Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Dwelling on the Negative: Incentivizing Effort in Peer Prediction

Agents are asked to rank two objects in a setting where effort is costly and agents differ in quality (which is the probability that they can identify the correct, ground truth, ranking). We study simple output-agreement mechanisms that pay an agent in the case she agrees with the report of another, and potentially penalizes for disagreement through a negative payment. Assuming access to a quality oracle, able to determine whether an agent's quality is above a given threshold, we design a payment scheme that aligns incentives so that agents whose quality is above this threshold participate and invest effort. Precluding negative payments leads the expected cost of this quality-oracle mechanism to increase by a factor of 2 to 5 relative to allowing both positive and negative payments. Dropping the assumption about access to a quality oracle, we further show that negative payments can be used to make agents with quality lower than the quality threshold choose to not to participate, while those above continue to participate and invest effort. Through the appropriate choice of payments, any design threshold can be achieved. This self-selection mechanism has the same expected cost as the cost-minimal quality-oracle mechanism, and thus when using the self-selection mechanism, perfect screening comes for free.
Compétences et savoirs terminaux en géographie. Réflexions et propositions.

Partant de recherches initiees par la Communaute Francaise de Belgique, en application de son decret « Missions » (24 juillet 1997), l'article developpe quelques reflexions et propositions pour les cours de geographie dans les quatre dernieres annees de l'enseignement general et technologique. Celles-ci s'appuient sur la notion de competence et sur la definition de competences terminales en geographie, ce qui permet un recentrage des apprentissages et une meilleure organisation en vue des objectifs poursuivis. Par ailleurs, l'article tente d'identifier les savoirs indispensables a l'exercice de ces competences. Ceux-ci ont ete classes en trois groupes : des references spatiales, des cles de lecture des organisations territoriales et des savoirs thematiques.
Identifying cortical visual dysfunction in posterior cortical atrophy

Posterior cortical atrophy (PCA) is an early-onset dementia syndrome in which cortical degeneration leads to perceptual dysfunction. It is most commonly, although not exclusively, caused by Alzheimer's disease (AD). Unlike 'typical' amnestic AD, the histopathological burden (amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles) is in the parietal and occipital lobes (Levine et al. 1993; Tang-Wai et al. 2004), causing brain shrinkage (atrophy) in these regions (Figure 1) and corresponding deficits in visuospatial and visuoperceptual processing (Lehmann et al. 2011), whilst episodic memory and insight are relatively preserved (Tang-Wai et al. 2004). PCA is often referred to as the visual variant of AD or biparietal AD.
Design of power converter in DFIG wind turbine with enhanced system-level reliability

With the increasing penetration of wind power, reliable and cost-effective wind energy production are of more and more importance. As one of the promising configurations, the doubly-fed induction generator based partial-scale wind power converter is still dominating in the existing wind farms, and its reliability assessment is studied considering the annual wind profile. According to an electro-thermal stress evaluation, by using lifetime models and Monte Carlo based variation analysis, the time-to-failure distribution of the key power semiconductors is predicted. Aiming for the system-level reliability analysis, a Weibull distribution based component-level model is applied by using a reliability block diagram. A case study of a 2 MW wind power converter shows that the optimal selection of power module may be different viewed from the reliability perspective compared to the electrical stress margin. It can be seen that the B1 lifetime of the grid-side converter and the rotor-side converter deviates a lot by considering the electrical stresses, while they become more balanced by using an optimized reliable design. The system-level lifetime significantly increases with an appropriate design of the back-to-back power converters.
Bridges to Effective Learning Through Radio

Indira Gandhi National Open University has been allotted 40 FM radio stations from which to broadcast educational programmes for the benefit of students and general public in India. These FM radio stations, delivered through the Gyan Vani network, cater to learners seeking to gain knowledge in the areas of basic, primary, higher, and extension education. Radio programming covers various subject areas. It is anticipated that the opening of India's airwaves will prove beneficial to the nation's general population, thus fostering the democratising principals of empowerment, advocacy, and community participation. This study examines the results of a survey conducted to obtain feedback from a representative sample of the Gyan Vani network's projected audience. The survey focused on audience's perceived need for a radio channel dedicated exclusively to educational programming; it also provided an opportunity for respondents to suggest possible programme content and formats. Respondents, in general, indicated that they looked towards the network Gyan Vani to fulfil personal and educational goals by offering certified vocational courses, coaching for entrance exams, updated information on careers, courses, etc.
Judgment and Decision-Making Activities of Government Executives as Described by Superiors and Co-Workers

Concepts which may be useful in research on executive performance stem from a variety of sources and are expressed in a variety of vocabularies. Administrators themselves have developed a complex jargon which is likely to be as mystifying to the social scientists as is the latter's to them. Administrative theorists often formulate variables in the language of psychology [10] in order to pose problems and suggest hypotheses for study. The translation of ideas from practitioner's lore or administrative theory into behavioral terms amenable to measurement, however, raises a host of conceptual and methodological questions. Some of these questions are confronted in the present study. It is one of a series of papers intended to develop a general theory of "executive judgment" and to permit study of its susceptibility to educational modification. An a priori analysis of the concept of executive judgment which provides the rationale of these studies is presented elsewhere [Guetzkow, H. , G. A. Forehand. 1961. A research strategy for partial knowledge useful in the selection of executives. R. Tagiuri, ed. Research Needs in Executive Selection. Harvard Business School, Boston. ].
Using stem and progenitor cells to recapitulate kidney development and restore renal function

Purpose of reviewThere is considerable interest in the idea of generating stem and precursor cells that can differentiate into kidney cells and be used to treat kidney diseases. Within this field, we highlight recent research articles focussing on mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), embryonic stem cells (ESCs), induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) and kidney-derived stem/progenitor cells (KSPCs). Recent findingsIn preclinical studies, MSCs ameliorate varied acute and chronic kidney diseases. Their efficacy depends on immunomodulatory and paracrine properties but MSCs do not differentiate into functional kidney epithelia. iPSCs can be derived from healthy individuals and from kidney patients by forced expression of precursor genes. Like ESCs, iPSCs are pluripotent and so theoretically they have the potential to form functional kidney epithelia when used therapeutically. KSPCs, existing as cell subsets within adult and developing kidneys, constitute attractive future therapeutic agents. SummaryResults from preclinical studies are encouraging but caution is required regarding potential human therapeutic applications because molecular, morphological and functional characterization of ‘kidney cells’ generated from ECSs, iPSCs, KSPCs have not been exhaustive. The long-term safety of renal stem and precursor cells needs more study, including potential negative effects on renal growth and their potential for tumor formation.
Bio-inspired pursuit with autonomous hovercraft using Lyapunov-based control

The problem of pursuit has been studied mostly in the context of missile guidance and navigation, however, it is also an essential component in biological systems ranging from prey capture to mating and in bio-inspired engineering applications with small, cheap, and agile vehicles. We consider the pursuit problem with a focus on robustness to noisy sensor measurements and efficiency in the control effort. We design a pursuit law based on Lyapunov analysis and establish its robustness to unknown target acceleration and measurement errors using the concept of ultimate boundedness. We also present the results from experiments conducted to study the practical challenges involved in pursuit by lightweight platforms with noisy sensors. These experiments highlight the benefit of using less control effort in the presence of large measurement errors as compared to existing missile guidance laws.
Examining the Stability and Variability of Routine Performances: The Effects of Experience and Context Change

This study examines how the performance experience of actors shapes the stability and variability of routine performances. We argue that experience in performing a routine provides actors with greater understandings of the routine and its context, which provides an overall stabilizing effect on routine performances, but experience also heightens actors' capacity to adjust performances in response to changes in contextual constraints. Our analyses of routine performances in the waste collection sector are generally consistent with the arguments. Our findings also highlight differences in how actors' experience affects responsiveness to different forms of change in contextual constraints. These findings help to extend our understanding of the micro‐foundations of routines.
Cognitive Therapy of Obsessive – compulsive Disorder: Treating Treatment Failures

Foa (1979) has identified two groups of obsessional patients for whom behaviour therapy is ineffective; those with severe concurrent depression and those with “overvalued ideation”. She has also highlighted the need for the development of new treatment strategies for these individuals. A case history illustrating the development of overvalued ideation in a previously typical obsessional patient is described, together with an account of a successful treatment based on Beck's cognitive therapy combined with exposure. The implications of this report for views on the development of overvalued ideation in obsessionals are discussed. It is argued that cognitive–behavioural interventions such as the one described here may be useful as an adjunct to more traditional behavioural treatments for obsessional disorders as well as in the treatment of patients with overvalued ideation.
CARJACKING, STREETLIFE AND OFFENDER MOTIVATION

For all of the media attention it has received in the United States, Europe and elsewhere, carjacking remains an under-researched and poorly understood crime. In this article, we explore the decision-making processes of active carjackers in real-life settings and circumstances, focusing on the subjective foreground conditions that move such offenders from an unmotivated state to one in which they are determined to act. Drawing from semi-structured ethnographic interviews with 28 active carjackers in St Louis, Missouri, we argue that while the decision to commit a carjacking stems most directly from a situated interaction between particular sorts of perceived opportunities and particular sorts of perceived needs and desires, this decision is activated, mediated, and shaped by participation in urban street culture.
ROLE OF ATP‐SENSITIVE POTASSIUM CHANNELS IN NORMAL AND HYPERTENSION‐ASSOCIATED PREGNANCY IN RATS

1 Activation of vascular ATP‐sensitive K+ (KATP) channels has been implicated in vasodilator responses to pregnancy. 2 The effect of glibenclamide, a KATP channel inhibitor, on systolic blood pressure (SBP) and renal function was evaluated in pregnant and non‐pregnant spontaneously hypertensive rats, as well as in normotensive and hypertensive Wistar rats that had been made hypertensive by simultaneous treatment with NG‐nitro‐l‐arginine methyl ester (0.4 mg/mL) and indomethacin (2 mg/kg, i.p.) from Day 1 of gestation. Pregnant animals received 10 mg/kg glibenclamide for 12 days starting at Day 7. In addition, the mRNA levels of the vascular KATP channel (Kir6.2) were estimated in aorta and kidney using real‐time reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction on Day 19 of pregnancy. 3 The decreased SBP observed in pregnant Wistar rats was paralleled by an increase in Kir6.2 mRNA levels. Glibenclamide blunted systemic vasodilation and reduced the mRNA expression of Kir6.2. There was no pregnancy induced vasodilation and no change in Kir6.2 mRNA expression in SHR. Glibenclamide had no effect on pregnant SHR. Hypertensive Wistar rats exhibited high SBP, followed by increased Kir6.2 mRNA levels. The effects of glibenclamide were not evaluated in this group because glibenclamide induced intense vaginal bleeding. 4 The results of the present study suggest that KATP channels may be involved in pregnancy induced vasodilation during normotensive pregnancy, but not in pregnant SHR. Glibenclamide may have an abortive effect if administered during the early phases of gestation or in association with nitric oxide and prostaglandin inhibitors.
Proseminararbeit Technische Informatik

The man-machine interface has always been an important part of technical devices. Especially general purpose computer systems (like personal computers, workstations or notebooks) need reasonably designed human interfaces, providing a barrier-free environment in which the user may perform any intended task. The text below will try to define what “reasonable design”, in the given context, is and take a look at some well established devices, but also at the manifold promising developments. As covering every single application of human interface devices would go far beyond this document’s scope, we will focus on ordinary everyday computer-aided work like reading and writing mail, drawing, managing stored data or surfing the Internet. Occuring devices, which might seem not to fit that mold, are only mentioned because they represent entire categories, that can’t be clearly separated from, or might, in the future, have great effect on our focus.
A Shelter: An Organization Like Any Other?

Shelters for battered women have been idealized as collectivist organizations that empower residents and staff alike. Qualitative research at a battered women's shelter indicates that despite an implicit philosophy of empowerment , a shelter is indeed an organization like any other. Two separable organizational structures were identified: an egalitarian, collectivist structure for the relationships among staff members and a hierarchical structure for the relationships between staff members and residents. To prevent an inadvertent return to traditional patriarchal structures that oppress women, feminist social workers must continuously assess how ideology affects the organizational environment in which services are delivered.
The role of social identity, appraisal, and emotion in determining responses to diversity management

In this article, we address the question of why employees may resist or support any aspect of diversity management. More specifically, we propose a dynamic model that explains how and why specific social identities triggered by diversity management influence employees appraisals of diversity management, in turn eliciting specific emotions and specific behavioral responses such as resistance or support to various implementations of diversity management policies and practices. We rely on Intergroup Emotion Theory (IET) as the overarching theoretical framework, which draws from Social Identity Theory (SIT) and appraisal theories of emotion. The contribution of our model is to provide an additional lens to the diversity literature, moving from emotive reactions to diversity to emotional yet rational responses, which may be further understood via the iterative nature of the model. We discuss implications for future research.
A Robust Shape Reconstruction Method for Facial Feature Point Detection

Facial feature point detection has been receiving great research advances in recent years. Numerous methods have been developed and applied in practical face analysis systems. However, it is still a quite challenging task because of the large variability in expression and gestures and the existence of occlusions in real-world photo shoot. In this paper, we present a robust sparse reconstruction method for the face alignment problems. Instead of a direct regression between the feature space and the shape space, the concept of shape increment reconstruction is introduced. Moreover, a set of coupled overcomplete dictionaries termed the shape increment dictionary and the local appearance dictionary are learned in a regressive manner to select robust features and fit shape increments. Additionally, to make the learned model more generalized, we select the best matched parameter set through extensive validation tests. Experimental results on three public datasets demonstrate that the proposed method achieves a better robustness over the state-of-the-art methods.
Extended spiking neural P systems with excitatory and inhibitory astrocytes

We investigate an extended model of spiking neural P systems incorporating astrocytes and their excitatory or inhibitory influence on axons between neurons. Using very restricted variants of extended spiking neural P systems with excitatory and inhibitory astrocytes we can easily model Boolean gates like NAND-gates as well as discrete amplifiers.
Non-Deterministic Graph Property Testing

A property of finite graphs is called non-deterministically testable if it has a ‘certificate’ such that once the certificate is specified, its correctness can be verified by random local testing. In this paper we study certificates that consist of one or more unary and/or binary relations on the nodes, in the case of dense graphs. Using the theory of graph limits, we prove that non-deterministically testable properties are also deterministically testable.
Snack food intake in ad libitum fed rats is triggered by the combination of fat and carbohydrates

Snack food like potato chips substantially contributes to energy intake in humans. In contrast to basic food, snacks are consumed additionally to other meals and may thereby lead to non-homeostatic energy intake. Snack food is also frequently associated with hedonic hyperphagia, a food intake independent from hunger. Analysis of brain activity patterns by manganese-enhanced MRI has previously revealed that the intake of potato chips in ad libitum fed rats strongly activates the reward system of the rat brain, which may lead to hedonic hyperphagia. The purpose of the present study was to develop a two-choice preference test to identify molecular determinants of snack food triggering extra food intake in ad libitum fed rats. Different kinds of test food were presented three times a day for 10 min each time. To minimize the influence of organoleptic properties, each test food was applied in a homogenous mixture with standard chow. Food intake as well as food intake-related locomotor activity were analyzed to evaluate the effects induced by the test foods in the two-choice preference test. In summary, fat (F), carbohydrates (CH), and a mixture of fat and carbohydrates (FCH) led to a higher food intake compared to standard chow. Notably, potato chip test food (PC) was highly significantly preferred over standard chow (STD) and also over their single main macronutrients F and CH. Only FCH induced an intake comparable to PC. Despite its low energy density, fat-free potato chip test food (ffPC) was also significantly preferred over STD and CH, but not over F, FCH, and PC. Thus, it can be concluded that the combination of fat and carbohydrates is a major molecular determinant of potato chips triggering hedonic hyperphagia. The applied two-choice preference test will facilitate future studies on stimulating and suppressive effects of other food components on non-homeostatic food intake.
Mechanisms for transcellular diapedesis: probing and pathfinding by `invadosome-like protrusions'

Immune-system functions require that blood leukocytes continuously traffic throughout the body and repeatedly cross endothelial barriers (i.e. diapedese) as they enter (intravasate) and exit (extravasate) the circulation. The very earliest studies to characterize diapedesis directly in vivo suggested the coexistence of two distinct migratory pathways of leukocytes: between (paracellular pathway) and directly through (transcellular pathway) individual endothelial cells. In vivo studies over the past 50 years have demonstrated significant use of the transcellular diapedesis pathway in bone marrow, thymus, secondary lymphoid organs, various lymphatic structures and peripheral tissues during inflammation and across the blood-brain barrier and blood-retinal barrier during inflammatory pathology. Recently, the first in vitro reports of transcellular diapedesis have emerged. Together, these in vitro and in vivo observations suggest a model of migratory pathfinding in which dynamic `invadosome-like protrusions' formed by leukocytes have a central role in both identifying and exploiting endothelial locations that are permissive for transcellular diapedesis. Such `probing' activity might have additional roles in this and other settings.
An Osmotically Induced Cytosolic Ca2+ Transient Activates Calcineurin Signaling to Mediate Ion Homeostasis and Salt Tolerance of Saccharomyces cerevisiae *

Hyperosmotic stress caused by NaCl, LiCl, or sorbitol induces an immediate and short duration (∼1 min) transient cytosolic Ca2+([Ca2+] cyt ) increase (Ca2+-dependent aequorin luminescence) inSaccharomyces cerevisiae cells. The amplitude of the osmotically induced [Ca2+] cyt transient was attenuated by the addition of chelating agents EGTA or BAPTA, cation channel pore blockers, competitive inhibitors of Ca2+ transport, or mutations (cch1Δ ormid1Δ) that reduce Ca2+ influx, indicating that Ca ext 2 + is a source for the transient. An osmotic pretreatment (30 min) administered by inoculating cells into media supplemented with either NaCl (0.4 or 0.5 m) or sorbitol (0.8 or 1.0 m) enhanced the subsequent growth of these cells in media containing 1 m NaCl or 2 msorbitol. Inclusion of EGTA in the osmotic pretreatment media or the cch1Δ mutation reduced cellular capacity for NaCl but not hyperosmotic adaptation. The stress-adaptive effect of hyperosmotic pretreatment was mimicked by exposing cells briefly to 20 mm CaCl2. Thus, NaCl- or sorbitol-induced hyperosmotic shock causes a [Ca2+] cyt transient that is facilitated by Ca2+ influx, which enhances ionic but not osmotic stress adaptation. NaCl-induced ENA1expression was inhibited by EGTA, cch1Δ mutation, and FK506, indicating that the [Ca2+] cyt transient activates calcineurin signaling to mediate ion homeostasis and salt tolerance.