resistance, mouth breathing during sleep and OSA severity was quantified. Treatment of nasal obstruction was associated with a dramatic and sustained reduction in nasal resistance and the oral fraction of ventilation during sleep (mean (95% confidence interval) absolute reduction in oral fraction 30% (12–49)). Improvements in sleep architecture were observed during active treatment, and there was a modest reduction in OSA severity (change in apnoea–hypopnoea index 12 (3–22)). In conclusion, treating nasal obstruction reduced mouth breathing during sleep and obstructive sleep apnoea severity, but did not effectively alleviate obstructive sleep apnoea.
Alcohol consumption among adults in Germany: risky drinking levels

Consuming harmful amounts of alcohol is considered a contributing factor in over 200 diseases. Women who drink over 10 g and men who drink more than 20 g of pure alcohol daily are already consuming risky amounts. According to GEDA 2014/2015-EHIS data, 13.8% of women and 18.2% of men consume risky amounts of alcohol at least weekly. The consumption of potentially dangerous levels of alcohol is most widespread in the 45-64 age group. Across all age groups, the prevalence of risky alcohol consumption patterns is higher among highly educated women compared to women with a lower level of education. For men, this pattern only appears in those aged 65 and over. Preventive measures including social and environmental interventions and responsible drinking campaigns should contribute to further reducing risky alcohol consumption among the population.
EVOLUTIONARY ADAPTATION TO TEMPERATURE. IX. PREADAPTATION TO NOVEL STRESSFUL ENVIRONMENTS OF ESCHERICHIA COLI ADAPTED TO HIGH TEMPERATURE

Abstract Stressful environments may be considered as those that reduce fitness, sometimes due in part to the increased metabolic expenditure required to sustain life. Direct adaptation to a stressor is expected to increase fitness and reduce maintenance metabolism, with the latter leading to increased biomass production. In this study, we test the general hypothesis that such adaptation to one stressor can preadapt organisms to novel stressful environments. Six lines of Escherichia coli propagated for 2000 generations at 41–42°C (42 group), a stressful temperature, were compared to six control lines propagated for 2000 generations at 37°C (37 group) and to the common ancestor of both groups. We assayed biovolume yield (a measure of growth efficiency) and competitive fitness in the 42 group's selective high temperature environment as well as five novel stressful environments—acid, alkali, ethanol, high osmolarity and peroxide. As previously reported, at high temperature the 42 group had both higher yield and fitness than the 37 group and ancestor. In the novel environments, the 42 group generally produced yields higher than the 37 group (and marginally higher than the ancestor), but we found no differences in competitive fitness among the 37 and 42 groups and the ancestor. We also found that the performance of lines within groups was not correlated across stressful environments for either yield or relative fitness. Because previous adaptation to one stressor did not improve our measure of Darwinian fitness in novel stressful environments, we conclude that the 42 group shows no useful preadaptation, or cross-tolerance, to these types of environments. Corresponding Editor: J. Kingsolver
Modeling of single-event effects in circuit-hardened high-speed SiGe HBT logic

This paper presents single-event effect (SEE) modeling results of circuit-hardened SiGe heterojunction bipolar transistor logic circuits. A simple equivalent circuit is proposed to model the ion-induced currents at all of the terminals, including the p-type substrate. The SEE sensitivity of a D-flip-flop was simulated using the proposed equivalent circuit. The simulation results are qualitatively consistent with earlier SEE testing results. The circuit upset is shown to be independent of the number of active paths. Considerable charge collection occurs through the reverse-biased n-collector/p-substrate junction, regardless of the status of the emitter steering current, resulting in circuit upset through the commonly connected load resistor. A heavily doped substrate is shown to be beneficial for SEE.
Hybrid PSO and GA for Global Maximization

This paper present the hybrid approaches of Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) with Genetic Algorithm (GA). PSO and GA are population based heuristic search technique which can be used to solve the optimization problems modeled on the concept of Evolutionary Approach. In standard PSO, the non-oscillatory route can quickly cause a particle to stagnate and also it may prematurely converge on suboptimal solutions that are not even guaranteed to be local optimum. In this paper the modification strategies are proposed in PSO using GA. Experiment results are examined with benchmark functions and results show that the proposed hybrid models outperform the standard PSO.
Two Descent Statistics over 321-Avoiding Centrosymmetric Involutions

Centrosymmetric involutions in the symmetric group S_{2n} are permutations \pi such that \pi=\pi^{-1} and \pi(i)+\pi(2n+1-i)=2n+1 for all i, and they are in bijection with involutions of the hyperoctahedral group. We describe the distribution of some natural descent statistics on 321-avoiding centrosymmetric involutions, including the number of descents in the first half of the involution, and the sum of the positions of these descents. Our results are based on two new bijections, one between centrosymmetric involutions in S_{2n} and subsets of {1,. ,n}, and another one showing that certain statistics on Young diagrams that fit inside a rectangle are equidistributed. We also use the latter bijection to refine a known result stating that the distribution of the major index on 321-avoiding involutions is given by the q-analogue of the central binomial coefficients.
A knowledge perspective on needs to enhance organizational learning

Organizational learning causes organizational change. Different descriptive models have been proposed, but little research on variables influencing these processes has been done. Needs govern our behavior and motivate our acting. It has been shown that their identification and satisfaction effect value-creating and knowledge-intensive activities, such as innovation processes, strategy development, and product design. However, needs are usually implicitly anchored in organizations and people can hardly articulate them. Despite the fact that a focus on needs does not prescribe any concrete strategy, but extends opportunities to act, an initial consideration of needs often lacks. Consequently, their role as an influencing variable for organizational learning has not been investigated yet. Addressing this gap, this dissertation explores the nature of needs and how they can enhance organizational learning processes. It introduces a novel theory on needs for organizational practice which emphasizes the potential of a focus on needs. It argues why considering needs is beneficial for learning initiatives, such as vision or strategy development, in which various expectations which presumably emerge from shared needs have to be combined. Shared needs within a social system can trigger organizational learning and facilitate the design of new consensual satisfaction strategies (satisfiers). The theory allows for understanding the motivational forces of organizational learning and exploiting the postulated one-to-many relation between needs and satisfiers. Moreover, it points at influencing variables for the organizational transition from needs to need satisfaction and illustrates that by a knowledge perspective resulting in the concept of "need-based solution knowledge". This knowledge enables people to propose viable satisfiers in organizations. We introduce the methodological framework "Bewextra" that targets at the capacity to identify needs in organizations. It rests upon theories from various scientific fields and utilizes "learning from an envisioned future" as a core method. This enables to literally envision a desired future scenario in which all needs are intuitively fulfilled, and thereby allows for the creation of knowledge about needs. The research follows the action research paradigm which proposes a combinational interplay between rational and empirical research processes, in which various (qualitative) research methods are used. Besides theoretical considerations, the dissertation reports about four research projects in which the theories and methods were applied, reflected, and refined. More specifically, it presents how "Bewextra" was implemented and adjusted and demonstrates that a combination of conventional learning from the past and "learning from an envisioned future" enhances the outcome of organizational learning in various domains. Moreover, it investigates the differences between organizational strategies, that emerge with reference to needs, and strategies, that are developed without explicitly considering needs.
Hard lessons: effort-inducing interfaces benefit spatial learning

Interface designers normally strive for a design that minimises the user's effort. However, when the design's objective is to train users to interact with interfaces that are highly dependent on spatial properties (e.g. keypad layout or gesture shapes) we contend that designers should consider explicitly increasing the mental effort of interaction. To test the hypothesis that effort aids spatial memory, we designed a "frost-brushing" interface that forces the user to mentally retrieve spatial information, or to physically brush away the frost to obtain visual guidance. We report results from two experiments using virtual keypad interfaces -- the first concerns spatial location learning of buttons on the keypad, and the second concerns both location and trajectory learning of gesture shape. The results support our hypothesis, showing that the frost-brushing design improved spatial learning. The participants' subjective responses emphasised the connections between effort, engagement, boredom, frustration, and enjoyment, suggesting that effort requires careful parameterisation to maximise its effectiveness.
Adverse Cardiovascular Events after a Venomous Snakebite in Korea

Purpose Although cardiac involvement is an infrequently recognized manifestation of venomous snakebites, little is known of the adverse cardiovascular events (ACVEs) arising as a result of snakebite in Korea. Accordingly, we studied the prevalence of ACVEs associated with venomous snakebites in Korea and compared the clinical features of patients with and without ACVEs. Materials and Methods A retrospective review was conducted on 65 consecutive venomous snakebite cases diagnosed and treated at the emergency department of Wonju Severance Christian Hospital between May 2011 and October 2014. ACVEs were defined as the occurrence of at least one of the following: 1) myocardial injury, 2) shock, 3) ventricular dysrhythmia, or 4) cardiac arrest. Results Nine (13.8%) of the 65 patients had ACVEs; myocardial injury (9 patients, 13.8%) included high sensitivity troponin I (hs-TnI) elevation (7 patients, 10.8%) or electrocardiogram (ECG) determined ischemic change (2 patients, 3.1%), and shock (2 patient, 3.1%). Neither ventricular dysrhythmia nor cardiac arrest was observed. The median of elevated hs-TnI levels observed in the present study were 0.063 ng/mL (maximum: 3.000 ng/mL) and there was no mortality in the ACVEs group. Underlying cardiac diseases were more common in the ACVEs group than in the non-ACVEs group (p=0.017). Regarding complications during hospitalization, 3 patients (5.4%) in the non-ACVEs group and 3 patients (33.3%) in the ACVEs group developed bleeding (p=0.031). Conclusion Significant proportion of the patients with venomous snakebite is associated with occurrence of ACVEs. Patients with ACVEs had more underlying cardiac disease and bleeding complication.
Endogenous Fiscal Consolidations

There is evidence in the literature of fiscal consolidation episodes producing (non-Keynesian) expansionary effects (e.g. Alesina and Ardagna, 1998). We replicate this result for a panel of OECD countries under exogeneity of the fiscal tightening decision, and provide evidence that this decision is endogenous to GDP so that the exogeneity assumption might be inappropriate. Once this endogeneity is taken into consideration, we find that fiscal consolidations have a negative impact on GDP as expected in a Keynesian framework. We also investigate the determinants of successful consolidations. In particular, we use model averaging to overcome the problem of model uncertainty, and conclude that economic recovery and cuts in public wages are the most important ingredients of a consolidation program for successfully reducing budget deficits.
A reflection on call-by-value

A number of compilers exploit the following strategy: translate a term to continuation-passing style (CPS) and optimize the resulting term using a sequence of reductions. Recent work suggests that an alternative strategy is superior: optimize directly in an extended source calculus. We suggest that the appropriate relation between the source and target calculi may be captured by a special case of a Galois connection known as a reflection. Previous work has focused on the weaker notion of an equational correspondence, which is based on equality rather than reduction. We show that Moggi's monad translation and Plotkin's CPS translation can both be regarded as reflections, and thereby strengthen a number of results in the literature.
Top–Down Gaze Movement Control in Target Search Using Population Cell Coding of Visual Context

Visual context plays an important role in humans' top-down gaze movement control for target searching. Exploring the mental development mechanism in terms of incremental visual context encoding by population cells is an interesting issue. This paper presents a biologically inspired computational model. The visual contextual cues were used in this model for top-down eye-motion control on searching targets in images. We proposed a population cell coding mechanism for visual context encoding and decoding. The model was implemented in a neural network system. A developmental learning mechanism was simulated in this system by dynamically generating new coding neurons to incrementally encode visual context during training. The encoded context was decoded with population neurons in a top-down mode. This allowed the model to control the gaze motion to the centers of the targets. The model was developed with pursuing low encoding quantity and high target locating accuracy. Its performance has been evaluated by a set of experiments to search different facial objects in a human face image set. Theoretical analysis and experimental results show that the proposed visual context encoding algorithm without weight updating is fast, efficient and stable, and the population-cell coding generally performs better than single-cell coding and k-nearest-neighbor (k-NN)-based coding.
Health Economics and Decision Science Discussion Paper Series Evidence of Preference Construction in a Comparison of Variants of the Standard Gamble Method

This series is intended to promote discussion and to provide information about work in progress. The views expressed are those of the authors, and should not be quoted without their permission. The authors welcome your comments. 2 ABSTRACT An increasingly important debate has emerged around the extent to which techniques such as the standard gamble, which is used, amongst other things, to value health states, actually serve to construct respondent's preferences rather than simply elicit them. According to standard theory, the variant used should have no bearing on the numbers elicited from respondents i.e. procedural invariance should hold. This study addresses this debate by comparing two variants of standard gamble in the valuation of health states. It was a mixed methods study that combines a quantitative comparison with the probing of respondents in order to ascertain possible reasons for the differences that emerged. Significant differences were found between variants and, furthermore, there was evidence of an ordering effect. Respondents' responses to probing suggested that they were influenced by the method of elicitation.
Structural and Biochemical Studies of Human 4-hydroxy-2-oxoglutarate Aldolase: Implications for Hydroxyproline Metabolism in Primary Hyperoxaluria

Background 4-hydroxy-2-oxoglutarate (HOG) aldolase is a unique enzyme in the hydroxyproline degradation pathway catalyzing the cleavage of HOG to pyruvate and glyoxylate. Mutations in this enzyme are believed to be associated with the excessive production of oxalate in primary hyperoxaluria type 3 (PH3), although no experimental data is available to support this hypothesis. Moreover, the identity, oligomeric state, enzymatic activity, and crystal structure of human HOGA have not been experimentally determined. Methodology/Principal Findings In this study human HOGA (hHOGA) was identified by mass spectrometry of the mitochondrial enzyme purified from bovine kidney. hHOGA performs a retro-aldol cleavage reaction reminiscent of the trimeric 2-keto-3-deoxy-6-phosphogluconate aldolases. Sequence comparisons, however, show that HOGA is related to the tetrameric, bacterial dihydrodipicolinate synthases, but the reaction direction is reversed. The 1.97 Å resolution crystal structure of hHOGA bound to pyruvate was determined and enabled the modeling of the HOG-Schiff base intermediate and the identification of active site residues. Kinetic analyses of site-directed mutants support the importance of Lys196 as the nucleophile, Tyr168 and Ser77 as components of a proton relay, and Asn78 and Ser198 as unique residues that facilitate substrate binding. Conclusions/Significance The biochemical and structural data presented support that hHOGA utilizes a type I aldolase reaction mechanism, but employs novel residue interactions for substrate binding. A mapping of the PH3 mutations identifies potential rearrangements in either the active site or the tetrameric assembly that would likely cause a loss in activity. Altogether, these data establish a foundation to assess mutant forms of hHOGA and how their activity could be pharmacologically restored.
The N-terminal region of hepatitis C virus nonstructural protein 3 (NS3) is essential for stable complex formation with NS4A

Hepatitis C virus proteins are produced by proteolytic processing of the viral precursor polyprotein that is encoded in the largest open reading frame of the viral genome. Processing of the nonstructural viral polyprotein requires the viral serine-type proteinase present in nonstructural protein 3 (NS3). The cleavage of the junction between NS4B and NS5A is mediated by NS3 only when NS4A is present. NS4A is thought to be a cofactor that enhances the cleavage efficiency of NS3 in hepatitis C virus protein-producing cells. Stable NS3-NS4A complex formation required the N-terminal 22 amino acid residues of NS3. This interaction contributed to stabilization of the NS3 product as well as increased the efficiency of cleavage at the NS4B/5A site. The N-terminal 22 amino acid residues fused to Escherichia coli dihydrofolate reductase also formed a stable complex with NS4A. NS3 derivatives which lacked the N-terminal 22 amino acid residues showed drastically reduced cleavage activity at the NS4B/5A site even in the presence of NS4A. These data suggested that the interaction with NS4A through the 22 amino acid residues of NS3 is primarily important for the NS4A-dependent processing of the NS4B/5A site by NS3.