Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Individual Learning and Collective Intelligence ∗

In this paper, we explore how incentives and information structures influence emergent collective accuracy. In our model, individuals of bounded ability predict outcomes that depend on the values of a set of attributes. Each individual constructs a predictive model that considers only a subset of those attributes. We compare environments in which individuals learn in isolation to environments where they can learn from and copy more successful predictors. We also compare incentives for accurate individual performance to market incentives, in which agents are paid an amount proportional to the inverse of the percentage of agents who predict correctly. We find that market incentives and isolated learning environments produce less accurate but more diverse predictors and that the benefits of diversity outweigh the loss in accuracy. Paradoxically, the incentives and information structures that produce less accurate individuals produce more accurate collectives.
Private insurance subsidies and public health care markets: evidence from Canada

In this study I examine the effects of government subsidies to employer-provided health insurance on the decision to purchase insurance, and on utilization of publicly funded health services. Using unique variation in tax subsidies across Canadian provinces as an instrument, I estimate the effects of these subsidies on the demand for supplemental health insurance and their extended effects on the decision to use publicly-funded health services. My results show that government subsidies through tax exemptions have significant effects on the decision to purchase insurance. Furthermore, additional insurance policies lead to moral hazard in the use of publicly funded health services.
Is Telerehabilitation a Safe and Viable Option for Patients with COPD? A Feasibility Study

Abstract In patients with COPD non-naïve to rehabilitation we tested the feasibility, adherence and satisfaction of a home-based reinforcement telerehabilitation program (TRP). Outcomes were compared with a standard outpatient rehabilitation program (ORP). Then 18 TRP patients underwent 28 sessions of strength exercises (60 min) and cycle training (40 min) using a satellite platform provided telemonitoring, tele-prescription, video-assistance and phone-calls, patients were equipped with an oximeter, steps-counter, bicycle, remote control and interactive TV software. 18 matched ORP, retrospectively identified from our hospital ORP database, were used as controls. At baseline and end of program, the 6-min walking test (6MWT), Medical Research Council (MRC) scale and Saint George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ) were administered. In TRP only, we assessed platform use, incremental exercise, steps walked/day and patient satisfaction. TRP patients completed all sessions without side effects, used the remote control 1,394 ± 2,329 times being in the 84% of the cases satisfied with the service. In 22% of the cases patients found the technology unfriendly. Each health-professional performed 46 ± 65 actions, 14.6 ± 2.12 phone calls and 1 ± 1.67 videoconference sessions per patient. TRP patients increased physical activity (3,412 vs. 1,863 steps/day, p = 0.0002). Both programs produced significant (all, p < 0.01) gains in 6MWT [meters, TRP +34.22 ± 50.79; ORP +33.61 ± 39.25], dyspnea [TRP - 0.72 ± 0.89; ORP - 0.94 ± 0.53] and SGRQ [TRP - 6.9 ± 9.96, ORP - 9.9 ± 12.92] without between-group differences. In conclusion, TRP is feasible and well accepted by patients, although sometimes technology was perceived as difficult. It seems to improve walking capacity, dyspnea, quality of life and daily physical activity. Future RCTs will demonstrate cost-effectiveness.
Word meaning in context: a probabilistic model and its application to question answering

The need for assessing similarity in meaning is central to most language technology applications. Distributional methods are robust, unsupervised methods which achieve high performance on this task. These methods measure similarity of word types solely based on patterns of word occurrences in large corpora, following the intuition that similar words occur in similar contexts. As most Natural Language Processing (NLP) applications deal with disambiguated words, words occurring in context, rather than word types, the question of adapting distributional methods to compute sense-speciﬁc or context-sensitive similarities has gained increasing attention in recent work. This thesis focuses on the development and applications of distributional methods for context-sensitive similarity. The contribution made is twofold: the main part of the thesis proposes and tests a new framework for computing similarity in context, while the second part investigates the application of distributional paraphrasing to the task of question answering. Die Notwendigkeit der Beurteilung von Bedeutungsahnlichkeit spielt fur die meisten sprachtechnologische Anwendungen eine wesentliche Rolle. Distributionelle Verfahren sind solide, unbeaufsichtigte Verfahren, die fur diese Aufgabe sehr eﬀektiv sind. Diese Verfahren messen die Ahnlichkeit von Wortarten lediglich auf Basis von Mustern, nach denen die Worter in grosen Korpora vorkommen, indem sie der Erkenntnis folgen, dass ahnliche Worter in ahnlichen Kontexten auftreten. Da die meisten Anwendungen im Natural Language Processing (NLP) mit eindeutigen Wortern arbeiten, also eher Wortern, die im Kontext vorkommen, als Wortarten, hat die Frage, ob distributionelle Verfahren angepasst werden sollten, um bedeutungsspeziﬁsche oder kontextabhangige Ahnlichkeiten zu berechnen, in neueren Arbeiten zunehmend an Bedeutung gewonnen. Diese Dissertation konzentriert sich auf die Entwicklung und Anwendungen von distributionellen Verfahren fur kontextabhangige Ahnlichkeit und liefert einen doppelten Beitrag: Den Hauptteil der Arbeit bildet die Prasentation und Erprobung eines neuen framework fur die Berechnung von Ahnlichkeit im Kontext. Im zweiten Teil der Arbeit wird die Anwendung des distributional paraphrasing auf die Aufgabe der Fragenbeantwortung untersucht.
Once a Fast Cod, Always a Fast Cod: Maintenance of Performance Hierarchies despite Changing Food Availability in Cod (Gadus morhua)

To examine whether Atlantic cod maintain constant hierarchies of sprint speeds and muscle metabolic capacities under different feeding regimes, the physiological capacities of individual cod were followed through a starvation‐feeding‐starvation cycle. We examined sprint speeds and maximal enzyme activities in white‐muscle biopsies at each period. We measured the glycolytic enzymes, phosphofructokinase (PFK) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), the mitochondrial enzyme, cytochrome C oxidase (CCO), and the biosynthetic enzyme, nucleotide diphosphate kinase (NDPK). Sprint speeds were measured in a laser diode/photocell‐timed raceway. As expected, the feeding regime had a marked impact on the physiological capacities of cod, but the responses differed for sprint‐swimming and muscle metabolic capacities. The different enzyme activities as well the condition index generally decreased during the first starvation, improved with feeding, and fell again during the second starvation. In contrast, sprint performance improved after feeding but did not fall with the second starvation. Although both the enzyme activities and the sprint speeds showed considerable interindividual variation, sprint speeds were not significantly correlated with the enzyme activities. The hierarchy of sprint performance of the cod was maintained, regardless of the preceding feeding regime, whereas those of muscle metabolic capacities were not.
Intravenous Vancomycin Pharmacokinetics in Automated Peritoneal Dialysis Patients

The pharmacokinetics of intravenous (IV) vancomycin was studied in automated peritoneal dialysis (APD) patients who received a single IV dose of vancomycin (15 mg/kg total body weight). Dialysate samples were collected at the beginning, middle, and end of dwells 1 – 3 (on-cycler), and at the end of dwells 4 and 5 (off-cycler), for a 24-hour period. Blood samples were collected at the beginning, middle, and end of dwells 1 – 3 (on-cycler), and at the end of dwell 5 (off-cycler) for a 24-hr period. Pharmacokinetics parameters were calculated assuming a one-compartment model. Glomerular filtration rate (GFR) and vancomycin clearance (Cl) values were normalized to 1.73 m2. Ten patients [4 males, 6 females; 47.4 ± 9.9 years of age (mean ± SD)] who had received PD for a median 3.5 months (range 2 – 66 months) were studied. Dwell times were 2.3 ± 0.1 hours on cycler and 7.3 ± 0.1 hours off cycler. Vancomycin half-life was significantly different on-cycler than off-cycler (11.6 ± 5.2 hr vs 62.8 ± 33.0 hr; p < 0.001). Vancomycin total Cl (ClT) was 7.4 ± 2.0 mL/min. Renal Cl (ClR) and PD Cl (ClPD) accounted for 23.6% and 28.0% of ClT, respectively. ClR correlated with GFR (ClR = 0.90 GFR – 1.01; r2 = 0.79; p = 0.008). Mean vancomycin serum and dialysate end-of-dwell concentrations were above minimum inhibitory concentration of susceptible organisms (5 mg/mL) for the first cycler and the second ambulatory exchanges only. The results of this study suggest that, to provide adequate concentrations for susceptible organisms over a 24-hour period, current intermittent vancomycin dosing recommendations for PD-related peritonitis need to be changed to 35 mg/kg intraperitoneally on day 1, then 15 mg/kg IP thereafter (i.e., once daily) in APD patients.
Categorizing identity from facial motion

Advances in marker-less motion capture technology now allow the accurate replication of facial motion and deformation in computer-generated imagery (CGI). A forced-choice discrimination paradigm using such CGI facial animations showed that human observers can categorize identity solely from facial motion cues. Animations were generated from motion captures acquired during natural speech, thus eliciting both rigid (head rotations and translations) and nonrigid (expressional changes) motion. To limit interferences from individual differences in facial form, all animations shared the same appearance. Observers were required to discriminate between different videos of facial motion and between the facial motions of different people. Performance was compared to the control condition of orientation-inverted facial motion. The results show that observers are able to make accurate discriminations of identity in the absence of all cues except facial motion. A clear inversion effect in both tasks provided consistency with previous studies, supporting the configural view of human face perception. The accuracy of this motion capture technology thus allowed stimuli to be generated that closely resembled real moving faces. Future studies may wish to implement such methodology when studying human face perception.
MASS–RADIUS RELATIONSHIPS FOR VERY LOW MASS GASEOUS PLANETS

Recently, the Kepler spacecraft has detected a sizable aggregate of objects, characterized by giant-planet-like radii and modest levels of stellar irradiation. With the exception of a handful of objects, the physical nature, and specifically the average densities, of these bodies remain unknown. Here, we propose that the detected giant planet radii may partially belong to planets somewhat less massive than Uranus and Neptune. Accordingly, in this work, we seek to identify a physically sound upper limit to planetary radii at low masses and moderate equilibrium temperatures. As a guiding example, we analyze the interior structure of the Neptune-mass planet Kepler-30d and show that it is acutely deficient in heavy elements, especially compared with its solar system counterparts. Subsequently, we perform numerical simulations of planetary thermal evolution and in agreement with previous studies, show that generally, 10–20 M⊕, multi-billion year old planets, composed of high density cores and extended H/He envelopes can have radii that firmly reside in the giant planet range. We subject our results to stability criteria based on extreme ultraviolet radiation, as well as Roche-lobe overflow driven mass-loss and construct mass–radius relationships for the considered objects. We conclude by discussing observational avenues that may be used to confirm or repudiate the existence of putative low mass, gas-dominated planets.
[Ligation of the internal iliac arteries in cases of placenta accreta].

Three cases of excessive hemorrhage in the third stage due to Placenta accreta are described. The authors preferred to treat these cases by ligation with catgut of the internal iliac arteries instead of hysterectomy, because the patients were young and likely to want more children. The results were very satisfactory: The hemorrhage was controlled in each case. By mean of arteriography, hysterography, and endometrial biopsy they were able to show that the I.I. arteries became patent after 3-4 months, and all the uterine functions were completely restored. Two pregnancies with normal delivery, occurred out of these 3 cases.
Visual evoked potentials in endoscopic and anterior skull base surgery: a review

Abstract The anterior visual pathway can be damaged during surgery of the anterior skull base, the sellar and parasellar area, the orbit, or the paranasal sinuses. Clinical per-operative monitoring of the visual pathway is difficult and damage to the optic nerve is oftenonly determined late. Visual evoked potentials may provide an early indication of reversible change to the visual system and various per-operative monitoring techniques have been used. These techniques show promise but at present they are too cumbersome and give results whichare too variable to be reliable in per-operative monitoring.
Hepatoprotective Effect of Sweet Fennel (Foenculum vulgare L.) Methanol Extract against Carbon Tetrachloride Induced Liver Injury in Rats

Liver is a vital organ play a major role in metabolism and excretion of xenobiotic from the body. Liver cell injury caused by various toxic chemicals (certain anti-biotic, chemotherapeutic agents, carbon tetrachloride (CCl4), thioacetamide (TAA) etc.). The present study was carried to investigate the hepatoprotective effect of Foenculum vulgare (FV); methanol extract of two cultivars of fennel. 100, 200 mg/kg BW of fennel extract and 100, 200 mg/kg silymarin (standard), were administrated to different groups of rat's prophylactic to CCl4 administration. The levels of enzymes and non-enzymes liver damage biomarkers in serum of treated rats were compared to both toxicities and negative control groups and the histopathological examination were examined. The hepatotoxicity produced by CCl4 administration was found to inhibit significantly p ≤ 0.05 (dose dependently), using both 100 and 200 mg/kg BW of FV methanol extract could inhibit the CCl4 induced acute hepatotoxicity by decreasing levels of serum aspirate amino transferase (AST), alanine amino transferase (ALT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and bilirubin. Fennel leaves extract prevents the development of chronic liver damage. From the histopathological examination, of the present work it could be concluded that silymarin at the two doses is the best treatment of liver intoxicated with CCl4, followed by F1 and F2. Relieve of the pathological alteration is a dose dependent; as the intoxicated livers are restored to the normal hepatocytes form and function. Thus, the present results indicated that fennel possesses potent hepatoprotective capacity and may have potential therapeutic value in the treatment of liver disorders probably by its anti oxidative effects related to phytochemical constituents.
On the Delayed Scaled Consensus Problems

In this note, we study the scaled consensus (tracking) problems, wherein all agents reach agreement, but with different assigned ratios in the asymptote. Based on the nearest neighbor-interaction rules, the scaled consensus processes are characterized with and without time delay. We consider both the signal transmission and signal processing delays and calculate the final scaled consensus values. When the underlying communication network contains a spanning tree, it is found that the scaled consensus can be achieved independent of the transmission delays while the specified consensus values in the asymptote depend on the initial history of the agents over a period of time. This phenomenon is in sharp contrast to the case of processing delays, where large delays are likely to jeopardize the consensus behavior, but the scaled consensus values once achieved are the same as the undelayed case.
Protein and energy metabolism of lactating Granadina goats

Twelve goats of the Granadina breed in mid- and late lactation were used in two consecutive years to determine their protein and energy requirements for lactation. The animals were individually fed on diets based on pelleted lucerne (Medicago sativa) hay and barley. A total of six balance experiments were carried out. Gas exchange was measured using open-circuit respiration chambers. Milk yield ranged widely from 0.649 to 1.742 kg/d in the first year and from 0.222 to 1.989 kg/d in the second year, a steady decline in milk output being observed as lactation progressed. Milk composition remained rather constant during the midstage of lactation, with an average content (/kg milk) for total solids, total nitrogen, fat and gross energy of 149.7 g, 5.39 g, 58.8 g and 3.59 MJ respectively. Total endogenous N, endogenous urinary N and maintenance requirement for N in lactating goats were estimated to be 244, 218 mg N/kg body-weight (W)0.75 per d and 478 mg total N/kg W0.75 per d respectively from regression equations. A constant efficiency of use of dietary N for milk N plus retained N of 51.0 % was found. By regressing milk energy plus apparent body energy retention or loss on metabolizable energy (ME) intake, the maintenance energy requirement was estimated to be 401 kJ ME/kg W0.79 per d. When estimating the corrected milk yield as milk energy +(0.84 x negative energy retention) +(1.05 x positive energy retention), regression analysis indicated that the overall efficiency of use of ME for lactation was 66.7%. Also, from a plot of apparent body energy retention v milk energy yield, both expressed as a percentage of ME intake above maintenance, the efficiency with which ME was used to promote energy retention in the body during lactation was calculated to be 0.907 times that for milk secretion.
Sorption of 2,4-D on Natural and Organic Amended Soils of Different Characteristics

The effect of one organic amendment consisting of an urban waste compost (UWC) was assessed on the sorption properties of the herbicide 2,4-D on four soils of different physicochemical characteristics. The soils chosen were a Typic Haphorthod (ST), a Typic Endoaquept (SR), an Entic Pelloxerert (TO), and a Typic Eutrochrept (AL). Adsorption experiments were performed on the original soils, and on mixtures of these soils with UWC at a rate of 6.25% (w/w). These mixtures were used just after preparation, and after aging for 8 and 25 weeks. 2,4-D adsorption was the highest on ST soil, whereas the lowest adsorption was for SR soil. This behavior is related to the high amount of organic matter (OM) and amorphous iron and aluminum oxides content on soil ST, whereas soil SR had the lowest OM content and specific surface area of the soils of this study. Addition of exogenous OM to soils caused an increase in the 2,4-D adsorption by three of the soils treated with UWC, with the only exception being ST soil, due to an observed decrease in its specific surface area. The adsorbed amounts of the herbicide on aged organic fertilized soils diminished in three of the amended soils, but was still greater than on unamended soils. In contrast, the ST soil showed the largest adsorption for unamended soil.
In vitro preclinical evaluation studies with the echinocandin antifungal MK-0991 (L-743,872)

The echinocandin MK-0991, formerly L-743,872, is a water-soluble lipopeptide that has been demonstrated in preclinical studies to have potent activity against Candida spp. , Aspergillus fumigatus, and Pneumocystis carinii. An extensive in vitro biological evaluation of MK-0991 was performed to better define the potential activities of this novel compound. Susceptibility testing with MK-0991 against approximately 200 clinical isolates of Candida, Cryptococcus neoformans, and Aspergillus isolates was conducted to determine MICs and minimum fungicidal concentrations MF(s). The MFC at which 90% of isolates are inhibited for 40 C. albicans clinical isolates was 0.5 microg/ml. Susceptibility testing with panels of antifungal agent-resistant species of Candida and C. neoformans isolates indicated that the MK-0991 MFCs for these isolates are comparable to those obtained for susceptible isolates. Growth kinetic studies of MK-0991 against Candida albicans and Candida tropicalis isolates showed that the compound exhibited fungicidal activity (i.e., a 99% reduction in viability) within 3 to 7 h at concentrations ranging from 0.06 to 1 microg/ml (0.25 to 4 times the MIC). Drug combination studies with MK-0991 plus amphotericin B found that this combination was not antagonistic against C. albicans, C. neoformans, or A. fumigatus in vitro. Studies with 0 to 50% pooled human or mouse serum established that fungal susceptibility to MK-0991 was not significantly influenced by the presence of human or mouse serum. Results from resistance induction studies suggested that the susceptibility of C. albicans was not altered by repeated exposure (40 passages) to MK-0991. Erythrocyte hemolysis studies with MK-0991 with washed and unwashed human or mouse erythrocytes indicated minimal hemolytic potential with this compound. These favorable results of preclinical studies support further studies with MK-0991 with humans.
When You Are Old

Received July 12, 2014; accepted July 14, 2014. From the Division of Neurosurgery, St Michael’s Hospital, Labatt Family Centre of Excellence in Brain Injury and Trauma Research, Keenan Research Centre for Biomedical Science and the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute of St Michael’s Hospital, Department of Surgery, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The online-only Data Supplement is available with this article at http://stroke.ahajournals. org/lookup/suppl/doi:10.1161/STROKEAHA. 114.006666/-/DC1. Correspondence to R. Loch Macdonald, MD, PhD, Division of Neurosurgery, St Michael’s Hospital, University of Toronto, 30 Bond St, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5B 1W8. E-mail macdonaldlo@smh.ca (Stroke. 2014;45:2830-2832.) © 2014 American Heart Association, Inc.