Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Collective action theory

Collective action dilemmas (hereafter collective dilemmas) occur when the joint decisions of two or more individuals result in socially undesirable outcomes. Collective dilemmas emerge from interdependence—the payoffs to one individual depend on the decisions of others. Solving collective dilemmas requires changing individual decisions through governance arrangements that alter individual payoffs and result in a joint outcome that leaves at least one individual better off without harming any other individuals. Therefore, there is a normative aspect to collective dilemmas, because researchers and practitioners try to find ways to improve social welfare. Some researchers use the term “cooperation” or “coordination” to describe the situation when individuals make decisions that produce more socially desirable outcomes. In game theoretic terms, the goal is often to move from inefficient but stable Nash equilibrium outcomes to mutually beneficial outcomes termed “Pareto-superior. ” Collective dilemmas are at the heart of most real-world governance challenges, including environmental, health, education, foreign aid, and other policy domains. Hence basic theoretical and empirical research in collective action has important applied implications for the study of governance, and seeks to develop policy recommendations that move toward solutions. The general definition above applies to many specific types of collective dilemmas. Political economists focus heavily on problems like public goods provision (e.g. Olson [1965] 1971) and common pool resource management (e.g. Ostrom, E. 1990). A number of canonical game theoretical models also represent collective dilemmas (e.g. Axelrod and Hamilton 1981). Field studies and experiments examine attributes of individuals, institutions, and communities that make collective action more or less likely to occur (e.g. Ostrom, E. et al. 1994; Gibson et al. 2005). Social network analysis investigates how the degree of interpersonal connectedness among participants to a collective dilemma affects their ability to solve the dilemma (Lubell et al. 2010). From the collective action perspective, then, governance attempts to solve these different types of dilemmas by creating institutional arrangements that redefine the payoffs from individual behavior and incentivize cooperation through top-down mandates or encourage bottom-up self-organizing. Governance is a multi-level process that creates monitoring mechanisms, punishes defection, rewards cooperation, provides information, fosters trust-based reciprocity, and otherwise attempts to create the conditions that make collective action likely to occur (Ostrom, E. 2005). Effective governance requires an institutional framework that both positively alters the payoffs to individuals from cooperation and facilitates effective monitoring and enforcement of the rules if and when someone chooses to defect. Of interest for the current chapter are two collective dilemmas that commonly affect public policy: the efficient production and effective management of public goods and
Dietary in fl ammatory index and risk of re fl ux oesophagitis , Barrett ’ s oesophagus and oesophageal adenocarcinoma : a population-based case – control study

The dietary inflammatory index (DII) is a novel composite score based on a range of nutrients and foods known to be associated with inflammation. DII scores have been linked to the risk of a number of cancers, including oesophageal squamous cell cancer and oesophageal adenocarcinoma (OAC). Given that OAC stems from acid reflux and that the oesophageal epithelium undergoes a metaplasia-dysplasia transition from the resulting inflammation, it is plausible that a high DII score (indicating a pro-inflammatory diet) may exacerbate risk of OAC and its precursor conditions. The aim of this analytical study was to explore the association between energy-adjusted dietary inflammatory index (E-DII) in relation to risk of reflux oesophagitis, Barrett’s oesophagus and OAC. Between 2002 and 2005, reflux oesophagitis (n 219), Barrett’s oesophagus (n 220) and OAC (n 224) patients, and population-based controls (n 256), were recruited to the Factors influencing the Barrett’s Adenocarcinoma Relationship study in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. E-DII scores were derived from a 101-item FFQ. Unconditional logistic regression analysis was applied to determine odds of oesophageal lesions according to E-DII intakes, adjusting for potential confounders. High E-DII scores were associated with borderline increase in odds of reflux oesophagitis (OR 1·87; 95% CI 0·93, 3·73), and significantly increased odds of Barrett’s oesophagus (OR 2·05; 95% CI 1·22, 3·47), and OAC (OR 2·29; 95% CI 1·32, 3·96), when comparing the highest with the lowest tertiles of E-DII scores. In conclusion, a pro-inflammatory diet may exacerbate the risk of the inflammationmetaplasia-adenocarcinoma pathway in oesophageal carcinogenesis.
Health and Economic Growth: Reconciling the Micro and Macro Evidence

Micro-based and macro-based approaches have been used to assess the effects of health on economic growth. Micro-based approaches aggregate the return on individual health from Mincerian wage regressions to derive the macroeconomic effects of population health. Macro-based approaches estimate a generalized aggregate production function that decomposes output into its components. The microbased approach tends to find smaller effects than the macro-based approach, thus presenting a micromacro puzzle regarding the economic return on health. We reconcile these two strands of literature by showing that the point estimate of the macroeconomic effect of health is quantitatively close to that found by aggregating the microeconomic effects, controlling for potential spillovers of population health at the aggregate level. Our results justify using the micro-based approach to estimate the direct economic benefits of health interventions.
Labour contracts and the stepping-stone effect in Emilia-Romagna: A multinomial analysis

Abstract Do short-term contracts facilitate the transition into permanent contracts? We use a rich administrative database for the Emilia-Romagna northern region in Italy from 2008 to 2012 to run a stepping-stone analysis and evaluate which contractual agreement is more likely to lead to a permanent working position. We find that individual specific characteristics make it more likely for a worker to be employed with a specific contractual agreement and that the contribution towards more working stability varies with the previous contract. We conclude that fixed-term positions act more as stumbling blocks than building blocks for open-ended contracts.
Creating Hybrid B-Reps and Hybrid Volume Completions from Trimmed B-Spline B-Reps

This paper proposes a method for converting a non-watertight trimmed B-spline B-rep model to a watertight hybrid model representation that preserves the original model’s parameterization, representation, and geometry, except within a banded region along the trimming curve. Also, it addresses the problem of volumetric model completion. Solutions to both of these problems are important to have a conformal representation for analysis, in particular, isogeometric analysis, and for describing material attributes. The approach for the boundary representation modifies the original B-spline bases to take into account the trimming curves and introduces new functions along the trimming curves to preserve independence and the convex hull property. Then a volumetric completion algorithm with the new hybrid boundary is introduced. Outside of this research, volume representation completion has witnessed few advances for trimmed B-spline B-rep models. Building on the approach of [21] that is proposed only for untrimmed B-reps, this research generalizes the methodology and solves related issues to make it appropriate for the ubiquitous trimmed B-rep models. The efficacies of both the hybrid B-rep and the hybrid volumetric method are demonstrated on trimmed B-rep models.
The Influence of Dissolved Organic Carbon on the Microbial Community Associated with Tetraselmis striata for Bio-Diesel Production

The green alga Tetraselmis striata is regarded as a suitable candidate microalga for bio-diesel production. Recently, T. striata was cultured near Yeonghueung Island, Korea, in a “marine culturing field”; however, its environmental impacts are not yet studied. We estimated the amount of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) released from T. striata cultivation in the marine culturing field, and we investigated the changes in bacterial composition. Then, we designed and installed a mesocosm for further understanding. From the mesocosm results, the DOC released from the cultivation of T. striata led to changes in bacterial communities, disturbance of the microbial food web structure, rapid depletion of nutrients, and a decrease in dissolved oxygen (DO) and pH. Our novel work demonstrates that large amounts of DOC secreted by large-scale microalgal cultures such as that of T. striata can potentially have a significant impact on the structure and function of the surrounding microbial ecosystem.
Mitigating Network Latency for Fog Robotics using Motion Segmentation and Synthesis

Network latency is a major problem in Cloud and Fog Robotics for human robot interaction in tele-operation. Routing delays can be highly variable in a heterogeneous computing environment, imposing challenges to reliably teleoperate a robot with a closed-loop feedback controller. In this work, we develop a recognition, segmentation and motion synthesis algorithm for tele-operation from Hidden Semi-Markov Models (HSMMs) and linear quadratic tracking controller. A series of latency mitigating network protocols are introduced to seamlessly allow the tele-operator to control the distant robot. We perform motion segmentation and synthesis on a human hand-written letter dataset and program interactive human tele-operations with a dynamic robot arm based on these motions. We benchmark the recognition and synthesis errors and performance delays to validate and modify these latency mitigating protocols for Fog Robotics.
EAI Endorsed Transactions on Scalable Information Systems Research

The main aim of this paper is based on the cache performance test of the QoC: quality of experience framework for cloud computing on the server. QoC framework is based on the server-side design and implementation of the use of hierarchical architecture. Reverse proxy technology is used to build a server cluster, which is composed of front-end access layer to achieve the server for load balancing, improve the performance of the system and the use of built-in distributed cache server. The cluster consists of the cache acceleration layer, which reduces the load of the backend database. The second database server cluster, which is constructed by the database master and slave synchronization technology, forms the data storage layer, which realizes the database read and writes separation and data redundancy. The server-side hierarchical architecture improves the performance and stability of the entire system, and has a high degree of scalability, laying a solid foundation for future expansion of system business logic and increases user volume. This paper presents new cache replacement algorithm for inconsistent video file size and then analyzes the specific needs for the multi-terminal type of QoC framework, and gives the client and server-side outline design; it describes the implementation details of the client and the server-side and finally the whole system of detailed functional and performance testing.
Tree and forest weights and their application to nonuniform random graphs

For a complete graph K n on n vertices with weighted edges, de(cid:12)ne the weight of a spanning tree (more generally, spanning forest) as the product of edge weights involved. De(cid:12)ne the tree weight (forest weight) of K n as the total weight of all spanning trees (forests). The uniform edge weight distribution is shown to maximize the tree weight, and an explicit bound on the tree weight is formulated in terms of the overall variance of edge weights as well as the variance of the sum of edge weights over nodes. An application to sparse random graphs leads to a bound for the relative risk of observing a spanning tree in a well-de(cid:12)ned neighborhood of the uniform distribution. An analogous result shows that, for each positive integer k , the weight of all forests with k rooted trees is also maximized under the uniform distribution. A key ingredient for the latter result is a formula for the weight of forests of k rooted trees that generalizes Maxwell’s rule for spanning trees. Our formulas also enable us to show that the number of trees in a random rooted forest is intrinsically divisible, that is, rep- resentable as a sum of n independent binary random variables " j , with parameter (cid:144) 1 C (cid:21) j (cid:145) (cid:0) 1 , (cid:21) ’s being the eigenvalues of the Kirchhoff matrix. This is directly analogous to the properties of the number of blocks in a random set partition (Harper), of the size of the random matching set (Godsil) and of the number of leaves in a random tree (Steele).
Cabozantinib in Advanced Hepatocellular Carcinoma: Efficacy and Safety Data from an International Multicenter Real-Life Cohort

Background and Aims: The multikinase inhibitor cabozantinib has been approved for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) previously treated with sorafenib. We report safety and efficacy data of an international, multicenter, real-life cohort of patients with advanced HCC treated with cabozantinib. Methods: Patients with HCC who were treated with cabozantinib were retrospectively identified across 11 centers in Austria, Switzerland, and Germany. Patients’ characteristics, adverse events, duration of treatment and overall survival (OS) data were analyzed until April 1, 2020. Results: Eighty-eight patients from 11 centers were included. The predominant underlying liver diseases were NAFLD/NASH in 26 (30%) and hepatitis C infection in 21 (24%) patients. Seventy-eight patients (89%) were classified as Barcelona clinic liver cancer (BCLC) stage C. Sixty patients (68%) were Child-Pugh A, whereas 22 (25%) were Child-Pugh B, respectively. Cabozantinib was used as systemic second- and third-line or later treatment in 41 (47%) and 46 (52%) patients, respectively. The following best responses under cabozantinib were documented: partial response in 6 (7%), stable disease in 28 (32%), and progressive disease in 28 (32%) patients, respectively. Fifty-two patients (59%) died during follow-up. The median OS from start of cabozantinib treatment was 7.0 months in the entire cohort and 9.7 months in Child-Pugh A patients, while Child-Pugh B patients had a median OS of 3.4 months, respectively. Thirty-seven (42%) patients fulfilled the CELESTIAL inclusion and exclusion criteria, showing a median OS of 11.1 months. Most common adverse events were fatigue (15.6%) and diarrhea (15.6%). Conclusion: Cabozantinib treatment was effective, safe, and feasible in patients with advanced HCC in patients with compensated cirrhosis. Patients in the real-life setting had more advanced liver disease – in which 25% of patients were Child-Pugh B. However, OS in patients with Child-Pugh A cirrhosis was similar to that reported in the phase 3 trial (CELESTIAL).
Changes in RedMeat Consumption and Subsequent Risk of Type 2 DiabetesMellitus Three Cohorts of USMen

PARTICIPANTS We followed up 26 357 men in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (1986-2006), 48 709 women in the Nurses’ Health Study (1986-2006), and 74 077 women in the Nurses’ Health Study II (1991-2007). Diet was assessed by validated food frequency questionnaires and updated every 4 years. Time-dependent Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to calculate hazard ratios with adjustment for age, family history, race, marital status, initial red meat consumption, smoking status, and initial and changes in other lifestyle factors (physical activity, alcohol intake, total energy intake, and diet quality). Results across cohorts were pooled by an inverse variance–weighted, fixed-effect meta-analysis.
Effect of Fennel (Foeniculum Vulgare Mill.) Used as a Feed Additive on The Egg Quality of Laying Hens Under Heat Stress

In this study, one hundred and twenty 40-wk-old White Leghorn laying hens were submitted to two different thermal conditions (24° C vs. 34° C) and were fed three levels (0, 10, or and 20 g/kg of diet)of fennel fruits (Foeniculum vulgare Mill.) as a feed additive in. This study was carried out according to a factorial design consisting of two temperatures and three fennel levels with five 5 replicates each (n = 2 × 3 × 5). Performance, egg production, egg quality, and oxidative product levels (malondialdehyde, MDA, and carbonyl) in the eggs were measured before and after heat exposure. The results showed that the tested temperatures did not affect egg production (p>0.05), but the production of eggs with broken shell and feed intake were affected by heat stress (p 0.05), but increased yolk triglyceride levels. Hens that consumed fennel presented lower yolk cholesterol and triglyceride levels (p<0.05). In general, fennel fruit influenced egg yolk cholesterol and triglyceride contents, and because of its antioxidant properties, it may alleviate the adverse effects of heat stress on laying hens.
Continuous wave-Nd: yttrium–aluminum–garnet laser welding of AM60B magnesium alloy

This study shows that the formation of macroporosity and overfill in the weld pool were the most pronounced problems during continuous wave Nd:yttrium–aluminum–garnet laser welding of AM60B die cast magnesium alloy. The influences of various welding parameters on the formation of porosity and overfill were investigated with particular emphasis on the mechanism and prevention of porosity formation. It was found that the macro pores in the weld pool were mainly formed by the expansion and coalescence of the preexisting pores in the base metal. The amount of macro- porosity in the weld pool could be reduced to approximately that in the base metal by reducing heat input, i.e., by increasing welding speed and decreasing laser power. Increasing the beam defocusing did not reduce porosity in the weld metal until the beam was highly defocused and a shallow weld pool, characteristic of conduction mode welding was obtained. Overfill was observed for deep penetration autogenous welds and its formation could be attri.
Conditioned emotional reactions

If the theory advanced by Watson and Morgan (in 'Emotional Reactions and Psychological Experimentation,' American Journal of Psychology, April, 1917, Vol. 28, pp. 163-174) to the effect that in infancy the original emotional reaction patterns are few, consisting so far as observed of fear, rage and love, then there must be some simple method by means of which the range of stimuli which can call out these emotions and their compounds is greatly increased. Otherwise, complexity in adult response could not be accounted for. These authors without adequate experimental evidence advanced the view that this range was increased by means of conditioned reflex factors. It was suggested there that the early home life of the child furnishes a laboratory situation for establishing conditioned emotional responses. The present authors present their experimental findings of conditioned fear responses in a male infant beginning at 11 months of age. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Drug development pipeline for the treatment of tuberculosis : Needs , challenges , success and opportunities for the future

Tuberculosis (TB), a leading cause of mortality and morbidity with more than one-third of the world population infected with latent TB andthe worldwide dissemination of multidrug (MDR) and extensively drug resistant (XDR) Mycobacterium tuberculosis poses a serious threat to human health. due to inadequacy of long and cumbersome tuberculosis (TB) therapy. Several new molecules in clinical development encourage the scientific community to find new drug targets and new drug leads. In this perspective we present herein an overview of the new anti-TB agents with different molecular structures that are either being clinically used or in advanced stages clinical stages as well as of preclinical development. Here we have tried to provide snapshots of the efforts that are being made in the development of new drug molecules as lead anti-TB agents.
Polymorphisms of BoLA-DRB 3.2 gene and associated genetic relationships among four strains of Tanzania shorthorn zebu cattle

Bovine Lymphocyte Antigen (BoLA) genes play important roles in resistance or susceptibility of cattle to infectious diseases. The BoLA gene comprises of several loci including the most polymorphic site namely DRB 3.2. We amplified 200 DNA samples and sequenced 270 bp comprising exon 2 of BoLA-DRB 3.2 in four strains of Tanzania shorthorn zebu (TSZ) cattle (Tarime, Sukuma, Maasai, Singida white) and one breed, namely Friesian. Sequences were processed on Finch TV, aligned on Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST) online, and matched to amino acids using MEGA 6. Frequency of each allele was computed as proportion of total alleles in each population. Chi-square was used to test significance in allele frequencies. Heterozygosities were computed using Poptree 2. Putative evolutionary relationships were evaluated by Nei genetic distances. Thirty four alleles were determined, of which nine alleles are novel. The greatest number of alleles was determined in Tarime and Singida white and the lowest in Friesian. Heterozygosities were high within the animals. Phylogenetic tree showed two major clusters one for TSZ and a second for Friesian. Polymorphism at DRB 3.2 in TSZ could be one explanation for their ability to withstand various diseases and we recommend further evaluations in the breed.
Electro-thermomechanical characterization of Ti-Ni shape memory alloy thin wires

The use of shape memory alloys (SMA) as smart structures and other modern applications require a previous evaluation of its performance under load as well as a training procedure. In general, these requirements lead to the design and assembly of a specific test bench. In this work, an experimental set-up was specially designed to perform the electro-thermomechanical characterization of SMA wires. This apparatus was used to determine the strain-temperature (e - T) and electrical resistance-temperature (R - T) hysteretic characteristics curves of a Ti-Ni shape memory wire (90 mm in length and 150 µm in diameter) under mechanical load. The SMA wire is loaded by means of constant weights and a controlled system for injection of electrical power allows performing the heating-cooling cycles. The obtained hysteretic e - T and R - T characteristics curves for some levels of applied loads are used to determine important shape memory parameters, like martensitic transformation temperatures, temperature hysteresis, temperature slopes and shape memory effect under load. These parameters were in accord with the ones found in literature for the studied SMA wires.