Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Effect of a Nutrition Education Program on Nutrition Behavior and Body Mass Index of Secondaruy School Students

Objective: To examine the effects that nutrition education gi ven to primary school-age children has on their nutrition behaviors, nutrition knowledge and body m ass index. Methods: The study was conducted with 173 students, who wer e en olled in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grades of a private school, and their parents. The research d ata were collected using a Survey Form, the Food Consumption Frequency Form, the Child Nutrition Kno wledge Form, and the Body Mass Index Values Form. Children and parents were given trainings that invo lved introducing food items and explaining healthy nutrition habits. Results: After undergoing the education program on nutritio n, the children's junk food consumption rates decreased (p<0.05) and their water consumption incr eased significantly (p<.001). Following the complet ion of the program, it was found that the obese and overwe ight children ate meat and milk more frequently, bu t consumed cereal products, like pasta and rice, as w ell as sugar and chocolate, less frequently (p < .0 01) Before undergoing the education program, 61.3% of the chil dren were overweight and 20.8% were obese, however, after completing the program, the ratio of normal w eight students increased to 67.6% while that of obe se children decreased to 11.6% (p < .001). Conclusion: The provision of nutrition education in primary sc hool had a positive effect on the children's nutritional behaviors, increased their nutritional knowledge and reduced their body mass index. This s tudy therefore serves to demonstrate the importance of i nstituting such educational practices to prevent ov erweight or obesity in childhood.
NBER WORKING PAPER SERIES IN PRAISE OF MODERATION: SUGGESTIONS FOR THE SCOPE AND USE OF PRE-ANALYSIS PLAN FOR RCTS IN ECONOMICS

Pre-Analysis Plans (PAPs) for randomized evaluations are becoming increasingly common in Economics, but their definition remains unclear and their practical applications therefore vary widely. Based on our collective experiences as researchers and editors, we articulate a set of principles for the ex-ante scope and ex-post use of PAPs. We argue that the key benefits of a PAP can usually be realized by completing the registration fields in the AEA RCT Registry. Specific cases where more detail may be warranted include when subgroup analysis is expected to be particularly important, or a party to the study has a vested interest. However, a strong norm for more detailed pre-specification can be detrimental to knowledge creation when implementing field experiments in the real world. An ex-post requirement of strict adherence to pre-specified plans, or the discounting of non-pre-specified work, may mean that some experiments do not take place, or that interesting observations and new theories are not explored and reported. Rather, we recommend that the final research paper be written and judged as a distinct object from the “results of the PAP”; to emphasize this distinction, researchers could consider producing a short, publicly available report (the “populated PAP”) that populates the PAP to the extent possible and briefly discusses any barriers to doing so. Esther Duflo Department of Economics, E52-544 MIT 50 Memorial Drive Cambridge, MA 02142 and NBER eduflo@mit.edu Abhijit Banerjee Department of Economics, E52-540 MIT 50 Memorial Drive Cambridge, MA 02142 and NBER banerjee@mit.edu Amy Finkelstein Department of Economics, E52-442 MIT 50 Memorial Drive Cambridge, MA 02142 and NBER afink@mit.edu Lawrence F. Katz Department of Economics Harvard University Cambridge, MA 02138 and NBER lkatz@harvard.edu Benjamin A. Olken Department of Economics, E52-542 MIT 50 Memorial Drive Cambridge, MA 02142 and NBER bolken@mit.edu Anja Sautmann Massachusetts Institute of Technology J-PAL, E19, 2nd floor 400 Main Street Cambridge, MA 02142 sautmann@mit.edu In Praise of Moderation: Suggestions for the Scope and Use of PreAnalysis Plan for RCTs in Economics Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo, Amy Finkelstein, Lawrence F. Katz, Benjamin A. Olken, Anja Sautmann
Ultrasound Neuromodulation: Mechanisms and the Potential of Multimodal Stimulation for Neuronal Function Assessment

Focused ultrasound (FUS) neuromodulation has shown that mechanical waves can interact with cell membranes and mechanosensitive ion channels, causing changes in neuronal activity. However, the thorough understanding of the mechanisms involved in these interactions are hindered by different experimental conditions for a variety of animal scales and models. While the lack of complete understanding of FUS neuromodulation mechanisms does not impede benefiting from the current known advantages and potential of this technique, a precise characterization of its mechanisms of action and their dependence on experimental setup (e.g., tuning acoustic parameters and characterizing safety ranges) has the potential to exponentially improve its efficacy as well as spatial and functional selectivity. This could potentially reach the cell type specificity typical of other, more invasive techniques, e.g., opto- and chemogenetics or at least orientation-specific selectivity afforded by transcranial magnetic stimulation. Here, the mechanisms and their potential overlap are reviewed along with discussions on the potential insights into mechanisms that magnetic resonance imaging sequences along with a multimodal stimulation approach involving electrical, magnetic, chemical, light, and mechanical stimuli can provide.
Corpus-based Analysis of Modals in Consecutive Sentences

This work presents a method that was developed for extracting examples that include modal auxiliaries in two consecutive sentences from an English corpus. The method uses a process where the sentences are extracted, parsed for simplification of complex sentences, analyzed for frequency of use and then made available for display to provide useful examples for the purpose of learning the use of modals in context. These example sentences can be useful tools for both teachers and students alike.
Anti-nociceptive effects of the hydroethanolic extract of Alysicarpus ovalifolius in rodents

Alysicarpus ovalifolius commonly known as gadagi in Northern Nigeria is claimed to possess tonic effects. Substances that show stimulant properties have demonstrated analgesic effects. This study therefore aimed at investigating the anti-nociceptive effects of the hydroethanolic extract of A. ovalifolius (HEAo) in mice and rats. The activities of the extract on acetic acid induced abdominal writhing, formalin induced pain and tail immersion test were carried out in mice. Effect on carrageenan induced pain was also determined in rats. The extract at the tested doses (100 – 400 mg/kg) significantly and dose dependently decreased the number of abdominal writhing in treated mice. Similarly, extract treated mice exhibited a decrease in the pain reaction in both phases of formalin induced algesia. Carrageenan caused hyperalgesia in rats which was ameliorated in rats treated with HEAo (400 mg/kg) when administered before and after exposure to carrageenan. Reaction time in the tail immersion test was increased in extract pre-treated mice. Results obtained from this study show that the hydro-ethanolic extract of A. ovalifolius may contain phytoconstituent probably acting on peripheral and centrally mediated pain receptors to produce anti-nociceptive actions. Key words: Anti-nociceptive effects, hydro-ethanolic extract, Alysicarpus ovalifolius, rodents.
Critical but Overlapping Role of FcγRIII and FcγRIV in Activation of Murine Neutrophils by Immobilized Immune Complexes12

Immune complex-induced activation of neutrophils through cell surface FcRs plays a central role in the pathogenesis of autoimmune inflammatory diseases. These diseases are often modeled using genetically modified mice. However, in contrast to the number of studies on human cells, the identity of FcRs involved in immune complex activation of murine neutrophils is at present unknown. Furthermore, little is known about the cellular functions mediated by the recently identified murine FcγRIV. In this study, we tested the identity of FcRs involved in the activation of neutrophils by plate-bound immune complexes, using various knockout mouse strains, function-blocking mAbs, or the combination of both approaches. Activation of murine neutrophils by immobilized IgG immune complexes was abrogated in FcR γ-chain-deficient cells, but not by the single or combined deficiency of the γ-chain-associated FcγRI and FcγRIII, or by blocking Abs against either FcγRIII or FcγRIV alone. However, treatment of FcγRIII-deficient neutrophils with FcγRIV-blocking Abs or simultaneous blocking of FcγRIII and FcγRIV in wild-type cells completely inhibited the immune complex-induced cellular responses. In parallel studies, activation of human neutrophils by immobilized immune complexes was abrogated by blocking Abs against either FcγRIIA or FcγRIIIB alone. Taken together, neutrophil activation by immobilized immune complexes requires the murine FcγRIII/FcγRIV or the human FcγRIIA/FcγRIIIB molecules. Although both of the two human receptors are required for this response, the two murine receptors play overlapping, redundant roles. These results promote our understanding of autoimmune diseases and identify an IgG-dependent cellular function of FcγRIV.
Public Debt Dynamics in the Western Balkans: Do Social Expenditures and Economic Growth Matter?

The aim of this paper is to examine the determinants of public debt in the Western Balkan countries, with an emphasis on the effects of economic growth and social expenditures. The study covers the period 2006-2017, and we implement the dynamic panel GMM estimation, using both first-difference and system GMM. The results suggest that incremental growth change significantly reduces debt, while social expenditures push the debt-to-GDP ratio up. Also, there is a negative relation between inflation and debt, while interest payments on previous borrowing increase public debt additionally. Finally, unemployment is not statistically significant in this setting. The main policy implication is that policy makers in these countries should favor a growth-oriented policy toolbox and efficiency-oriented social reforms, in order to keep the public debt sustainable in the long run.
Comparison of Cysteine Protease B Gene Expression between Clinical Isolates of Leishmania tropica, Leishmania major and Leishmania infantum

Department of Medical Parasitology and Mycology, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; Institute of biomedicine, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenberg, Gothenberg, Sweden; Legal Medicine Research Center, Legal Medicine Organization, Tehran, Iran; Research Center for Endemic Parasites of Iran, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; Research center for Zoonoses, Parasitic and Microbial Diseases, Ardabil University of Medical Sciences, Ardabil, Iran
Neural network surprisal predicts the existence but not the magnitude of human syntactic disambiguation difficulty

The disambiguation of a syntactically ambiguous sentence in favor of dispreferred parse can lead to slower reading at the disambiguation point. This phenomenon, referred to as a garden path effect, has motivated models in which readers only maintain a subset of the possible parses of the sentence; reverting to a discarded parse requires costly reanalysis. More recently, it has been proposed that the garden path effect can be reduced to surprisal arising in a fully parallel parser: words consistent with the initially dispreferred but ultimately correct parse are simply less predictable than those consistent with the incorrect parse. The surprisal account is more parsimonious since predictability has pervasive effects in reading far beyond garden path sentences. Crucially, this account predicts a linear effect of surprisal: the difficulty experienced by readers should be proportional to the difference in word surprisal between the ultimately correct and ultimately incorrect interpretations. To test this prediction, we estimate word-by-word surprisal using a recurrent neural network language model, and compare those estimates to human behavioral data. While predictability did predict the magnitude of easier garden path sentences (NP/S constructions), it underestimated the disambiguation difficulty for harder garden path sentences (NP/Z and MV/RR). These results support two-stage models in which recovery mechanisms beyond predictability are involved in processing hard garden path sentences.
Investigation into the Optimal Bucket Trap Hole Size to Reduce Capture of Immature Hagfish

The commercial fishery in California for Pacific hagfish, Eptatretus stoutii, is entirely for export. In this fishery, all hagfish caught regardless of size, unless culled at sea, are landed and exported. Korean importers consider smaller hagfish undesirable, thus the fate of landed smaller, hagfish is unknown. In a fishery-independent study using a collaborating commercial fisherman and his vessel, we determined the average length, length frequency distribution, and stage of maturity of captured hagfish relative to bucket trap hole size by using bucket traps and the range of hole sizes used by the fishery. We also recorded bycatch. Based on length-at-maturity data from this study, and Melvin and Osborn’s (1992) findings, we will then possess better information to ensure this fishery is sustainably managed.
How Exporting Firms Respond to Technical Barriers to Trade?

This paper investigates how Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) affect firm export performance. The implementation of the “Children-Resistance” act (CR act) in the EU offers an ideal quasi-natural experiment to identify the causal effect of TBTs on firm performance. Using data on Chinese firms that export cigarette lighters between 2004 and 2008, empirical results show that firms that export to the EU not only adjust their product quality to meet the requirements in the CR act, but also upgrade their product quality in other dimensions. However, both the export value and export volume to the EU decline. At the same time, less productive exporters are forced to exit from the EU market. In addition, while the effect of the CR act on export quality is significant only in the implementation year, its impact on firm-level export scale last longer even after its implementation, which is referred to as a dynamic impact. Lastly, Heterogeneous effect of TBT is also documented. Key Word: Technical barriers to trade; Children-Resistant Act; Difference in differences JEL Classification: F13; F14; D21
Non-Linear Model Reduction for the Navier-Stokes Equations using the Residual DEIM Method

aApplied Modelling and Computation Group, Department of Earth Science and Engineering,Imperial College London, Prince Consort Road, London, SW7 2BP, UK. URL: http://amcg.ese. imperial.ac. uk bState Key Laboratory of Geological Processes and Mineral Resources, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, 430074, China cDepartment of Scientific Computing, Florida State University,Tallahassee, FL, 32306-4120, USA dInstitute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100029, China
Giovanis, Eleftherios and Ozdamar, Oznur (2018)Productivity and Resource Misallocation: Evidence from Firms in in Middle East and North Africa

Resource reallocation from low to high productivity firms can generate large aggregate productivity gains with further potential benefits to economic growth. This study examines the productivity and resource misallocation in a sample of countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and Turkey. The analysis relies on data derived from the World Bank Enterprise Surveys over the period 2008-2016 of firms in Egypt, Turkey and Yemen. Furthermore, in the analysis we include various firm characteristics, and we explore major state-business relations (SBRs) and their association to resource misallocation. The results are mixed where in Egypt and Turkey female ownership and international quality are positively associated with productivity and allocation efficiency, while in all cases obstacles in SBRs present a negative and significant correlation with the firms’ performance and productivity, reducing the allocation efficiency and increasing the dispersions on output and capital.
Modelling Risk in Financial Services Systems: A Functional Risk Modelling Perspective

Financial market events in 2007 and 2008 pose a fundamental challenge for traditional Financial Services industry risk assessment approaches such as Value at Risk (VaR) models and capital adequacy risk measures. Unexampled events such as the liquidity crunch of the global credit markets, and its impact on individual Financial Services firms, clearly demonstrated the need to complement VaR risk models and traditional risk metrics with other types of risk models and metrics. The goal of the present paper is to introduce such a different type of risk modelling framework, i.e., functional risk modelling. Key concepts from resilience engineering are introduced and leveraged to define the approach. The primary goal of the proposed modelling framework is to identify functional dependencies between a firm’s business functions and the functions that drive key behaviours of the global financial markets. An example from 2007’s financial markets is used to illustrate the proposed framework, i.e., the rapid demise of the UK based residential mortgage firm Northern Rock.
Does Marriage Make People Happy, or Do Happy People Get Married?

This paper analyzes the causal relationships between marriage and subjective well-being in a longitudinal data set spanning 17 years. We find evidence that happier singles opt more likely for marriage and that there are large differences in the benefits from marriage between couples. Potential, as well as actual, division of labor seems to contribute to spouses' wellbeing, especially for women and when there is a young family to raise. In contrast, large differences in the partners' educational level have a negative effect on experienced life satisfaction.
Too Little, Too Late: Reduced Visual Span and Speed Characterize Pure Alexia

Whether normal word reading includes a stage of visual processing selectively dedicated to word or letter recognition is highly debated. Characterizing pure alexia, a seemingly selective disorder of reading, has been central to this debate. Two main theories claim either that 1) Pure alexia is caused by damage to a reading specific brain region in the left fusiform gyrus or 2) Pure alexia results from a general visual impairment that may particularly affect simultaneous processing of multiple items. We tested these competing theories in 4 patients with pure alexia using sensitive psychophysical measures and mathematical modeling. Recognition of single letters and digits in the central visual field was impaired in all patients. Visual apprehension span was also reduced for both letters and digits in all patients. The only cortical region lesioned across all 4 patients was the left fusiform gyrus, indicating that this region subserves a function broader than letter or word identification. We suggest that a seemingly pure disorder of reading can arise due to a general reduction of visual speed and span, and explain why this has a disproportionate impact on word reading while recognition of other visual stimuli are less obviously affected.
Diagnosing root causes of intermittent slow queries in cloud databases

With the growing market of cloud databases, careful detection and elimination of slow queries are of great importance to service stability. Previous studies focus on optimizing the slow queries that result from internal reasons (e.g., poorly-written SQLs). In this work, we discover a different set of slow queries which might be more hazardous to database users than other slow queries. We name such queries Intermittent Slow Queries (iSQs), because they usually result from intermittent performance issues that are external (e.g., at database or machine levels). Diagnosing root causes of iSQs is a tough but very valuable task. This paper presents iSQUAD, Intermittent Slow QUery Anomaly Diagnoser, a framework that can diagnose the root causes of iSQs with a loose requirement for human intervention. Due to the complexity of this issue, a machine learning approach comes to light naturally to draw the interconnection between iSQs and root causes, but it faces challenges in terms of versatility, labeling overhead and interpretability. To tackle these challenges, we design four components, i.e., Anomaly Extraction, Dependency Cleansing, Type-Oriented Pattern Integration Clustering (TOPIC) and Bayesian Case Model. iSQUAD consists of an offline clustering & explanation stage and an online root cause diagnosis & update stage. DBAs need to label each iSQ cluster only once at the offline stage unless a new type of iSQs emerges at the online stage. Our evaluations on real-world datasets from Alibaba OLTP Database show that iSQUAD achieves an iSQ root cause diagnosis average F1-score of 80.4%, and outperforms existing diagnostic tools in terms of accuracy and efficiency.
Shifting the focus from Learner Completion to Learner Perseverance: Evidences from a Teacher Professional Development MOOC

: Most major Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) providers are focusing on design of xMOOCs. In these courses, a central course design team develops necessary learning content (in form of videos and/or documents), automated assessments and manages discussion forums to engage the participants in a structured manner. However the xMOOCs have been criticized for their cognitive-behaviourist pedagogic design, lower student engagement with discussion forums and lower completion rates that make it unsuitable for direct use in Teacher Professional Development (TPD). In this paper we introduce the idea of ‘Learner Perseverance’ that can be used as a better design goal for an xMOOC developed for TPD. The design principles of Immersivity and Pertinency were utilized in adapting the xMOOC components of videos, auto-graded assessment problems and discussion forums for a TPD MOOC (ET601Tx) to achieve learner perseverance. It was seen that there were 3447 active participants (67.5% of enrolled) in the course, i.e. people who have accessed courseware at least once. The data from the course logs show that 1201 (47.1%) active learners had participated in the discussion forum generating 5023 discussion threads generating 9861 comments (i.e. 4 threads and 8 comments per active learner who participated in the discussion forum). It was also seen that there is a completion rate of 36.58% (1261 learners) for ET601Tx, which is quite high compared to the average completion rates reported in xMOOCs (6-7%). The course completion survey indicated that these pedagogical designs were useful and relevant for the teachers in their own practice. Based on these findings we recommend use of a ‘Learner Perseverance’ based design for improving learner participation in xMOOCs that are used for TPD