Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Passives in agrammatic sentence comprehension: A German study

Background: A large number of studies examining agrammatic comprehension of canonical and non‐canonical sentences in Broca's aphasia have focused on passives and results have been interpreted in theoretical frameworks such as the trace deletion hypothesis (TDH: Grodzinsky, 1995a). However, there are a number of unresolved issues associated with passives. The linguistic analysis of passive structures in different languages has remained controversial as well as the empirical neurolinguistic basis of agrammatic passive comprehension. In addition, a variety of morphological and semantic questions have been raised with respect to the implicit argument in short passives and the ordering of thematic roles reflected by different positions of the by‐phrase in long passives. Aims: The major aims of the present study were to re‐examine the analyses of passives with and without traces, the role of an implicit argument in short passives, and the influence of the position of the by‐phrase on agrammatic sentence comprehension. Methods & Procedures: A binary picture–sentence matching task was administered to six non‐fluent German agrammatic speakers. Various types of passives including long, short, and topicalised passives were tested. Additionally, comprehension of active SVO sentences was assessed in a separate but similar session. Only those patients whose comprehension on active sentences was above chance were included. Outcomes & Results: As a group, the six subjects performed above chance over all passive types. If only long canonical passives are considered, as is done in most studies, five subjects showed a pattern compatible with the TDH. However, the picture was modified if other passive constructions were taken into account, in which case only three of the six subjects showed TDH conformity. Conclusions: There is no unique pattern of agrammatic passive comprehension and only half of the agrammatic subjects conformed to the trace deletion hypothesis. Given the results on long canonical and topicalised passives, our data support linguistic analyses that assume a trace‐based derivation of passives. Furthermore, the results are in line with linguistic analyses adopting an implicit argument in short passives. Since comprehension of topicalised passives with a canonical order of theta‐roles was not better than that of long passives without a canonical order, the agrammatic problem with passives does not seem to hinge on semantics.
Überprüfung der Anwendbarkeit des NEO-Fünf-Faktoren Inventars (NEO-FFI) bei Jugendlichen im Alter zwischen 14 und 16 Jahren

Zusammenfassung. In der vorliegenden Studie wurde uberpruft, inwieweit das NEO-Funf-Faktoren Inventar (NEO-FFI) auch fur Jugendliche geeignet ist. Die deutsche Fassung des Fragebogens von Borkenau und Ostendorf (1993) wurde einer Stichprobe von 1236 Schulerinnen und Schulern (14-16 Jahre) vorgegebenen und im Hinblick auf Reliabilitat, faktorielle Validitat sowie verschiedene Item- und Skalenkennwerte uberpruft. Mit Ausnahme der Skala “Vertraglichkeit“ zeigten sich dabei gute bis zufriedenstellende interne Konsistenzen (α = .79-.82). Die Skaleninterkorrelationen lagen im niedrigen Bereich (r ≥ |.32|). Die faktorielle Validitat des Verfahrens lies sich hingegen nur teilweise stutzen: Vor allem der Vertraglichkeitsfaktor zeigte nicht die erwartete Itemzusammensetzung, da auf diesem nur die Halfte der entsprechenden Skalenitems substanzielle Ladungen aufwiesen. Dieser Befund sowie weiterhin durchgefuhrte Itemanalysen verweisen darauf, das insgesamt zur adaquaten Erfassung der Dimensionen des Funf-Faktoren-Mod.
Analyzing Trends in Vulnerability Classes across CVSS Metrics

Rising vulnerability statistics demands multidimensional trend analysis for efficient threat mitigation. Understanding trends aids in early detection of problems and also in planning defense mechanisms. In this regard, this paper presents finegrained trend analysis on classified vulnerability data provided by NVD, across six CVSS base metrics. Such analysis of vulnerability data according to their type, CIA impact, access vector and access complexity helpful in identifying most critical class of vulnerability relative to system environment and improve risk mitigation process.
Effectiveness of pay incentives under variable ratio and continuous reinforcement schedules.

The effectiveness of pay incentives under variable ratio and continuous reinforcement schedules was investigated in a simulated job situation. Fifteen 5s worked under three-pay incentive conditions, and production for the three groups was compared in order to test hypotheses derived from instrumentality theory and the operant conditioning literature. The results failed to support instrumentality theory. Pay incentives were more effective in motivating increased production when used with a variable ratio schedule than when used with a continuous reinforcement schedule.
The Coconut Model with Heterogeneous Strategies and Learning

In this paper, we develop an agent-based version of the Diamond search equilibrium model - also called Coconut Model. In this model, agents are faced with production decisions that have to be evaluated based on their expectations about the future utility of the produced entity which in turn depends on the global production level via a trading mechanism. While the original dynamical systems formulation assumes an infinite number of homogeneously adapting agents obeying strong rationality conditions, the agent-based setting allows to discuss the effects of heterogeneous and adaptive expectations and enables the analysis of non-equilibrium trajectories. Starting from a baseline implementation that matches the asymptotic behavior of the original model, we show how agent heterogeneity can be accounted for in the aggregate dynamical equations. We then show that when agents adapt their strategies by a simple temporal difference learning scheme, the system converges to one of the fixed points of the original system. Systematic simulations reveal that this is the only stable equilibrium solution.
Image-Guided Ablation of Malignant Liver Tumors: Recommendations for Clinical Validation of Novel Thermal and Non-Thermal Technologies - A Western Perspective

Background: Image-guided ablation is used to treat patients with unresectable malignant hepatic tumors that are limited in number and size, especially hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and colorectal hepatic metastases. While radiofrequency ablation (RFA) has been the most popular technique, several alternate options for focal tissue destruction have recently attracted attention. These technologies appear to be able to overcome some specific limitations of RFA. Currently, there is no accepted algorithm for the use of the different techniques for image-guided ablation. Summary: A panel of physicians practicing in North America or Europe met to develop a set of recommendations aimed at providing directions for clinical validation of energy-based, thermal and non-thermal image-guided ablation technologies in the treatment of malignant liver tumors. The recommendations were developed through a critical appraisal of potential advantages and disadvantages of each ablation technology, based on experimental findings and available data, as well as on critical considerations for their clinical validation in hepatic tumor treatment from a Western perspective. Key Messages: Significant variability appears to exist among the different equipment and devices within each type of technology. A comprehensive understanding of the data and a critical appraisal of the efficacy and safety profile of each ablation system is required. Clinical practice guidelines should include specific information of the recommended techniques and protocols instead of a generic indication of the technology.
Training Visual Imagery: Improvements of Metacognition, but not Imagery Strength

Visual imagery has been closely linked to brain mechanisms involved in perception. Can visual imagery, like visual perception, improve by means of training? Previous research has demonstrated that people can reliably evaluate the vividness of single episodes of imagination – might the metacognition of imagery also improve over the course of training? We had participants imagine colored Gabor patterns for an hour a day, over the course of five consecutive days, and again 2 weeks after training. Participants rated the subjective vividness and effort of their mental imagery on each trial. The influence of imagery on subsequent binocular rivalry dominance was taken as our measure of imagery strength. We found no overall effect of training on imagery strength. Training did, however, improve participant’s metacognition of imagery. Trial-by-trial ratings of vividness gained predictive power on subsequent rivalry dominance as a function of training. These data suggest that, while imagery strength might be immune to training in the current context, people’s metacognitive understanding of mental imagery can improve with practice.
Microarray Analysis of Gene Expression Profiles of Rat Small Intestine in Response to Heat Stress

Ambient temperature is a critical factor that affects biological organisms in many ways. In this study, the authors investigated gene expression changes in rat small intestine in response to heat stress. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into control and heat-stressed groups. Both groups were housed at 25 °C, although the heat-stressed group was also subjected to 40 °C for 2 h each day for 10 successive days. Rats were sacrificed 1, 3, 6, and 10 days after heat treatment, and sections of their small intestine epithelial tissue were excised for morphological examination and microarray analyses. The rat rectal and body surface temperatures and serum cortisol levels were all significantly increased after heat treatment (p < 0.05). The jejuna were significantly damaged by 3 days after heat treatment began. Microarray analysis showed that 422 genes were differentially expressed, of which 290 genes were significantly upregulated and 132 genes were significantly downregulated. Subsequent bioinformatics analyses revealed that the differentially expressed genes were mainly related to stress, immune regulation, and metabolism processes. The bioinformatics analysis of the differentially expressed genes should be beneficial to further investigations on the underlying mechanisms involved in heat stress–induced damage in the small intestine.
Confidence Intervals as an Alternative to Significance Testing

The article argues to replace null hypothesis significance testing by confidence intervals. Correctly interpreted, confidence intervals avoid the problems associated with null hypothesis statistical testing. Confidence intervals are formally valid, do not depend on apriori hypotheses and do not result in trivial knowledge. The first part presents critique of null hypothesis significance testing; the second part replies to critique against confidence intervals and tries to demonstrate their superiority to null hypothesis significance testing.
Mid-Upper Arm Circumference Based Nutrition Programming: Evidence for a New Approach in Regions with High Burden of Acute Malnutrition

Background In therapeutic feeding programs (TFP), mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) shows advantages over weight-for-height Z score (WHZ) and is recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) as an independent criterion for screening children 6–59 months old. Here we report outcomes and treatment response from a TFP using MUAC ≤118 mm or oedema as sole admission criteria for severe acute malnutrition (SAM). Methods Patient data from September 2007 to March 2009 for children admitted by MUAC ≤118 mm or oedema to a Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) TFP in Burkina Faso were retrospectively analyzed. Analysis included anthropometric measurements at admission and discharge, program outcomes and treatment response. Results Of 24,792 patient outcomes analyzed, nearly half (48.8%; n = 12,090) were admitted with MUAC 116–118 mm. Most patients (88.7%; n = 21,983) were 6–24 months old. At admission, 52.7% (n = 5,041) of those with MUAC 116–118 mm had a WHZ <−3 SD. At discharge, 89.1% (n = 22,094) recovered (15% weight gain or oedema resolution), 7.9% (n = 1,961) defaulted, 1.5% (n = 384) failed to respond to treatment, and 1.0% (n = 260) died. Average weight gain was 5.4 g/kg/day, and average MUAC gain was 0.42 mm/day. Patients with MUAC ≤114 mm at admission had higher average daily weight and MUAC gains at discharge compared to those admitted with MUAC 116–118 mm, but those in the latter category required longer lengths of stay to achieve recovery (P<0.001). Conclusion This analysis suggests that MUAC ≤118 mm as TFP admission criterion is a useful alternative to WHZ. Regarding treatment response, rates of weight and MUAC gain were acceptable. Applying 15% weight gain as discharge criterion resulted in longer lengths of stay for less malnourished children. Since MUAC gain parallels weight gain, it may be feasible to use MUAC as both an admission and discharge criterion.
Complexity of lung cancer modifiers: mapping of thirty genes and twenty-five interactions in half of the mouse genome.

BACKGROUND Numerous low-penetrance genes control susceptibility to cancer in experimental animals, but the overall genetic information on this group of genes (i.e., number of loci and their mutual interactions) is missing. We performed a systematic search, scanning roughly half of the mouse genome for lung cancer susceptibility (Sluc) genes affecting tumor size or number by using mouse recombinant congenic (RC) strains. In each RC strain (OcB), approximately 12.5% of the genome is derived from the lung cancer-resistant strain B10.O20, whereas the rest is derived from the lung cancer-susceptible strain O20. METHODS A total of 730 F2 hybrids from five (OcB x O20) crosses were tested. Pregnant mice were treated on day 18 of gestation with a single dose of N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea. When offspring were 16 weeks old, whole lungs were removed and sectioned semiserially, and the size of all lung tumors (n = 2658) was determined. Analysis of variance was used for detection of linkage, and models (including main effect and two-way interactions) were tested with a statistical program. RESULTS We detected a total of 30 Sluc loci (16 new plus 14 previously reported) and 25 two-way interactions. Some of these interactions are counteracting (e.g., Sluc17 and Sluc20), resulting in the partial or total masking of the individual independent effect (main effect) of each involved locus. Seven loci (Sluc1, Sluc5, Sluc12, Sluc16, Sluc18, Sluc20, and Sluc26) and two interactions (Sluc5 x Sluc12 and Sluc5 x Sluc26) were detected in more than one RC strain. CONCLUSIONS The extrapolation of our results to the whole genome suggests approximately 60 Sluc loci (90% confidence intervals = 42 to 78). Despite the genetic complexity of lung cancer, use of appropriate mapping strategies can identify a large number of responsible loci and can reveal their interactions. This study provides an insight into the genetic control of lung tumorigenesis and may serve as a paradigm for investigating the genetics of other cancer types.
A Lossless Watermarking Based Authentication System For Medical Images

(cid:3) Abstract — In this paper we investigate the watermarking authentication when applied to medical imagery field. We first give an overview of watermarking technology by paying attention to fragile watermarking since it is the usual scheme for authentication. We then analyze the requirements for image authentication and integrity in medical imagery, and we show finally that invertible schemes are the best suited for this particular field. A well known authentication method is studied. This technique is then adapted here for interleaving patient information and message authentication code with medical images in a reversible manner, that is using lossless compression. The resulting scheme enables on a side the exact recovery of the original image that can be unambiguously authenticated, and on the other side, the patient information to be saved or transmitted in a confidential way. To ensure greater security the patient information is encrypted before being embedded into images.
The views of lesbian, gay and bisexual youth regarding computerised self-help for depression: An exploratory study

Abstract Background: Lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) youth with depression are often isolated and face the double stigma of mental ill-health and being non-heterosexual. Computerised Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (cCBT) offers a means of providing these youth with evidence-based self-help that is confidential and can be accessed privately. We created a cCBT resource for youth generally and wished to explore what alterations, if any, might be needed to make it acceptable and relevant to LGB youth. Method: Three focus groups were conducted with LGB young people (56% female, aged 16–27 years) ftom two LGB youth organisations in New Zealand. We used the general inductive approach to: Explore the issues faced by LGB youth; and, their views about prototypes of a cCBT program (SPARK). Results: Participants reported a number of challengesftom living in a homophobic and gender-stereotyped world and they recommended that these be incorporated in a cCBT program addressing depression for LGB youth. Participants were mainly positive about the idea of cCBT and the prototypes of the program; however, they made suggestions to ensure that the program was relevant and appealing to them. Conclusion: Prototypes of a‘generic’ cCBT program did not address all the issues that LGB youth face. It proved feasible to adapt a cCBT program to take this feedback into account, and this led to the creation of Rainbow SPARK. The makers of e-therapy interventions should actively involve and respond to the views of consumers.
Molecular Evolution and Association of Natural Variation in ZmARF31 with Low Phosphorus Tolerance in Maize

Low-phosphorus (P) stress is one of the major factors constraining plant growth and yield. Improving plant tolerance to P starvation through molecular breeding is an efficient alternative to increase grain production. In the study, 331 diverse maize inbreds were used to detect nucleotide diversity and favorable alleles of ZmARF31, which plays a key role in low P responses and root architecture regulation. Significant phenotypic variation was found in each of 11 tested traits under both P and no-P treatments, and 30 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and 14 insertion–deletions (InDels) were detected in ZmARF31 among the 331 maize inbreds. The 5′-untranslated region (UTR) of ZmARF31 showed a small linkage disequilibrium (LD) block under significant purifying selection, whereas the 3′-UTR showed the most abundant diversity and a larger LD block. Thirty, fourteen, and nine natural variations were identified in ZmARF31 that were associated with P-deficiency-tolerance traits (P ≤ 0.01) by using the general linear model (GLM), GLM incorporated with population structure, and mixed linear model, respectively. Four SNPs were significantly associated with the total dry weight (TDW) in the three models, of which SNPs S410 and S462 were located in a complete LD block. A further verification conducted in a recombinant inbred line population revealed that favorable allele G/G of non-synonymous mutation S410 and favorable allele with a 38 bp insertion of InDel S1442 exhibited positive genetic effects on the TDW and total root tips, respectively. Expression analysis further confirmed that ZmARF31 was highly expressed in the roots of low-P-tolerant inbred 178. The protein encoded by ZmARF31 was located both in the nucleus and cytoplasm. Haplotypes carrying more favorable alleles showed a greater effect on phenotypic variation than single loci. Such haplotypes should be helpful to develop valuable genetic markers and perform maize molecular breeding.
A Study of a Network Meeting: Exploring the Interplay between Inner and Outer Dialogues in Significant and Meaningful Moments

The present study is part of a series of qualitative studies focusing on dialogic practice in southern Norway. In this article, we present a qualitative study of a network meeting focusing on the interplay between the participants' inner and outer dialogues. The network meeting is between an adolescent boy, his mother and two network therapists, the same adolescent case discussed previously in this journal by Boe et al. (2013). The aim of this study is to explore how the interplay between inner and outer dialogues contributes to significant and meaningful moments for the interlocutors. A multiperspective methodology is used that combines video recordings of a network meeting and participant interviews with text analysis. Our research found the interplay has an important role in understanding the emergence of significant and meaningful moments in therapy. A one-sided focus on participants' utterances or inner dialogues was insufficient to explain their significance and meaning to the interlocutors. A dialogical approach provides a theoretical frame and concepts that are useful in investigations of therapeutic conversations.
Genetic Diversity in the G Protein Gene of Human Respiratory Syncytial Virus among Iranian Children with Acute Respiratory Symptoms

Objective Acute respiratory infection (ARI) is the major cause of morbidity and mortality in children worldwide. Human respiratory syncytial virus (HRSV) is main viral agent of ARI in infants and young children in terms of effect and prevalence. The aim of this study was to investigate HRSV genotypes during one season in Iran. Methods In this cross-sectional study, 107 throat swabs were collected from children less than 5 years of age with acute respiratory infection from October to December 2009. The respiratory samples were obtained from several provinces: Tehran, Isfahan, Hamadan, Zanjan, Kordestan, Lorestan and West Azarbayjan, and were tested for G protein gene of HRSV by RT-PCR. Findings Of the 107 respiratory samples, 24 (22.42%) were positive for HRSV, of which 16 (66.6%) belonged to subgroup A and 8 (33.4%) to subgroup B. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that subgroup A strains fell in two genotypes GA1 and GA2, whereas subgroup B strains clustered in genotype BA. Conclusion This study revealed that multiple genotypes of HRSV cocirculated during the season 2009 in Iran. Also subgroup A strains were more prevalent than subgroup B strains, and genotype GA1 was predominant during the season.
Psychological stress and muscle activity during data entry at visual display units

Abstract The aim of this study was to evaluate whether psychological stress causes increased muscle activity, especially static muscle activity, in the trapezius muscles of the neck and shoulder. A pilot and a main study were carried out with 10 males and 20 females, respectively. The subjects performed a VDU data entry task under psychologically stressful and non-stressful conditions. Stress reactions were measured by different methods: heart rate and heart rate variability, hormonal excretion, and subjective ratings of mood and body symptoms. The stress condition caused an increase in heart rate. The low-frequency variability increased and the high-frequency variability decreased. Ratings of motivation and relaxation decreased, and subjects felt more activated. Pain and discomfort from the stomach increased. Adrenaline and noradrenaline in urine were unaffected. The majority of the subjects showed moderately increased static and median EMG levels during the stress condition. The interindividual variatio.