Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Time-Consistent Majority Rules and Heterogenous Preferences in Group Decision-Making

This paper studies a collective decision problem in which a group of individuals with interdependent preferences vote whether or not to implement a public project of unknown value. A utilitarian social planner aggregates these votes according to a majority rule; but, unlike what is commonly assumed in the literature, the planner is unable to commit to the rule before votes are cast. Characterizing the time-consistent majority rules, we find that the ex ante optimal majority rule is time-consistent; but for groups whose members have sufficiently homogenous preferences, there is an ex ante suboptimal rule that is also time-consistent. Thus, in the absence of an ex ante commitment, the social planner prefers a relatively heterogeneous group in which strategic voting incentives are weak. This finding is in sharp contrast with the observation that under an exogenously given majority rule, the social planner prefers the most homogenous group. Applications to trial jury and advisory committee formations as well as academic hiring decisions are discussed.
Comparison of Implicit Multigrid Schemes for Three-Dimensional Incompressible Flows

To develop a robust and efficient computational flow simulation tool for incompressible flow applications, a number of different implicit multigrid schemes for solving the three-dimensional incompressible Navier? Stokes equations are compared in the current study. These schemes consist of a common full approximation storage (FAS) multigrid algorithm implemented in conjunction with three different implicit schemes, which include a modified point Gauss relaxation, a standard Gauss? Seidel line relaxation, and the Beam? Warming alternating direction implicit (ADI) scheme. The flow solver used in the study is based on artificial compressibility and uses a third-order upwind difference for the convective terms and a second-order central difference for the viscous terms. The efficiency of each implicit multigrid scheme is assessed in terms of the computing time required for two laminar flow problems: the entry flow through a 90° bent square duct, and the steady-state and unsteady flows past a prolate spheroid at incidence with an axis ratio of 4 : 1. It is found that implementation of Neumann boundary conditions on the coarse grid in terms of the flow variable correction rather than the flow variable itself is essential for obtaining good convergence in the collocated finite difference discretization. The results of steady-state flow computations show that all the implicit multigrid schemes yield more than 50% computational time savings over their single grid counterparts, and the point or line relaxation multigrid scheme outperforms the ADI multigrid scheme by at least a factor of 2. However, in unsteady flow computations, the computational time saving of the multigrid scheme is less than that in steady-state cases. The current study concludes that the FAS multigrid algorithm implemented with the modified point Gauss relaxation scheme is preferable for simulating both steady-state and time-dependent incompressible flows.
Efficacy of Rehabilitative Experience Declines with Time after Focal Ischemic Brain Injury

To maximize the effectiveness of rehabilitative therapies after stroke, it is critical to determine when the brain is most responsive (i.e., plastic) to sensorimotor experience after injury and to focus such efforts within this period. Here, we compared the efficacy of 5 weeks of enriched rehabilitation (ER) initiated at 5 d (ER5), ER14, or ER30 after focal ischemia, as judged by functional outcome and neuromorphological change. ER5 provided marked improvement in skilled forelimb reaching ability and ladder-rung- and narrow-beam-walking tasks and attenuated the stroke-induced reliance on the unaffected forepaw for postural support. ER14 provided improvement to a somewhat lesser extent, whereas recovery was diminished after ER30 such that motor function did not differ from ischemic animals exposed to social housing. To examine potential neural substrates of the improved function, we examined dendritic morphology in the undamaged motor cortex because our previous work (Biernaskie and Corbett, 2001) suggested that recovery was associated with enhanced dendritic growth in this region. ER5 increased the number of branches and complexity of layer V neurons compared with both social housing and control animals. Dendritic arbor after ER14 (although increased) and ER30 did not differ from those exposed to social housing. These data suggest that the poststroke brain displays heightened sensitivity to rehabilitative experience early after the stroke but declines with time. These findings have important implications for rehabilitation of stroke patients, many of whom experience considerable delays before therapy is initiated.
P(ω)/fin AND PROJECTIONS IN THE CALKIN ALGEBRA

We investigate the set-theoretic properties of the lattice of projections in the Calkin algebra of a separable infinite-dimensional Hilbert space in relation to those of the Boolean algebra P(ω)/ fin, which is isomorphic to the sublattice of diagonal projections. In particular, we prove some basic consistency results about the possible cofinalities of well-ordered sequences of projections and the possible cardinalities of sets of mutually orthogonal projections that are analogous to well-known results about P(ω)/ fin.
Perverse Cities: Hidden Subsidies, Wonky Policy, and Urban Sprawl

Preface 1 The Price of Sprawl Part 1: The Planning Problem 2 Sprawl: A Planning Problem 3 The Costs and Benefits of Sprawl Part 2: The Problem with Planning 4 The Costs and Benefits of Planning 5 How Do Our Cities Grow? Plans versus Reality 6 Prices Drive Sprawl Part 3: Subsidies, Cross-Subsidies, and Mis-Incentives: How Public Policy Finances Sprawl 7 Municipal Services: Costs and Prices 8 Network Services: Costs and Prices 9 Housing, Infrastructure, and Energy: More Mis-Pricing and Mis-Incentives 10 Driving Sprawl: Pricing and Policy Mis-Incentives Part 4: What to Do 11 Principles for a Market-Oriented Approach 12 A Toolbox of Market-Oriented Instruments 13 Perverse Subsidies, Perverse Cities Notes Bibliography Index
Evaluation of a Dementia Education Program for Family Medicine Residents

Background Dementia diagnosis and management is increasing in importance in the training of future family physicians. This study evaluated the impact of a dementia education program for family medicine residents (FMR) on residents’ knowledge, attitudes, and confidence with respect to dementia assessment and management. A three-part questionnaire was developed and validated for these purposes. Methods A mixed methods study design was employed. The questionnaire’s internal consistency and test–retest reliability was determined and content validity was assessed. Twelve FMR participated in questionnaire validation. Program participants completed the validated questionnaire at baseline, at interim, and following program completion. Twenty-seven FMR completed the questionnaire as part of the program evaluation. Willing residents also participated in program feedback interviews. Differences in questionnaire scores between program participants and the comparison group were examined. Results Each questionnaire component demonstrated high internal consistency (Cronbach’s α: 0.83–0.91) and test–retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficients: 0.74–0.91). Program participants (n = 15) scored significantly higher than the comparison group (n = 12) on the knowledge component and also reported greater confidence in several areas. Qualitative data indicated that residents felt the program focused on important topic areas and appreciated the opportunity to work in an interprofessional team. Conclusion Evaluation results indicate that the program improved FMRs’ knowledge on dementia assessment and management, as well as increased the residents’ confidence levels.
Quality management practices in the purchasing function: An empirical study

The topic of this research focuses on firm's perceived implementation of quality management practices in the purchasing function. More specifically, this paper describes an exploratory research effort to analyze and classify quality management practices in purchasing and assesses the relationships of these practices with measurements of a firm purchasing's operational performance (POP), internal customer satisfaction and business performance. The results reported in this study are based on a field survey consisting of responses gathered from 306 purchasing managers within the Spanish manufacturing industry. The assessment of the relationships among quality management practices in purchasing, POP, internal customer satisfaction and business performance is carried out using bivariate correlation analysis.
Gaussian Processes for Dispatching Rule Selection in Production Scheduling: Comparison of Learning Techniques

Decentralized scheduling with dispatching rules is applied in many fields of logistics and production, especially in semiconductor manufacturing, which is characterized by high complexity and dynamics. Many dispatching rules have been found, which perform well on different scenarios, however no rule has been found, which outperforms other rules across various objectives. To tackle this drawback, approaches, which select dispatching rules depending on the current system conditions, have been proposed. Most of these use learning techniques to switch between rules regarding the current system status. Since the study of Rasmussen [1] has shown that Gaussian processes as a machine learning technique have outperformed other techniques like neural networks under certain conditions, we propose to use them for the selection of dispatching rules in dynamic scenarios. Our analysis has shown that Gaussian processes perform very well in this field of application. Additionally, we showed that the prediction quality Gaussian processes provide could be used successfully.
Epidemiology of apparent life threatening events

Aims: To investigate the epidemiology and risk factors of apparent life threatening events (ALTE). Methods: A prospective study enrolled all live-born infants in the Tyrol (1993–2001). Information on pregnancy, sociodemographic characteristics, child care practices, and infant’s behaviour in the first four to six weeks of life was collected with a standardised questionnaire, and was available for 44 184 infants. ALTE was identified from hospital admission records. Results: During the study period 164 ALTE cases were identified, corresponding to an incidence of 2.46/1000 live births. In 73 of these infants no cause for the event and no comorbidity could be found (idiopathic ALTE). On average ALTE manifested ten weeks earlier than SIDS. Of various SIDS risk factors in the survey area, the prone sleeping position, smoking during pregnancy, low gestational age, profuse night sweating, and family history of infant death showed a moderate relation to the risk of overall ALTE, but only smoking maintained significance in the multivariate risk model. None of these variables was associated with idiopathic ALTE. In contrast to SIDS the frequency of ALTE did not change during the study period. None of the ALTE infants experienced SIDS later in life. Behavioural abnormalities such as feeding difficulties, episodes of pallor, cyanotic episodes, and repeated apnoea episodes were strongly associated with an increased risk of overall and idiopathic ALTE. Conclusions: Although there are some similarities in the clinical presentation and epidemiology of SIDS and ALTE, differences clearly predominate. Accordingly, ALTE and SIDS should not be considered different manifestations of the same disease process.
Rosiglitazone amplifies the sensitivity of docetaxel and reduces the expression of CD44v6

Breast cancer seriously impairs physical and mental health in females. Currently, with further investigation into drugs, a number of new pharmacological effects have been found that offer new methods for clinical application in the treatment of breast cancer. As a widely used antidiabetic drug, rosiglitazone (Ros) has become well known for its anticancer effects, mediated by the activation of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ and downregulated expression of the associated invasion gene. The objective of the present study was to investigate the combination of Ros and docetaxel (DOC) and whether DOC has any effect on breast cancer cell lines. The results showed that the combination of Ros and DOC may cooperate to increase anti-growth efficacy. The additive inhibitory effects on cell proliferation were sequence-dependent and are not likely to be associated with cell cycle arrest. This suggested that the target activation of associated factors of the signaling pathway by Ros may be a compelling ally in cancer treatment. In addition, evidence was provided for a convergence of Ros and DOC to induce the reduced expression of CD44v6. Future studies are required to confirm which associated gene of Ros is significant in blocking the signaling pathway.
Association and Linkage Disequilibrium Analyses of APOE Polymorphisms in Atherosclerosis

Background: Apolipoprotein E (apo E) plays a major role in lipid metabolism, and its genetic variations have been associated with cardiovascular risk. The objective of this study was to investigate the influence of the APOE promoter (−491 A/T, −427 T/C and −219 G/T) and coding region (APOE ɛ2/ɛ3/ɛ4) polymorphisms in atherosclerosis disease by association and linkage disequilibrium analyses. Materials and methods: We analyzed these polymorphisms in a sample of 286 subjects with atherosclerosis disease: 153 subjects with atherothrombotic stroke (ATS) and 133 subjects with ischemic heart disease (IHD); and in two control groups, 103 newborns and 114 elderly subjects. Results: The ɛ4 allele was associated with more severe carotid stenosis in the ATS group, being the percentages of ɛ4 carriers 26.7% and 11.4% for the higher and lower carotid stenosis groups, respectively (p=0,066). The −491 T/T IHD subjects presented higher vessel scores than subjects A/A and A/T genotypes at that position (p=0,041), and the frequencies of −2 (5.1% versus 14.1%, p=0,060) and −427C (10.3% versus 24.4%, p=0,019) alleles were lower in IHD subjects with higher extent score versus lower extent score. The ɛ2 allele was in linkage disequilibrium with the −427C allele in all studied groups, and the −219T allele was associated with the ɛ4 allele in the IHD group. Conclusion: In summary, the ɛ2 allele was in linkage disequilibrium with the −427C allele in all studied groups, and only slight associations between the analyzed APOE polymorphisms in the promoter and in the coding region and carotid and coronary vascular disease have been observed.
Evidence against a Human Cell-Specific Role for LRP6 in Anthrax Toxin Entry

The role of the cellular protein LRP6 in anthrax toxin entry is controversial. Previous studies showed that LRP6 was important for efficient intoxication of human M2182 prostate carcinoma cells but other studies performed with cells from gene-knockout mice demonstrated no role for either LRP6 or the related LRP5 protein in anthrax toxin entry. One possible explanation for this discrepancy is that LRP6 may be important for anthrax toxin entry into human, but not mouse, cells. To test this idea we have investigated the effect of knocking down LRP6 or LRP5 expression with siRNAs in human HeLa cells. We show here that efficient knockdown of either LRP6, LRP5, or both proteins has no influence on the kinetics of anthrax lethal toxin entry or MEK1 substrate cleavage in these cells. These data argue against a human-specific role for LRP6 in anthrax toxin entry and suggest instead that involvement of this protein may be restricted to certain cell types independently of their species of origin.
A Distributed Method for Trust-Aware Recommendation in Social Networks

This paper contains the details of a distributed trust-aware recommendation system. Trust-base recommenders have received a lot of attention recently. The main aim of trust-based recommendation is to deal the problems in traditional Collaborative Filtering recommenders. These problems include cold start users, vulnerability to attacks, etc. Our proposed method is a distributed approach and can be easily deployed on social networks or real life networks such as sensor networks or peer to peer networks.
C6/36 Aedes albopictus Cells Have a Dysfunctional Antiviral RNA Interference Response

Mosquitoes rely on RNA interference (RNAi) as their primary defense against viral infections. To this end, the combination of RNAi and invertebrate cell culture systems has become an invaluable tool in studying virus-vector interactions. Nevertheless, a recent study failed to detect an active RNAi response to West Nile virus (WNV) infection in C6/36 (Aedes albopictus) cells, a mosquito cell line frequently used to study arthropod-borne viruses (arboviruses). Therefore, we sought to determine if WNV actively evades the host's RNAi response or if C6/36 cells have a dysfunctional RNAi pathway. C6/36 and Drosophila melanogaster S2 cells were infected with WNV (Flaviviridae), Sindbis virus (SINV, Togaviridae) and La Crosse virus (LACV, Bunyaviridae) and total RNA recovered from cell lysates. Small RNA (sRNA) libraries were constructed and subjected to high-throughput sequencing. In S2 cells, virus-derived small interfering RNAs (viRNAs) from all three viruses were predominantly 21 nt in length, a hallmark of the RNAi pathway. However, in C6/36 cells, viRNAs were primarily 17 nt in length from WNV infected cells and 26–27 nt in length in SINV and LACV infected cells. Furthermore, the origin (positive or negative viral strand) and distribution (position along viral genome) of S2 cell generated viRNA populations was consistent with previously published studies, but the profile of sRNAs isolated from C6/36 cells was altered. In total, these results suggest that C6/36 cells lack a functional antiviral RNAi response. These findings are analogous to the type-I interferon deficiency described in Vero (African green monkey kidney) cells and suggest that C6/36 cells may fail to accurately model mosquito-arbovirus interactions at the molecular level.
Technology and Growth in OECD Countries, 1970-1990

This paper investigates the empirical regularities and differences in the relationship between technology and growth across 20 OECD countries from 1970 to 1990. While the broad association between GDP per capita and technology indicators is confirmed, the relationships change over time and a variety of national patterns is found. Most countries have mainly relied upon one on the two 'engines of growth' offered by technology: either disembodied innovative activity (proxied by R&D intensity) or technology embodied in investment (proxied by capital formation per employee). However, with decreasing scope for catching up, growth appears stronger where it is sustained by a more balanced use of the two 'engines of growth. ' (c) 1995 Academic Press, Inc. Copyright 1995 by Oxford University Press.
Wound and rotating strings in AdS 5 × S 5

From the Nambu-Goto string action using a non-diagonal gauge we construct a solution describing a wound string in AdS5 × S5 which rotates in the same angular direction as the winding direction in S5. The relation between energy and angular momentum of the string solution is characterized by the winding number and the bending number, and becomes linear in the large angular momentum limit. The small angular momentum limit is compared with the strong coupling limit of the integrable hamiltonian constructed in hep-th/0411089 by using the non-diagonal uniform gauge for the Polyakov string action. We analyze a wound string solution which is rotating in the different angular direction from the winding direction.
Education: Past, Present and Future Global Challenges

Progress in educational development in the world since 1900 has been slow and uneven between countries. Providing basic education for all children in developing countries has been and remains an unmet challenge of governments and international organizations alike. This is in sharp contrast to recent findings in the economics literature on the catalytic role of human capital for economic growth and social development in general. Using a newly constructed matched data set on education and national accounts in the 1950 to 2010 period, this paper estimates the loss of income and equity associated with not having a faster rate of human capital accumulation, using alternative methodologies and specific country examples. Such loss is projected backward (1900-1950) and forward (2010-2050) using plausible assumptions regarding what countries could have done in the past or may do in the future to accelerate human capital formation. The findings suggest that the welfare loss in terms of per capita income conservatively ranges from about 7 to 10 percent. Improved educational attainment is also shown to have an effect in reducing income inequality.
Rational Laymen Versus Over-Confident Experts: Who Survives in the Long-Run?

In this paper we study the equilibrium in a heterogeneous economy with two groups of investors. Over-confident experts incorrectly assume that their signal for the drift of the dividend process is correlated with the true drift, but interpret the signal otherwise perfectly. Rational laymen avoid the experts' error, but their signal is noisier than that received by the experts. We investigate which of these two problems is more severe by computing long-run equilibrium consumption shares for the two groups. Our results indicate that overconfidence might be a more serious problem than limited information processing capability.
TRACING THE COSTS AND BENEFITS OF IMPROVEMENTS IN FOOD SAFETY: THE CASE OF HAZARD ANALYSIS AND CRITICAL CONTROL POINT PROGRAM FOR MEAT AND POULTRY

The level and distribution of the costs and benefits of the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) regulatory program for meat and poultry change dramatically once economywide effects are included in the analysis. Using a Social Accounting Matrix Model, we find that reduced premature deaths had a strong positive effect on household income, with economywide benefits almost double initial benefits. Contrary to expectations, reduced medical expenses resulted in a decrease in household income, while HACCP costs resulted in an increase. Net economywide benefits were slightly larger than initial net benefits, with poor households receiving a proportionally smaller share of the increased benefits than nonpoor because of their weak ties to the economy. Our SAM analysis provides policymakers useful information about who ultimately benefits from reduced foodborne illnesses and who ultimately pays the costs of food safety regulation. This analysis also sheds light on a number of issues central to cost-benefit analysis involving health, highlighting the danger of equating changes in income with changes in well-being.