Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Rules of Crowdsourcing: Models, Issues, and Systems of Control

In this article, the authors first provide a practical yet rigorous definition of crowdsourcing that incorporates “crowds,” outsourcing, and social web technologies. They then analyze 103 well-known crowdsourcing web sites using content analysis methods and the hermeneutic reading principle. Based on their analysis, they develop a “taxonomic theory” of crowdsourcing by organizing the empirical variants in nine distinct forms of crowdsourcing models. They also discuss key issues and directions, concentrating on the notion of managerial control systems.
A large-scale empirical study of P3P privacy policies: Stated actions vs. legal obligations

Numerous studies over the past ten years have shown that concern for personal privacy is a major impediment to the growth of e-commerce. These concerns are so serious that most if not all consumer watchdog groups have called for some form of privacy protection for Internet users. In response, many nations around the world, including all European Union nations, Canada, Japan, and Australia, have enacted national legislation establishing mandatory safeguards for personal privacy. However, recent evidence indicates that Web sites might not be adhering to the requirements of this legislation. The goal of this study is to examine the posted privacy policies of Web sites, and compare these statements to the legal mandates under which the Web sites operate. We harvested all available P3P (Platform for Privacy Preferences Protocol) documents from the 100,000 most popular Web sites (over 3,000 full policies, and another 3,000 compact policies). This allows us to undertake an automated analysis of adherence to legal mandates on Web sites that most impact the average Internet user. Our findings show that Web sites generally do not even claim to follow all the privacy-protection mandates in their legal jurisdiction (we do not examine actual practice, only posted policies). Furthermore, this general statement appears to be true for every jurisdiction with privacy laws and any significant number of P3P policies, including European Union nations, Canada, Australia, and Web sites in the USA Safe Harbor program.
Isocurvature fluctuations induce early star formation

The early reionization of the Universe inferred from the WMAP polarization results, if confirmed, poses a problem for the hypothesis that scale-invariant adiabatic density fluctuations account for large-scale structure and galaxy formation. One can only generate the required amount of early star formation if extreme assumptions are made about the efficiency and nature of early reionization. We develop an alternative hypothesis that invokes an additional component of a non-scale-free isocurvature power spectrum together with the scale-free adiabatic power spectrum for inflation-motivated primordial density fluctuations. Such a component is constrained by the Lyman alpha forest observations, can account for the small-scale power required by spectroscopic gravitational lensing, and yields a source of early star formation that can reionize the Universe at z ∼ 20 yet becomes an inefficient source of ionizing photons by z ∼ 10, thereby allowing the conventional adiabatic fluctuation component to reproduce the late thermal history of the intergalactic medium. Ke yw ords: stars: formation ‐ galaxies: formation ‐ intergalactic medium ‐ cosmology: theory ‐ early Universe ‐ large-scale structure of Universe
The Limits of Electoral Reform

Contents 1. The Promise and Politics of Electoral Reform 2. Institutional Change and Citizens 3. Arguments for Change - Partisan Interests and Expectations about Process 4. Assessing Effects of Reforms: Changing the Electoral System 5. Campaign Finance Reform: A Collection of Null Results 6. Term Limits: Effects, But Not as Advertised 7. Direct Legislation: Mobilization without Engagement 8. The Limits of Electoral Institutions Appendix Material References
Statistical geometry in quantum mechanics

A statistical model M is a family of probability distributions, characterised by a set of continuous parameters known as the parameter space. This possesses natural geometrical properties induced by the embedding of the family of probability distributions into the space of all square–integrable functions. More precisely, by consideration of the square–root density function we can regard M as a submanifold of the unit sphere S in a real Hilbert space H. Therefore, H embodies the ‘state space’ of the probability distributions, and the geometry of the given statistical model can be described in terms of the embedding of M in S. The geometry in question is characterised by a natural Riemannian metric (the Fisher–Rao metric), thus allowing us to formulate the principles of classical statistical inference in a natural geometric setting. In particular, we focus attention on the variance lower bounds for statistical estimation, and establish generalisations of the classical Cramér–Rao and Bhattacharyya inequalities, described in terms of the geometry of the underlying real Hilbert space. As a comprehensive illustration of the utility of the geometric framework, the statistical model M is then specialised to the case of a submanifold of the state space of a quantum mechanical system. This is pursued by introducing a compatible complex structure on the underlying real Hilbert space, which allows the operations of ordinary quantum mechanics to be reinterpreted in the language of real Hilbert space geometry. The application of generalised variance bounds in the case of quantum statistical estimation leads to a set of higher order corrections to the Heisenberg uncertainty relations for canonically conjugate observables.
Antiviral Treatment Alters the Frequency of Activating and Inhibitory Receptor-Expressing Natural Killer Cells in Chronic Hepatitis B Virus Infected Patients

Natural killer (NK) cells play a critical role in innate antiviral immunity, but little is known about the impact of antiviral therapy on the frequency of NK cell subsets. To this aim, we performed this longitudinal study to examine the dynamic changes of the frequency of different subsets of NK cells in CHB patients after initiation of tenofovir or adefovir therapy. We found that NK cell numbers and subset distribution differ between CHB patients and normal subjects; furthermore, the association was found between ALT level and CD158b+ NK cell in HBV patients. In tenofovir group, the frequency of NK cells increased during the treatment accompanied by downregulated expression of NKG2A and KIR2DL3. In adefovir group, NK cell numbers did not differ during the treatment, but also accompanied by downregulated expression of NKG2A and KIR2DL3. Our results demonstrate that treatment with tenofovir leads to viral load reduction, and correlated with NK cell frequencies in peripheral blood of chronic hepatitis B virus infection. In addition, treatments with both tenofovir and adefovir in chronic HBV infected patients induce a decrease of the frequency of inhibitory receptor+ NK cells, which may account for the partial restoration of the function of NK cells in peripheral blood following treatment.
Effects of Facial Symmetry and Gaze Direction on Perception of Social Attributes: A Study in Experimental Art History

This article explores the possibility of testing hypotheses about art production in the past by collecting data in the present. We call this enterprise “experimental art history”. Why did medieval artists prefer to paint Christ with his face directed towards the beholder, while profane faces were noticeably more often painted in different degrees of profile? Is a preference for frontal faces motivated by deeper evolutionary and biological considerations? Head and gaze direction is a significant factor for detecting the intentions of others, and accurate detection of gaze direction depends on strong contrast between a dark iris and a bright sclera, a combination that is only found in humans among the primates. One uniquely human capacity is language acquisition, where the detection of shared or joint attention, for example through detection of gaze direction, contributes significantly to the ease of acquisition. The perceived face and gaze direction is also related to fundamental emotional reactions such as fear, aggression, empathy and sympathy. The fast-track modulator model presents a related fast and unconscious subcortical route that involves many central brain areas. Activity in this pathway mediates the affective valence of the stimulus. In particular, different sub-regions of the amygdala show specific activation as response to gaze direction, head orientation and the valence of facial expression. We present three experiments on the effects of face orientation and gaze direction on the judgments of social attributes. We observed that frontal faces with direct gaze were more highly associated with positive adjectives. Does this help to associate positive values to the Holy Face in a Western context? The formal result indicates that the Holy Face is perceived more positively than profiles with both direct and averted gaze. Two control studies, using a Brazilian and a Dutch database of photographs, showed a similar but weaker effect with a larger contrast between the gaze directions for profiles. Our findings indicate that many factors affect the impression of a face, and that eye contact in combination with face direction reinforce the general impression of portraits, rather than determine it.
Executive Compensation and Earnings Management under Moral Hazard

This paper analyzes executive compensation in a setting where managers may take a costly action to manipulate corporate performance, and whether managers do so is stochastic. We examine how the opportunity to manipulate affects the optimal pay contract, and establish necessary and sufficient conditions under which earnings management occurs. Our model provides a set of implications on the role earnings management plays in driving the time-series and cross-sectional variation of executive compensation. In addition, the model's predictions regarding the changes of earnings management and executive pay in response to corporate governance legislation are consistent with empirical observations.
Healthy Dietary Interventions and Lipoprotein (a) Plasma Levels: Results from the Omni Heart Trial

Background Increased lipoprotein(a) [Lp(a)] levels are associated with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. Studies of dietary interventions on changes in Lp(a) are sparse. We aimed to compare the effects of three healthy dietary interventions differing in macronutrient content on Lp(a) concentration. Methods Secondary analysis of a randomized, 3-period crossover feeding study including 155 (89 blacks; 66 whites) individuals. Participants were given DASH-type healthy diets rich in carbohydrates [Carb], in protein [Prot] or in unsaturated fat [Unsat Fat] for 6 weeks each. Plasma Lp(a) concentration was assessed at baseline and after each diet. Results Compared to baseline, all interventional diets increased mean Lp(a) by 2 to 5 mg/dl. Unsat Fat increased Lp(a) less than Prot with a difference of 1.0 mg/dl (95% CI, −0.5, 2.5; p = 0.196) in whites and 3.7 mg/dl (95% CI, 2.4, 5.0; p<0.001) in blacks (p-value between races = 0.008); Unsat Fat increased Lp(a) less than Carb with a difference of −0.6 mg/dl, 95% CI, −2.1, 0.9; p = 0.441) in whites and −1.5 mg/dl (95% CI, −0.2, −2.8; p = 0.021) in blacks (p-value between races = 0.354). Prot increased Lp(a) more than Carb with a difference of 0.4 mg/dl (95% CI, −1.1, 1.9; p = 0.597) in whites and 2.2 mg/dl (95%CI, 0.9, 3.5; p = 0.001) in blacks (p-value between races = 0.082). Conclusion Diets high in unsaturated fat increased Lp(a) levels less than diets rich in carbohydrate or protein with greater changes in blacks than whites. Our results suggest that substitutions with dietary mono- and polyunsaturated fatty acids in healthy diets may be preferable over protein or carbohydrates with regards to Lp(a). Trial Registration Clinicaltrials.gov NCT00051350
The effect of different drinks on tooth color after home bleaching

Objective: This study evaluated the influence of coffee, tea, cola, and red wine staining on the color of teeth after home bleaching. Materials and Methods: A total of 45 samples were obtained from 45 sound maxillary central incisors. The home bleaching procedure was performed using 10% carbamide peroxide gel applied to the sample surface for a period of 6 h each day, for 14 days. After bleaching, baseline color measurements were taken, and the samples were immersed in four staining solutions (coffee, tea, cola, and red wine) or artificial saliva (n = 9). Following 15 min and 6 h of immersion on the first day and next day, respectively, the samples were washed with distilled water for 10 s. After 15 min, 6 h, 1 week, and 1 month immersions, the color values of each sample were remeasured and the color change values (∆E) were calculated. Color change analysis was performed using a spectrophotometer. The results were analyzed using analysis of variance and Tukey′s honestly significant difference test (P <0.05). Results: Of all the staining solutions, the lowest ∆E values were observed with coffee staining versus artificial saliva (control group), for all time intervals evaluated after whitening. Although no statistically differences were observed between the coffee and control group at all the time points evaluated, there were statistically significant differences between the red wine, cola, and tea solutions. Conclusion: Following tooth whitening, patients should avoid drinks that cause tooth staining, particularly red wine, tea and cola.
Learning from less for better: semi-supervised activity recognition via shared structure discovery

Despite the active research into, and the development of, human activity recognition over the decades, existing techniques still have several limitations, in particular, poor performance due to insufficient ground-truth data and little support of intra-class variability of activities (i.e., the same activity may be performed in different ways by different individuals, or even by the same individuals with different time frames). Aiming to tackle these two issues, in this paper, we present a robust activity recognition approach by extracting the intrinsic shared structures from activities to handle intra-class variability, and the approach is embedded into a semi-supervised learning framework by utilizing the learned correlations from both labeled and easily-obtained unlabeled data simultaneously. We use l2,1 minimization on both loss function and regularizations to effectively resist outliers in noisy sensor data and improve recognition accuracy by discerning underlying commonalities from activities. Extensive experimental evaluations on four community-contributed public datasets indicate that with little training samples, our proposed approach outperforms a set of classical supervised learning methods as well as those recently proposed semi-supervised approaches.
Structural Relationships between Variables of Elementary School Students' Intention of Accepting Digital Textbooks.

The purpose of this study is to explore variables affecting the acceptance of digital textbooks in the elementary school environment and provide basic information and resources to increase the intention of acceptance. Based on the above research purposes. Surveys were conducted using Google Docs targeting randomly selected elementary school students using digital textbooks. In this study, we used the measurement instruments used in the previous study, after revising according to the research environment, to measure the self-efficacy in using digital textbooks, subjective norms, observability, perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, and intention of acceptance. We used item parceling to avoid model misspecification and AMOS 20.0 for statistical analysis. The research results were as follows: first the observability and self-efficacy in using digital textbooks affected the perceived ease of use but subjective norms had no effect. On the other hand, the result that subjective norms do not affect the perceived ease of use is different from our initial hypothesis but is consistent with previous research by Oak (2013). Second, the results of investigating the effects of efficacy in using digital textbooks, subjective norms, observability, and perceived ease of use on perceived usefulness, self-efficacy in using digital textbooks, subjective norms, and perceived ease of use, affected perceived usefulness but observability did not provide significant effects. Third, the elementary school students’ perceived usefulness significantly affected the intention of accepting digital textbooks. The results are consistent with previous studies (Davis et al., 1989; Kang & Kim, 2013), suggesting that the more students utilize digital textbooks and believe that a digital textbook is helpful to increase learning outcomes, the more easily they are able to accept digital textbooks.
Interactions of Lactobacilli with Pathogenic Streptococcus pyogenes

Objective. To determine whether (1) a decreased concentration of Lactobacilli allows S. pyogenes to grow; (2) S. pyogenes is able to grow in the presence of healthy Lactobacillus concentrations; (3) S. pyogenes is capable of inhibiting Lactobacilli. Methods. One hundred fifty patient samples of S. pyogenes were mixed with four different concentrations of L. crispatus and L. jensenii. Colony counts and pH measurements were taken from these concentrations and compared using t-tests and ANOVA statistical analyses. Results. Statistical tests showed no significant difference between the colony counts of S. pyogenes by itself and growth when mixed with Lactobacilli, and no significant difference between the colony counts of S. pyogenes in the four different concentrations of Lactobacilli. Conclusion. The statistical data representing the growth of these two organisms suggests that Lactobacilli did not inhibit the growth of S. pyogenes. Also, S. pyogenes did not inhibit the growth of Lactobacilli.
Signaling Properties and Pharmacological Analysis of Two Sulfakinin Receptors from the Red Flour Beetle, Tribolium castaneum

Sulfakinin is an insect neuropeptide that constitutes an important component of the complex network of hormonal and neural factors that regulate feeding and digestion. The key modulating functions of sulfakinin are mediated by binding and signaling via G-protein coupled receptors. Although a substantial amount of functional data have already been reported on sulfakinins in different insect species, only little information is known regarding the properties of their respective receptors. In this study, we report on the molecular cloning, functional expression and characterization of two sulfakinin receptors in the red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum. Both receptor open reading frames show extensive sequence similarity with annotated sulfakinin receptors from other insects. Comparison of the sulfakinin receptor sequences with homologous vertebrate cholecystokinin receptors reveals crucial conserved regions for ligand binding and receptor activation. Quantitative reverse transcriptase PCR shows that transcripts of both receptors are primarily expressed in the central nervous system of the beetle. Pharmacological characterization using 29 different peptide ligands clarified the essential requirements for efficient activation of these sulfakinin receptors. Analysis of the signaling pathway in multiple cell lines disclosed that the sulfakinin receptors of T. castaneum can stimulate both the Ca2+ and cyclic AMP second messenger pathways. This in depth characterization of two insect sulfakinin receptors may provide useful leads for the further development of receptor ligands with a potential applicability in pest control and crop protection.
Emergence and Transmission Pathways of Rapidly Evolving Evolutionary Branch C4a Strains of Human Enterovirus 71 in the Central Plain of China

Background Large-scale outbreaks of hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) occurred repeatedly in the Central Plain of China (Shandong, Anhui, and Henan provinces) from 2007 until now. These epidemics have increased in size and severity each year and are a major public health concern in mainland China. Principal Findings Phylogenetic analysis was performed and a Bayesian Markov chain Monte Carlo tree was constructed based on the complete VP1 sequences of HEV71 isolates. These analyses showed that the HFMD epidemic in the Central Plain of China was caused by at least 5 chains of HEV71 transmission and that the virus continued to circulate and evolve over the winter seasons between outbreaks. Between 1998 and 2010, there were 2 stages of HEV71 circulation in mainland China, with a shift from evolutionary branch C4b to C4a in 2003–2004. The evolution rate of C4a HEV71 was 4.99×10-3 substitutions per site per year, faster than the mean of all HEV71 genotypes. The most recent common ancestor estimates for the Chinese clusters dated to October 1994 and November 1993 for the C4a and C4b evolutionary branches, respectively. Compared with all C4a HEV71 strains, a nucleotide substitution in all C4b HEV71 genome (A to C reversion at nt2503 in the VP1 coding region, which caused amino acid substitution of VP1–10: Gln to His) had reverted. Conclusions The data suggest that C4a HEV71 strains introduced into the Central Plain of China are responsible for the recent outbreaks. The relationships among HEV71 isolates determined from the combined sequence and epidemiological data reveal the underlying seasonal dynamics of HEV71 circulation. At least 5 HEV71 lineages circulated in the Central Plain of China from 2007 to 2009, and the Shandong and Anhui lineages were found to have passed through a genetic bottleneck during the low-transmission winter season.
High Fat Feeding Induces Hepatic Fatty Acid Elongation in Mice

Background High-fat diets promote hepatic lipid accumulation. Paradoxically, these diets also induce lipogenic gene expression in rodent liver. Whether high expression of these genes actually results in an increased flux through the de novo lipogenic pathway in vivo has not been demonstrated. Methodology/Principal Findings To interrogate this apparent paradox, we have quantified de novo lipogenesis in C57Bl/6J mice fed either chow, a high-fat or a n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA)-enriched high-fat diet. A novel approach based on mass isotopomer distribution analysis (MIDA) following 1-13C acetate infusion was applied to simultaneously determine de novo lipogenesis, fatty acid elongation as well as cholesterol synthesis. Furthermore, we measured very low density lipoprotein-triglyceride (VLDL-TG) production rates. High-fat feeding promoted hepatic lipid accumulation and induced the expression of lipogenic and cholesterogenic genes compared to chow-fed mice: induction of gene expression was found to translate into increased oleate synthesis. Interestingly, this higher lipogenic flux (+74 µg/g/h for oleic acid) in mice fed the high-fat diet was mainly due to an increased hepatic elongation of unlabeled palmitate (+66 µg/g/h) rather than to elongation of de novo synthesized palmitate. In addition, fractional cholesterol synthesis was increased, i.e. 5.8±0.4% vs. 8.1±0.6% for control and high fat-fed animals, respectively. Hepatic VLDL-TG production was not affected by high-fat feeding. Partial replacement of saturated fat by fish oil completely reversed the lipogenic effects of high-fat feeding: hepatic lipogenic and cholesterogenic gene expression levels as well as fatty acid and cholesterol synthesis rates were normalized. Conclusions/Significance High-fat feeding induces hepatic fatty acid synthesis in mice, by chain elongation and subsequent desaturation rather than de novo synthesis, while VLDL-TG output remains unaffected. Suppression of lipogenic fluxes by fish oil prevents from high fat diet-induced hepatic steatosis in mice.