Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Facing Your Opponents

We experimentally investigate the effect of social identification and information feedback on individual behavior in contests. In all treatments, we find significant overexpenditure of effort relative to the standard theoretical predictions. Identifying subjects through photo display decreases wasteful effort. Providing information feedback about others’ effort does not affect the aggregate effort, but it decreases the heterogeneity of effort and significantly affects the dynamics of individual behavior. A behavioral model that incorporates a nonmonetary utility of winning and relative payoff maximization explains significant overexpenditure of effort. It also suggests that decrease in “social distance” between group members through social identification promotes prosocial behavior and decreases overexpenditure of effort, while improved information feedback decreases the heterogeneity of effort.
Galantamine protects against lipopolysaccharide-induced acute lung injury in rats

Lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced endotoxemia triggers the secretion of proinflammatory cytokines and can cause acute lung injury (ALI). The high mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) protein plays an important role as a late mediator of sepsis and ALI. Galantamine (GAL) is a central acetylcholinesterase inhibitor that inhibits the expression of HMGB1. This study evaluated the effects of GAL by measuring levels of inflammatory mediators and observing histopathological features associated with LPS-induced ALI. Sixty 8-10 week old male Sprague-Dawley rats (200-240 g) were randomized into three groups as follows: control group, LPS group (7.5 mg/kg LPS), and LPS+GAL group (5 mg/kg GAL before LPS administration). Histopathological examination of lung specimens obtained 12 h after LPS administration was performed to analyze changes in wet-to-dry (W/D) weight ratio, myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity, and HMGB1 expression level. Additionally, plasma concentrations of tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin-6, and HMGB1 were measured using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay at 0 (baseline), 3, 6, 9, and 12 h after LPS administration. Mortality in the three groups was recorded at 72 h. LPS-induced ALI was characterized by distortion of pulmonary architecture and elevation of MPO activity, W/D weight ratio, and levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines, including tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin-6, and HMGB1. Pretreatment with GAL significantly reduced the LPS-induced lung pathological changes, W/D weight ratio, levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines and MPO activity (ANOVA). Moreover, GAL treatment significantly decreased the mortality rate (ANOVA). In conclusion, we demonstrated that GAL exerted a protective effect on LPS-induced ALI in rats.
Language-Independent Twitter Sentiment Analysis

Millions of tweets posted daily contain opinions and sentiment of users in a variety of languages. Sentiment classification can benefit companies by providing data for analyzing customer feedback for products or conducting market research. Sentiment classifiers need to be able to handle tweets in multiple languages to cover a larger portion of the available tweets. Traditional classifiers are however often language specific and require much work to be applied to a different language. We analyze the characterstics and feasibility of a language-independent, semisupervised sentiment classification approach for tweets. We use emoticons as noisy labels to generate training data from a completely raw set of tweets. We train a Naı̈ve Bayes classifier on our data and evaluate it on over 10000 tweets in 4 languages that were human annotated using the Mechanical Turk platform. As part of our contribution, we make the sentiment evaluation dataset publicly available. We present an evaluation of the performance of classifiers for each of the 4 languages and of the effects of using multilingual classifiers on tweets of mixed languages. Our experiments show that the classification approach can be applied effectively for multiple languages without requiring extra effort per additional language.
Employee Engagement as a Driving Force of Organizational Success. (A Case Study of

Success of any organization is determined by its workforce, and at the foundation of every successful educational institution are engaged teachers whose contributions push their institution to touch the peaks of glory. This study is aimed to assess the impact of teacher's engagement on the overall performance of university. In this study the predictor variable is teacher's engagement and criterion variable is performance. Data is collected through a five point likert scale questionnaire and responses are tested through regression analysis using SPSS version,20. The findings confirmed that engagement is a significant predictor of university performance. Furthermore the findings of this study suggest that organizational strategies, culture & values aspects of engagement should be given due consideration in educational settings.
A functional MRI study of altered spontaneous brain activity pattern in patients with congenital comitant strabismus using amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation

Objective The aim of this study was to use amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) to investigate local features of spontaneous brain activity in patients with congenital comitant strabismus and clarify their relationship with emotional and psychosocial problems. Methods A total of 20 patients with congenital comitant strabismus (ten males and ten females), and 20 healthy controls (ten males and ten females) closely matched in age, sex, and education underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging scans. The ALFF method was used to assess local features of spontaneous brain activity. Congenital comitant strabismus patients were distinguished from healthy controls by receiver operating characteristic curve. Correlation analysis was performed to explore the relationships between the observed mean ALFF signal values of the different areas and the Chinese version of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. Results Compared with healthy controls, patients with congenital comitant strabismus had significantly lower ALFF in the bilateral medialfrontal gyrus and higher values in the bilateral cerebellum posterior lobe and left angular gyrus. In the congenital comitant strabismus group, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale-depression score showed a negative correlation with the ALFF signal values of the bilateral medial frontal gyrus (r=−0.550, P=0.012) and a negative correlation was noted between the mean ALFF signal values of the left angular gyrus and strabismus duration (r=−0.515, P=0.020). Conclusion Congenital comitant strabismus mainly involves dysfunction in the bilateral medial frontal gyrus, bilateral cerebellum posterior lobe, and left angular gyrus, which may reflect the underlying pathologic mechanism of congenital strabismus.
Impact of Time to Appropriate Therapy on Mortality in Patients with Vancomycin-Intermediate Staphylococcus aureus Infection

ABSTRACT Despite the increasing incidence of vancomycin-intermediate Staphylococcus aureus (VISA) infections, few studies have examined the impact of delay in receipt of appropriate antimicrobial therapy on outcomes in VISA patients. We examined the effects of timing of appropriate antimicrobial therapy in a cohort of patients with sterile-site methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) and VISA infections. In this single-center, retrospective cohort study, we identified all patients with MRSA or VISA sterile-site infections from June 2009 to February 2015. Clinical outcomes were compared according to MRSA/VISA classification, demographics, comorbidities, and antimicrobial treatment. Thirty-day all-cause mortality was modeled with Kaplan-Meier curves. Multivariate logistic regression analysis (MVLRA) was used to determine odds ratios for mortality. We identified 354 patients with MRSA (n = 267) or VISA (n = 87) sterile-site infection. Fifty-five patients (15.5%) were nonsurvivors. Factors associated with mortality in MVLRA included pneumonia, unknown source of infection, acute physiology and chronic health evaluation (APACHE) II score, solid-organ malignancy, and admission from skilled care facilities. Time to appropriate antimicrobial therapy was not significantly associated with outcome. Presence of a VISA infection compared to that of a non-VISA S. aureus infection did not result in excess mortality. Linezolid use was a risk for mortality in patients with APACHE II scores of ≥14. Our results suggest that empirical vancomycin use in patients with VISA infections does not result in excess mortality. Future studies should (i) include larger numbers of patients with VISA infections to confirm the findings presented here and (ii) determine the optimal antibiotic therapy for critically ill patients with MRSA and VISA infections.
Comment on Kahan and Corbin: Can polarization increase with actively open-minded thinking?

Kahan and Corbin suggest that the cognitive capabilities that constitute actively open-minded thinking (AOT) are used in the defense of favored positions, thus leading to polarization concerning global warming. Such a conclusion is contrary to the definition of AOT. I suggest, and dispute, two ways in which such a result could be consistent with the definition: the scale that measures AOT is correlated with other traits that do increase polarization; or AOT may itself not be a general trait, so that conservatives do not apply it to global warming. A third, more plausible, explanation is that part of the main result is based on a floor effect, a statistical artifact. It is also possible that the effect of AOT is exerted primarily on political identification. The substantial correlation between AOT and political liberalism also helps us interpret prior conflicting results concerning politics and cognitive style, especially in view of the total absence of any correlation between politics and the Cognitive Reflection Test in the same data set.
Antagonism of ghrelin receptor reduces food intake and body weight gain in mice

Background and aims: Ghrelin, an endogenous ligand for growth hormone secretagogue receptor (GHS-R), is an appetite stimulatory signal from the stomach with structural resemblance to motilin. We examined the effects of the gastric peptide ghrelin and GHS-R antagonists on energy balance and glycaemic control in mice. Materials and methods: Body weight, fat mass, glucose, insulin, and gene expression of leptin, adiponectin, and resistin in white adipose tissue (WAT) were measured after repeated administrations of ghrelin under a high fat diet. Gastric ghrelin gene expression was assessed by northern blot analysis. Energy intake and gastric emptying were measured after administration of GHS-R antagonists. Repeated administration of GHS-R antagonist was continued for six days in ob/ob obese mice. Results: Ghrelin induced remarkable adiposity and worsened glycaemic control under a high fat diet. Pair feeding inhibited this effect. Ghrelin elevated leptin mRNA expression and reduced resistin mRNA expression. Gastric ghrelin mRNA expression during fasting was increased by a high fat diet. GHS-R antagonists decreased energy intake in lean mice, in mice with diet induced obesity, and in ob/ob obese mice; it also reduced the rate of gastric emptying. Repeated administration of GHS-R antagonist decreased body weight gain and improved glycaemic control in ob/ob obese mice. Conclusions: Ghrelin appears to be closely related to excess weight gain, adiposity, and insulin resistance, particularly under a high fat diet and in the dynamic stage. Gastric peptide ghrelin and GHS-R may be promising therapeutic targets not only for anorexia-cachexia but also for obesity and type 2 diabetes, which are becoming increasingly prevalent worldwide.
Training Feed-Forward Neural Networks Using Firefly Algorithm

In this work, firefly algorithm (FA) is used in training feed-forward neural networks (FNN) for classification purpose. In experiments, three well-known classification problems have been used to evaluate the performance of the proposed FA. The experimental results obtained by FA were compared with the results reported by artificial bee colony (ABC) algorithm and genetic algorithm (GA). Also, since the choice of transfer functions may strongly influence the performance of neural networks, the FA results obtained by using traditional sigmoid transfer function and by using sine transfer function were compared. Key-Words: Swarm intelligence, Firefly algorithm, Feed-Forward Neural Networks
Anisotropic Sampling for Differential Point Rendering of Implicit Surfaces

In this paper, we propose a solution to adapt the differential point rendering technique [KV01] to implicit surfaces. Differential point rendering was initially designed for parametric surfaces as a two-stage sampling process that strongly relies on an adjacency relationship for the samples which does not naturally exist for implicit surfaces. This fact made it particularly challenging to adapt the technique to implicit surfaces. To overcome this difficulty, we extended the particle sampling technique developed by Witkin and Heckbert [WH94] in order to locally account for the principal directions of curvatures of the implicit surface. The final result of our process is a curvature driven anisotropic sampling where each sample "rules" a rectangular or elliptical surrounding domain and is locally oriented according to the directions of maximal and minimal curvatures. Like in the differential point rendering technique, these samples can then be efficiently rendered using a specific shader on a programmable GPU.
To bind or not to bind: potassium-lowering drugs in heart failure.

This editorial refers to ‘Evaluation of the efficacy and safety of RLY5016, a polymeric potassium binder, in a double-blind, placebo-controlled study in patients with chronic heart failure (the PEARL-HF) trial’[†][1], by B. Pitt et al. , on page 820 More than a decade ago the first large randomized controlled trial studying the effects of spironolactone in heart failure patients was published.1,2 The Randomized Aldactone Evaluation Study (RALES) trial showed for the first time the robust effects of aldosterone receptor blockers on reducing mortality. In this landmark trial patients with systolic heart failure in New York Heart Association (NYHA) class III were included. It is well known that one of the potential serious side effects of spironolactone is hyperkalaemia. Therefore patients with potassium levels >5 mmol/L were excluded from participation in RALES and potassium levels were measured frequently. Probably because of these intense safety checks the incidence of serious hyperkalaemia was extremely low and occurred in only 2% of the patients randomized to spironolactone compared with 1% in the placebo group. Similar findings were observed in the EPHESUS trial, which studied the effects of eplerenone, a selective aldosterone receptor blocker, in myocardial infarction complicated by heart failure.3 Blocking the aldosterone receptor resulted in a significant reduction in all-cause mortality. However, serious hyperkalaemia (>6.0 mmol/L) rates … [1]: #fn-2
Comprehensive Screening of Cell Surface Markers Expressed by Adult-Derived Human Liver Stem/Progenitor Cells Harvested at Passage 5: Potential Implications for Engraftment

Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) are known to have potential therapeutic benefits for a number of diseases. However, many studies report low engraftment levels, regardless of the target organ. One possible explanation could be that MSCs do not express the necessary receptors for engraftment. Indeed, MSCs appear to use a similar mechanism to leukocytes to engraft into injured organs, relying on various receptors for rolling, firm adhesion, and transmigration. In this study, we conducted an extensive surface molecule screening of adult-derived human liver stem/progenitor cells (ADHLSC) in an attempt to shed some light on this subject. We observed that ADHLSCs lack expression of most of the costimulatory molecules tested. Furthermore, study of the adhesion molecule profile of ADHLSCs revealed that they do not express selectin ligands or LFA-1 which are, respectively, involved in the rolling process and the firm adhesion. In addition, ADHLSCs slightly express VLA-4 and lose expression of CXCR4 altogether on their surface during culture expansion. However, ADHLSCs express all the integrin couples and matrix metalloproteinases needed to bind and integrate the extracellular matrix once the endothelial barrier is crossed. Collectively, these results suggest that binding to the endothelium may be the critical weak point in the engraftment process.
Analysis of the Determinants of Income and Income Gap between Urban and Rural China

This paper studies the determinants of income and urban–rural income gap to shed light on the problem of urban–rural income inequality in China. Ordinary least square (OLS), conditional quantile regression and Blinder–Oaxaca decomposition methods are used to analyze four waves of the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS) household data. Results show that education and occupation are essential determinants of households' income level. These two factors exert heterogeneous effects at different percentiles of income distribution. In urban areas, education is more valued for high income earners, while for rural areas, specialized or tertiary education are more beneficial for the poorer households. Among all occupational types, farm activities show much lower returns than other types; and this is more evident for individuals at the left tail of the income distribution. We also find that for the sampled provinces, urban–rural income gap increases from year 2000 to 2004 but the gap decreases from 2004 to 2009. The income gap can be largely explained by the individuals' attributes, especially by the level of education and type of occupation.
Evaluation of Acute Toxicity of Crude Plant Extracts from Kenyan Biodiversity using Brine Shrimp , Artemia salina L . ( Artemiidae )

Purpose: Artemia salina L. (Artemiidae), the brine shrimp larva, is an invertebrate used in the alternative test to determine toxicity of chemicals and natural products. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the acute toxicity of crude plant extracts using A.salina. Materials and methods: In this study the Medium Lethal Concentrations (LC50 values) of 45 antimalarial plant extracts and positive controls, cyclophosphamide and etoposide were determined using A. salina. Results: Out of the 45 organic extracts screened for activity against A. salina larvae, 23 (51%) of the crude extracts demonstrated activity at or below 100 μg/ml, and were categorized as having strong cytotoxic activity, 18 (40%) of the crude extracts had LC50 values between 100 μg/ml and 500 μg/ml, and were categorized as having moderate cytotoxicity, 2 (4.5%) of the crude extracts had LC50 values between 500 μg/ml and 1000 μg/ml, and were considered to have weak cytotoxic activity, while 2 (4.5%) of the crude extracts had LC50 values greater than 1000 μg/ml and were considered to be non toxic. Approximately 9 (20%) of the aqueous extracts demonstrated activity at or below 100 μg/ml and were considered to have strong cytotoxic activity, 18 (40%) of the screened aqueous crude extracts had LC50 values between 100 μg/ml and 500 μg/ml and were considered to be moderately cytotoxic, 7 (16%) of the crude extracts had LC50 values between 500 μg/ml and 1000 μg/ml and were considered to have weak cytotoxic activity while 11 (24%) of the aqueous extracts had LC50 values greater than 1000 μg/ml and were categorized as non toxic. The positive controls, cyclophosphamide and etoposide exhibited strong cytotoxicity with LC50 values of 95 μg/ml and 6 μg/ml respectively in a 24 hour lethality study, validating their use as anticancer agents. Conclusions: In the current study, 95.5% of all the screened organic extracts and 76% of the investigated aqueous extracts demonstrated LC50 values <1000 μg/ml, indicating that these plants could not make safe antimalarial treatments. This calls for dose adjustment amongst the community using the plant extracts for the treatment of malaria and chemical investigation for isolation of bioactive compounds responsible for the observed toxicity.
Under consideration for publication in Formal Aspects of Computing Testing for Design Faults

Existing theories of testing focus on verification. Their strategy is to cover a specification or a program text to a certain degree in order to raise the confidence in the correctness of a system under test. We take a different approach in the sense that we present a theory of fault-based testing. Fault-based testing uses test data designed to demonstrate the absence of a set of pre-specified faults. Here, the focus is on falsification. The presented theory of testing is integrated into Hoare & He’s theory of programming. As a result, two new test case generation techniques for detecting anticipated faults are presented: one is based on the semantic level of design specifications, the other on the algebraic properties of a programming language.
PENGARUH MANAJEMEN PEMBERIAN PAKAN TERHADAP PEMANFAATAN BIOFLOK UNTUK PERTUMBUHAN IKAN BANDENG

Upaya konversi limbah budidaya ikan menjadi bioflok mulai banyak dilakukan oleh pembudidaya untuk memperbaiki kualitas air dan menekan biaya pakan. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk meningkatkan pemanfaatan bioflok sebagai makanan ikan bandeng melalui pengaturan dosis pemberian pakan. Perlakuan yang dicobakan adalah ikan uji dipelihara dengan: (A) bioflok tanpa diberi pemberian pakan buatan, (B) bioflok + pakan buatan sebanyak 2,5% per hari, (C) bioflok + pakan buatan sebanyak 5% perhari, (D) pemberian pakan buatan sebanyak 5%/hari tanpa bioflok. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa ikan bandeng ukuran awal rata-rata 1,6 g yang hanya diberi bioflok dapat tumbuh dengan laju pertumbuhan 1,82%/hari, namun laju pertumbuhan ini masih lebih rendah dibandingkan yang diberi pakan buatan 5%/hari yaitu 2,01%/hari. Tanpa memperhitungkan jumlah pemberian molase, ikan yang diberi pakan buatan sebanyak 2,5%/hari dalam media bioflok, dapat meningkatkan efisiensi pakan sebanyak 58,5% dan efisiensi pemanfaatan protein sebanyak 59,2%. Kandungan TAN, nitrit dan oksigen terlarut dalam media budidaya cukup baik bagi pertumbuhan ikan bandeng.
Knowledge‐based protein secondary structure assignment

We have developed an automatic algorithm STRIDE for protein secondary structure assignment from atomic coordinates based on the combined use of hydrogen bond energy and statistically derived backbone torsional angle information. Parameters of the pattern recognition procedure were optimized using designations provided by the crystallographers as a standard‐of‐truth. Comparison to the currently most widely used technique DSSP by Kabsch and Sander (Biopolymers 22:2577‐2637, 1983) shows that STRIDE and DSSP assign secondary structural states in 58 and 31% of 226 protein chains in our data sample, respectively, in greater agreement with the specific residue‐by‐residue definitions provided by the discoverers of the structures while in 11% of the chains, the assignments are the same. STRIDE delineates every 11th helix and every 32nd strand more in accord with published assignments. © 1995 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.