Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The importance of learning when making inferences

The assumption that people possess a repertoire of strategies to solve the inference problems they face has been made repeatedly. The experimental findings of two previous studies on strategy selection are reexamined from a learning perspective, which argues that people learn to select strategies for making probabilistic inferences. This learning process is modeled with the strategy selection learning (SSL) theory, which assumes that people develop subjective expectancies for the strategies they have. They select strategies proportional to their expectancies, which are updated on the basis of experience. For the study by Newell, Weston, and Shanks (2003) it can be shown that people did not anticipate the success of a strategy from the beginning of the experiment. Instead, the behavior observed at the end of the experiment was the result of a learning process that can be described by the SSL theory. For the second study, by Bröder and Schiffer (2006), the SSL theory is able to provide an explanation for why participants only slowly adapted to new environments in a dynamic inference situation. The reanalysis of the previous studies illustrates the importance of learning for probabilistic inferences.
A symmetry-based method to infer structural brain networks from tractography data

Recent progress in diffusion MRI and tractography algorithms as well as the launch of the Human Connectome Project (HCP) have provided brain research with an abundance of structural connectivity data. In this work, we describe and evaluate a method that can infer the structural brain network that interconnects a given set of Regions of Interest (ROIs) from tractography data. The proposed method, referred to as Minimum Asymmetry Network Inference Algorithm (MANIA), differs from prior work because it does not determine the connectivity between two ROIs based on an arbitrary connectivity threshold. Instead, we exploit a basic limitation of the tractography process: the observed streamlines from a source to a target do not provide any information about the polarity of the underlying white matter, and so if there are some fibers connecting two voxels (or two ROIs) X and Y tractography should be able in principle to follow this connection in both directions, from X to Y and from Y to X. We leverage this limitation to formulate the network inference process as an optimization problem that minimizes the (appropriately normalized) asymmetry of the observed network. We evaluate the proposed method on a noise model that randomly corrupts the observed connectivity of synthetic networks. As a case-study, we apply MANIA on diffusion MRI data from 28 healthy subjects to infer the structural network between 18 corticolimbic ROIs that are associated with various neuropsychiatric conditions including depression, anxiety and addiction.
Does Stakeholder Engagement Pay Off on Social Media? A Social Capital Perspective

Nonprofits use social media to pursue a broad range of mission-related outcomes. Given the centrality of user connections and social networks on these sites, attaining these outcomes is contingent on first generating a stock of online social capital through investing in online relationships. Yet, little is known empirically about this process. To better understand the return on social media, this study develops empirical measures of four key dimensions of social media–based social capital centering on the nature of nonprofits’ network positions and stakeholder ties. The study then tests a series of hypotheses relating the increase in social capital to different types of stakeholder engagement tactics. Using Twitter data on 198 community foundations, the study finds that content with multiple communication cues and intersectoral stakeholder targeting predict higher levels of social capital; communicative and stakeholder diversity, thus, appear to play a key role in the successful organizational use of social media.
URCA Approach to Scenario-based Round-trip Engineering

By studying existing solutions of round-trip engineering in object-oriented modeling we derived a set of specific requirements, both functional and non-functional, to support round-trip engineering of behavioral model elements. In this paper we propose a use caseand testdriven approach to round-trip engineering of a complete UML model, as prescribed by required elements of the Unified Process template. URCA method was devised to satisfy the stated requirements to the maximum extent possible. Experimental results gained with a prototype that implements the core technique are also given, along with a discussion of some questions requiring further investigation.
Greater hippocampal neuronal recruitment in food‐storing than in non‐food‐storing birds

Previous research has shown heightened recruitment of new neurons to the chickadee hippocampus in the fall. The present study was conducted to determine whether heightened fall recruitment is associated with the seasonal onset of food‐storing by comparing neurogenesis in chickadees and a non‐food‐storing species, the house sparrow. Chickadees and house sparrows were captured in the wild in fall and spring and received multiple injections of the cell birth marker bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU). Birds were held in captivity and the level of hippocampal neuron recruitment was assessed after 6 weeks. Chickadees showed significantly more hippocampal neuronal recruitment than house sparrows. We found no seasonal differences in hippocampal neuronal recruitment in either species. In chickadees and in house sparrows, one‐third of new cells labeled for BrdU also expressed the mature neuronal protein, NeuN. In a region adjacent to the hippocampus, the hyperpallium apicale, we observed no significant differences in neuronal recruitment between species or between seasons. Hippocampal volume and total neuron number both were greater in spring than in fall in chickadees, but no seasonal differences were observed in house sparrows. Enhanced neuronal recruitment in the hippocampus of food‐storing chickadees suggests a degree of neurogenic specialization that may be associated with the spatial memory requirements of food‐storing behavior. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Develop Neurobiol, 2007.
The Effects of Disclosure Regulation on Innovative Firms : Private Values

The Effects of Disclosure Regulation on Innovative Firms: Private Values* by Jos Jansen Firms in an R&D race actively manage rivals’ beliefs by disclosing and concealing information on their cost of investment. The firms’ disclosure strategies affect their incentives to invest in R&D, and to acquire information. We compare equilibria under voluntary disclosure with those under mandatory disclosure in a model where the firms’ cost of investment are identically independently distributed. Under voluntary disclosure firms conceal bad news, and disclose good news only if little knowledge spills over to their rival. Under mandatory disclosure firms expect higher profits for given information acquisition investments, but they may acquire less information.
The Research on Emotion Recognition from ECG Signal

Emotion recognition based on physiological signals is an important research fields with promising application future. This paper firstly carried out the work of affective (joy and sadness) electrocardiogram (ECG) signal acquisition obtained from 391 subjects through stimulation of film clips. The automatic location of P-QRS-T wave was performed by use of discrete wavelet transform (DWT), which was crucial for ECG feature extraction by the computer. Through Tabu Search Algorithm (TS), the best combination of the ECG emotion features was selected for classification. Finally fisher-KNN proposed in this paper was implemented to classify the test data. An effective emotion feature subset and a better recognition result were achieved availably. This research showed the feasibility of the method which sought the affective ECG features. And it was practicable to apply TS and fisher-KNN classifier for emotion recognition based on ECG signal.
Knowledge sharing in virtual communities - a review of the empirical research

This study reviews the recent empirical studies on knowledge sharing in Virtual Communities (VCs). The paper begins with an analysis of the VC conceptualisation and the focal phenomenon of knowledge sharing. Secondly, the factors that seem to facilitate knowledge-sharing activities in VCs are identified and categorised as individual motivations, personal characteristics, technical attributes and community-level social capital. Overall, the results demonstrate a strong emphasis on why individuals engage in such activities, but less attention is given to what is being shared and how the processes of sharing are manifested in practice. The paper concludes with some suggestions for further research.
Climate, traffic-related air pollutants and allergic rhinitis prevalence in middle-school children in Taiwan

The prevalence of allergic rhinitis, a common respiratory disorder, may be rapidly increasing. Epidemiological studies, however, indicate little about its association with climatic factors and air pollution. The relationship between traffic-related air pollutants and allergic rhinitis in middle-school students was therefore investigated. In a nationwide survey of middle-school students in Taiwan conducted in 1995/1996, the lifetime prevalence of physician-diagnosed allergic rhinitis and typical symptoms of allergic rhinitis were compared with air-monitoring station data on temperature, relative humidity, sulphur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx), ozone (O3), carbon monoxide (CO) and particulate matter with a 50% cut-off aerodynamic diameter of 10 µm (PM10). A total of 331,686 nonsmoking children attended schools located within 2 km of 55 stations. Mean (range) annual exposures were: CO 853 (381–1,610) parts per billion (ppb), NOx 35.1 (10.2–72.4) ppb, SO2 7.57 (0.88–21.2) ppb, PM10 69.2 (40.1–116.2) µg·m−3, O3 21.3 (12.4–34.1) ppb, temperature 22.9 (19.6–25.1)°C, and relative humidity 76.2 (64.8–86.2)%. The prevalence of physician-diagnosed allergic rhinitis was 28.6 and 19.5% in males and females, respectively, with prevalence of questionnaire-determined allergic rhinitis 42.4 and 34.0%. After adjustment for age, parental education and history of atopic eczema, physician-diagnosed allergic rhinitis was found to be associated with higher nonsummer (September–May) warmth and traffic-related air pollutants, including CO, NOx and O3. Questionnaire-determined allergic rhinitis correlated only with traffic-related air pollutants. Nonsummer warmth and traffic-related air pollution, probably mediated through exposure to common allergens such as dust mites, are possible risk factors for allergic rhinitis in middle-school-aged children.
Serum Sulfate Concentration of Androstenediol in Patients with Hyperthyroidism and and And rostenediol Hypothyroidism

Androstenediol (5-androsten-3 j3, 17~-diol, ADIOL) and androstenediol 3-sulfate (ADIOLS) are active metabolites of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and DHEA sulfate (DHEAS), respectively, and have estrogenic activity and immunoregulatory function. We examined serum concentrations of ADIOL, ADIOLS, DHEA, DHEAS and pregnenolone sulfate (5-pregnen-3j3-o1-20-one sulfate, PREGS) in patients with Graves' thyrotoxicosis (male/female 9/14), hypothyroidism (11/20) and in normal controls (14/29). In hypothyroidism serum levels of all these steroids were significantly decreased in both genders. In hyperthyroidism, in contrast, serum levels of ADIOLS (male 1.49±0.69, female 0.64±0.31 imol/I), DHEAS (male 7.43±3.91, female 5.13±2.03 tcmol/1), and PREGS (male 1.13±0.58, female 1.07±0.85 timol/I) were markedly increased, but serum concentrations of ADIOL and DEHA were not significantly different from controls (ADIOLS male 0.36±0.33, female 0.14±0.09 pmol/1; DHEAS male 2.88± 1.70, female 1.86± 1.03 pmol/1; PREGS male 0.18±0.12, female 0.11 ±0.08 pmol/l; ADIOL male 3.76±1.35, female 1.91 ± 1.17 nmol/l; DHEA male 9.23±3.49, female 13.5± 10.8 nmol/1). Serum concentrations of all these steroids correlated with the serum concentration of the thyroid hormones in these patients. Serum albumin and sex hormone-binding globulin concentrations were not related to these changes in the concentrations of steroids. These findings indicate that serum concentrations of ADIOLS, ADIOL, DHEAS, DHEA and PREGS were decreased in hypothyroidism, whereas serum ADIOLS, DHEAS and PREGS concentrations were increased but ADIOL and DHEA were normal in hyperthyroidism. Thyroid hormone may stimulate the synthesis of these steroids and sulfotransferase is speculated to be increased in hyperthyroidism. Increased ADIOLS might contribute to menstrual disturbances and gynecomastia in hyperthyroidism.
Real-time data mining of multimedia objects

Whereas much of the previous work on data mining has focused on mining data in relational databases, we discuss mining objects. Object models are very popular for representing multimedia data, and therefore we need to mine object databases to extract useful information from the large quantities of multimedia data. We first describe the motivation for multimedia data mining with examples and then discuss object mining with focus on text, image, video and audio mining. We also address the need for real time data mining for multimedia applications.
Discussion of “Limitations on the Effectiveness of Forward Guidance at the Zero Lower Bound”

What should the monetary authority do when prices are sticky? One answer to this question is provided by the standard New Keynesian model of sticky prices. It says that optimal monetary policy should fully stabilize the long-term price level in many environments. For example, if all fluctuations are in the “IS curve,” then the optimal monetary policy under commitment is simply for the short-term interest rate to mirror the “natural rate of interest” and maintain a strict policy of price-level constancy. Output is then maintained close to the “natural rate. ” However, when the monetary authority faces a zero lower bound on the nominal interest rate, then the committed monetary authority faces a different set of trade-offs: as stressed by Eggertsson and Woodford (2003), it is typically optimal for the monetary authority to plan a temporary period of inflation. In this paper, Levin et al. (2009) (hereafter, LLNY) provide— among many other results—an important reminder that the optimal policy for the price level incorporates “base drift” whenever the zero lower bound is binding, with the long-run price level rising as a result of the inflation that is necessary as part of a desirable stabilization program. In my discussion, I lay out the basic mechanics of this result and explain why it is somewhat surprising vis-à-vis the “case for price stability” that is present in this class of models. I also relate the difference between these two policies to alternative monetary policy statements that might be issued by a monetary authority during a period of low interest rates so as to produce outcomes that are close to the optimal monetary policy under commitment.
Simultaneous interstitial pneumonitis and cardiomyopathy induced by venlafaxine* **

Venlafaxine is a serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor used as an antidepressant. Interindividual variability and herb-drug interactions can lead to drug-induced toxicity. We report the case of a 35-year-old female patient diagnosed with synchronous pneumonitis and acute cardiomyopathy attributed to venlafaxine. The patient sought medical attention due to dyspnea and dry cough that started three months after initiating treatment with venlafaxine for depression. The patient was concomitantly taking Centella asiatica and Fucus vesiculosus as phytotherapeutic agents. Chest CT angiography and chest X-ray revealed parenchymal lung disease (diffuse micronodules and focal ground-glass opacities) and simultaneous dilated cardiomyopathy. Ecocardiography revealed a left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) of 21%. A thorough investigation was carried out, including BAL, imaging studies, autoimmune testing, right heart catheterization, and myocardial biopsy. After excluding other etiologies and applying the Naranjo Adverse Drug Reaction Probability Scale, a diagnosis of synchronous pneumonitis/cardiomyopathy associated with venlafaxine was assumed. The herbal supplements taken by the patient have a known potential to inhibit cytochrome P450 enzyme complex, which is responsible for the metabolization of venlafaxine. After venlafaxine discontinuation, there was rapid improvement, with regression of the radiological abnormalities and normalization of the LVEF. This was an important case of drug-induced cardiopulmonary toxicity. The circumstantial intake of inhibitors of the CYP2D6 isoenzyme and the presence of a CYP2D6 slow metabolism phenotype might have resulted in the toxic accumulation of venlafaxine and the subsequent clinical manifestations. Here, we also discuss why macrophage-dominant phospholipidosis was the most likely mechanism of toxicity in this case.
COMPARISON OF SPECTRAL AND PROSODIC PARAMETERS OF MALE AND FEMALE EMOTIONAL SPEECH IN CZECH AND SLOVAK

This paper analyzes and compares spectral properties (first three formants position and spectral flatness measure values) and prosodic parameters (F0 and energy, microintonation and jitter) of male and female acted emotional speech in Czech and Slovak languages. Statistical results and values of parameter ratios will be used for modification of the text-to-speech (TTS) system enabling expressive speech production with male / female voices, based on cepstral speech description. Index Terms — Speech processing, speech analysis, statistics
novel biologic clusters for risk classification and outcome prediction Gene expression profiling of adult acute myeloid leukemia identifies

Godwin and Cheryl L. Willman Huining Kang, Xuefei Wang, Jerald P. Radich, Frederick R. Appelbaum, Susan R. Atlas, John Monica Mosquera-Caro, I-Ming Chen, Derek L. Stirewalt, Maurice Murphy, Frederick A. Schultz, Kerem Ar, Yuexian Xu, Kenneth J. Kopecky, Donna P. Ankerst, Holly Gundacker, Marilyn L. Slovak, Carla S. Wilson, George S. Davidson, Shawn B. Martin, Erik Andries, Jeffrey Potter, Richard Harvey, novel biologic clusters for risk classification and outcome prediction Gene expression profiling of adult acute myeloid leukemia identifies
Capabilities and limitations of mono-camera pedestrian-based autocalibration

Many environments lack enough architectural information to allow an autocalibration based on features extracted from the scene structure. Nevertheless, the observation over time of walking people can generally be used to estimate the vertical vanishing point and the horizon line in the acquired image. However, this information is not enough to allow the calibration of a general camera without presuming excessive simplifications. This paper presents a study on the capabilities and limitations of the mono-camera calibration methods based solely on the knowledge of the vertical vanishing point and the horizon line in the image. The mathematical analysis sets the conditions to assure the feasibility of the mono-camera pedestrian-based autocalibration. In addition, examples of applications are presented and discussed.
Acknowledging unreported problems with active surveillance for prostate cancer: a prospective single-centre observational study

Objective To report outcomes of patients with localised prostate cancer (PCa) managed with active surveillance (AS) in a standard clinical setting. Design Single-centre, prospective, observational study. Setting Non-academic, average-size hospital in Switzerland. Participants Prospective, observational study at a non-academic, average-size hospital in Switzerland. Inclusion and progression criteria meet general recommendations. 157 patients at a median age of 67 (61–70) years were included from December 1999 to March 2012. Follow-up (FU) ended June 2013. Results Median FU was 48 (30–84) months. Overall confirmed reclassification rate was 20% (32/157). 20 men underwent radical prostatectomy with 1 recurrence, 11 had radiation therapy with 2 prostate-specific antigen relapses, and 1 required primary hormone ablation with a fatal outcome. Kaplan-Meier estimates for those remaining in the study showed an overall survival of 92%, cancer-specific survival of 99% and reclassification rate of 41%. Dropout rate was 36% and occurred at a median of 48 (21–81) months after inclusion. 68 (43%) men are still under AS. Conclusions Careful administration of AS can and will yield excellent results in long-term management of PCa, and also helps physicians and patients alike to balance quality of life and mortality. Our data revealed significant dropout from FU. Patient non-compliance can be a relevant problem in AS.
F support vector machines

We introduce in this paper Fβ SVMs, a new parametrization of support vector machines. It allows to optimize a SVM in terms of Fβ, a classical information retrieval criterion, instead of the usual classification rate. Experiments illustrate the advantages of this approach with respect to the traditionnal 2- norm soft-margin SVM when precision and recall are of unequal importance. An automatic model selection procedure based on the generalization Fβ score is introduced. It relies on the results of Chapelle, Vapnik et al. (4) about the use of gradient-based techniques in SVM model selection. The derivatives of a Fβ loss function with respect to the hyperparameters C and the width σ of a gaussian kernel are formally defined. The model is then selected by performing a gradient descent of the Fβ loss function over the set of hyperparameters. Experiments on artificial and real-life data show the benefits of this method when the Fβ score is considered. I. INTRODUCTION Support Vector Machines (SVM) introduced by Vapnik (18) have been widely used in the field of pattern recognition for the last decade. The popularity of the method relies on its strong theoretical foundations as well as on its practical results. Performance of classifiers is usually assessed by means of classification error rate or by Information Retrieval (IR) measures such as precision, recall, Fβ , breakeven-point and ROC curves. Unfortunately, there is no direct connection between these IR criteria and the SVM hyperparameters: the regularization constant C and the kernel parameters. In this paper, we propose a novel method allowing the user to specify his requirement in terms of the Fβ criterion. First of all, the Fβ measure is reviewed as a user specification criterion in section II. A new SVM parametrization dealing with the β parameter is introduced in section III. Afterwards, a procedure for automatic model selection according to Fβ is proposed in section IV. This procedure is a gradient-based technique derived from the results of Chapelle, Vapnik et al. (4). Finally, experiments with artifical and real-life data are presented in section V. The two previous measures can be combined in a unique Fβ measure in which the paramater β specifies the relative importance of recall with respect to precision. Setting β equals to 0 would only consider precision whereas taking β = ∞ would only take recall into account. Moreover, precision and recall are of equal importance when using the F1 measure. The contingency matrix and estimations of precision, recall and Fβ are given hereafter. Target: +1 Target: -1 +1 True Pos. (# TP ) False Pos. (# FP ) -1 False Neg. (# FN ) True Neg. (# TN )