Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Soft Methodology for Cost-and-error Sensitive Classification

Many real-world data mining applications need varying cost for different types of classification errors and thus call for cost-sensitive classification algorithms. Existing algorithms for cost-sensitive classification are successful in terms of minimizing the cost, but can result in a high error rate as the trade-off. The high error rate holds back the practical use of those algorithms. In this paper, we propose a novel cost-sensitive classification methodology that takes both the cost and the error rate into account. The methodology, called soft cost-sensitive classification, is established from a multicriteria optimization problem of the cost and the error rate, and can be viewed as regularizing cost-sensitive classification with the error rate. The simple methodology allows immediate improvements of existing cost-sensitive classification algorithms. Experiments on the benchmark and the real-world data sets show that our proposed methodology indeed achieves lower test error rates and similar (sometimes lower) test costs than existing cost-sensitive classification algorithms. We also demonstrate that the methodology can be extended for considering the weighted error rate instead of the original error rate. This extension is useful for tackling unbalanced classification problems.
Differential Depreciation and the 2 X 2 Model of Distribution, Pricing and Production

In a two-sector model it is entirely arbitrary to take the depreciation rate to be the same in both sectors; capital is being used differently in the two sectors! With differential depreciation rates factor-intensity-reversal can arise even when both sectors have a Cobb-Douglas technology. Efficient allocations do not involve mutual tangency points between consumption-good and capital-good isoquants. Copyright Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2006.
SCARE ― The Sentiment Corpus of App Reviews with Fine-grained Annotations in German

The automatic analysis of texts containing opinions of users about, e.g., products or political views has gained attention within the last decades. However, previous work on the task of analyzing user reviews about mobile applications in app stores is limited. Publicly available corpora do not exist, such that a comparison of different methods and models is difficult. We fill this gap by contributing the Sentiment Corpus of App Reviews (SCARE), which contains fine-grained annotations of application aspects, subjective (evaluative) phrases and relations between both. This corpus consists of 1,760 annotated application reviews from the Google Play Store with 2,487 aspects and 3,959 subjective phrases. We describe the process and methodology how the corpus was created. The Fleiss Kappa between four annotators reveals an agreement of 0.72. We provide a strong baseline with a linear-chain conditional random field and word-embedding features with a performance of 0.62 for aspect detection and 0.63 for the extraction of subjective phrases. The corpus is available to the research community to support the development of sentiment analysis methods on mobile application reviews.
Body fat content and distribution and urinary risk factors for nephrolithiasis.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Obesity is associated with a higher risk of nephrolithiasis. However, it is not known whether higher body fat mass or abnormal fat distribution influences stone risk independent of dietary factors. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS In this cross-sectional study, non-stone-forming men with no known kidney disease and with a wide range of body weight collected a 24-hour urine specimen while consuming a fixed metabolic diet. They underwent dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry to assess body composition and fat distribution. Urinary risk factors for nephrolithiasis and urine saturation with respect to calcium oxalate and uric acid (assessed as supersaturation index [SI]) were correlated with various measures of adiposity. RESULTS Study participants included 21 men with a mean age of 52.1 years, mean weight of 91.1 kg, and mean total fat mass of 24.3 kg. Twenty-four-hour urine pH and SI uric acid were more closely correlated with fat mass than with lean mass or total body weight. Both 24-hour urine pH and SI uric acid were also significantly correlated with truncal fat mass but not with leg fat mass. Moreover, there was a significant negative correlation between truncal/leg fat mass and NH4(+)/net acid excretion ratio (R=-0.62; P=0.009). However, there was no significant association between SI calcium oxalate and body weight, lean mass, fat mass, trunk fat mass, or leg fat mass. CONCLUSIONS The association between 24-hour urine pH and SI uric acid and various measures of adiposity suggest that total body fat and trunk fat are more strongly associated with risk factors for uric acid stone formation than are total body weight and lean body mass. Under a controlled metabolic diet, adiposity is not associated with risk factors for calcium oxalate stones. Further studies are needed to confirm these findings in larger populations that include women and patients who form stones.
Affirmative action, ethnic minorities and China's universities

China greatly expanded its longstanding set of preferential policies for ethnic minorities in the 1980s and 1990s. Affirmative action in higher education annually allows for the admission of tens of thousands of ethnic minority students who, based on their national entrance examination scores alone, would be unable to gain a much sought-after place in one of the country's thousand universities. The variety of ways in which the admission and retention of PRC minority students are facilitated by laws, regulations and policies are examined, as are attitudes toward affirmative action on the part of Han majority and ethnic minority students. In contrast to claims made by some Western scholars of affirmative action, who assert that affirmative action is universally problematic, higher educational preferences for Chinese minorities have not led to a high rate of academic failure, nor to tensions between Han and minority students. While ethnic minority people would like to see affirmative action in Chinese higher education strengthened further, the system is now threatened by marketization.
Cross-Section Analysis and Bank Dynamics

Econometric studies of financial behavior have been produced in record numbers during the past five years. With few exceptions these studies have examined recent aggregative quarterly data from the United States. They frequently are based on simultaneous-equations models which may have as many as eighty stochastic relations. These studies have greatly increased economists' knowledge of and respect for the financial mechanism. Our objective in writing the present paper is not to deprecate this very rewarding activity. Rather, we believe these contributions can be considerably enriched if they are supplemented with results from crosssection studies.1 The principal contributions of the present paper are (a) to report estimates of how an individual bank's portfolio responds over time to a shock in its deposits and (b) to exhibit how the aggregate portfolio of a system of such banks may respond to this shock. Lags in aggregate portfolio adjustment to monetary policy actions result both from individual bank behavior and from the ways banks in a system interact. For example, theoretically a single bank should be able to adjust its cash position quickly in response to deposit inflows, but the banking system may adjust slowly. A reduction of excess reserves by one bank will increase reserves at another bank. From results reported below it appears that both sources of lag are important for describing aggregative bank portfolio behavior. In Section I some common statistical problems of recent aggregative models of bank behavior are briefly reviewed. Section II outlines a model
Serum Bone γ-Carboxyglutamic Acid Protein in a Longitudinal Study of Infants: Lower Values in Formula-Fed Infants

ABSTRACT: Bone γ-carboxyglutamic acid protein [BGP {osteocalcin)] is a protein synthesized by osteoblasts and incorporated in the bone matrix. Serum BGP is a sensitive marker of bone formation, and it parallels the growth velocity curve during childhood and adolescence. Serum BGP was measured at the age of 2, 6, and 9 mo in a cohort study of nutrition and growth in 91 healthy infants. At 2 mo, the mean BGP value (± SD) was 275 ± 87 ng/mL in infants exclusively breast-fed, and 80 ± 44 ng/mL in formula-fed infants. At 6 mo, the values were 142 ± 58 ng/mL and 55 ± 30 ng/mL, and at 9 mo 75 ± 39 ng/mL and 45 ± 19 ng/mL in partially breast-fed and formula-fed infants, respectively. The differences were significant (p < 0.001) at all three ages. At 2 and 9 mo, breast-milk intake was measured by test-weighing. Serum BGP was positively correlated in breast milk intake (mL/kg body wt) at 2 mo (r = 0.59, p < 0.001) and 9 mo (r = 0.41, p = 0.06). When breast-feeding was stopped, the high BGP concentrations were not sustained. There were no significant differences in linear growth velocity between breast-fed and formula-fed infants and no correlation between BGP values and linear growth velocity. We speculate that either a factor in human milk or the level of minerals in human milk causes the high BGP values. Moreover, if the higher values are associated with increased osteoblast activity, then the remodeling or the mineralization of bone might be different in infants not being breast-fed.
Finding the Best Possible Students: Student selection and its problems in the field of business

The emphasis of current higher education policy on quality and efficiency has brought pressure on Finland's admission system, which - in contrast to many other European countries - is based on quite heavy and expensive entrance examinations. The government is pushing universities towards mutual collaboration, and is calling for a simpler, more transparent and equitable admission system. This paper draws on a survey of students seeking admission to courses in the field of economics and business administration. In this field, the majority of institutions have been collaborating in student selection since the 1970s. This collaboration is under pressure from intensifying competition between the universities, and the quest to find the 'best possible students'. Applicants, on the other hand, are using various strategies to gain access to higher education. In light of the ongoing harmonisation of the European higher education scene, we have attempted to assess the feasibility of the present application system in the long term.
La croissance potentielle de l'économie française

Cet article souligne le role des concepts de croissance potentielle et d’ecart de production dans l’evaluation de la performance de l’economie francaise et dans la conduite des politiques macroeconomiques. Fondees sur une approche de type economique, les evaluations presentees suggerent que la croissance potentielle de l’economie francaise – definie comme le rythme de croissance compatible avec une inflation stable – a ete rehaussee au cours de la seconde moitie des annees 1990, passant de 2 a 2,5 % par an. En 2000, apres trois annees de croissance forte, l’economie francaise a vraisemblablement comble son retard de demande. L’acceleration transitoire du potentiel d’offre s’explique par l’amelioration structurelle de l’emploi et le dynamisme recent de l’investissement. A moyen terme, ce rythme de croissance potentielle devrait perdurer et pourrait atteindre 3 % par an, dans l’hypothese ou l’investissement des entreprises resterait dynamique et les mesures d’aide au retour a l’emploi manifesteraient pleinement leurs effets sur le chomage structurel et les taux d’activite.
Conditional association between melanism and personality in Israeli Barn Owls

Capsule Boldness defines the extent to which animals are willing to take risks in the presence of a predator. Late, but not early, in the breeding season, Israeli nestling Barn Owls displaying larger black feather spots were more docile, feigned death longer and had a lower breathing rate when handled than smaller-spotted nestlings. Larger-spotted breeding females were less docile if heavy but more more docile if light. The covariation between personality (boldness vs. timid) and melanin-based colouration is therefore conditional on environmental factors.
1918 Influenza, a Puzzle with Missing Pieces

Shanks and Brundage offer thought-provoking hypotheses about influenza pathogenesis during the catastrophic 1918–1919 pandemic (1). Although we neither agree nor disagree with their views, its central hypothesis of T-cell–mediated immunopathogenesis begs examination of past events in light of modern immunologic and virologic understanding. We also emphasize that effects of the pandemic virus should not be measured only by illness and death in 1918–1919, but should also take into account disease caused by its descendent seasonal and pandemic influenza viruses up to the present (2). Thus, for human influenza history to be better understood, it must be continually reevaluated.
Musculoskeletal symptoms and job strain among nursing personnel: a study over a three year period.

OBJECTIVES: To examine the variation of symptoms from the neck, shoulders, and back over a three year period among female nursing personnel and the relation between job strain and musculoskeletal symptoms. METHODS: At a county hospital the female nursing personnel answered a questionnaire at baseline and then once a year over a period of three years. There were 565, 553, 562, and 419 subjects who answered the questionnaire at the first, second, third, and fourth survey, respectively. Of the study group, 285 nursing personnel answered the questionnaire on four occasions. Ongoing symptoms of the neck, shoulders, and back were assessed by means of a 10 point (0-9) scale with the verbal end points "no symptoms" and "very intense symptoms. " Cases were defined as nursing personnel reporting ongoing symptoms, score > 6, from at least one of the body regions. For assessments of job strain, a Swedish version of Karasek and Theorell's model was used. RESULTS: Of the 285 subjects, 13% were defined as cases at all four assessments, and 46% varied between cases and not cases during the study period. In the repeated cross sectional surveys the estimated rate ratio (RR) for being a case was between 1.1 and 1.5 when comparing the group with job strain and the group without job strain. For the combination of job strain and perceived high physical exertion the estimated RR was between 1.5 and 2.1. When the potential risk factors were assessed one, two, or three years before the assessment of symptoms the estimated RR for becoming a case was between 1.4 and 2.2 when comparing the group with job strain and the group without job strain. CONCLUSION: Almost half of the healthcare workers varied between being a case and not, over a three year period. The analysis indicated that job strain is a risk factor for musculoskeletal symptoms and that the risk is higher when it is combined with perceived high physical exertion.
Antiviral agents for the treatment and chemoprophylaxis of influenza --- recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP).

This report updates previous recommendations by CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) regarding the use of antiviral agents for the prevention and treatment of influenza (CDC. Prevention and control of influenza: recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices [ACIP]. MMWR 2008;57[No. RR-7]). This report contains information on treatment and chemoprophylaxis of influenza virus infection and provides a summary of the effectiveness and safety of antiviral treatment medications. Highlights include recommendations for use of 1) early antiviral treatment of suspected or confirmed influenza among persons with severe influenza (e.g., those who have severe, complicated, or progressive illness or who require hospitalization); 2) early antiviral treatment of suspected or confirmed influenza among persons at higher risk for influenza complications; and 3) either oseltamivir or zanamivir for persons with influenza caused by 2009 H1N1 virus, influenza A (H3N2) virus, or influenza B virus or when the influenza virus type or influenza A virus subtype is unknown; 4) antiviral medications among children aged <1 year; 5) local influenza testing and influenza surveillance data, when available, to help guide treatment decisions; and 6) consideration of antiviral treatment for outpatients with confirmed or suspected influenza who do not have known risk factors for severe illness, if treatment can be initiated within 48 hours of illness onset. Additional information is available from CDC's influenza website at http://www.cdc. gov/flu, including any updates or supplements to these recommendations that might be required during the 2010-11 influenza season. Health-care providers should be alert to announcements of recommendation updates and should check the CDC influenza website periodically for additional information. Recommendations related to the use of vaccines for the prevention of influenza during the 2010-11 influenza season have been published previously (CDC. Prevention and control of influenza with vaccines: recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices [ACIP], 2010. MMWR 2010;59[No. RR-8]).
Bureaucrats and Politicians in Western Democracies

In uneasy partnership at the helm of the modern state stand elected party politicians and professional bureaucrats. This book is the first comprehensive comparison of these two powerful elites. In seven countries--the United States, Great Britain, France, Germany, Sweden, Italy, and the Netherlands--researchers questioned 700 bureaucrats and 6OO politicians in an effort to understand how their aims, attitudes, and ambitions differ within cultural settings.One of the authors' most significant findings is that the worlds of these two elites overlap much more in the United States than in Europe. But throughout the West bureaucrats and politicians each wear special blinders and each have special virtues. In a well-ordered polity, the authors conclude, politicians articulate society's dreams and bureaucrats bring them gingerly to earth.
Differing roles of adenosine receptor subtypes in retinal ischemia-reperfusion injury in the rat.

Adenosine has been shown to be a major component of the retina's endogenous reaction to ischemia. In earlier studies, the significant changes in adenosine concentration that occur during ischemia and the ensuing reperfusion period were documented. While previous studies have shown that adenosine is a mediator of the changes in blood flow that occur in response to ischemia, hypoxia, and hypoglycemia in the retina, little is known about other functional effects that result from these changes in adenosine concentration. Accordingly, the influence of adenosine receptor blockade on the functional and histological outcome following ischemia in rats was examined. Specific antagonists of the adenosine A1 and A2a receptors were injected systemically, prior to ischemia of either 5, 30, or 60 min. The recovery of the electroretinogram a and b waves was followed for up to 7 days after ischemia, and retinal structure was examined by light microscopy. The adenosine A1 receptor antagonist DPCPX attenuated recovery after retinal ischemia of either 5 or 30 min, while the A2a receptor antagonist CSC dramatically protected retinal function and structure even with ischemia lasting up to 60 min. It was concluded that blockade of the A2a receptor, possibly combined with stimulation of the A1 receptor, may represent a potential new strategy for the prevention of ischemic damage in the retina.
Identification of a Syndecan 4 Pseudogene

The syndecan family of heparan sulfate proteoglycans participates in cellular activation through interactions with growth factors, extracellular matrix, and other molecules. The family consists of four proteins that share sequence homology within their cytosolic domains. Here we report that a 5.8 kb region of human chromosome 22q12.2 contains multiple segments that share greater than 80% sequence homology to the syndecan 4 transcript, including homology to 443 nucleotides of the syndecan 4 coding region. Three pieces of evidence indicate that the chromosome 22 sequences are a syndecan 4 pseudogene. First, single nucleotide gaps need to be inserted into the chromosome 22 sequence in order to maintain maximal alignment to the syndecan 4 coding sequence, and this introduces stop codons into a deduced amino acid sequence. Second, the total length of chromosome 22 containing the homologous sequences is compressed when compared to the genomic organization of the complementary syndecan 4 sequences. Third, the 5.8 kb chromosome 22 sequence contains multiple Alu and other repetitive sequences, and this is a property of pseudogenes. Both RT-PCR and RNase protection assays indicated that the syndecan 4 pseudogene is transcribed in human umbilical vein endothelial cells.
Age Identity, Age Perceptions, and Health

Abstract: This study explores the association between age identity, perceptions of age, and health. It uses data from the first and second waves of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA). The sample consists of 8780 men and women. Four independent variables were used: perceptions of when middle age ends and old age starts, and the ages respondents would like to be and felt they were (desired and self‐perceived ages). The outcomes variables were: self‐assessed health, self‐reported limiting long‐standing illness or disability, hypertension, and diabetes. Statistical analysis included descriptive, bivariate, and multivariate tests. A series of logistic regression models were estimated, which were adjusted for age, sex, marital/cohabitation status, and socioeconomic position. The analysis showed that self‐perceived age and perceived chronological end of middle age related to all four health outcomes over and above other covariates. In contrast, desired age did not relate to any of the outcomes, while perceived start of old age related only to self‐reported health dimensions. These findings indicate the importance of age identity and age perceptions for health in old age.
Old is gold? The effects of employee age on innovation and the moderating effects of employment turnover

There is consistent evidence in the literature that an average employee's age is negatively related to firm-level innovativeness. This observation has been explained by older employees working with outdated technological knowledge and being characterized by reduced cognitive flexibility. We argue that firms can mitigate this effect through employee turnover. In particular, turnover of R&D workers is deemed a vehicle for transfer of external knowledge to the firm, which can compensate for lower cognitive flexibility and up-to-date knowledge among older workers. We use a matched employer–employee data set based on three consecutive Community Innovation Survey surveys for Sweden to test our predictions. Our results suggest (a) that overall employee age impacts negatively on product innovation activities (both in terms of propensity and success), (b) that the effect of employee staying rate (measured by the share of employees who remain in the firm from one year to the next) on innovation follows an inverted U-shape implying an ‘optimal’ level of employment turnover and (c) that this ‘optimal’ value is lower for firms with older employees. The latter suggests that firms with older employees can at least partially compensate an aged workforce by increased employment turnover.