Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Affective Effects of Offering Options on Persuasiveness of Fear Appeals

ABSTRACT Research on fear level and options available for consumers to reduce their level of threat was undertaken to determine what effect these variables have on attitudes, purchase intentions, and emotions besides fear. Using an experimental design, it was found that higher levels of fear induce elevated levels of anger and disgust. There was also a positive correlation between fear and positive attitudes and purchase intention, but only in cases where more options were offered. This suggests that if advertisers want to induce a high level of fear in audiences, offering multiple options to reduce fear can lead to more positive attitudes and purchase intention.
A combined IR/NLP approach to question answering against large text collections

We describe an approach to finding literal answer strings to natural language questions in large text collections. The approach involves linking an IR system with an NLP system that performs reasonably thorough linguistic analysis. The IR system treats the question as a query and returns a set of top ranked documents or passages. The NLP system parses the question and analyses the top ranked documents o r passages returned by the IR system, yielding a 'meaning representation' of each. It then instantiates a privileged query variable in the semantic representation of the question against the semantic representation of the analysed documents or passages to discover the answer, using a general purpose coreference mechanism. The approach has been evaluated in the TREC-8 question and answer (Q & A) track evaluation. While initial overall success is limited, it is sufficient to warrant further investigation of the approach. In particular this work will shed light on the interesting question that the TREC Q & A task poses: to what extent are 'deeper' models of language processing necessary to perform question answering against large text collections?
The Diffusion of Internet Interactivity on Retail Web Sites: A Customer Relationship Model

The use of internet as an interactive marketing media has captured much attention from managers in their quest for a better relationship with online customers. The belief that serving existing customers are more profitable than acquiring new ones, entailing relationship building effort no longer a choice, but a necessity. This study attempted to uncover the measures of E-CRM program and determining the extent to which these features influence consumer satisfaction and loyalty. The findings revealed that firms should focus on ten relationship marketing measures in order to build enduring consumer relationships. Further, this study provides evidence that the implementation of E-CRM on firm’s web site does influence consumer satisfaction leading to loyalty. Finally, managerial implications and limitations of this study are discussed.
A dynamic model of customer loyalty

Competitive and economic advantages stemming from the strengthening of customer relationships have been widely tested and discussed by practitioners and scholars in the relationship marketing and in the customer satisfaction and postconsumption research fields. Many studies, early developed into the business to business marketing field, have focused on antecedents and consequences of market relationships, identifying cognitive, affective and behavioural constructs (satisfaction, trust, loyalty and co-operation) that qualify the relationship life cycle, from customer satisfaction up to customer loyalty and partnership. Cognitive and behavioural constructs operating during the relationship life cycle have been widely analysed, and thanks to these studies it is possible to define a model of "customer buying process", as a preliminary step before submitting it to the canonical falsification process. Starting from an overview of the literature, this paper proposes a dynamic model of customer loyalty, in the marketing relationship perspective. The paper aims to identify the antecedents and the consequences of the evolutionary links between the several relational constructs connected with customer satisfaction and loyalty. The paper formulates research propositions on the loyalty development process, which will have to be empirically tested in order to theorise a model of customer buying behaviour, useful for loyalty management purposes, both in business to business and in business to consumer markets.
Comment on: Quinolone resistance determinant qnrA3 in clinical isolates of Salmonella in 2000-2005 in Hong Kong.

Sir, In their recent correspondence, Chu et al. noted the first observation of qnrA3 in salmonellae in Hong Kong, underlining the spread and diversity of plasmidic quinoloneresistance determinants worldwide. Such determinants now include qnrA1–5, qnrB and qnrS, some of which, at least, protect DNA gyrase, as well as the fluoroquinolone-acetylating variant of the aminoglycoside-modifying enzyme AAC(60)Ib, named AAC(60)Ib-cr. These proteins may influence the development of high-level resistance to at least some fluoroquinolones. In our recent article, we sought to explore the unexplained significant association between chromosomal fluoroquinolone resistance and plasmidic resistances to other antibiotic classes (such as ESBLs), which is seen in several bacterial genera. We were pleased to note that Chu et al. cited our article, but would like to clarify a misinterpretation of our hypothesis. Multiresistance plasmids can encode toxin–antitoxin systems to prevent their own loss from the cell, and some toxins target DNA gyrase. We asked whether the development of quinolone resistance by plasmid-bearing strains might be associated with such DNA gyrase-targeting toxins. We speculated on whether a cell might escape addiction to toxin–antitoxin systems by developing resistance to the toxin. Mutational events in DNA gyrase could play a role in cells escaping addiction to plasmids with gyrase-targeting toxins, and we suggested that these mutations might fortuitously confer a degree of cross-resistance to quinolones. Notably, whilst at least three qnrA variants likely originated from the chromosome of Shewanella algae, and although Qnr-type proteins inhibit/protect DNA gyrase, their precise cellular role(s) remains unknown. We would like to emphasize that we did not state, or wish to imply, that Qnr proteins could be part of a toxin–antitoxin pair as was attributed to our article by Chu et al. Rather, we postulated that gyrase ‘inhibitors/protectors’ such as Qnr might give some crossresistance to gyrase-targeting toxins in addition to the more obvious resistance to quinolones. By so doing these proteins might open a ‘window’ and influence the frequency at which cells could eject the toxin–antitoxin encoding replicons without suffering apoptosis, thereby providing the host organism with a toxin–antitoxin evasion mechanism. This might provide a competitive advantage in demanding psychrophilic aquatic environments, the natural environment of S. algae, by allowing enhanced ejection of ‘accessory’ replicons.
Mechanisms and consequences of efferocytosis in advanced atherosclerosis

Throughout atherosclerotic lesion development, intimal macrophages undergo apoptosis, a form of death that usually prevents cellular necrosis. In advanced atherosclerotic lesions, however, these apoptotic macrophages become secondarily necrotic and coalesce over time into a key feature of vulnerable plaques, the necrotic core. This event is critically important, as necrotic core formation in these advanced atheromata is thought to promote plaque disruption and ultimately, acute atherothrombotic vascular disease. Increasing evidence suggests that the mechanism behind postapoptotic macrophage necrosis in advanced atherosclerosis is defective phagocytic clearance or “efferocytosis” of the apoptotic cells. Thus, understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms of efferocytosis in atherosclerosis and why efferocytosis becomes defective in advanced lesions is an important goal. Molecular–genetic causation studies in mouse models of advanced atherosclerosis have provided evidence that several molecules known to be involved in efferocytosis, including TG2, MFG‐E8, complement C1q, Mertk, lysoPC, and Fas, play important roles in the clearance of apoptotic cells in advanced plaques. These and future insights into the molecular mechanisms of defective efferocytosis in advanced atheromata may open the way for novel therapeutic strategies for atherothrombotic vascular disease, the leading cause of death in the industrialized world.
Person tracking on Kinect images using particle filter

In recent years, technique that estimates the movement of people from images has been studied actively. It is a technique to recognize and understand the intentions of human behaviors, using the results of sensing the state of a person by the time. It is widely applied for example to recognize gesture command of user or to detect suspicious persons using surveillance camera. Moreover, recent studies using Kinect is thriving. Kinect is a device that performs tracking and posture estimation of persons. However, the system has some problems. One of them is that Kinect's tracking system is vulnerable to occlusion. It is necessary to be improved. In this paper, we perform tracking of a person using a particle filter algorithm. We use a feature quantity obtained by combining the color information and depth information as the criteria of the particle filtering. We perform experiments at two situations. And, the results of the proposed method are compared with the results of the conventional method [6]. In certain circumstances, the results indicate that our proposed method is more accurate than the conventional method.
Personal and Shared Knowledge Building in P2P Semantic Wikis

In this paper, we propose to extend Peer-to-Peer Semantic Wikis with personal semantic annotations. Semantic Wikis are one of the most successful Semantic Web applications. In semantic wikis, wikis pages are annotated with semantic data to facilitate the navigation, information retrieving and ontology emerging. Semantic data represents the shared knowledge base which describes the common understanding of the community. However, in a collaborative knowledge building process the knowledge is basically created by individuals who are involved in a social process. Therefore, it is fundamental to support personal knowledge building in a differentiated way. Currently there are no available semantic wikis that support both personal and shared understandings. In order to overcome this problem, we propose a P2P collaborative knowledge building process and extend semantic wikis with personal annotations facilities to express personal understanding. In this paper, we detail the personal semantic annotation model and show its implementation in P2P semantic wikis. We also detail an evaluation study which shows that personal annotations demand less cognitive efforts than semantic data and are very useful to enrich the shared knowledge base.
Immuno-Virological Discordance and the Risk of Non-AIDS and AIDS Events in a Large Observational Cohort of HIV-Patients in Europe

Background The impact of immunosuppression despite virological suppression (immuno-virological discordance, ID) on the risk of developing fatal and non-fatal AIDS/non-AIDS events is unclear and remains to be elucidated. Methods Patients in EuroSIDA starting at least 1 new antiretroviral drug with CD4<350 cells/µl and viral load (VL)>500 copies/mL were followed-up from the first day of VL< = 50 copies/ml until a new fatal/non-fatal non-AIDS/AIDS event. Considered non-AIDS events included non-AIDS malignancies, pancreatitis, severe liver disease with hepatic encephalopathy (>grade 3), cardio- and cerebrovascular events, and end-stage renal disease. Patients were classified over time according to whether current CD4 count was above (non-ID) or below (ID) baseline level. Relative rates (RR) of events were calculated for ID vs. non-ID using adjusted Poisson regression models. Results 2,913 patients contributed 11,491 person-years for the analysis of non-AIDS. 241 pre-specified non-AIDS events (including 84 deaths) and 89 AIDS events (including 10 deaths) occurred. The RR of developing pre-specified non-AIDS events for ID vs. non-ID was 1.96 (95% CI 1.37–2.81, p<0.001) in unadjusted analysis and 1.43 (0.94–2.17, p = 0.095) after controlling for current CD4 count. ID was not associated with the risk of AIDS events (aRR 0.76, 95% CI 0.41–1.38, p = 0.361). Conclusion Compared to CD4 responders, patients with immuno-virological discordance may be at increased risk of developing non-AIDS events. Further studies are warranted to establish whether in patients with ID, strategies to directly modify CD4 count response may be needed besides the use of ART.
PocketMenu: non-visual menus for touch screen devices

We present PocketMenu, a menu optimized for non-visual, in-pocket interaction with menus on handheld devices with touch screens. By laying out menu items along the border of the touch screen its tactile features guide the interaction. Additional vibro-tactile feedback and speech allows identifying the individual menu items non-visually. In an experiment, we compared PocketMenu with iPhone's VoiceOver. Participants had to control an MP3 player while walking down a road with the device in the pocket. The results provide evidence that in the above context the PocketMenu outperforms VoiceOver in terms of completion time, selection errors, usability. Hence, it enables usage of touch screen apps in mobile contexts (e.g. walking, hiking, or skiing) and limited interaction spaces (e.g. device resting in a pocket).
Complex dynamics in higher dimension

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Rethinking the Paradox of the Subject: “Power” and “Freedom” in Nietzsche and Foucault

ABSTRACT This essay re-examines “the paradox of the subject” as one of the main traps for critical theory today. I attempt to demonstrate that this famous paradox is an effect of the ambivalence of the power/freedom relationship in Foucault and it may be resolved by recourse to Nietzsche. Following Paul Patton I argue that in a Nietzschean context “power” and “freedom” are not in opposition: freedom is power to act. But this synonymy creates a risk that “freedom” will become indistinguishable from “subjection” and “subordination. ” Turning once again to Nietzsche’s perspectivism, I attempt to demonstrate how immanent evaluative confrontations are made between “freedom” and “power”—how, when, and why they function as antonyms. Freedom is not every power, but only the one we exercise from “our” actual perspective, in “the first person. ” With every performance we inevitably make strong evaluations—including distinctions between freedom and domination—in an entirely immanent way, without resorting to justification. Finally, I attempt to focus on the strategic possibilities for critique today, which can enable us to practice—while keeping reflexive “modesty”—freedom of evaluation, including the freedom of making strong evaluations, which are not based upon pre-given normative models.
Data-driven covariate selection for nonparametric estimation of causal effects

The estimation of causal eects from nonexperimental data is a fundamental problem in many elds of science. One of the main obstacles concerns confounding by observed or latent covariates, an issue which is typically tackled by adjusting for some set of observed covariates. In this contribution, we analyze the problem of inferring whether a given variable has a causal eect on another and, if it does, inferring an adjustment set of covariates that yields a consistent and unbiased estimator of this eect, based on the (conditional) independence and dependence relationships among the observed variables. We provide two elementary rules that we show to be both sound and complete for this task, and compare the performance of a straightforward application of these rules with standard alternative procedures for selecting adjustment sets.
Security Design with Status Concerns

This paper studies security design in a dynamic economy in the presence of status concerns. Our setting involves an entrepreneur with status concerns who has an idea for a project requiring an initial investment, which she raises by issuing a security to a financier. We characterize analytically the optimal security and find that its payoff profile is considerably similar to that of a convertible security. In contrast to existing explanations for convertible securities, ours does not rely on agency problems or asymmetric information. The more volatile the project is, the more similar the optimal security is to a convertible security. This is consistent with the observation that convertible securities are primarily used to finance relatively volatile projects. Our analysis uncovers the entrepreneur's and financier's risk attitudes as factors that can explain why convertible securities have different conversion ratios. While the paper focuses on convertible securities for expositional purposes, our analysis is potentially relevant for understanding a broader class of hybrid securities as well as executive compensation contracts.
Estimation of temporal uncertainty structure of greenhouse gas inventories for selected EU countries

The paper addresses the problem of uncertainty in the greenhouse gas emission inventories, by proposing an alternative method for assessing uncertainty and its evolution over time. To estimate the inventory accuracy, the revisions published in consecutive years are used. These revisions are considered nonstationary time series. We describe evolution by time-dependent models, used to analyze data from the National Inventory Reports published annually up to 2015, for selected EU countries. We present a parametric model and a procedure for estimating parameters, along with the results obtained.
Spatial distribution of FoxP3+ and CD8+ tumour infiltrating T cells reflects their functional activity

Background Regulatory and cytotoxic T cells are key players in the host's anticancer immune response. We studied the spatial distribution of FoxP+ and CD8+ cells to identify potential interactions. Methods In 202 patients 103 pre-radiochemotherapy biopsies and 153 post-radiochemotherapy tumour specimens of advanced rectal cancer were available and an immunohistochemical double staining of FoxP3+ and CD8+ tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes was performed to investigate cell density and cell-to-cell distances. Results FoxP3+ cells decreased after radiochemotherapy by a factor of 3 while CD8+ cells remained nearly unchanged. High epithelial (p=0.033) and stromal (p=0.009) FoxP3+ cell density was associated with an improved overall survival. Cell-to-cell distances of randomly distributed cells were simulated and compared to observed cell-to-cell distances. Observed distances shorter than the simulated, random distances were hypothesized to represent FoxP3+ cells actively interacting with CD8+ cells. Epithelial short distances were associated with a favourable prognosis while the opposite was true for the stromal compartment. Conclusion The analysis of cell-to-cell distances may offer a tool to predict outcome, maybe by identifying functionally active, interacting infiltrating inflammatory cells in different tumour compartments.
Importance of obtaining independent measures of insulin secretion and insulin sensitivity during the same test: results with the Botnia clamp.

OBJECTIVE To validate and apply a method for independent assessment of insulin secretion and insulin sensitivity (S(I)) during the same test; that is, an intravenous glucose tolerance test followed by a euglycemic-hyperinsulinemic clamp, also called the Botnia clamp. This test was then applied to nondiabetic subjects with (FH+) and without (FH-) a first-degree family history of diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS The Botnia clamp measures the first-phase insulin response (FPIR) to 0.3g/kg glucose i.v. and insulin sensitivity (M-value) from a 2-h euglycemic clamp begun 60 min after the glucose bolus. The M-value obtained during the Botnia clamp was compared with M-values obtained during a regular euglycemic clamp without prior glucose bolus. Repeated tests were performed in random order in subjects with normal and abnormal glucose tolerance. Finally, the test was applied to subjects with and without a family history of type 2 diabetes. RESULTS S(I) and insulin secretion from this test showed a high degree of reproducibility, and the M-value obtained with the Botnia clamp correlated strongly with the M-value from a euglycemic clamp without prior glucose bolus (r = 0.953, P < 0.005). FH+ subjects showed decreased S(I) (P = 0.02), but similar FPIR, compared with FH- subjects. However, insulin secretion adjusted for the degree of insulin resistance was significantly impaired (P = 0.04). CONCLUSIONS In conclusion, the Botnia clamp provides reliable and independent measures of S(I) and beta-cell function during the same test. As illustrated above, knowledge of the degree of S(I) is mandatory when presenting data on insulin secretion.
Color-based image retrieval using vector quantization and multivariate graph matching

A novel strategy for color-based image retrieval is introduced. Initially, a vector quantization technique is adopted, based on the application of self-organizing neural networks. The color content in each image is summarized by representative RGB-vectors extracted using the Neural-Gas network, an efficient way to extract faithful representations from multivariate distributions. The similarity between two images is then assessed as commonality between the corresponding representative color distributions and quantified using the multivariate Wald-Wolfowitz test, a nonparametric statistical test dealing with the "multivariate two-sample problem". Experimental results drawn from a diverse collection of color images show a significantly improved performance relative to the popular approach of color histogram.
Stability and Control Considerations of Vehicle-Trailer Combination

In this paper, dynamics and stability of an articulated vehicle in the yaw plane are examined through analysis, simulations, and vehicle testing. Control of a vehicle-trailer combination using active braking of the towing vehicle is discussed. A linear analytical model describing lateral and yaw motions of a vehicle-trailer combination is used to study the effects of parameter variations of the trailer on the dynamic stability of the system and limitations of different control strategies. The results predicted by the analytical model are confirmed by testing using a vehicle with a trailer in several configurations. Design of the trailer makes it possible to vary several critical parameters of the trailer. The test data for vehicle with trailer in different configurations is used to validate the detailed non-linear simulation model of the vehicle-trailer combination. Analysis and the simulation model are used to examine the advantages and limitations of two active brake control methods: the uniform braking and the direct yaw moment (DYM) control of the towing vehicle.