Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Recommending Pick-up Points for Taxi-drivers Based on Spatio-temporal Clustering

Using GPS trajectories to recommend pick-up points for taxi driver comes to be a promising approach of increasing profits and decreasing pollutions. In the existing methods, nearly all the GPS data of a city are computed for recommendation. However, it is time-consuming and not accurate enough owing to too much spatio-temporal noise. Therefore, we propose a novel method of recommending pick-up for taxi driver based on spatio-temporal clustering. It is made up of data preprocessing and real-time recommendation. Firstly, we capture the historical pick-up points by analyzing their intervals. These points are clustered at different time and different regions to create candidate pick-up points. Secondly, after ranking the candidate pick-up points around the taxi, the top-5 valuable pick-up points are recommended for taxi drivers. The experimental results, whose data come from Microsoft Research Asia, show that our method can effectively recommend pick-up points for taxi drivers.
A Comparison of Hybrid/Online and Lecture College Courses

The purpose of this research is to investigate relationships between online college courses and inperson courses with regard to student course completion rate and course grade averages. The personality characteristics of Introversion, Conscientiousness and Academic Self-Regulation, and professor student rapport were also examined in relation to performance of the students enrolled in online and in-person classes. This study was based on an integrative theory of selfand social regulation in learning contexts. A two-tailed t-test for independent samples found no significant difference between the end of previous semester cumulative GPAs (CGPAs) of students in the online/hybrid or in-person courses. The results of a Chi square test comparing the withdrawal rate of students in the lecture and online Social Psychology course was statistically significant. Students are much more likely to withdraw from a large online course than from a large lecture course. There was a significant correlation between scores on the Academic SelfRegulation Scale and (CGPA) in the online section of the Social Psychology course. No significant differences were found, however, between the other personality characteristics and GPA.
Isolation and characterization of 28 microsatellite loci for a Korean endemic, Lespedeza maritima (Fabaceae)

Premise of the study: We developed microsatellite primers for Lespedeza maritima (Fabaceae), a Korean endemic shrub, and conducted cross-amplifications for closely related species. Methods and Results: We produced 28 polymorphic microsatellite markers through reference mapping of 300-bp paired-end reads obtained from Illumina MiSeq data. For 47 individual plants from two populations, the total alleles numbered two to 13, and observed and expected heterozygosities ranged from 0.067 to 0.867 and from 0.064 to 0.848, respectively. Most of these markers were well amplified in closely related species. Conclusions: In future research, the microsatellite markers described here will help reveal the taxonomic entity of this species.
Human Scalp Potentials Reflect a Mixture of Decision-Related Signals during Perceptual Choices

Single-unit animal studies have consistently reported decision-related activity mirroring a process of temporal accumulation of sensory evidence to a fixed internal decision boundary. To date, our understanding of how response patterns seen in single-unit data manifest themselves at the macroscopic level of brain activity obtained from human neuroimaging data remains limited. Here, we use single-trial analysis of human electroencephalography data to show that population responses on the scalp can capture choice-predictive activity that builds up gradually over time with a rate proportional to the amount of sensory evidence, consistent with the properties of a drift-diffusion-like process as characterized by computational modeling. Interestingly, at time of choice, scalp potentials continue to appear parametrically modulated by the amount of sensory evidence rather than converging to a fixed decision boundary as predicted by our model. We show that trial-to-trial fluctuations in these response-locked signals exert independent leverage on behavior compared with the rate of evidence accumulation earlier in the trial. These results suggest that in addition to accumulator signals, population responses on the scalp reflect the influence of other decision-related signals that continue to covary with the amount of evidence at time of choice.
It's Not All About Parents’ Education, It Also Matters what They Do. Parents' Employment and Children's School Success in Germany

In this paper, we use SOEP data to explore whether parents’ employment has an extra effect on the school achievement of their children, beyond the well‐established effects of education, income and demography. First, we test whether the source of income or parents’ unemployment determine children’s school achievements. Second, we analyze the effect of job prestige and factors of societal engagement on children’s performance. Our results indicate no clear income associations but the existence of an employment channel as well as a social channel from mothers to their kids. A negative role model for girls is found for maternal housework. Moreover, the fathers’ job prestige is substantial.
Generation of CD4CreERT2 transgenic mice to study development of peripheral CD4‐T‐cells

After thymic emigration CD4‐T‐cells continue to differentiate into multiple effector and suppressor sublineages in peripheral lymphoid organs. In vivo analysis of peripheral CD4‐T‐cell differentiation has relied on animal models with targeted gene mutations. These are expressed either constitutively or conditionally after Cre mediated recombination. Available Cre transgenic strains to specifically target T‐cells act at stages of thymocyte development that precede thymic selection. Tracing gene functions in CD4‐T‐cell development after thymic exit becomes complicated when the targeted gene is essential during thymic development. Other approaches to conditionally modify gene functions in peripheral T‐cells involve infection of in vitro activated cells with Cre expressing lenti‐, retro‐, or adenoviruses, which precludes in vivo analyses. To study molecular mechanisms of peripheral CD4‐T‐cell differentiation in vivo and in vitro we generated transgenic mice expressing a tamoxifen inducible Cre recombinase (CreERT2) under the control of the CD4 gene promoter. We show here that in CD4CreERT2 mice Cre is inducibly and selectively activated in CD4‐T‐cells. Tamoxifen treatment both in vivo and in vitro results in efficient recombination of loci marked by LoxP sites. Moreover, this strain shows no abnormalities related to transgene insertion. Therefore it provides a valuable tool for studying gene function during differentiation of naïve peripheral CD4‐T‐cells into effector or suppressor sub‐lineages. genesis 50:908–913, 2012. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Reframing Salesforce Compensation Systems: An Agency Theory-Based Performance Management Perspective

The importance of salesforce compensation systems is widely recognized, but many questions remain regarding what makes them effective. This article considers compensation systems within a broader performance management framework. The framework includes designing compensation systems, setting goals, evaluating performance, and providing rewards, as well as the associated justice perceptions and affective responses that ultimately link the process to retention/turnover patterns. Agency theory is used as a guide for compensation design. The proposed framework is aimed at considering not only issues of salesforce performance, but also who stays and leaves. Retention patterns over time ultimately determine the productive capacity of salesforce and warrant special sales management attention.
Experimental Assessment of Autologous Lymph Node Transplantation as Treatment of Postsurgical Lymphedema

Background: The authors' objective was to test whether the transplantation of an autologous lymph node into a nodal excision site in sheep would restore lymphatic transport function and reduce the magnitude of postsurgical lymphedema. Methods: As a measure of lymph transport, iodine-125 human serum albumin was injected into prenodal vessels at 8 and 12 weeks after surgery, and plasma levels of the protein were used to calculate the transport rate of the tracer to blood (percent injected per hour). Edema was quantified from the circumferential measurement of the hind limbs. Results: The transplantation of avascular lymph nodes at 8 (n = 6) and 12 weeks (n = 6) produced lymphatic function levels of 12.3 ± 0.5 and 12.6 ± 0.8, respectively. These values were significantly less (p < 0.001) than those measured at similar times in the animals receiving sham surgical procedures (16.6 ± 0.7, n = 6; and 16.1 ± 0.7, n = 6, respectively). When vascularized transplants were performed, lymphatic function was similar to the sham controls and significantly greater (p < 0.001) than that of the avascular group (8 weeks, 15.8 ± 0.9, n = 8; 12 weeks, 15.7 ± 1.0, n = 10). Lymph transport correlated significantly with the health of the transplanted nodes (scaled with histologic analysis) (p < 0.0001). The vascularized node transplants (n = 18) were associated with the greatest clinical improvement, with the magnitude of edema in these limbs exhibiting significantly lower levels of edema (p = 0.039) than nontreated limbs (n = 18). Conclusions: The successful reimplantation of a lymph node into a nodal excision site has the potential to restore lymphatic function and facilitate edema resolution. This result has important conceptual implications in the treatment of postsurgical lymphedema.
Make the healthy choice the easy choice: using behavioral economics to advance a culture of health

Despite great advances in the science and technology of health care, a large gap separates theoretically achievable advances in health from what individuals and populations actually achieve. Human behavior sits on the final common pathway to so many of our health and health care goals, including the prevention and management of illness and the fostering of wellness. Behavioral economics is a relatively new field offering approaches to supplement many of the conventional approaches to improving health behaviors that rely on education or standard economic theory. While those conventional approaches presume that an educated public will naturally make decisions that optimize personal welfare, approaches derived from behavioral economics harness existing and predictable patterns of behavior that often lead people to make choices against their best interests. By keeping these predictable patterns of behavior in mind when designing health insurance, health care programs or the health-related aspects of everyday life, behavioral economists aim to meet people half-way: no longer asking them to reshape their behavior to something more health promoting, but helping the behavioral patterns they already follow lead them to better health.
In‐text author citation analysis: Feasibility, benefits, and limitations

This article explores the feasibility, benefits, and limitations of in‐text author citation analysis and tests how well it works compared with traditional author citation analysis using citation databases. In‐text author citation analysis refers to author‐based citation analysis using in‐text citation data from full‐text articles rather than reference data from citation databases. It has the potential to help with the application of citation analysis to research fields such as the social sciences that are not covered well by citation databases and to support weighted citation and cocitation counting for improved citation analysis results. We found that in‐text author citation analysis can work as well as traditional citation analysis using citation databases for both author ranking and mapping if author name disambiguation is performed properly. Using in‐text citation data without any author name disambiguation, ranking authors by citations is useless, whereas cocitation analysis works well for identifying major specialties and their interrelationships with cautions required for the interpretation of small research areas and some authors' memberships in specialties.
4-[(E)-2-(2,4-Dichlorobenzylidene)hydrazin-1-yl]quinolin-1-ium chloride monohydrate

In the title hydrated salt, C16H12Cl2N3 +·Cl−·H2O, there is a small twist in the cation as seen in the torsion angle linking the benzene ring to the rest of the molecule [171.96 (17)°]. In the crystal, the quinolinium H atom forms a hydrogen bond to the lattice water molecule, which also forms hydrogen bonds to two Cl− anions. Each Cl− ion also accepts a hydrogen bond from the hydrazine H atom. The three-dimensional architecture is also stabilized by π–π interactions between centrosymmetrically related quinoline residues [centroid–centroid distance = 3.5574 (11) Å].
Lightweight Measurement and Estimation of Mobile Ad Energy Consumption

Mobile ads are an important component of the app ecosystem. Typically, developers use ads to generate revenue and, in return, end users get a “free” app. However, recent work has shown that apps with ads actually have significant hidden costs to end users in terms of energy, network usage, and performance. These can affect the ratings and reviews an app receives. Therefore, it is desirable for developers to balance the usage of ads with these potential negative costs. However, for energy, developers lack techniques to help them measure ad costs to their apps. To address thisproblem, we propose and evaluate several lightweight statistical approaches for measuring and predicting ad related energy consumption. We evaluate our approaches on real-world market apps and find that they are able to accurately and quickly estimate the energy cost without requiring expensive infrastructure or extensive developer effort.
Role of a New Mammalian Gene Family in the Biosynthesis of Very Long Chain Fatty Acids and Sphingolipids

Whereas the physiological significance of microsomal fatty acid elongation is generally appreciated, its molecular nature is poorly understood. Here, we describe tissue-specific regulation of a novel mouse gene family encoding components implicated in the synthesis of very long chain fatty acids. The Ssc1 gene appears to be ubiquitously expressed, whereas Ssc2 and Cig30 show a restricted expression pattern. Their translation products are all integral membrane proteins with five putative transmembrane domains. By complementing the homologous yeast mutants, we found that Ssc1 could rescue normal sphingolipid synthesis in the sur4/elo3 mutant lacking the ability to synthesize cerotic acid (C26:0). Similarly, Cig30 reverted the phenotype of the fen1/elo2 mutant that has reduced levels of fatty acids in the C20–C24 range. Further, we show that Ssc1 mRNA levels were markedly decreased in the brains of myelin-deficient mouse mutants known to have very low fatty acid chain elongation activity. Conversely, the dramatic induction of Cig30 expression during brown fat recruitment coincided with elevated elongation activity. Our results strongly implicate this new mammalian gene family in tissue-specific synthesis of very long chain fatty acids and sphingolipids.
Cryoablation of liver tumours – a review of mechanisms, techniques and clinical outcome

Several techniques exist for in situ destruction or ablation of liver tumours not eligible for resection. Cryoablation, i.e. the use of low temperatures to induce local tissue necrosis, was among the first of the thermal ablative techniques widely used. The procedures have typically been performed by surgeons during laparotomy, but recently minimally invasive cryoablation has been reported feasible. The present review focuses on mechanisms of tissue destruction, techniques of ablation including procedural monitoring, and clinical outcome following cryoablation of liver tumours. Plausible causes of tumour persistence at the site of ablation, i.e. local treatment failure, are discussed. Shortcomings exist in monitoring of the freezing process and may be a main cause. The evidence for the long‐term outcome following liver tumour cryoablation needs to be improved. Cryoablation has been challenged by other techniques of tumour ablation such as radiofrequency ablation. Randomised trials against these modern techniques may define the role of cryoablation in the treatment of liver tumours. With improved imaging technology and patient selection, cryoablation of liver tumours may hold promise for selected patients.
High fives motivate: the effects of gestural and ambiguous verbal praise on motivation

The type of praise children receive influences whether children choose to persist after failure. One mechanism through which praise affects motivation is through the causal attributions inferred from language. For example, telling a child “You got an A on the test because you’re smart,” provides an explicit link between possessing a trait and an outcome, specifically that intelligence causes success. Nonetheless, most praise given to children is ambiguous, or lacks explicit attributions (e.g., “yea” or a thumbs up). To investigate the effects of ambiguous praise on motivation, we randomly assigned 95 5–6-year-old children to a praise condition (verbal trait; verbal effort; verbal ambiguous; or gestural) and measured motivation using task persistence, self-evaluations, and eye fixations on errors. Ambiguous praise, similar to verbal effort praise, produced higher persistence and self-evaluations, and fewer fixations on error after failure compared to verbal trait praise. Interestingly, gestures produced the highest self-evaluations. Thus, praise without explicit attributions motivated as well or better than praise explicitly focused on effort, which may suggest that children interpret ambiguous praise in the most beneficial manner.
RpoS is necessary for both the positive and negative regulation of starvation survival genes during phosphate, carbon, and nitrogen starvation in Salmonella typhimurium

The starvation stress response of Salmonella typhimurium encompasses the genetic and physiologic changes that occur when this bacterium is starved for an essential nutrient such as phosphate (P), carbon (C), or nitrogen (N). The responses to the limitation of each of these nutrients involve both unique and overlapping sets of proteins important for starvation survival and virulence. The role of the alternative sigma factor RpoS in the regulation of the starvation survival loci, stiA, stiB, and stiC, has been characterized. RpoS (sigma S) was found to be required for the P, C, and N starvation induction of stiA and stiC. In contrast, RpoS was found to be required for the negative regulation of stiB during P and C starvation-induced stationary phase but not during logarithmic phase. This role was independent of the relA gene (previously found to be needed for stiB induction). The role of RpoS alone and in combination with one or more sti mutations in the starvation survival of the organism was also investigated. The results clearly demonstrate that RpoS is an integral component of the complex interconnected regulatory systems involved in S. typhimurium's response to nutrient deprivation. However, differential responses of various sti genes indicate that additional signals and regulatory proteins are also involved.
Low Bone Density and Bisphosphonate Use and the Risk of Kidney Stones.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Previous studies have demonstrated lower bone density in patients with kidney stones, but no longitudinal studies have evaluated kidney stone risk in individuals with low bone density. Small studies with short follow-up reported reduced 24-hour urine calcium excretion with bisphosphonate use. We examined history of low bone density and bisphosphonate use and the risk of incident kidney stone as well as the association with 24-hour calcium excretion. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS We conducted a prospective analysis of 96,092 women in the Nurses' Health Study II. We used Cox proportional hazards models to adjust for age, body mass index, thiazide use, fluid intake, supplemental calcium use, and dietary factors. We also conducted a cross-sectional analysis of 2294 participants using multivariable linear regression to compare 24-hour urinary calcium excretion between participants with and without a history of low bone density, and among 458 participants with low bone density, with and without bisphosphonate use. RESULTS We identified 2564 incident stones during 1,179,860 person-years of follow-up. The multivariable adjusted relative risk for an incident kidney stone for participants with history of low bone density compared with participants without was 1.39 (95% confidence interval [95% CI], 1.20 to 1.62). Among participants with low bone density, the multivariable adjusted relative risk for an incident kidney stone for bisphosphonate users was 0.68 (95% CI, 0.48 to 0.98). In the cross-sectional analysis of 24-hour urine calcium excretion, the multivariable adjusted mean difference in 24-hour calcium was 10 mg/d (95% CI, 1 to 19) higher for participants with history of low bone density. However, among participants with history of low bone density, there was no association between bisphosphonate use and 24-hour calcium with multivariable adjusted mean difference in 24-hour calcium of -2 mg/d (95% CI, -25 to 20). CONCLUSIONS Low bone density is an independent risk factor for incident kidney stone and is associated with higher 24-hour urine calcium excretion. Among participants with low bone density, bisphosphonate use was associated with lower risk of incident kidney stone but was not independently associated with 24-hour urine calcium excretion.
Resolution of Kinematic Redundancy using Optimization Techniques

Recent work has shown that while one can resolve kinematic redundancy by the strategy of using the additional degrees of freedom to instantaneously minimize a cost criterion, one cannot do this in a singularity-free way. This motivates the research reported below regarding path planning based on optimization of integral cost criteria. For a wide variety of such criteria, optimal paths are shown to satisfy a system of differential equations. The analysis exploits ideas from the classical calculus of variations, and it is therefore not surprising that multiplicities of extremal solutions exist. Numerical examples are given where extremal solutions fall into distinct homotopy classes, not all of which are optimal.
Cost-distance: two metric network design

Presents the cost-distance problem, which consists of finding a Steiner tree which optimizes the sum of edge costs along one metric and the sum of source-sink distances along an unrelated second metric. We give the first known O(log k) randomized approximation scheme for the cost-distance problem, where k is the number of sources. We reduce several common network design problems to cost-distance problems, obtaining (in some cases) the first known logarithmic approximation for them. These problems include a single-sink buy-at-bulk problem with variable pipe types between different sets of nodes, facility location with buy-at-bulk-type costs on edges, constructing single-source multicast trees with good cost and delay properties, and multi-level facility location. Our algorithm is also easier to implement and significantly faster than previously known algorithms for buy-at-bulk design problems.