Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Equal Tails: A Simple Method to Elicit Utility Under Violations of Expected Utility

Classical methods to elicit utility are biased because most individuals do not treat probabilities linearly. We propose a simple modification of the classical methods that equates, for all prospects being compared, the range of outcomes. We argue that the modification should work in theory, and test the modification experimentally. Our first experiment confirms that the modified certainty equivalent method reduces the curvature of the S-shaped value function. The second experiment is a novel design that compares the trade-off method with the three classical methods in their original and modified forms. Our equal-tails modification of both the certainty equivalent and the lottery equivalent method produces results consistent with the trade-off method. The lottery equivalent modification is particularly useful to elicit utility points when outcomes are nonquantifiable.
Socializing by Gaming Revealing Social Relationships in Multiplayer Online Games

Multiplayer Online Games (MOGs) like Defense of the Ancients and StarCraft II have attracted hundreds of millions of users who communicate, interact, and socialize with each other through gaming. In MOGs, rich social relationships emerge and can be used to improve gaming services such as match recommendation and game population retention, which are important for the user experience and the commercial value of the companies who run these MOGs. In this work, we focus on understanding social relationships in MOGs. We propose a graph model that is able to capture social relationships of a variety of types and strengths. We apply our model to real-world data collected from three MOGs that contain in total over 10 years of behavioral history for millions of players and matches. We compare social relationships in MOGs across different game genres and with regular online social networks like Facebook. Taking match recommendation as an example application of our model, we propose SAMRA, a Socially Aware Match Recommendation Algorithm that takes social relationships into account. We show that our model not only improves the precision of traditional link prediction approaches, but also potentially helps players enjoy games to a higher extent.
Role of (cid:1) -opioid receptor agonists on infarct size reduction in swine

Role of (cid:1) -opioid receptor agonists on infarct size reduction in swine. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 282: H1953–H1960, 2002; 10.1152/ajpheart.01045. 2001. —Opioids are involved in cardiac ischemic preconditioning. Important species differences in cellular signaling mechanisms, antiarrhythmic, and antistunning effects have been described. The role of the (cid:1) -opioid receptor activation in swine remains unknown. Forty minutes before a 45-min occlusion and 180-min reperfusion of the left anterior descending coronary artery, open-chest, pentobarbital-anes-thetized swine received either 1 ) saline (controls); 2 ) [ D Ala 2 , D -Leu 5 ]enkephalin (DADLE); 3 ) [ D -Pen 2,5 ]enkephalin (DPDPE); 4 ) deltorphin-D, a novel (cid:1) 2 -opioid agonist; or 5 ) ischemic preconditioning (IP). Assessed were 1 ) infarct size to area at risk (IS, triphenyltetrazolium staining), 2 ) regional and global myocardial function (sonomicrometry, ventricular pressure catheters), and 3 ) arrhythmias (electrocardiogram anal-yses). It was found that DPDPE and deltorphin-D pretreatment reduced IS from 64.7 (cid:2) 5 to 36.5 (cid:2) 6% and 27.4 (cid:2) 11% ( P (cid:3) 0.01), respectively, whereas DADLE had no effect (66.8 (cid:2) 3%). Both IP and DADLE had a proarrhythmic effect ( P (cid:3) 0.01). However, no differences in global or regional myocardial function or arrhythmia scores were observed between groups. This suggests that (cid:1) -receptor-speciﬁc opioids provide cardioprotection in swine.
Development and evaluation of AS03, an Adjuvant System containing α-tocopherol and squalene in an oil-in-water emulsion

AS03 is an Adjuvant System composed of α-tocopherol, squalene and polysorbate 80 in an oil-in-water emulsion. In various nonclinical and clinical studies, high levels of antigen-specific antibodies were obtained after administration of an AS03-adjuvanted vaccine, permitting antigen-sparing strategies. AS03 has been shown to enhance the vaccine antigen-specific adaptive response by activating the innate immune system locally and by increasing antigen uptake and presentation in draining lymph nodes, a process that is modulated by the presence of α-tocopherol in AS03. In nonclinical models of the AS03-adjuvanted prepandemic H5N1 influenza vaccine, increased levels of anti-influenza antibody afforded protection against disease and against virus replication of influenza strains homologous and heterologous to the vaccine strain. By incorporating AS03 in the pandemic H1N1/2009 vaccine, vaccine immunogenicity was increased compared with nonadjuvanted H1N1 vaccines. High H1N1/2009/AS03 vaccine effectiveness was demonstrated in several assessments in multiple populations. Altogether, the nonclinical and clinical data illustrate the ability of AS03 to induce superior adaptive responses against the vaccine antigen, principally in terms of antibody levels and immune memory. In general, these results support the concept of Adjuvant Systems as a plausible approach to develop new effective vaccines.
Heuristic Search for the Generalized Minimum Spanning Tree Problem

The generalized minimum spanning tree (GMST) problem occurs in telecommunications network planning, where a network of node clusters needs to be connected via a tree architecture using exactly one node per cluster. The problem is known to be NP-hard, and even finding a constant factor approximation algorithm is NP-hard. In this paper, we present two heuristic search approaches for the GMST problem: local search and a genetic algorithm. Our computational experiments show that these heuristics rapidly provide high-quality solutions for the GMST and outperform some previously suggested heuristics for the problem. In our computational tests on 211 test problems (including 169 problems from the TSPLIB set), our local-search heuristic found the optimal solution in 179 instances and our genetic-algorithm procedure found the optimal solution in 185 instances (out of the 211 instances, the optimal solution is known in 187 instances). Further, on each of the 19 unsolved instances from TSPLIB, both our local-search heuristic and genetic-algorithm procedure improved upon the best previously known solution.
Homology modeling of the dopamine D2 receptor and its testing by docking of agonists and tricyclic antagonists.

We present the first model of dopamine D2 receptor transmembrane helices constructed directly from the bacteriorhodopsin (bR) coordinates derived from two-dimensional electron diffraction experiments. We have tested this model by its ability to accommodate rigid agonist and semirigid antagonist molecules which were docked into the putative binding pocket with stabilizing interactions. The model is consistent with structure-activity relationships of agonists and antagonists that interact with the receptor. It also illuminates data on a Na+ site for regulation of receptor function. The plausibility of the model is increased by its consistency with many mutagenesis studies on G protein-coupled receptors. Further, this model provides a basis to suggest testable molecular mechanisms for changes in the D2 conformational states for high- and low-affinity binding and signal transduction. Changes in the conformational state of the receptor are hypothesized to be due partly to movement of helix 7. In contrast to the model presented here, other published models were built using ideal helical structures or following the sense of the bacteriorhodopsin structure rather than the actual available coordinates. The presented model for the dopamine G protein-coupled receptor can be reconciled with the recent rhodopsin projection structure (Schertler, G. F. X. ; Villa, C. ; Henderson, R. Projection Structure of Rhodopsin.
Prévalence et caractérisation des Escherichia coli uropathogènes producteurs de facteur cytotoxique nécrosant type 1 (CNF1) dans le centre de la Tunisie

Durant 3 ans nous avons surveille la prevalence des Escherichia coli produisant le facteur cytotoxique necrosant type 1 dans trois regions du centre tunisien. Les 716 souches, retenues pour la recherche du gene cnf1 par PCR, etaient isolees d’urines de malades presentant une bacteriurie significative (> 10 5 unites formant colonies\mL d’urines) independamment de la gravite de l’infection urinaire ; 328 souches ayant le gene cnf1 ont ete retenues, se repartissant en trois categories cliniques : 219 souches (66,76 %) isolees a partir de malades ayant une bacteriurie asymptomatique ou par colonisation, 76 (23,17 %) isolees de malades atteints d’une cystite simple et 33 (10,66 %) isolees de malades ayant une pyelonephrite ; 98,78 % (324) des souches CNF1 sont hemolytiques. Toutes les souches possedent les genes des adhesines sfa et pap et expriment une hemagglutination mannose‐resistante type III. Elles appartiennent a 16 serogroupes O dont les plus frequents sont O6 (25,91 %), O4 (17,98 %), O2 (12,5 %), O75 (9,14 %), O78 (8,35 %) et O83 (3,65 %). Ainsi la frequence des E. coli CNF1 durant les 3 annees de l’etude est de 45,81 %. Elle est passee de 26,08 % en 1998 a 58,16 % en 2000 indiquant l’implication de ce nouveau pathotype dans les infections urinaires en Tunisie. L’association de la toxine CNF1 avec d’autres facteurs de virulence comme l’hemolysine et les adhesines semble favoriser les complications des infections du tractus urinaire.
Best practice research scholarships: An evaluation

The Best Practice Research Scholarship programme (BPRS) was one of a series of initiatives designed by the English Department for Educational Studies (DfES) between 2000 and 2003, to support teachers’ continuing professional development. Each year, around 1,000 Scholarships of up to £3,000 each, were awarded to serving classroom teachers to engage in supported, school‐focused research. This paper reports an evaluation of the national scheme during its last year. Documentation from a stratified random sample of 100 proposals and reports were examined and case studies undertaken in a sub‐sample of 20 schools. The paper describes the major features of the scheme including topics studied, research methods employed, and the occupational position of teachers involved. In order to establish a basis for an evaluation of the scheme, the paper explores the nature of the projects and the extent to which they could be characterised as research. It is argued that for most teachers, the primary purpose of the projects was not to contribute to the public stock of knowledge but to improve practice within their own schools. The criteria for evaluating projects, it is argued, should therefore include their impact on teachers’ own professional development, on their teaching practice, on pupils, on parents, and on their colleagues. Evidence is presented to suggest that projects did indeed appear to have considerable impact on all of these factors though only in a minority of cases was the evidence considered to be robust. The paper goes on to raise questions about the problematic nature of quality in teachers’ research and the associated difficulties with ‘dissemination’. The paper concludes by exploring the different factors that might affect the success of teachers’ research including mentoring, finance and their occupational position within their school.
A Manual, Semi-Automated and Automated ROI Study of fMRI Hemodynamic Response in the Caudate Nucleus

This study investigated abnormalities of fMRI Hemodynamic Response (HR) in the caudate nucleus in schizophrenia with manual, semi-automated and automated approaches. The three approaches were applied to generate the Region of Interest (ROI) and extract fMRI HR from the ROI. Compared with controls, less activation with delayed fMRI HR in the caudate were observed in the patient group. High correlations of the AUC were found between the manual and semiautomated ROI approaches, but not between the manual and the automated ROI approach. In addition, the location and size of the automated box ROI are critical for the fMRI HR curve extracted. The abnormal fMRI hemodynamic response in the caudate in the patient group may suggest functional deficits in the frontal-striatal-thalamic circuit in schizophrenia. To speed up fMRI data analysis in anatomical ROI, the semi-automated approach may be used as an alternative to the manual approach in detecting fMRI experimental effect.
Component Scores, or Total Scores over Components?

Patients’ responses to items on a questionnaire are frequently used to assess treatment effects in clinical trials. In this paper, we will use the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale to address a common question of whether it is more powerful to compare treatments based on the total scores of part II (questions 5–17 on the questionnaire) and part III (questions 18–31) combined or the individual component scores (either part II or part III). We will explore the relationships among the powers associated with the various test statistics and display the relationships using graphs. As an illustration, we will apply our findings to help decide on the primary endpoint for a clinical trial in Parkinson’s disease patients.
PowerLyra: differentiated graph computation and partitioning on skewed graphs

Natural graphs with skewed distribution raise unique challenges to graph computation and partitioning. Existing graph-parallel systems usually use a "one size fits all" design that uniformly processes all vertices, which either suffer from notable load imbalance and high contention for high-degree vertices (e.g., Pregel and GraphLab), or incur high communication cost and memory consumption even for low-degree vertices (e.g., PowerGraph and GraphX). In this paper, we argue that skewed distribution in natural graphs also calls for differentiated processing on high-degree and low-degree vertices. We then introduce PowerLyra, a new graph computation engine that embraces the best of both worlds of existing graph-parallel systems, by dynamically applying different computation and partitioning strategies for different vertices. PowerLyra further provides an efficient hybrid graph partitioning algorithm (hybrid-cut) that combines edge-cut and vertex-cut with heuristics. Based on PowerLyra, we design locality-conscious data layout optimization to improve cache locality of graph accesses during communication. PowerLyra is implemented as a separate computation engine of PowerGraph, and can seamlessly support various graph algorithms. A detailed evaluation on two clusters using graph-analytics and MLDM (machine learning and data mining) applications show that PowerLyra outperforms PowerGraph by up to 5.53X (from 1.24X) and 3.26X (from 1.49X) for real-world and synthetic graphs accordingly, and is much faster than other systems like GraphX and Giraph, yet with much less memory consumption. A porting of hybrid-cut to GraphX further confirms the efficiency and generality of PowerLyra.
Transtorno da compulsão alimentar periódica em uma população de obesos mórbidos candidatos a cirurgia bariátrica do Hospital Universitário Oswaldo Cruz, em Recife - PE

OBJETIVOS: Avaliar a frequencia de transtorno da compulsao alimentar periodica (TCAP) e dos principais transtornos psiquiatricos associados a obesidade morbida em individuos a espera de cirurgia bariatrica. METODOS: Estudo de corte transversal. Foram entrevistados pacientes do programa de cirurgia da obesidade do Hospital Universitario Oswaldo Cruz e avaliados o perfil socio-demografico, a qualidade de vida (escala SF-36), o TCAP (Binge Eating Scale ­ BES) e os transtornos psiquiatricos (Mini International Neuropsychiatry Interview ­ M.I.N.I./DSM-IV). RESULTADOS: Dos 400 pacientes inscritos no programa, 67 (16,8%) foram entrevistados. O IMC variou de 36,1 a 81,8 kg/m2 (media 48,5 ± 8,8). Todos os entrevistados apresentavam doencas associadas, sendo a HAS, os disturbios do sono e as osteopatias as mais frequentes. Os transtornos psiquiatricos mais frequentes foram: 47,8% transtorno de ansiedade generalizada; 29,9% depressao atual e 34,3% depressao no passado. Verificou-se TCAP em 56,7% dos pacientes (25,4% TCAP moderado e 31,3%, grave) e esses apresentaram os piores escores em todos os dominios de qualidade de vida da escala SF-36. CONCLUSOES: Constatou-se elevada prevalencia de TCAP. Grupo com TCAP apresentou maior numero de tratamentos realizados com objetivo de perder peso, elevada prevalencia de depressao maior no momento da avaliacao, piores escores em todos os dominios da escala de qualidade de vida SF-36. Visto que os portadores de TCAP apresentam vasta psicopatologia e maior probabilidade de comprometimento nos resultados da cirurgia, deve-se aprimorar a deteccao desses disturbios a fim de proporcionar-lhes o tratamento adequado.
Patterns and risk factors for helminthiasis in rural children aged under 2 in Bangladesh

Objectives. To obtain knowledge on the burden of infestation with soil-transmitted helminths (STHs) in rural children from birth to age 2 years. Methods. Household visits to enrolled children were made twice a week for 2 years, and stool samples were collected once a month. Stools were also collected during diarrhoeal episodes, and when STHs were identified, a single dose of pyrantel pamoate was administered to patients with diarrhoea. All stool samples were examined using the formalin-ether sedimentation technique. Results. About 70% of the children had had STH infestation by 2 years, and approximately 80% of these had STH ova identified on more than one occasion. The mean age at first acquisition was 14 months (standard deviation (SD) 4 months, range 1 - 24 months). Microscopic examination revealed ova of Ascaris lumbricoides (9%), Trichuris trichiura (0.6%), hookworm (0.06%) and mixed infestation (0.4%). In 41 of the 178 children with STH infestation, its first identification was associated with episodes of diarrhoea. Following pyrantel pamoate deworming, 66% of subjects were re-infested after a mean interval of 90 days (SD 79 days). Risk behaviours such as disposal of child faeces and defaecation by adult family members in open spaces and use of common source surface water for washing clothes and utensils were practised by 62%, 83% and 50% of the cohort families, respectively. Bivariate analysis shows that disposal of child faeces in a closed space resulted in a 35% reduction in helminth infestation (odds ratio (OR) 0.65, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.49 - 0.87), use of tube well water in a 48% reduction (OR 0.52, 95% CI 0.29 - 0.93, p<0.02) and breastfeeding in a 16% reduction (OR 0.84, 95% CI 0.64 - 1.10, p<0.2). Mutivariable analysis adjusted with risk variables shows a 5.06 times higher odds of recognising STH infestation during an episode of diarrhoea (OR 5.06, 95% CI 3.8 - 6.69, p<0.0001). Conclusion. Awareness building programmes and periodic deworming are crucial to prevent acquisition of, re-infestation with and spread of STH.
Decreased Bone Mineral Density in Patients Submitted to Kidney Transplantation Is Related to Age, Body Mass Index, Time on Dialysis, and Hyperparathyroidism

Background. Renal transplantation (Tx) influences bone mineral density (BMD) by several mechanisms. The main objective of this study was to correlate BMD and risk factors associated with bone loss in patients submitted to kidney Tx. Methods. We evaluated 88 individuals after renal Tx (median time = 31.5 months since Tx). All of them sustained glomerular filtration rate ≥60 mL/min/1.73 m2. BMD was measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA, Prodigy-GE). Calcium, phosphate, albumin, creatinine, and intact parathormone (PTH) were measured at the same time. All statistical tests were two-sided and value less than 0.05 were accepted as significant for all analyses in this study. Results. Serum PTH was raised in 42% patients, but corrected calcium was normal in 83 patients. No fragility fracture was reported, but the overall prevalence of osteoporosis was 27.6% and lower than expected BMD (Z-score ≤ −2.0 SD) was observed in 28.4%. Patients with lower than expected BMD had higher PTH levels. Conclusions. Older age, lower body mass index (BMI), longer time on dialysis, and elevated PTH levels were identified as the main factors associated with lower BMD.
AccelWord: Energy Efficient Hotword Detection through Accelerometer

Voice control has emerged as a popular method for interacting with smart-devices such as smartphones, smartwatches etc. Popular voice control applications like Siri and Google Now are already used by a large number of smartphone and tablet users. A major challenge in designing a voice control application is that it requires continuous monitoring of user? s voice input through the microphone. Such applications utilize hotwords such as "Okay Google" or "Hi Galaxy" allowing them to distinguish user? s voice command and her other conversations. A voice control application has to continuously listen for hotwords which significantly increases the energy consumption of the smart-devices. To address this energy efficiency problem of voice control, we present AccelWord in this paper. AccelWord is based on the empirical evidence that accelerometer sensors found in today? s mobile devices are sensitive to user? s voice. We also demonstrate that the effect of user? s voice on accelerometer data is rich enough so that it can be used to detect the hotwords spoken by the user. To achieve the goal of low energy cost but high detection accuracy, we combat multiple challenges, e.g. how to extract unique signatures of user? s speaking hotwords only from accelerometer data and how to reduce the interference caused by user? s mobility. We finally implement AccelWord as a standalone application running on Android devices. Comprehensive tests show AccelWord has hotword detection accuracy of 85% in static scenarios and 80% in mobile scenarios. Compared to the microphone based hotword detection applications such as Google Now and Samsung S Voice, AccelWord is 2 times more energy efficient while achieving the accuracy of 98% and 92% in static and mobile scenarios respectively.
Analysis of Stiff Markov Chains

Continuous-time Markov chains (CTMC) are widely used mathematical models. Reliability models, queueing networks, and inventory models all require transient solutions of CTMC. The cost of CTMC transient solution increases with size, stiffness, and mission time. To eliminate stiffness and reduce the cost of solution, approximation techniques have been proposed. In this paper, we describe a software package for the specification and solution of stiff CTMC. As an interface, we use a language for the description of Markov chains. The language also provides facilities for controlling the solution procedure. Both exact and approximate solution techniques are provided. To conclude the paper, we use several examples to show the use of our specification language and the utility of our approximation technique. INFORMS Journal on Computing, ISSN 1091-9856, was published as ORSA Journal on Computing from 1989 to 1995 under ISSN 0899-1499.