Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
roup size and cooperation among strangers

We study how group size affects cooperation in an infinitely repeated n-player Prisoner’s Dilemma (PD) game. In each repetition of the game, groups of size n ≤ M are randomly and anonymously matched from a fixed population of size M to play the n-player PD stage game. We provide conditions for which the contagious strategy (Kandori, 1992) sustains a social norm of cooperation among all M players. Our main finding is that if agents are sufficiently patient, a social norm of society-wide cooperation becomes easier to sustain under the contagious strategy as n increases toward M. In an experiment where the population size M is fixed and conditions identified by our theoretical analysis hold, we find strong evidence that cooperation rates are higher with larger group sizes than with smaller group sizes in treatments where each subject interacts with M − 1 robot players who follow the contagious strategy. When the number of human subjects increases in the population, the cooperation rates decrease significantly, indicating that it is the strategic uncertainty among the human subjects that hinders cooperation. © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Radionuclide Imaging of Myocardial Metabolism

Cardiac health is dependent on the heart’s ability to utilize different substrates to support overall oxidative metabolism to generate ATP. Indeed, a loss in plasticity in substrate preference is characteristic of a variety cardiac diseases such as diabetic heart disease, in which fatty acid metabolism predominates, and dilated cardiomyopathy, in which glucose metabolism predominates. Because of the pleiotropic actions of myocardial substrate metabolism, a loss in plasticity in substrate preference can have detrimental effects well beyond impairment of energy production, including perturbations in various cell signaling pathways, alterations in cell growth, and decreased cell survival. Despite the rapid growth in our understanding of the relationship between altered myocardial metabolism and cardiac disease, many important questions remain. For example, what are the key determinants of changes in myocardial substrate use? When these changes do occur, to what extent are they adaptive or have the propensity to become maladaptive? And are these metabolic patterns of prognostic significance? Although transgenic models targeting vital aspects of myocardial substrate use are providing mechanistic insights into myocardial metabolic-functional relationships in various cardiac diseases, the relevance of the observed phenotypes to the corresponding human condition is frequently unclear. Likewise, applied genomics have identified numerous gene variants intimately involved in the regulation of myocardial substrate use, yet identifying all clinically relevant genetic variants remains elusive. As a consequence, there is an ever-growing demand for accurate noninvasive imaging approaches of myocardial substrate metabolism that provide links between the bench and the bedside. In this regard, radionuclide approaches have led the way. The most notable example of clinical applicability is the detection of ischemic but viable myocardium with positron emission tomography (PET) and 18F-fluorodexoglucose (FDG) for the treatment of patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy. In the subsequent discussion, advances in metabolic imaging using radionuclide approaches and their potential future applications …
A multivariate sensory model in glaucoma diagnosis.

PURPOSE To evaluate whether the combination of two psychophysical and two electrophysiological procedures improves diagnostic validity compared with single procedures. METHODS In a clinical study, 73 patients with glaucoma from the University Eye Hospital in Erlangen and 122 healthy control subjects from the university staff, ranging in age from 19 to 62 years, underwent measurement of temporal contrast sensitivity using a full-field flicker test, spatiotemporal contrast sensitivity, blue-on-yellow visual evoked potential (VEP), and a black-and-white, pattern-reversal electroretinogram. Diagnostic reference criteria included applanation tonometry, optic disc morphometry, and automated perimetry. Sensitivity was determined univariately with a fixed specificity of 80% and in a multivariate approach using logistic regression analysis. The classification rate was estimated using the leaving-one-out method. The correlation with intraocular pressure, visual field defects, and optic nerve defects was determined. RESULTS Contrast sensitivity measurements and the blue-on-yellow pattern-onset VEP showed comparable sensitivity (85%, 84%, and 85%) with 80% specificity, and a pattern-reversal electroretinogram showed lower sensitivity (64%). The first three methods contributed independent information to a diagnostic score. This score improved sensitivity to 94%, with a specificity of 89%. All procedures moderately correlated with the neuroretinal rim area of the optic disc (r=0.32-0.46). The psychophysical tests showed a higher correlation with visual field defects (r > 0.5) than the electrophysiological tests (r < 0.3). CONCLUSIONS The multivariate approach substantially increased the diagnostic validity compared with single procedures. This was probably because the diagnostic procedures under investigation tested different aspects of visual function.
Development of Intelligent Learning Tool for Improving Foreign Language Skills Based on EEG and Eye tracker

Recently, there has been tremendous development in education contents for foreign language learning. Based on these trends, IT has provided educational contents development using e-learning and broadcast media. But conventional educational contents are non-interactive presents an impediment to provide user's specific service. To develop a user friendly language education tool, we propose an intelligent learning tool based on user's eye movement and brain waves. By analyzing these features, the proposed system detects if the given word is known or unknown to the user while learning a foreign language. Then it searches its meaning and provides a vocabulary list of unknown words to users in real time. The proposed model provides a tool which enables self-directed learning. We assume that the proposed system can improve users' learning achievements and satisfaction.
Fructose Administration Increases Intraoperative Core Temperature by Augmenting Both Metabolic Rate and the Vasoconstriction Threshold

Background:The authors tested the hypothesis that intravenous fructose ameliorates intraoperative hypothermia both by increasing metabolic rate and the vasoconstriction threshold (triggering core temperature). Methods:Forty patients scheduled to undergo open abdominal surgery were divided into two equal groups and randomly assigned to intravenous fructose infusion (0.5 g · kg−1 · h−1 for 4 h, starting 3 h before induction of anesthesia and continuing for 4 h) or an equal volume of saline. Each treatment group was subdivided: Esophageal core temperature, thermoregulatory vasoconstriction, and plasma concentrations were determined in half, and oxygen consumption was determined in the remainder. Patients were monitored for 3 h after induction of anesthesia. Results:Patient characteristics, anesthetic management, and circulatory data were similar in the four groups. Mean final core temperature (3 h after induction of anesthesia) was 35.7° ± 0.4°C (mean ± SD) in the fructose group and 35.1° ± 0.4°C in the saline group (P = 0.001). The vasoconstriction threshold was greater in the fructose group (36.2° ± 0.3°C) than in the saline group (35.6° ± 0.3°C; P < 0.001). Oxygen consumption immediately before anesthesia induction in the fructose group (214 ± 18 ml/min) was significantly greater than in the saline group (181 ± 8 ml/min; P < 0.001). Oxygen consumption was 4.0 l greater in the fructose patients during 3 h of anesthesia; the predicted difference in mean body temperature based only on the difference in metabolic rates was thus only 0.4°C. Epinephrine, norepinephrine, and angiotensin II concentrations and plasma renin activity were similar in each treatment group. Conclusions:Preoperative fructose infusion helped to maintain normothermia by augmenting both metabolic heat production and increasing the vasoconstriction threshold.
Sliced Inverse Regression for Dimension Reduction

Abstract Modern advances in computing power have greatly widened scientists' scope in gathering and investigating information from many variables, information which might have been ignored in the past. Yet to effectively scan a large pool of variables is not an easy task, although our ability to interact with data has been much enhanced by recent innovations in dynamic graphics. In this article, we propose a novel data-analytic tool, sliced inverse regression (SIR), for reducing the dimension of the input variable x without going through any parametric or nonparametric model-fitting process. This method explores the simplicity of the inverse view of regression; that is, instead of regressing the univariate output variable y against the multivariate x, we regress x against y. Forward regression and inverse regression are connected by a theorem that motivates this method. The theoretical properties of SIR are investigated under a model of the form, y = f(β 1 x, …, β K x, e), where the β k 's are the unknown.
On quantum lambda calculi: a foundational perspective

In this paper, we propose an approach to quantum λ-calculi. The ‘quantum data-classical control’ paradigm is considered. Starting from a measurement-free untyped quantum λ-calculus called Q, we will study standard properties such as confluence and subject reduction, and some good quantum properties. We will focus on the expressive power, analysing the relationship with other quantum computational models. Successively, we will add an explicit measurement operator to Q. On the resulting calculus, called Q*, we will propose a complete study of reduction sequences regardless of their finiteness, proving confluence results. Moreover, since the stronger motivation behind quantum computing is the research of new results in computational complexity, we will also propose a calculus which captures the three classes of quantum polytime complexity, showing an ICC-like approach in the quantum setting.
Objectifying subjectivity in images through aesthetics: A Bergsonian approach

Objectifying subjectivity is central to the study of humanities. In aesthetics or philosophy of the arts, sensory-emotional values and critical reflection on art, culture and nature is studied to derive to new ways of seeing and of perceiving the world. Thus, the study of philosophy is designed to achieve high level thinking and intellectual development as propounded by Malaysia of Higher Educations' Malaysia Quality Assurance, outcome based education the Bloom's taxonomy cognitive (level 3–6). Ultimately, graduates are to come out as a life-long learner, adopting the new ways of seeing and of perceiving the world, objectively through subjectivity found in arts. This research is conducted as philosophy is seen to be something that is ‘not practiced’ but pre-exist and is ready made on a prefabricated horizon.
A nanoporous gold-based electrochemical aptasensor for sensitive detection of cocaine

The increasing application of aptamers in bioassays has triggered a lot of research interest for development of highly sensitive and selective sensing platforms. Herein, we report on the design of a sensitive cocaine biosensor by immobilizing the 5′-disulfide-functionalized end of an aptamer sequence on a nanoporous gold (NPG) electrode followed by the conjugation of its 3′-amino-functionalized end to 2,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid (DHBA) as the redox probe. In the presence of cocaine, the aptamer undergoes a conformational change from an open unfolded state to a closed conformation, which reduces the distance between DHBA and the electrode surface, resulting in the enhanced electron-transfer efficiency. Using square wave voltammetric method and under the optimal conditions, the cocaine aptasensor presented two linear responses in the concentration ranges between 0.05–1 and 1–35 μM, with an excellent detection limit of 21 nM. The proposed aptasensor provides a simple and low-cost method for cocaine detection with good reproducibility and accuracy. Furthermore, it could be regarded as a general model to investigate the unique function of aptamer-functionalized nanostructured electrodes to stablish highly advanced electrochemical biosensors for various target analytes of diagnostic importance.
Observations sur le cycle du detérminisme de la production chez la Vigne à l'occasion de la mise au point d'une méthode d'infection artificielle par le mildiou ( Plasmopara viticola ) pour l'évaluation des fongicides au champ

L'etude biometrique d'un essai destine a la mise au point d'une methode d'appreciation de la valeur de produits fongicides (anti-mildiou), montre que la technique de brumisation permet de faire des essais valides meme dans des conditions climatiques peu propices au mildiou car on obtient une infection severe et uniforme, et l'ordre de classement des produits est sensiblement Je meme qu'en conditions naturelles. Les plantes ayant subi des destructions du feuillage tres diverses suivant les traitements on ete etudiees pendant trois ans. Cette etude demontre l'existence du cycle de trois ans: constitution de reserves, initiation florale, production de grappes deja postule par ailleurs. Observations on the cycle determining the yield of the grapevine made while perfecting a method of artificial infection by mildew (Plasmopara viticola) in order to evaluate fungicides in the field Spraying a water mist ("brumisation") during the summer months results in a strong and even downy mildew infection on one year old rooted vine cuttings grown in the field. This makes comparative trials of fungicides possible even in unfavourable (dry) years. Such a trial, involving four levels (spray formulations) of the fungicides factor, two levels (with or without) of the mist factor, with five replications in plots of six plants, resulted in a set of plants having suffered various degrees of foliage destruction. Measuring these plants during three successive years, starting with the differential treatment year, provided the basis for checking an hypothesis on the determination of yield in the grapevine. Progressive analysis of variance of regressions (WooLF 1951) was used in the interpretation of results. Vigour in the second year was negatively correlated with foliar damage in the first year. In turn, number of bunches in the third year was correlated with vigour in the second year, hence with foliar damage in the first year. This lends support to the hypothesis that, in the grapevine, there is a three year cycle leading to the harvested clusters. On an adult plant, three cycles are simultaneously at work at every moment. These cycles are competing for energy fixed by photosynthesls; hormonal correlations that may be correlated with energy (carbohydrates) storage, for instance through its influence on root system volume, are also at play. The implications of these results, especially for experimental work with the grapevine, are discussed.
The feasibility analysis of re-ranking for N-best lists on English-Turkish machine translation

In this paper, we present the results of re-ranking for N-best list on machine translations. The main purpose of this research is to determine the upper bound of MT success that can be gained by reordering possible candidate translations. We use Google Translate Research API1 as our Statistical Machine Translation (SMT) system to get the N-best lists consisting of possible Turkish translations for a given English sentence. We evaluate the effect of reordering using three simple methods: unigram count (UC), unigram ratio (UR), and first four characters match (FFCM). We collected 720 sentences in order to give to the SMT system, and then we used 3 different sets of Turkish translations of them to evaluate our work on the N-best lists. Success of re-ranking is determined by using BLEU metric, besides an inclusive investigation which is necessary especially for agglutinative languages (e.g. Turkish, Czech, Hungarian, and Finnish) is performed by using BLEU+ MT scoring tool. We observe an improvement in BLEU score from 31.71 for the baseline system to 35.46 which is about 11.81% relative for the re-ranked model using UR.
A comparison of the immunochemical fecal occult blood test and total colonoscopy in the asymptomatic population.

BACKGROUND & AIMS The fecal occult blood test (FOBT) is recommended as a screening test for colorectal cancer, but there are few reliable studies on the accuracy of immunochemical FOBT. The aim of this study was to analyze the sensitivity of immunochemical FOBT and to compare the results with the findings from complete colonoscopy. METHODS Asymptomatic adults underwent 1-time immunochemical FOBT and total colonoscopy simultaneously. The prevalence and location of colorectal neoplasia were determined by colonoscopy. The results of immunochemical FOBT and the colonoscopic findings were compared. RESULTS Of 21,805 patients, immunochemical FOBT was positive in 1231 cases (5.6%). The sensitivity of 1-time immunochemical FOBT for detecting advanced neoplasia and invasive cancer was 27.1% and 65.8%, respectively. In addition, the sensitivity for invasive cancer according to Dukes' stage showed 50.0% for Dukes' stage A, 70.0% for Dukes' stage B, and 78.3% for Dukes' stages C or D. The sensitivity for detecting advanced neoplasia at the proximal colon was significantly lower than that detected in the distal colon (16.3% vs 30.7%, P = .00007). CONCLUSIONS Although the screening of asymptomatic patients with immunochemical FOBT can identify patients with colorectal neoplasia to a certain extent, the sensitivity is relatively low and different according to the tumor location. Therefore, programmatic and repeated screening by immunochemical FOBT may be necessary to increase sensitivity for colorectal cancer detection.
Depth and Rate of the Save

An introduction into cardiopulmonary resuscitation, CPR requirements has been given, and commercial CPR feedback systems were discussed. A novel microwave-based CPR feedback approach was investigated and introduced. It has been shown that the thoracic compression depth can be simulated and measured by applying an antenna pair directly to the patient's chest. Future CPR feedback systems for field tests should contain the antenna together with appropriate radar circuits in the lower gigahertz range as described.
Towards TerraSAR-X Street View: Creating city point cloud from multi-aspect data stacks

This article presents a recent updates of urban monitoring using TerraSAR-X data. We demonstrate a Google Street-View-like point cloud of the city of Berlin. To make such a point cloud, synthetic aperture radar (SAR) tomography is employed to process TerraSAR-X data stacks of different view angles around Berlin, obtaining 3D point cloud subsets from each of these data stacks. The density of one of these point clouds is around 1 million points / km2. These point cloud subsets are then fused to create a complete seamless one. Fuse tens of millions of points is a challenging task. Therefore, in this article, particular focus is put on the point cloud fusion. We introduce a feature-based unsupervised technique for point clouds fusion by detecting and matching building contour end points and aligning flat roofs in the two point clouds. The same idea can also be exploited as a general way to evaluate the fusion accuracy of different fusion techniques.
Efficient phase coding in hippocampal place cells

Hippocampal place cells encode space through phase precession, whereby neuronal spike phase progressively advances during place-field traversals. What neural constraints are essential for achieving efficient transfer of information through such phase codes, while concomitantly maintaining signature neuronal excitability specific to individual cell types? We developed a conductance-based model for phase precession in CA1 pyramidal neurons within the temporal sequence compression framework, and defined phase-coding efficiency using information theory. We recruited an unbiased stochastic search strategy to build a model population that exhibited physiologically observed heterogeneities in intrinsic properties. Place-field responses elicited from these models matched signature sub- and supra-threshold place-cell characteristics, including phase precession, sub-threshold voltage ramps, increases in theta-frequency power and firing rate during place-field traversals. Employing this model population, we show that disparate parametric combinations with weak pair-wise correlations resulted in models with similar high-efficiency phase codes and similar excitability characteristics. Mechanistically, the emergence of such parametric degeneracy was dependent on the differential and variable impact of individual ion channels on phase-coding efficiency in different models, and importantly, on synergistic interactions between synaptic and intrinsic properties. Furthermore, our analyses predicted a dominant role for calcium-activated potassium channels in regulating phase precession and coding efficiency. Finally, change in afferent statistics, manifesting as input asymmetry, induced an adaptive shift in the phase code that preserved its efficiency, apart from introducing asymmetry in sub-threshold ramps and firing profiles during place-field traversals. Our study postulates degeneracy as a potential framework to attain the twin goals of efficient temporal coding and robust homeostasis. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Neuronal intrinsic properties exhibit significant baseline heterogeneities, and change with activity-dependent plasticity and neuromodulation. How do hippocampal neurons encode spatial locations through the precise timings of their action potentials in the face of such heterogeneities? Here, employing a unifying synthesis of the temporal sequence compression, efficient coding and degeneracy frameworks, we show that there are several disparate routes for neurons to achieve high-efficiency spatial information transfer through such temporal codes. These disparate routes were consequent to the ability of neurons to produce precise encoding through distinct structural components, critically involving synergistic interactions between intrinsic and synaptic properties. Our results point to an explosion in the degrees of freedom available to a neuron in concomitantly achieving efficient coding and excitability homeostasis.
vfr, a Novel Locus Affecting Cysteine Protease Production in Streptococcus pyogenes

ABSTRACT A gene unique to Streptococcus pyogenes, called vfr, that negatively regulates speB, an important extracellular proteinase, has been identified. Disruption of vfr markedly increased SpeB production in a clinical strain of S. pyogenes and relieved its growth phase dependency. These findings may provide important insights into the pathogenesis of invasive S. pyogenes infections.