Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Evolution of Vocabulary Learning Strategies in a Computer-Mediated Reading Environment

Numerous studies have indicated that the provision of appropriate computer-mediated support to second language (L2) learners results in different vocabulary learning outcomes. However, there is no study available that investigates the transition in their way of learning vocabulary under the influence of technology-based support. This article presents a comparative study that examines the differences between L2 learners’ use of vocabulary strategies with or without such support. Twenty-four ESL students in a Toronto high school were involved. A language learning system was implemented to facilitate a technology-enhanced reading environment. Observations and tape-recorded field notes contribute to the data collection. The results showed that (a) a variety of strategies were employed across cognitive, compensatory, metacognitive and social categories when students learned vocabulary through sustained reading within the computer-mediated environment and that (b) significant variations in the techniques and functionalities of strategies were found between the two reading conditions. Situated within the vocabulary learning strategy framework, the article argues that the technology-enhanced scaffoldings can effectively assist students to advance their learning strategies, potentially optimizing their reading-based vocabulary acquisition.
Scalable Maintenance for Strong Web Consistency in Dynamic Content Delivery Overlays

Content Delivery Overlays improves end-user performance by replicating Web contents on a group of geographically distributed sites interconnected over the Internet. However, with the development whereby overlay systems can manage dynamically changing files, an important issue to be resolved is consistency management, which means the cached replicas on different sites must be updated if the originals change. In this paper, based on the analytical formulation of object freshness, Web access distribution and network topology, we derive a novel algorithm as follows: (1) For a given content which has been changed on its original server, only a limited number of its replicas instead of all replicas are updated. (2) After a replica has been selected for update, the latest version will be sent from an algorithm-decided site instead of from its original server. Simulation results verify that the proposed algorithm provides much better consistency management than conventional methods with the reduced the old hit ratio and network traffic.
A dead variable analysis for explicit model checking

Explicit state enumeration model checking for software is a kind of formal verification in which the reachable states of a software artifact are generated using an exhaustive search algorithm. The limiting factor in explicit software model checking is the size of the hash table of visited states used to avoid duplicate work and detect termination. The size of the hash table can be reduced by identifying and ignoring dead variables. We present a new kind of dead variable analysis that combines the usual static dead variable analysis with a specialized data flow analysis and an incomplete forward simulation to identify dead variables based on variable valuations at run time. The analysis is implemented in an explicit model checker for machine code programs on embedded processors. The analysis is most effective for code segments with pointers and nested conditional expressions in which disjoint sets of variables are used in each branch. Results for an ideal synthetic program are quite encouraging while results for three non-synthetic programs are more modest. The results suggest that the run-time portion of the analysis should only be performed on code segments which contain pointer dereferences and nested branches. Segments with these properties can be identified statically. The results also suggest that the analysis will result in a larger reduction using a specialized hash table.
Discovering latent semantic factors for emotional picture categorization

How to teach computer to classify pictures into different emotional categories automatically as humans? It is a quite interesting and challenging research direction. This paper defines the latent emotional semantic factors and proposes a novel approach for emotional picture categorization. Unlike traditional methods, the latent emotional semantic factor is defined for representing the middle level semantic concept, and it can effectively bridge the “semantic gap”. In the experiments made on the International Affective Picture System (IAPS) [1–4], the proposed approach for emotional picture categorization distinctly outperforms the latest method.
Space Velocities of Southern Globular Clusters. IV. First Results for Inner Galaxy Clusters

We have measured the absolute proper motions of four low-latitude, inner Galaxy globular clusters. These clusters are NGC 6266 (M62), NGC 6304, NGC 6316, and NGC 6723. The proper motions are on the Hipparcos system, since no background extragalactic objects are found in these high-extinction regions. The proper-motion uncertainties range between 0.3 and 0.6 mas yr-1. We discuss the kinematics of these clusters and of three additional bulge clusters—NGC 6522, NGC 6528, and NGC 6553—whose proper motions with respect to bulge stars had been determined previously. We find that all of the clusters have velocities that confine them to the bulge region. Of the three metal-poor clusters ([Fe/H] < -1.0), NGC 6522, and NGC 6723 have kinematics consistent with halo membership. The third cluster, NGC 6266 however, appears to belong to a rotationally supported system. Of the four metal-rich clusters ([Fe/H] ≥ -1.0), NGC 6304 and NGC 6553 also have kinematics consistent with membership to a rotationally supported system. NGC 6528 has kinematics, metallicity, and mass that argue in favor of a genuine Milky Way bar cluster. NGC 6316's kinematics indicate membership to a hotter system than the bar.
EVALUATION OF ASSOCIATED LEGENDRE FUNCTIONS OFF THE CUT AND PARABOLIC CYLINDER FUNCTIONS

We review a set of algorithms to evaluate associated Legendre functions off the cut; in particular, we consider prolate spheroidal, oblate spheroidal and toroidal harmonics. A similar scheme can be applied to other fam- ilies of special functions like Bessel and parabolic cylinder functions; we will describe the corresponding algorithm for the evaluation of parabolic cylinder functions.
Evaluation of a Methadone Protocol for Severe Chronic Pain Management in Thai Patients: A Prospective Study

Background: Methadone is a synthetic opioid that is clinically effective in chronic pain management. However, the use of methadone is very limited in Thailand because physicians are not familiar with its dosing and are concerned about risks relating to drug accumulation and cardiac arrhythmias. Objective: The purpose of this study was to develop and implement a methadone protocol for patients with severe chronic pain in order to assure efficacy and safety of methadone. Methods: The protocol was developed based on published clinical studies and guidelines. The validated protocol was implemented in 34 patients at the Pain Clinic, Siriraj Hospital, Bangkok, Thailand. During the study period, pain score, pain interference score, neuropathic pain score, severity of adverse effects, and QTc intervals were investigated over a 3 month period. Results: The results obtained from 21 patients that completed the study showed a significant reduction in median pain intensity (p < 0.001) and other chronic pain interferences based on BPI-T (p < 0.001), excepted for the emotional score (p < 0.004) using methadone doses ranging from 2-30 mg daily. Neuropathic pain was also significantly reduced (p < 0.001). Common adverse effects were drowsiness (55.88%), constipation (35.29%), and nausea and/or vomiting (11.76%). Regarding ECG monitoring, seven patients without QTc prolongation at baseline developed QTc prolongation after methadone initiation. However, QTc interval greater than 500 msec or presentation of Torsades de Pointes were not found. No significant change in the mean QTc interval was observed after initiating methadone (p=0.951). Conclusion: Administration of methadone according to the protocol described in this study was found to be effective and safe for severe chronic pain management. ECG monitoring and drug interaction screening in patient treatment plan is advised when prescribing methadone.
Penalized Probabilistic Clustering

Abstract While clustering is usually an unsupervised operation, there are circumstances in which we believe (with varying degrees of certainty) that items A and B should be assigned to the same cluster, while items A and C should not. We would like such pairwise relations to influence cluster assignments of out-of-sample data in a manner consistent with the prior knowledge expressed in the training set. Our starting point is probabilistic clustering based on gaussian mixture models (GMM) of the data distribution. We express clustering preferences in a prior distribution over assignments of data points to clusters. This prior penalizes cluster assignments according to the degree with which they violate the preferences. The model parameters are fit with the expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm. Our model provides a flexible framework that encompasses several other semisupervised clustering models as its special cases. Experiments on artificial and real-world problems show that our model can consistently improve clustering results when pairwise relations are incorporated. The experiments also demonstrate the superiority of our model to other semisupervised clustering methods on handling noisy pairwise relations.
RNA-Seq Profiling Reveals Novel Hepatic Gene Expression Pattern in Aflatoxin B1 Treated Rats

Deep sequencing was used to investigate the subchronic effects of 1 ppm aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), a potent hepatocarcinogen, on the male rat liver transcriptome prior to onset of histopathological lesions or tumors. We hypothesized RNA-Seq would reveal more differentially expressed genes (DEG) than microarray analysis, including low copy and novel transcripts related to AFB1’s carcinogenic activity compared to feed controls (CTRL). Paired-end reads were mapped to the rat genome (Rn4) with TopHat and further analyzed by DESeq and Cufflinks-Cuffdiff pipelines to identify differentially expressed transcripts, new exons and unannotated transcripts. PCA and cluster analysis of DEGs showed clear separation between AFB1 and CTRL treatments and concordance among group replicates. qPCR of eight high and medium DEGs and three low DEGs showed good comparability among RNA-Seq and microarray transcripts. DESeq analysis identified 1,026 differentially expressed transcripts at greater than two-fold change (p<0.005) compared to 626 transcripts by microarray due to base pair resolution of transcripts by RNA-Seq, probe placement within transcripts or an absence of probes to detect novel transcripts, splice variants and exons. Pathway analysis among DEGs revealed signaling of Ahr, Nrf2, GSH, xenobiotic, cell cycle, extracellular matrix, and cell differentiation networks consistent with pathways leading to AFB1 carcinogenesis, including almost 200 upregulated transcripts controlled by E2f1-related pathways related to kinetochore structure, mitotic spindle assembly and tissue remodeling. We report 49 novel, differentially-expressed transcripts including confirmation by PCR-cloning of two unique, unannotated, hepatic AFB1-responsive transcripts (HAfT’s) on chromosomes 1.q55 and 15.q11, overexpressed by 10 to 25-fold. Several potentially novel exons were found and exon refinements were made including AFB1 exon-specific induction of homologous family members, Ugt1a6 and Ugt1a7c. We find the rat transcriptome contains many previously unidentified, AFB1-responsive exons and transcripts supporting RNA-Seq’s capabilities to provide new insights into AFB1-mediated gene expression leading to hepatocellular carcinoma.
A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials of Low-Volume Polyethylene Glycol plus Ascorbic Acid versus Standard-Volume Polyethylene Glycol Solution as Bowel Preparations for Colonoscopy

Background Standard-volume polyethylene glycol (PEG) gut lavage solutions are safe and effective, but they require the consumption of large volumes of fluid. A new lower-volume solution of PEG plus ascorbic acid has been used recently as a preparation for colonoscopy. Aim A meta-analysis was performed to compare the performance of low-volume PEG plus ascorbic acid with standard-volume PEG as bowel preparation for colonoscopy. Study Electronic and manual searches were performed to identify randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that compared the performance of low-volume PEG plus ascorbic acid with standard-volume PEG as bowel preparation for colonoscopy. After a methodological quality assessment and data extraction, the pooled estimates of bowel preparation efficacy during bowel cleansing, compliance with preparation, willingness to repeat the same preparation, and the side effects were calculated. We calculated pooled estimates of odds ratios (OR) by fixed- and/or random-effects models. We also assessed heterogeneity among studies and the publication bias. Results Eleven RCTs were identified for analysis. The pooled OR for preparation efficacy during bowel cleansing and for compliance with preparation for low-volume PEG plus ascorbic acid were 1.08 (95% CI = 0.98–1.28, P = 0.34) and 2.23 (95% CI = 1.67–2.98, P<0.00001), respectively, compared with those for standard-volume PEG. The side effects of vomiting and nausea for low-volume PEG plus ascorbic acid were reduced relative to standard-volume PEG. There was no significant publication bias, according to a funnel plot. Conclusions Low-volume PEG plus ascorbic acid gut lavage achieved non-inferior efficacy for bowel cleansing, is more acceptable to patients, and has fewer side effects than standard-volume PEG as a bowel preparation method for colonoscopy.
Massive (?) starburst hosts of blue compact galaxies (BCGs) - Optical/near-IR observations of 4 BCGs and their companions

We present optical spectroscopy and deep optical/near-IR photometry of 4 luminous metal-poor blue compact galax- ies (BCGs) and two of their companions. With the aid of spectral evolutionary models (SEMs) and structural parameters derived from the surface photometry we discuss the properties of the central starbursts and the halo populations of the galaxies. Special attention is paid to the eects of dust, chemical inhomogeneities and contamination of nebular emission to the halo light. The optical/near-IR colour index profiles show a sharp distinction between the starburst and the host. The hosts have luminosity profiles characteristic of massive ellipticals and remarkably red colours, typical of a relatively metal-rich stellar population of old age. These properties are in conflict with the relatively low luminosities. The situation can best be explained if the hosts have an unusually large amount of dark matter that can hinder the outflow of metals from the system.The indicated dierence in metallicity between the halo and the young starburst disproves the recurrent burst scenario and supports dierent origins of the two populations. We conclude that these BCGs are undergoing mergers between early type galaxies/thick disks and gas-rich galaxies or intergalactic HI clouds, in many respects reminiscent of a retarded formation of massive ellipticals.
Localization of a Site of Action for Benzofuroindole-Induced Potentiation of BKCa Channels

As previously reported, the activity of the large-conductance calcium (Ca2+)-activated potassium (K+) (BKCa) channel is strongly potentiated from the extracellular side of the cell membrane by certain benzofuroindole derivatives. Here, the mechanism of action of one of the most potent activators, 4-chloro-7-(trifluoromethyl)-10H-benzofuro[3,2-b]indole-1-carboxylic acid (CTBIC), is characterized. This compound, Compound 22 in the previous report (Chembiochem 6:1745–1748, 2005), potentiated the activity of the channel by shifting its conductance-voltage relationship toward the more negative direction. Cotreatment with CTBIC reduced the affinity of charybdotoxin, a peptide pore-blocker, whereas that of tetraethylammonium, a small pore-blocking quaternary ammonium, was not significantly altered. Guided by these results, scanning mutagenesis of the outer vestibule of the BKCa channel was launched to uncover the molecular determinants that affect CTBIC binding. Alanine substitution of several amino acid residues in the turret region and the S6 helix of the channel decreased potentiation by CTBIC. Homology modeling and molecular dynamics simulation showed that some of these residues formed a CTBIC binding pocket between two adjacent α-subunits in the outer vestibule of the channel. Thus, it can be envisioned that benzofuroindole derivatives stabilize the open conformation of the channel by binding to the residues clustered across the extracellular part of the subunit interface. The present results indicate that the interface between different α-subunits of the BKCa channel may play a critical role in the modulation of channel activity. Therefore, this interface represents a potential therapeutic target site for the regulation of K+ channels.
Communication-Efficient Parallel Belief Propagation for Latent Dirichlet Allocation

This paper presents a novel communication-efficient parallel belief propagation (CE-PBP) algorithm for training latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA). Based on the synchronous belief propagation (BP) algorithm, we first develop a parallel belief propagation (PBP) algorithm on the parallel architecture. Because the extensive communication delay often causes a low efficiency of parallel topic modeling, we further use Zipf's law to reduce the total communication cost in PBP. Extensive experiments on different data sets demonstrate that CE-PBP achieves a higher topic modeling accuracy and reduces more than 80% communication cost than the state-of-the-art parallel Gibbs sampling (PGS) algorithm.
Neutron-Antineutron Oscillations in Nuclei Revisited

An upper limit on $n-\bar n$ oscillations can be obtained from the stability of matter. This relation has been worked out theoretically and together with data yields $\tau_{n\bar n} > (1 - 2)\times 10^8 sec$. A recent publication claims a different relation and finds a nuclear suppression of the $n\to\bar n$ oscillations which is two orders of magnitude weaker than the previous evaluations. Using the same approach we find, nevertheless, that the earlier estimates are correct and conclude that future experiments with free neutrons from reactors are capable to put a stronger limit on the $n - \bar n$ oscillation time than experiments with large amount of neutrons bound in nuclei.
T1-Weighted Hypersignal in the Deep Cerebellar Nuclei After Repeated Administrations of Gadolinium-Based Contrast Agents in Healthy Rats

ObjectivesTo prospectively compare in healthy rats the effect of multiple injections of macrocyclic (gadoterate meglumine) and linear (gadodiamide) gadolinium-based contrast agents (GBCAs) on T1-weighted signal intensity in the deep cerebellar nuclei (DCN), including the dentate nucleus. Materials and MethodsHealthy rats (n = 7/group) received 20 intravenous injections of 0.6 mmol of gadolinium (Gd) per kilogram (4 injections per week during 5 weeks) of gadodiamide, gadoterate meglumine, or hyperosmolar saline (control group). Brain T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging was performed before and once a week during the 5 weeks of injections and during 5 additional weeks (treatment-free period). Gadolinium concentrations were measured with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry in plasma and brain. Blinded qualitative and quantitative evaluations of the T1 signal intensity in DCN were performed, as well as a statistical analysis on quantitative data. ResultsA significant and persistent T1 signal hyperintensity in DCN was observed only in gadodiamide-treated rats. The DCN-to-cerebellar cortex signal ratio was significantly increased from the 12th injection of gadodiamide (1.070 ± 0.024) compared to the gadoterate meglumine group (1.000 ± 0.033; P < 0.001) and control group (1.019 ± 0.022; P < 0.001) and did not significantly decrease during the treatment-free period. Total Gd concentrations in the gadodiamide group were significantly higher in the cerebellum (3.66 ± 0.91 nmol/g) compared with the gadoterate meglumine (0.26 ± 0.12 nmol/g; P < 0.05) and control (0.06 ± 0.10 nmol/g; P < 0.05) groups. ConclusionsRepeated administrations of the linear GBCA gadodiamide to healthy rats are associated with progressive and persistent T1 signal hyperintensity in the DCN, with Gd deposition in the cerebellum in contrast with the macrocyclic GBCA gadoterate meglumine for which no effect was observed.
Defense Technical Information Center Compilation Part Notice ADP 014175 TITLE : A Numerical Study of Breaking Waves DISTRIBUTION : Approved for public release , distribution unlimited

La reduction des couts et des delais d'acquisition des vehicules militaires par la modelisation avancee et a simulation de produit virtuel] To order the complete compilation report, use: ADA415759 The component part is provided here to allow users access to individually authored sections of proceedings, annals, symposia, etc. However, the component should be considered within-he context of the overall compilation report and not as a stand-alone technical report.
MULTISTEP LEAD TIME FORECASTING OF HYDROLOGIC TIME SERIES USING DAUBECHIES WAVELET â€“ NEURAL NETWORK HYBRID MODEL

Accurate modeling of runoff is useful in urban and environmental planning, flood and water resources management. In this research, a hybrid model has been developed for Brahmaputra River flow forecasting based on wavelet and artificial neural network (ANN) methods. In this current study, discrete wavelet transform was linked to ANN naming Wavelet Artificial Neural Network (WANN) for flow forecasting. Ten year daily flow data from January 1990 to December 1999 of Pandu station on Brahmaputra River, which carries heavy flood in monsoon season in the North-East region of India, were used in the study. The observed flow data were decomposed (up to 7 level) to multiresolution time series via discrete wavelet transform using Daubechies wavelets of order 4 (db4) and 5 (db5). Then multiresolution time series data were fed as input to ANN to get the forecasted discharge values for lead times 2 day, 3 day, and 4 day. The root mean square error (RMSE), mean absolute error (MAE), mean relative error (MRE), BIAS, and scatter index (SI) were adopted to evaluate models performance. It was found that for almost all lead times WANN model has given better and consistent results compared to conventional ANN model. It was mainly because of multiresolution time series used as inputs. Also it was found that, in comparison with WANN model with db4 mother wavelet, db5 mother wavelet has given slightly better results for all lead times. Also, the effect of decomposition level on WANN models efficiency was studied.