Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Users' Continuance Participation in Online Health Communities: Short-term vs. Long-term

As one of the most promising health-related social media services, the online health communities (OHCs) have been developed and exponentially increased in the past decade. Patients can benefit from the participation of OHC discussions by obtaining information and knowledge, receiving support and releasing mental stress. The purpose of this study is to identify factors that affect the users’ continuance participation and to examine their different influences in the short-term and long-term stages survival and activeness in the OHCs. We conducted two separate studies to investigate users’ continuance participation in terms of survival time and activeness. Our research makes two major contributions. First, we identify the factors that determine users’ short-term vs. long-term survival. Specifically, we propose a new construct, the initial goal, to social support theory. Results show that the information seeking goal and the emotional seeking goal will drive users into different stages of their membership life cycle. Additionally, the appropriate self-interaction discussion pattern has a positive impact on users’ long-term survival. Second, we identify the factors that lead to users’ short-term and long-term activeness. Our study compares the users’ participation behavior during the different stages and predicts their post-stage activeness based on expectation-confirmation theory. Our findings show that the social support and recognition in the initial stage play important roles in the short-term activeness, whereas the social attachment in the short-term stage increases its impact on the long-term activeness.
Gallager ’ s Minimum Delay Routing Algorithm Using Distributed Computation

One of the computer science papers most worth reading is Gallager’s algorithm for minimum delay routing. The merit of Gallager’s paper is its rigorous mathematical approach to a problem, which is more often taken care of using heuristics. The approach is founded on a well designed mathematical network model, which is custom-tailored to describe the minimum total delay routing problem. Mathematical observations on the model lead to two conditions for achieving global optimization, which are based on the marginal delay of links and neighbors. From these observations and conditions an iterative, distributed routing algorithm is naturally derived. Gallager finishes his analysis by proving in detail that the algorithm achieves total minimum delay routing. Algorithm and model are reviewed and illustrated in detail in this technical report.
Association of fl avonoid-rich foods and fl avonoids with risk of all-cause mortality

Flavonoids are bioactive compounds found in foods such as tea, red wine, fruits and vegetables. Higher intakes of specific flavonoids, and flavonoid-rich foods, have been linked to reduced mortality from specific vascular diseases and cancers. However, the importance of flavonoid-rich foods, and flavonoids, in preventing all-cause mortality remains uncertain. As such, we examined the association of intake of flavonoid-rich foods and flavonoids with subsequent mortality among 93 145 young and middle-aged women in the Nurses’ Health Study II. During 1 838 946 person-years of follow-up, 1808 participants died. When compared with non-consumers, frequent consumers of red wine, tea, peppers, blueberries and strawberries were at reduced risk of all-cause mortality (P< 0·05), with the strongest associations observed for red wine and tea; multivariable-adjusted hazard ratios 0·60 (95% CI 0·49, 0·74) and 0·73 (95% CI 0·65, 0·83), respectively. Conversely, frequent grapefruit consumers were at increased risk of all-cause mortality, compared with their non-grapefruit consuming counterparts (P< 0·05). When compared with those in the lowest consumption quintile, participants in the highest quintile of total-flavonoid intake were at reduced risk of all-cause mortality in the age-adjusted model; 0·81 (95% CI 0·71, 0·93). However, this association was attenuated following multivariable adjustment; 0·92 (95% CI 0·80, 1·06). Similar results were observed for consumption of flavan-3-ols, proanthocyanidins and anthocyanins. Flavonols, flavanones and flavones were not associated with all-cause mortality in any model. Despite null associations at the compound level and select foods, higher consumption of red wine, tea, peppers, blueberries and strawberries, was associated with reduced risk of total and cause-specific mortality. These findings support the rationale for making food-based dietary recommendations.
Neural Mechanisms Underlying the Generation of the Lobster Gastric Mill Motor Pattern

The lobster gastric mill central pattern generator (CPG) is located in the stomatogastric ganglion and consists of 11 neurons whose circuitry is well known. Because all of the neurons are identifiable and accessible, it can serve as a prime experimental model for analyzing how microcircuits generate multiphase oscillatory spatiotemporal patterns. The neurons that comprise the gastric mill CPG consist of one interneuron, five burster neurons and six tonically firing neurons. The single interneuron (Int 1) is shared by the medial tooth subcircuit (containing the AM, DG and GMs) and the lateral teeth subcircuit (LG, MG and LPGs). By surveying cell-to-cell connections and the cooperative dynamics of the neurons we find that the medial subcircuit is essentially a feed forward system of oscillators. The Int 1 neuron entrains the DG and AM cells by delayed excitation and this pair then periodically inhibits the tonically firing GMs causing them to burst. The lateral subcircuit consists of two negative feedback loops of reciprocal inhibition from Int 1 to the LG/MG pair and from the LG/MG to the LPGs. Following a fast inhibition from Int 1, the LG/MG neurons receive a slowly developing excitatory input similar to that which Int 1 puts onto DG/AM. Thus Int 1 plays a key role in synchronizing both subcircuits. This coordinating role is assisted by additional, weaker connections between the two subsets but those are not sufficient to synchronize them in the absence of Int 1. In addition to the experiments, we developed a conductance-based model of a slightly simplified gastric circuit. The mathematical model can reproduce the fundamental rhythm and many of the experimentally induced perturbations. Our findings shed light on the functional role of every cell and synapse in this small circuit providing a detailed understanding of the rhythm generation and pattern formation in the gastric mill network.
Ownership, Management Practices, Upgrading, and Productivity in the Metalworking sector: Evidence from Ethiopia

In the economics literature, it is often hypothesized that foreign owned enterprises possess advanced technological knowhow and higher quality managerial capital. Several studies have systematically contrasted FDI enterprises and local producers to explore the presence (or lack) of observable differences in size, productivity and management, and upgrading practices in the context of developing countries. Of these studies, however, many are not able to separate the effects of ownership difference from difference in the management style as they consider management skills to be unobservable in their models. We rely on rich sets of longitudinal data from the metalworking sector in Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, to explore whether and why foreign operated enterprises perform better and whether the observed differences in enterprise performance is due to differences in ownership (being foreign operated as opposed to domestic) or whether they can be explained by other confounders. We then attempt to trace the sources of these differences to variations in the ways the firms are operated. We find that foreign owned enterprises are endowed with better quality managers; a result which seems to explain considerable variations in management practices and upgrading investments among enterprises. Our findings also suggest that the presence of such significant management quality difference appears to underlie the substantial heterogeneity (by ownership status) observed in productivity, sales revenue, and profitability.
Brain-Machine-Interfaces ( BMI ) in Paralysis

BMIs using EEG or ECoG in the complete locked in state (CLIS) were largely unsucessessful; no proven case learning to communicate with a BMI is documented. We present the first case of a CLIS patient in advanced ALS who learned reliable yes-no communication with a BMI using blood oxygenation measure with NIRS after months of random performance with an EEG-BMI. Reasons for these results are discussed. Secondly, a controlled-double blind trial in chronic stroke without residual movement using sensorimotor rhythm (SMR)EEG-BMI in combination with behavioral physiotherapy that for the first time a significant improvement upper hand function in this treatment resistant population is possible. The experimental group received contingent feedback of SMR-desynchronization with a hand robotic device fixed to arm and hand, the
Reasoning With Streamed Information from Unreliable Sources

At present, we are increasingly struggling with the need to make decisions based on information from data streams from different sources which are often unreliable. When deciding, we need to process the this observed information, and we must estimate their reliability. In this paper, we propose a framework that allows us to derive information from unreliable sources and to estimate their trustworthy. This framework is fully implemented on data streams with the aim to derive of new facts from incoming information. This information is coming as unstructured messages that are transmitted from heterogeneous and potentially untrustworthy sources. This information is processed using a natural language and belief function theory. The trustworthy of processed information is estimated based on their internal conflict. The proposed framework is evaluated using an experiment that quantifies the efficiency of our solution with respect to accuracy and overhead of the proposed framework.
DISTRIBUTION AND DEVELOPMENT IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: AN EMPIRICAL ASSESSMENT By Minh Quang Dao Professor of Economics

Purpose This paper examines the effect of income distribution on growth in developing countries. Findings Based on data from the World Bank and the United Nations Development Programme, we use a sample of twenty-eight developing economies and find that income distribution does not affect growth in these countries, unlike the results of previous studies by Alesina and Rodrik (1994). Neither do we find that the level of democracy in a country has a statistically significant impact on growth. We observe that the coefficient estimate of one independent variable does not have the anticipated sign due to the severe degree of multicollinearity among statistically significant explanatory variables. Regression results show that the total fertility rate, the initial level of per capita GDP, and the ratio of female to male literacy rate, taken together, do linearly influence growth in developing economies. Practical Implications Statistical results of such empirical examination will assist governments in those countries identify areas that need to be improved upon in order to stimulate economic development.
Phospholipid incorporation and metabolic conversion of n‐3 polyunsaturated fatty acids in the Y79 retinoblastoma cell line

The metabolic conversion of n‐3 fatty acids was studied in the human Y79 retinoblastoma cell line. Cultured cells were exposed to increasing concentrations of either 18:3n‐3, 22:5n‐3, or 22:6n‐3, and their phospholipid fatty acid composition was analyzed after 72 hr. Cells internalized the supplemental fatty acids and proceeded to their metabolic conversion. Supplemental 22:6n‐3 was directly esterified into cell phospholipids, at levels typical for normal neural retinas (41% by weight of phosphatidylethanolamine fatty acids, and 24% of phosphatidylcholine fatty acids). In contrast, 18:3n‐3 was mainly converted to 20:5n‐3 and 22:5n‐3, both of which appeared in cell phospholipids after exposure to low external concentrations of 18:3n‐3 (10 μg/ml). Y79 cells can proceed to the metabolic conversion of 18:3n‐3 through elongation and Δ6‐ and Δ5‐desaturation. When cells were exposed to high external concentrations of 18:3n‐3 (30 μg/ml), the supplemental fatty acid was directly incorporated, and its relative content increased in both phospholipid classes to the detriment of all other n‐3 fatty acids. Cells cultured in the presence of 22:5n‐3 did not incorporate 22:6n‐3 into their phospholipids but did incorporate 20:5n‐3 and 22:5n‐3. The data suggest that Y79 cells can proceed to the microsomal steps of n‐3 metabolism, involving elongation, desaturation, and chain shortening of 22C fatty acids. Although Y79 cells avidly used supplemental 22:6n‐3 for phospholipid incorporation at levels typical for normal photoreceptor cells, they failed to match such levels through metabolic conversion of n‐3 parent fatty acids. The terminal step of the very long‐chain polyunsaturated fatty acid synthesis, consisting in Δ6‐desaturation followed by peroxisomal chain shortening of 24C‐fatty acids, could be rate‐limiting in Y79 cells. J. Neurosci. Res. 60:678–685, 2000 © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
he microRNAs of Caenorhabditis elegans than

The soil nematode, Caenorhabditis elegans, occupies a central place in the short history of microRNA (miRNA) research. The converse is also true: miRNAs have emerged as key regulatory components in the life cycle of the worm, as well as numerous other organisms. Since the landmark discovery in 1993
Retrofitting Word Vectors of MeSH Terms to Improve Semantic Similarity Measures

Estimation of the semantic relatedness be-tween biomedical concepts has utility for many informatics applications. Automated methods fall into two broad categories: meth-ods based on distributional statistics drawn from text corpora, and methods based on the structure of existing knowledge resources. In the former case, taxonomic structure is disre-garded. In the latter, semantically relevant empirical information is not considered. In this paper, we present a method that retroﬁts the context vector representation of MeSH terms by using additional linkage information from UMLS/MeSH hierarchy such that linked concepts have similar vector representations. We evaluated the method relative to previously published physician and coder’s ratings on sets of MeSH terms. Our experimental re-sults demonstrate that the retroﬁtted word vector measures obtain a higher correlation with physician judgments. The results also demonstrate a clear improvement on the correlation with experts’ ratings from the retroﬁtted vector representation in comparison to the vector representation without retroﬁtting.
Auditory Working Memory Load Impairs Visual Ventral Stream Processing: Toward a Unified Model of Attentional Load

Attentional interference between tasks performed in parallel is known to have strong and often undesired effects. As yet, however, the mechanisms by which interference operates remain elusive. A better knowledge of these processes may facilitate our understanding of the effects of attention on human performance and the debilitating consequences that disruptions to attention can have. According to the load theory of cognitive control, processing of task-irrelevant stimuli is increased by attending in parallel to a relevant task with high cognitive demands. This is due to the relevant task engaging cognitive control resources that are, hence, unavailable to inhibit the processing of task-irrelevant stimuli. However, it has also been demonstrated that a variety of types of load (perceptual and emotional) can result in a reduction of the processing of task-irrelevant stimuli, suggesting a uniform effect of increased load irrespective of the type of load. In the present study, we concurrently presented a relevant auditory matching task [n-back working memory (WM)] of low or high cognitive load (1-back or 2-back WM) and task-irrelevant images at one of three object visibility levels (0%, 50%, or 100%). fMRI activation during the processing of the task-irrelevant visual stimuli was measured in the lateral occipital cortex and found to be reduced under high, compared to low, WM load. In combination with previous findings, this result is suggestive of a more generalized load theory, whereby cognitive load, as well as other types of load (e.g., perceptual), can result in a reduction of the processing of task-irrelevant stimuli, in line with a uniform effect of increased load irrespective of the type of load.
The Fiscal Theory of the Price Level in Overlapping Generations Models

We demonstrate that the Fiscal Theory of the Price Level (FTPL) cannot be used to determine the price level uniquely in the overlapping generations (OLG) model. We provide two examples of OLG models, one with three 3-period lives and one with 62-period lives. Both examples are calibrated to an income profile chosen to match the life-cycle earnings process in U.S. data estimated by Guvenen et al. (2015). In both examples, there exist multiple steady-state equilibria. Our findings challenge established views about what constitutes a good combination of fiscal and monetary policies. As long as the primary deficit or the primary surplus is not too large, the fiscal authority can conduct policies that are unresponsive to endogenous changes in the level of its outstanding debt. Monetary and fiscal policy can both be active at the same time.
The Development of Gas Hubs in Europe

This paper investigates the development of wholesale markets for natural gas at the different stages of market liberalization. We identify three steps in the process: wholesale trade initially develops to cope with balancing needs when the shippers and suppliers segments become more fragmented; once the market becomes more liquid, it turns out to be a second source of gas procurement in alternative to long term contracts; finally, to manage price risk financial instruments are traded. We review in detail the different regulatory measures that must be introduced to create an efficient and functioning wholesale gas market. Finally, we analyze the evolution of gas hubs in the UK, the Netherlands, Germany and Italy in terms of market rules and market liquidity. We argue that each of these country cases can be easily located into the evolutionary path we have highlighted at the beginning, with the UK and the Netherlands leading the process, Germany and Italy constrained by limited supply; Italy is also showing an interesting counterfactual.
CHARACTERISTICS OF TOWER LIGHTNING FLASHES IN A WINTER THUNDERSTORM AND RELATED METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS

In the past a considerable number of papers on winter lightning in the costal area of the Sea of Japan have been published. But very limited information is available about winter lightning characteristics in other regions. Every year a few winter thunderstorms occur over the area of Austria. In this paper we present the analysis of one specific winter thunderstorm with special regard to meteorological aspects and lightning activity. The investigation is limited to the area of Salzburg where several flashes have been recorded at the instrumented tower on Gaisberg, which is located very nearby.
The Camberwell Elderly Mentally Ill and Their Needs for Services

Background: Previous studies on the elderly mentally ill (graduates) have been undertaken in mental hospital settings and on populations being resettled from hospitals. This paper aims to assess the characteristics and service needs of an epidemiological sample of elderly mentally ill. Aims: The aim of this study was to identify the characteristics, problems, service utilization and needs of a sample of elderly patients with functional psychosis in a defined epidemiological area. Method: Data collected by PRiSM on psychotic patients who lived in two districts of Maudsley Hospital's catchment area were analyzed using the characteristics, problems and the needs for mental health services of those patients who were over the age of 64. These patients were compared with younger patients using the same data. Results: The elderly patients differed significantly in their characteristics and problems from the younger mentally ill persons. The needs assessment procedure (Camberwell Assessment of Needs, CAN) was less sensitive to physical and psychiatric needs of the elderly as it did not reflect the differences between the two age groups. Conclusions: The lower rate of schizophrenia in the elderly mentally ill compared to the younger community patients and asylum mentally ill is discussed. The explanation may lie in the natural history of the disorder or more plausibly in the implementation of `community care policy'. The paper concluded that a needs assessment procedure specifically designed to assess the needs of the elderly is required.
FOOD PRICE VOLATILITY EFFECT OF EXCHANGE RATE VOLATILITY IN NIGERIA

Purpose. There are sufficient evidences in the literature that welfare of food producers and consumers is easily compromised due to unfavorable food price volatility dynamics. Therefore, this study investigates the volatility dynamics in food price index returns (FPIRETURNS), imported food price index returns (CIFCPIRETURNS), price of dollars at bureau de change (BDCRETURNS) and inter-bank rate (EXRETURNS). Design/Methodology/Approach. In view of the increasing quest to account for volatility behavior such as non-linear and time-varying risk premium in food price series using an appropriate tool, this paper adopts exponential generalized autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity (EGARCH) model. This is because it allows error terms to be conditional heteroscedastic, and the dynamics process generating the underlying heteroscedasticity to be asymmetric. That is, the model introduces a parameter that can reveal how conditional variance respond to both positive and negative shocks of equal magnitude (asymmetric effect). Findings and Implications. The study finds leverage effect and high persistence in some of the selected models. Also, exchange rate volatility affects volatility of FPIRETURNS, but it is more pronounced on the volatility of CIFCPIRETURNS. Limitations. Inadequate data especially for CIFCPIRETURNS is a huge limitation in this study. Originality. However, this study has sufficient empirical evidences that instability in forex market flows into the Nigerian food market with pronounced leverage effect and persistence in food price volatility. The recommendation is, government should implement stabilization policy in the forex market as a precursor to ensuring stability in domestic food market.
THE DETERMINANTS OF SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING IN SOUTH AFRICA - AN EXPLORATORY ENQUIRY

The study of subjective well-being is no longer on the periphery of study in the field of economics. A significant body of literature exists on the determinants of subjective well-being in the developed world. This paper uses the first wave of the National Income Dynamics Survey (NIDS) dataset to investigate the determinants of subjective well-being in South Africa, involving a broad range of economic, socio-economic and attitudinal variables identified from literature. Ordinary Least Squares and ordered probit estimations reveal that age, race, level of income, years of education, gender, marital status and the number of children explain varying levels of well-being. Unlike studies in the developed world, respondents’ height, health and residence in urban areas do not explain well-being. Two of the surprising findings point towards the significant influence of religion and provincial location in determining well-being in South Africa.