Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Spillover Effects of Monitoring: A Field Experiment

We provide field experimental evidence of the effects of monitoring in a context where productivity is multi-dimensional and only one dimension is monitored and incentivised. We hire students to do a job for us. The job consists of identifying euro coins. We study the effects of monitoring and penalising mistakes on work quality, and evaluate spillovers on non-incentivised dimensions of productivity (punctuality and theft). We find that monitoring improves work quality only if incentives are large, but reduces punctuality substantially irrespectively of the size of incentives. Monitoring does not affect theft, with ten per cent of participants stealing overall. Our setting also allows us to disentangle between possible theoretical mechanisms driving the adverse effects of monitoring. Our findings are supportive of a reciprocity mechanism, whereby workers retaliate for being distrusted.
Antibacterial and synergistic effects from aerial part of Kalimeris yomena Kitamura extract against methicillin- resistant Staphylococcus aureus

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is recognized as a serious clinical problem worldwide. Consequently, a recent investigation was conducted on the antibacterial activity and aerial part of Kalimeris yomena Kitamura. The antibacterial activities of ethanol (EtOH) extract of K. yomena and its n-hexane, EtOAc, n-BuOH and H2O fractions were evaluated against 15 strains of MRSA and 1 standard methicillin-susceptible S. aureus (MSSA) strain. The n-hexane fraction showed a positive antibacterial activity against all the tested strains. The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of nhexane fraction were in the range of 31.3 to 250 μg/ml. The disc diffusion test diameter of the inhibition zone was in the range of 12 to 17 mm. Thereafter, the combination of n-hexane fraction of K. yomena (HFK) + ampicillin (AM) or oxacillin (OX), fractional inhibitory concentrations index (FICI) values for HFK + AM ranged between 0.25 and 0.5, and HFK + Ox ranged between 0.5 and 0.56, which show increased synergistic effects. Determining time-kill curves also confirmed the improved synergism of HFK and AM combination against 4, 8, 12 and 24 h cultured MRSA. This result encouraged us to think that n-hexane fraction of aerial part of K. yomena can be used as a natural antibacterial agent.
A Taxonomy of Attacks and a Survey of Defence Mechanisms for Semantic Social Engineering Attacks

Social engineering is used as an umbrella term for a broad spectrum of computer exploitations that employ a variety of attack vectors and strategies to psychologically manipulate a user. Semantic attacks are the specific type of social engineering attacks that bypass technical defences by actively manipulating object characteristics, such as platform or system applications, to deceive rather than directly attack the user. Commonly observed examples include obfuscated URLs, phishing emails, drive-by downloads, spoofed websites and scareware to name a few. This article presents a taxonomy of semantic attacks, as well as a survey of applicable defences. By contrasting the threat landscape and the associated mitigation techniques in a single comparative matrix, we identify the areas where further research can be particularly beneficial.
Is the Neoadjuvant Docetaxel, Cisplatin and 5-Fluorouracil Regimen Superior to Classic Cisplatin and 5-Fluorouracil for Locoregionally Advanced Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma?

Objectives : We retrospectively compared the toxicity and efficacy of two neoadjuvant chemotherapy regimens (docetaxel+cisplatin+5-fluorouracil vs. cisplatin+5-fluorouracil) followed by chemoradiotherapy for locoregionally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Patients and Materials : We analysed 135 patients with stage III and IVA-B nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Forty-four patients were treated with docetaxel+cisplatin+5-fluorouracil and chemoradiotherapy (TPF group), and 91 were treated with cisplatin+5-fluorouracil and chemoradiotherapy (PF group). Chemoradiotherapy was administered with weekly cisplatin. Radical radiotherapy with total doses of 70–74Gy was administered using a conventional technique, over 7 weeks in 2.0Gy/fraction; boost doses of 6–10Gy were administered in 55.6% patients (n=75) with locally advanced cancer. Results : The median follow-up was 46.5 months (range, 9.8–62.8 months), and the follow-up rate was 95%. The TPF group had better 5-year estimated progression-free survival (77.0% vs. 73.5%; P = 0.510) and overall survival than the PF group (80.7% vs. 77.9%, P = 0.446); however, there was no statistically significant difference between the groups. Toxicities in the two groups were similar; grade 3/4 oral mucositis was more common in the TPF group (27.3%) than in the PF group (15.3%) during chemoradiotherapy. Conclusions : The neoadjuvant docetaxel+cisplatin+5-fluorouracil chemotherapy led to satisfactory long-term survival and slight improvement in progression-free survival and overall survival as compared with the classic cisplatin+5-fluorouracil regimen; toxicity was tolerable. However, prospective trials are needed to prove whether docetaxel+cisplatin+5-fluorouracil is a substitute for cisplatin+5-fluorouracil.
Overconfident Competing Newsvendors

Overconfidence is one of the most consistent, powerful, and widespread cognitive biases affecting decision making in situations characterized by random outcomes. In this paper, we study the effects and implications of overconfidence in a competitive newsvendor setting. In this context, overconfidence is defined as a cognitive bias in which decision makers behave as though the outcome of an uncertain event is less risky than it really is. This bias unequivocally leads to a lower expected profit for a newsvendor that does not compete on inventory availability. Nevertheless, it can be a positive force for competing newsvendors. Indeed, we find that when the product’s profit margin is high, overconfidence can lead to a first-best outcome. In a similar vein, we also show that the more biased of two competing newsvendors is not necessarily destined to a smaller expected profit than its less biased competitor.
Adapting a Soft 2.5D Actuated Shape Display for Rebound Tenderness Simulation and Training

This paper presents our work towards adapting ForceForm, a 2.5D actuated surface, for use as a medical training apparatus for rebound tenderness, an application area which lacks prior research from computing researchers. Rebound tenderness is used by health practitioners to physically examine a patient's abdomen by applying and then releasing pressure with the hands. This paper demonstrates a novel technique to allow an actuated shape display to detect interactions caused by the user pressing down upon a soft surface by means of a Hall effect sensor. User evaluation of the interaction reveals that the further the user is required to press down into the surface, the more accurately the task is performed when visual cues are present, but the relationship between accuracy and depth is inverted when users are required to perform a depth recall task without the presence of visual cues. The results of this research support the continued development of ForceForm for rebound tenderness simulations and suggest that unexpected user performance patterns may occur when utilising soft interfaces.
The Prediction of Coronary Heart Disease Mortality as a Function of Major Risk Factors in Over 30000 Men in the Italian RIFLE Pooling Project. A Comparison with the MRFIT Primary Screenees

Background: Few risk functions for the prediction of coronary heart disease mortality have been produced in Italy. This study used a large population sample to evaluate the effect of major risk factors on coronary mortality. Methods: Coronary deaths in 45 cohorts of men (n = 31 317, aged 30–69 years) were studied and related to selected cardiovascular risk factors. Results: After 6 years, 1089 men had died, of whom 239 were coronary fatalities. Univariate and multivariate (Cox model) analyses conducted on each age group (30–39, 40–49, 50–59 and 60–69 years) showed a positive association between coronary deaths and systolic blood pressure, serum cholesterol level and cigarette smoking, with few exceptions. A multiple logistic model was produced for men aged 35–57 years, assessing the role of age, serum cholesterol, cigarettes smoked per day and diastolic instead of systolic blood pressure, using the same endpoint as that employed in a similar model published from the analysis of MRFIT primary screenees in the USA to facilitate valid comparison. The coefficients in the present study were similar to those in the US cohort: No statistically significant differences could be detected when comparing the pairs of coefficients. Conclusion: Coefficients relating cholesterol, blood pressure and cigarette smoking to coronary mortality in Italian men are similar to those in American men from the same age groups.
Correlation of knee extension force and torque with gait speed in patients with stroke

The purpose of this study was to determine and compare among 26 patients with stroke the correlations between gait speed and static knee extensor muscle force (KEMF) and between gait speed and knee extensor muscle torque (KEMT) that were either normalised or not normalised against (divided by) body weight. The gait speed of the patients was determined as they walked an 8-metre expanse of floor. Their KEMF was measured bilaterally with an Ametek hand-held dynamometer. Their KEMT was calculated from their KEMF measurement and also measured bilaterally directly with a Cybex II isokinetic dynamometer. All the KEMF and KEMT measures (normalised and not normalised) of the paretic side were correlated significantly (P<0.01) with gait speed (r = 0.603-0.677). The measures on the non-paretic side were not correlated significantly with gait speed. On the paretic side, the correlations between gait speed and KEMF and gait speed and KEMT did not differ significantly. Normalisation of the KEMF and KEMT measures did no.
Role of Hypertonic Saline for the Management of Intracranial Hypertension After Stroke and Traumatic Brain Injury

Increased intracranial pressure after neurologic injury is a clinical challenge that often requires administration of osmotic agents. The most common osmotic agent used for treatment has been mannitol; however, interest has been renewed in using hypertonic saline after neurologic injury, since it is not associated with hypovolemia. The types of procedures or injury for which hypertonic saline has been used are vast, from elective craniotomy for tumor resection to stroke and traumatic brain injury. Unfortunately, there is a paucity of well‐controlled clinical trials that provide evidence for the best concentration, administration approach, and length of therapy with hypertonic saline. The bulk of the data exists for traumatic brain injury, although most of these data are from observational and retrospective analyses, which do not allow for an evaluation of the impact of hypertonic saline on clinical outcomes. Nonetheless, both animal and clinical data suggest that patients with traumatic brain injury and those with stroke may benefit from hypertonic saline therapy. Since hypertonic saline has a high risk of injury with inappropriate administration and is considered a “high‐alert” drug, safety issues surrounding its dispensing and administration must be considered. Randomized outcome trials comparing mannitol with hypertonic saline in various subpopulations of neurologic injury would add valuable information to the literature and provide a basis for establishment of best clinical practices.
The Netflix Recommender System

This article discusses the various algorithms that make up the Netflix recommender system, and describes its business purpose. We also describe the role of search and related algorithms, which for us turns into a recommendations problem as well. We explain the motivations behind and review the approach that we use to improve the recommendation algorithms, combining A/B testing focused on improving member retention and medium term engagement, as well as offline experimentation using historical member engagement data. We discuss some of the issues in designing and interpreting A/B tests. Finally, we describe some current areas of focused innovation, which include making our recommender system global and language aware.
Clinical and genetic factors influencing cardiovascular risk in patients with familial hypercholesterolemia

Abstract Patients with familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) have high levels of LDL-C, owing to defective uptake of these particles by LDL receptors in the liver. Consequently, FH patients have a high risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). However, among these patients, there is marked variance in age of onset of CVD and a proportion of untreated patients do not develop CVD at all. Statin treatment can greatly reduce risk, and since it is not yet possible to precisely predict which FH patients will develop CVD, all patients initiate treatment once the diagnosis has been made. The purpose of this article is to provide an update of clinical and genetic risk factors influencing CVD risk in FH patients, and to discuss future lines of research that could uncover improved methods of treatment for heterozygous FH patients.
Towards a generic framework for automating extensive analysis of Android applications

Despite much effort in the community, the momentum of Android research has not yet produced complete tools to perform thorough analysis on Android apps, leaving users vulnerable to malicious apps. Because it is hard for a single tool to efficiently address all of the various challenges of Android programming which make analysis difficult, we propose to instrument the app code for reducing the analysis complexity, e.g., transforming a hard problem to a easy-resolvable one. To this end, we introduce in this paper Apkpler, a plugin-based framework for supporting such instrumentation. We evaluate Apkpler with two plugins, demonstrating the feasibility of our approach and showing that Apkpler can indeed be leveraged to reduce the analysis complexity of Android apps.
British Columbia Nutrition Survey: Report on Seniors' Nutritional Health

Table 1. Observed and weighted sample sizes for B.C. seniors for the B.C. Nutrition Survey. Table 2. Demographic characteristics of the B.C. Nutrition Survey's senior participants (65 years and older) expressed as a percentage (%). Table 3. Income and food security data of the B.C. Nutrition Survey's senior participants (65 years and older) expressed as a percentage (%). Table 4. Chronic disorders as self-reported by the B.C. Nutrition Survey's senior participants (65 years and older) expressed as a percentage (%). Table 5. Percent distribution (%) of Body Mass Index (BMI) by age and sex for the B.C. seniors' population. Table 6. Percent distribution (%) of waist circumference risk category by age and sex for the B.C. seniors' population. Table 7. Mild, moderate and strenuous exercise undertaken by B.C. younger and older adults (number of sessions/week of at least 15 min duration). Table 8. Proportion (%) of B.C. younger and older adults by stage of motivational readiness for structured exercise. Table 9. Proportion (%) of B.C. younger and older adults by stage of motivational readiness for lifestyle physical activity. Table 10. Proportion (%) of B.C. seniors' population consuming one or more supplements yesterday by age and sex. Table 11. Proportion (%) of B.C. seniors' population consuming the more common types of supplements by age and sex. Table 12. Energy intakes (kcal) by sex and age. Table 13. Percentage (%) of energy derived from alcohol, carbohydrates, fat, protein, and saturated fat by age and sex. Table 13a. Distribution of energy derived from carbohydrate, total fat, saturated fat, and protein for the seniors' population and by age and sex (expressed as a percentage (%) of energy). Table 14. Macronutrient intakes of B.C. seniors from food sources alone (including fortified sources), expressed by sex and age in years. ii Table 15. Vitamin intakes of B.C. seniors from food sources alone (including fortified sources), expressed by sex and age in years. Table 16. Vitamin intakes of B.C. seniors from food sources and supplements (including fortified sources), expressed by sex and age in years. Table 17. Mineral and electrolyte intakes of B.C. seniors from food sources alone (including fortified sources), expressed by sex and age in years. Table 18. Mineral and electrolyte intakes of B.C. seniors from food sources and supplements (including fortified sources), expressed by sex and age in years. Table 19. Proportion (%) of the seniors' population consuming grains relative to the recommendations in …
A study to assess the plaque inhibitory action of herbal-based toothpaste: A double blind controlled clinical trial

Incorporating herbal extracts in the formulation of toothpastes is becoming an accepted mode of chemical plaque control. This study has been conducted to determine whether an herbal-based toothpaste would inhibit de novo plaque formation beyond that of a conventional fluoride Toothpaste. Fifteen adult volunteers, meeting the inclusion criteria (age range19 - 22) participated in a double-blind, cross-over controlled clinical trial, based on a variation of a 4 day plaque regrowth model. After professional tooth cleaning, subjects were asked to refrain from all mechanical hygiene measures for the next 96 h, and to use two rinses (1 min) a day as the only oral hygiene measure. At day 4, teeth were stained to assess the whole mouth plaque index (PI) using Turesky modification of Quigley Hein PI (TMQH), and to evaluate the PI for anterior teeth using a 10 scaled method of plaque scoring (NMPS). Herbal-based toothpaste provided statistically significant plaque inhibitory action measured by whole mouth plaque index, over control toothpaste (P = 0.032). There was no significant difference between test and control dentifrices in plaque index for anterior teeth using NMPS index. Pearson´s correlation coefficient showed significant values indicating close similarity between the two indices (r = 0.962, P < 0.0001). This study demonstrated the effectiveness of herbal-based toothpaste in the control of dental plaque formation over control paste. Further investigation into the potential value of this formulation among target population is recommended. Key words: Plaque inhibition, herbal based toothpaste, clinical trial, plaque index.
Relation of Academic Performance to Physical Activity and Fitness in Children

The objective of this study was to examine the association of scholastic performance with physical activity and fitness of children. To do so, school ratings of scholastic ability on a five-point scale for a nationally representative sample of 7,961 Australian schoolchildren aged 7–15 years were compared with physical activity and fitness measurements. Consistently across age and sex groups, the ratings were significantly correlated with questionnaire measures of physical activity and with performance on the 1.6-kilometer run, sit-ups and push-ups challenges, 50-meter sprint, and standing long jump. There were no significant associations for physical work capacity at a heart rate of 170 (PWC170). The results are concordant with the hypothesis that physical activity enhances academic performance, but the cross-sectional nature of the observations limits causal inference, and the disparity for PWC170 gives reason to question whether the associations were due to measurement bias or residual confounding.
Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics of Prasugrel, a Thienopyridine P2Y12 Inhibitor

The platelet P2Y12receptor has proved an effective target for therapeutic inhibition of arterial thrombosis, as demonstrated by the significant reductions in cardiovascular events in patients receiving the thienopyridine agents ticlopidine and clopidogrel. However, limitations of these drugs have led to the development of alternative antiplatelet agents including prasugrel (CS‐747), an oral thienopyridine with a rapid onset of action, consistent antiplatelet activity, and prolonged duration of effect. Prasugrel is a prodrug that is metabolized to one active metabolite (R‐138727) and numerous inactive metabolites. Absorption is complete and rapid, with mean time to peak plasma concentration of approximately 30 minutes for R‐138727. The pharmacokinetics of prasugrel metabolites were linear and dose proportional in healthy volunteers. Median plasma half‐life of the active metabolite is approximately 4 hours, and excretion is mainly urinary. Plasma clearance data suggest that prasugrel metabolism does not vary significantly among individuals. Pharmacodynamic studies have shown potent and selective P2Y12 blockade and dose‐dependent inhibition of platelet aggregation with prasugrel (or R‐138727). Onset of antiplatelet action is within 30 minutes, and steady state is reached in 3 days. Inhibition of platelet aggregation by prasugrel has been shown to be more rapid, more potent (on a mg/body‐weight basis), and more consistent than that with clopidogrel. Prasugrel does not appear to interact to any clinically relevant extent with other drugs, including those also metabolized by the hepatic cytochrome P450 isoenzymes CYP3A4, CYP2C9, CYP2C19, and CYP2B6, which are responsible for prasugrel metabolism. Thus, prasugrel has a pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic profile that compares favorably with those of existing antiplatelet agents.
A Real-time Facial Expression Recognizer using Deep Neural Network

With increasing boundaries of deep learning based recognition model, particular demands for real-time user state recognizer targeting smart home devices have emerged. This paper suggests real-time facial expression recognizer to satisfy them. We use HOG feature descriptor to detect a human face, correlation tracker to track detected face and deep Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) based recognizer on our model. Our CNN model is trained and tested with Kaggle facial expression recognition challenge dataset. The experimental result shows that high test accuracy and low computation time are achieved by our recognizer enabling real-time high-performance human expression recognition for mobile use.
Variance-Penalized Markov Decision Processes

We consider a Markov decision process with both the expected limiting average, and the discounted total return criteria, appropriately modified to include a penalty for the variability in the stream of rewards. In both cases we formulate appropriate nonlinear programs in the space of state-action frequencies averaged, or discounted whose optimal solutions are shown to be related to the optimal policies in the corresponding “variance-penalized MDP. ” The analysis of one of the discounted cases is facilitated by the introduction of a “Cartesian product of two independent MDPs. ”