Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Optimal Auctions with Ambiguity

A crucial assumption in the optimal auction literature has been that each bidder's valuation is known to be drawn from a single unique distribution. In this paper we relax this assumption and study the optimal auction problem when there is ambiguity about the distribution from which these valuations are drawn and where the seller or the bidder may display ambiguity aversion. We model ambiguity aversion using the maxmin expected utility model where an agent evaluates an action on the basis of the minimum expected utility over the set of priors, and then chooses the best action amongst them. We first consider the case where the bidders are ambiguity averse (and the seller is ambiguity neutral). Our first result shows that the optimal incentive compatible and individually rational mechanism must be such that for each type of bidder the minimum expected utility is attained by using the seller's prior. Using this result we show that an auction that provides full insurance to all types of bidders is always in the set of optimal auctions. In particular, when the bidders' set of priors is the Iµ- contamination of the seller's prior the unique optimal auction provides full insurance to bidders of all types. We also show that in general, many classical auctions, including first and second price are not the optimal mechanism (even with suitably chosen reserve prices). We next consider the case when the seller is ambiguity averse (and the bidders are ambiguity neutral). Now, the optimal auction involves the seller being perfectly insured. Hence, as long as bidders are risk and ambiguity neutral, ambiguity aversion on the part of the seller seems to play a similar role to that of risk aversion.
Implementing survivorship care plans for colon cancer survivors

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES To evaluate the feasibility, usability, and satisfaction of a survivorship care plan (SCP) and identify the optimum time for its delivery during the first 12 months after diagnosis. DESIGN Prospective, descriptive, single-arm study. SETTING A National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center in the southeastern United States. SAMPLE 28 nonmetastatic colon cancer survivors within the first year of diagnosis and their primary care physicians (PCPs). METHODS Regular screening identified potential participants who were followed until treatment ended. An oncology certified nurse developed the JourneyForward™ SCP, which then was delivered to the patient by the oncology nurse practitioner (NP) during a routine follow-up visit and mailed to the PCP. MAIN RESEARCH VARIABLES Time to complete, time to deliver, usability, and satisfaction with the SCP. FINDINGS During one year, 75 patients were screened for eligibility, 34 SCPs were delivered, and 28 survivors and 15 PCPs participated in the study. It took an average of 49 minutes to complete a surgery SCP and 90 minutes to complete a surgery plus chemotherapy SCP. Most survivors identified that before treatment ended or within the first three months was the preferred time to receive an SCP. CONCLUSIONS The SCPs were well received by the survivors and their PCPs, but were too time and labor intensive to track and complete. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING More work needs to be done to streamline processes that identify eligible patients and to develop and implement SCPs. Measuring outcomes will be needed to demonstrate whether SCPs are useful or not.
Search Intelligence: Deep Learning For Dominant Category Prediction

Deep Neural Networks, and specifically fully-connected convolutional neural networks are achieving remarkable results across a wide variety of domains. They have been trained to achieve state-of-the-art performance when applied to problems such as speech recognition, image classification, natural language processing and bioinformatics. Most of these deep learning models when applied to classification employ the softmax activation function for prediction and aim to minimize cross-entropy loss. In this paper, we have proposed a supervised model for dominant category prediction to improve search recall across all eBay classifieds platforms. The dominant category label for each query in the last 90 days is first calculated by summing the total number of collaborative clicks among all categories. The category having the highest number of collaborative clicks for the given query will be considered its dominant category. Second, each query is transformed to a numeric vector by mapping each unique word in the query document to a unique integer value; all padded to equal length based on the maximum document length within the pre-defined vocabulary size. A fully-connected deep convolutional neural network (CNN) is then applied for classification. The proposed model achieves very high classification accuracy compared to other state-of-the-art machine learning techniques.
4-Terminal MEMS relay with an extremely low contact resistance employing a novel one-contact design

This paper reports a unique 4-terminal MEMS relay (actuation is electrically isolated with signal passage) employing a novel one-contact design to overcome high contact resistance problem of the conventional 4-terminal MEMS relay which utilizes a typical two-contact design. The fabricated 4-terminal MEMS relay with the one-contact design demonstrated a contact resistance of 18 mΩ, which is two order-of-magnitude lower value than that of the conventional two-contact design. To the best of our knowledge, this result is the lowest value in the 4-terminal MEMS relay and comparable value with the state-of-the-art in 3-terminal MEMS relay [14]. In addition, the relay was operated up to 1.1 × 106 cycles at 1 V / 50 mA in an air and hot switching condition with negligible contact resistance variation. The lifetime is 10 times longer than that of the conventional 4-terminal MEMS relay.
Antecedentes y consecuentes de la cohesión y la potencia grupal: un estudio longitudinal

Antecedentes y consecuentes de la cohesion y potencia grupal: un estudio longitudinal. La tesis tiene como objetivo analizar los antecedentes y los consecuentes de la cohesion atendiendo a su naturaleza dinamica y multidimensional en equipos de proyecto de nueva creacion a partir de una adaptacion del Cuestionario de Entorno de Grupo (GEQ) desarrollado por Widmeyer, Brawley y Carron (1985). Ademas, en la presente tesis, se analizan tambien, los antecedentes y consecuentes de la potencia grupal. La potencia definida por Guzzo y sus colaboradores (1993) como " la creencia colectiva que existe en el grupo de que puede ser eficaz". En este sentido, en la presente tesis se pretende profundizar en el analisis de los conceptos de cohesion y potencia grupal, examinando diversas cuestiones referidas a sus posibles antecedentes y su papel en la explicacion de la eficacia de los equipos de trabajo (rendimiento y satisfaccion), es decir, los consecuentes, desde una perspectiva multidimensional, colectiva, interactiva y longitudinal.
Analysis of the perceptual impact of high frequency audio pulses in smartphone-based positioning systems

The ability to locate objects and people indoors remains a substantial challenge and effective centimeter-level smartphone-based indoor positioning, is still an open problem. Conventional smartphones have recently been used for centimeter-level indoor positioning by performing acoustic Time-of-Flight (ToF) ranging. Due to limitations in the smartphone hardware, i.e. available bandwidth typically below 24 kHz, these systems use signals with both audio and ultrasonic spectral content in the ranging process. By using signals with lower frequencies (in the audio band) it is possible to measure longer distances, thus circumventing the high attenuation that ultrasounds suffer. But a system using audible signals would be quite annoying for humans. In this paper we propose a methodology to design non-invasive audio pulses, i.e. pulses with reduced perceptual impact on humans. Additionally, we have evaluated the proposed non-invasive pulses with naïve subjects in a soundproof room for different sound pressure levels.
Buffering of frequent accesses for reduced cache aging

Previous works have shown that typical power management knobs such as voltage scaling or power gating can also be exploited to reduce aging phenomena caused by Negative Bias Temperature Instability (NBTI). We propose a scheme for power-managed caches that allows to significantly improving the aging of the cache thanks to the use of a small buffer that stores a copy of the lines that are most critical for aging, that is, the ones with the least opportunity of being power-managed; by using the buffer instead of the cache when accessing these critical lines, the original cache is preserved and its lifetime is significantly prolonged. As a side effect, this scheme improves total power since the less energy-hungry buffer is accessed most of the time. Experimental analysis shows this scheme allows to achieve significant (>3x on average) lifetime extensions for the cache, with a concurrent energy saving between 18 and 24%, depending on cache size.
Identification and Characterization of Early Glial Progenitors Using a Transgenic Selection Strategy

To define the spatiotemporal development of and simultaneously select for oligodendrocytes (OLs) and Schwann cells (SCs), transgenic mice were generated that expressed a bacterial β-galactosidase (β-gal) and neomycin phosphotransferase fusion protein (βgeo) under the control of murine 2′3′-cyclic nucleotide 3′-phosphodiesterase (muCNP) promoters I and II. Transgenic β-gal activity was detected at embryonic day 12.5 in the ventral region of the rhombencephalon and spinal cord and in the neural crest. When cells from the rhombencephalon were cultured in the presence of G418, surviving cells differentiated into OLs, indicating that during development this brain region provides one source of OL progenitors. Postnatally, robust β-gal activity was localized to OLs throughout the brain and was absent from astrocytes, neurons, and microglia or monocytes. In the sciatic nerve β-gal activity was localized exclusively to SCs. Cultures from postnatal day 10 brain or sciatic nerve were grown in the presence of G418, and within 8–9 d exposure to antibiotic, 99% of all surviving cells were β-gal-positive OLs or SCs. These studies demonstrate that the muCNP-βgeo transgenic mice are useful for identifying OLs and SCs beginning at early stages of the glial cell lineage and throughout their development. This novel approach definitively establishes that the β-gal-positive cells identifiedin vivo are glial progenitors, as defined by their ability to survive antibiotic selection and differentiate into OLs or SCs in vitro. Moreover, this experimental paradigm facilitates the rapid and efficient selection of pure populations of mouse OLs and SCs and further underscores the use of cell-specific promoters in the purification of distinct cell types.
MicroRNAs and Endothelial Dysfunction in Relation to Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes

The vascular endothelium constitutes an important barrier for the selective passage of plasma proteins, solutes and fluid from the blood to the underlying interstitium and cells. In addition to that, the endothelium also regulates the production of various autocrine and paracrine factors in order to maintain vascular homeostasis. Hence, normal endothelial function is critical for proper vascular activity including blood vessel development and growth (angiogenesis), leukocyte trafficking, coagulation and fibrinolysis. Endothelial dysfunction results from the imbalance between vasoconstriction and vasodilation that predispose the vasculature to leukocyte adherence, endothelial proliferation as well as thrombosis. Several studies have demonstrated the implication of obesity and diabetes in the progression of endothelial dysfunction which in turn accelerates the manifestation of vascular complications. The coexistence between obesity, diabetes and endothelial dysfunction suggests the involvement of common regulators between the three entities. MicroRNAs are promising candidates of these regulators since they have the ability to control the expression of multiple genes that regulate our cellular processes. In fact, dysregulation of microRNAs is a common feature in various human diseases including obese/diabetes-associated vascular complications. This review describes the direct and indirect mechanisms of obesity and diabetes in relation to the manifestation of endothelial dysfunction. At the same time, it also summarizes the latest insights into the implications of microRNAs in the development of endothelial dysfunction and discusses their potential for the treatment of vascular pathophysiological conditions.
Early-Stage Hodgkin Lymphoma: A Case-Based Review of the Recent Literature

The treatment of early-stage Hodgkin lymphoma remains controversial with combined modality therapy and chemotherapy alone representing acceptable options. Observation studies show a progressive decline in the use of radiation secondary to late complications but also suggest a decrease in survival for non-irradiated patients. Early PET CT scans have been incorporated into strategies of response-adapted therapy but have been imperfect in identifying patients who may require more aggressive treatment. In the absence of radiation, further improvement in the cure rate is likely to require better chemotherapy such as the incorporation of two cycles of dose-escalated BEACOPP or possibly the substitution of brentuximab for bleomycin. The treatment of patients who have relapse after abbreviated chemotherapy alone is not standardized and it remains unclear whether these patients should all receive highdose chemotherapy and autologous stem cell rescue or whether a significant fraction can be salvaged with conventional chemotherapy and radiation. Great care is required to ensure that patients considered for abbreviated treatment fulfil the eligibility requirements for inclusion as there are significant differences in the distinction between favorable and unfavorable in the most influential cooperative group studies. Corresponding Author: Cooper, D. L. , 140 Patten Road, North Haven, USA. Tel: 203-376-0051; E-mail: dennislcooper64@ gmail.com Received Date: Sep 01, 2015 Accepted Date: Sep 09, 2015 Published Date: Sep 12, 2015
Analysis of unilateral distance bounding protocol with mixed predefined and bidirectional challenges over a noisy communication channel

Distance bounding protocols have been proposed to prevent a relay attack on RFID systems. In a distance bounding protocol, an upper bound for the physical distance between two communication parties executing the protocol (a verifier and a prover) is computed by the verifier. Recently, Park et al proposed a distance bounding protocol (we call PNKYL) which utilizes mixed predefined and bidirectional challenges. It is well known that PNKYL provides the best security level for distance bounding protocols without a final confirmation message. Since distance bounding protocols and RFID systems are highly sensitive to noise, in this paper, PNKYL is analyzed to obtain the rejection probability of a valid prover due to channel errors. The simulation and analysis results show that increasing the probability of erroneous transmission has a great effect on increasing the rejection probability of a valid prover. To address this problem, we add two parameters (T1 and T2) to the protocol as the number of acceptable errors by the prover and the verifier respectively. The analytical results demonstrate, with the proper selection of these two parameters, PNKYL can provide an appropriate performance in a known noisy environment.
A Fast and Simple Online Synchronous Context Free Grammar Extractor

Abstract Hierarchical phrase-based machine translation systems rely on the synchronous context free grammar formalism to learn and use translation rules containing gaps. The grammars learned by such systems become unmanageably large even for medium sized parallel corpora. The traditional approach of preprocessing the training data and loading all possible translation rules into memory does not scale well for hierarchical phrase-based systems. Online grammar extractors address this problem by constructing memory efficient data structures on top of the source sideof the parallel data (often based on suffix arrays), which are usedto efficiently match phrases in the corpus and to extract translation rules on the fly during decoding. This paper describes an open source implementation of an online synchronous context free grammar extractor. Our approach builds on the work of Lopez (2008a) and introduces a new technique for extending the lists of phrase matches for phrases containing gaps that reduces the extraction time by a factor of 4. Our extractor is available as part of the cdec toolkit1 (Dyer et al., 2010).
Characterization of a Novel Bile-Inducible Operon Encoding a Two-Component Regulatory System in Lactobacillus acidophilus

ABSTRACT Lactobacillus acidophilus NCFM is an industrially important strain used extensively as a probiotic culture. Tolerance of the presence of bile is an attribute important to microbial survival in the intestinal tract. A whole-genome microarray was employed to examine the effects of bile on the global transcriptional profile of this strain, with the intention of elucidating genes contributing to bile tolerance. Genes involved in carbohydrate metabolism were generally induced, while genes involved in other aspects of cellular growth were mostly repressed. A 7-kb eight-gene operon encoding a two-component regulatory system (2CRS), a transporter, an oxidoreductase, and four hypothetical proteins was significantly upregulated in the presence of bile. Deletion mutations were constructed in six genes of the operon. Transcriptional analysis of the 2CRS mutants showed that mutation of the histidine protein kinase (HPK) had no effect on the induction of the operon, whereas the mutated response regulator (RR) showed enhanced induction when the cells were exposed to bile. These results indicate that the 2CRS plays a role in bile tolerance and that the operon it resides in is negatively controlled by the RR. Mutations in the transporter, the HPK, the RR, and a hypothetical protein each resulted in loss of tolerance of bile. Mutations in genes encoding another hypothetical protein and a putative oxidoreductase resulted in significant increases in bile tolerance. This functional analysis showed that the operon encoded proteins involved in both bile tolerance and bile sensitivity.
A Study on the Effect of Group Attachment Security on Individual Creativity: Mediation Effect of Self-Efficacy

ㄴ This study uses group attachment theory to examine how group attachment security affects individual creativity through self-efficacy. 151 students participated in an experimental study. Participants were randomly assigned to either a group attachment security prime or control condition group. The results reveal that (1) group attachment security was positively related to individual self-efficacy, which in turn positively influenced individual creativity. (2) Individual self-efficacy partially mediated the relationship between group attachment security and individual creativity. Synthesizing theories of group attachment theory, self-efficacy, and creativity, this study tested a theoretical mechanism linking group attachment security with creativity via self-efficacy. The results of this research suggest that many firms should improve the organizational culture of the perspectives of communication and cohesiveness to release creative ideas and strengthen individual self-efficacy more effectively. Implications of these results and future directions for further study are discussed
Interventions to improve research participants' understanding in informed consent for research: a systematic review.

CONTEXT Available data suggest that prospective research participants may frequently not understand information disclosed to them in the informed consent process. Little is known about how understanding can be improved. OBJECTIVE To review research on interventions to improve research participants' understanding of information disclosed in the informed consent process. DATA SOURCES AND STUDY SELECTION A search of MEDLINE was performed using the terms informed consent and clinical research and informed consent and (comprehension or understanding) from 1966 to March 2004 , which included randomized controlled trials, longitudinal trials, and controlled trials with nonrandom allocation that compared the understanding of research participants who had undergone only a standard informed consent process to that of participants who had received an intervention to improve their understanding. A comprehensive bibliography of empirical research on informed consent published in January 1999 was also reviewed, as were personal files and all issues of the journals IRB and Controlled Clinical Trials. DATA EXTRACTION Study design, quality criteria, population characteristics, interventions, and outcomes for each trial were extracted. The statistical significance of the interventions' effects on understanding were noted, as were mean scores for understanding for each group of each trial. For those trials that measured the secondary outcomes of satisfaction and willingness to enroll, results were also summarized. DATA SYNTHESIS Thirty studies described 42 trials that met inclusion criteria. Of 12 trials of multimedia interventions, 3 showed significant improvement in understanding. Of 15 trials of enhanced consent forms, 6 showed significant improvement in understanding (all P<.05), but 5 of 6 trials were of limited quality, casting doubt on their practical relevance. Of 5 trials of extended discussion, 3 showed significant improvement in understanding (all P<.001) and 2 showed trends toward improvement (P=.054 and P=.08). Of 5 trials of test/feedback, all showed significant improvement in understanding (all P<.05) but were flawed in that they may have mistaken rote memorization for improvement in understanding. Another 5 trials were put into a miscellaneous category and had varying impact on understanding. Some demographic factors, particularly lower education, were associated with less understanding. Satisfaction and willingness to enroll were never significantly diminished by an intervention . CONCLUSIONS Efforts to improve understanding through the use of multimedia and enhanced consent forms have had only limited success. Having a study team member or a neutral educator spend more time talking one-on-one to study participants appears to be the most effective available way of improving research participants' understanding; however, further research is needed.
Edge-connectivity of strong products of graphs

The strong product G1 £G2 of graphs G1 and G2 is the graph with V (G1) × V (G2) as the vertex set, and two distinct vertices (x1, x2) and (y1, y2) are adjacent whenever for each i ∈ {1, 2} either xi = yi or xiyi ∈ E(Gi). In this note we show that for two connected graphs G1 and G2 the edge-connectivity λ(G1£G2) equals min{δ(G1£ G2), λ(G1)(|V (G2)|+2|E(G2)|), λ(G2)(|V (G1)|+2|E(G1)|)}. In addition, we fully describe the structure of possible minimum edge cut sets in strong products of graphs.