Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Hidden Bilingualism: Ideological Influences on the Language Practices of Multilingual Migrant Mothers in Japan

ABSTRACT This study examines the challenges of minority language transmission in exogamous families in a society where linguistic and cultural homogeneity still prevails. Specifically, it investigates the macro and micro ideological influences that lead multilingual migrant mothers in Japan to speak Japanese to their children. Interview data with six Thai mothers revealed that political influences made them emphasize the learning of Japanese. Economic factors led to the mothers’ valorization of Japanese, and even English, and lackadaisical efforts toward developing their children’s Thai. Sociocultural influences contributed to their practice of speaking Japanese to their children in front of Japanese speakers. The mothers’ childrearing experiences also affected their language practices. Their perception that Thai exposure delayed their older children’s Japanese development led them to use more Japanese to their younger children. The mothers’ limited use of Thai led to a lack of comprehension and low production of Thai by their children.
Sorafenib inhibits signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 signaling associated with growth arrest and apoptosis of medulloblastomas

Medulloblastomas are the most frequent malignant brain tumors in children. Sorafenib (Nexavar, BAY43-9006), a multikinase inhibitor, blocks cell proliferation and induces apoptosis in a variety of tumor cells. Sorafenib inhibited proliferation and induced apoptosis in two established cell lines (Daoy and D283) and a primary culture (VC312) of human medulloblastomas. In addition, sorafenib inhibited phosphorylation of signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) in both cell lines and primary tumor cells. The inhibition of phosphorylated STAT3 (Tyr705) occurs in a dose- and time-dependent manner. In contrast, AKT (protein kinase B) was only decreased in D283 and VC312 medulloblastoma cells and mitogen-activated protein kinases (extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2) were not inhibited by sorafenib in these cells. Both D-type cyclins (D1, D2, and D3) and E-type cyclin were down-regulated by sorafenib. Also, expression of the antiapoptotic protein Mcl-1, a member of the Bcl-2 family, was decreased and correlated with apoptosis induced by sorafenib. Finally, sorafenib suppressed the growth of human medulloblastoma cells in a mouse xenograft model. Together, our data show that sorafenib blocks STAT3 signaling as well as expression of cell cycle and apoptosis regulatory proteins, associated with inhibition of cell proliferation and induction of apoptosis in medulloblastomas. These findings provide a rationale for treatment of pediatric medulloblastomas with sorafenib. [Mol Cancer Ther 2008;7(11):3519–26]
An Experimental Evaluation of Boosting Methods for Classification

Summary Objectives: In clinical medicine, the accuracy achieved by classification rules is often not sufficient to justify their use in daily practice. In order to improve classifiers it has become popular to combine single classification rules into a classification ensemble. Two popular boosting methods will be compared with classical statistical approaches. Methods: Using data from a clinical study on the diagnosis of breast tumors and by simulation we will compare AdaBoost with gradient boosting ensembles of regression trees. We will also consider a tree approach and logistic regression as traditional competitors. In logistic regression we allow to select nonlinear effects by the fractional polynomial approach. Performance of the classifiers will be assessed by estimated misclassification rates and the Brier score. Results: We will show that boosting of simple base classifiers gives classification rules with improved predictive ability. However, the performance of boosting classifiers was not generally superior to the performance of logistic regression. In contrast to the computer-intensive methods the latter are based on classifiers which are much easier to interpret and to use. Conclusions: In medical applications, the logistic regression model remains a method of choice or, at least, a serious competitor of more sophisticated techniques. Refinement of boosting methods by using optimized number of boosting steps may lead to further improvement.
Evolution et pronostic des troubles psychotiques aigus (bouffée délirante polymorphe)

Peu satisfaits de la classification du DSM IV, en ce qui concerne les troubles psychotiques brefs et les troubles schizophreniformes, du fait d'une delimitation purement temporelle des troubles psychotiques aigus avec l'ineluctable diagnostic de schizophrenie, nous avons tente d'utiliser toutes les possibilites offertes par l'ensemble flou que peut constituer la notion de bouffee delirante polymorphe de Magnan (BDP). Le trava est fonde sur l'utilisation pratique de ce diagnostic dans un service d'accueil des patients adresses aux urgences d'un hopital general pour une pathologie psychiatrique aigue. En 18 mois, sur 331 hospitalisations, 91 entrees pouvaient correspondre au diagnostic de BDP pour une mediane des âges a 29 ans et une mediane de duree de sejour de 10 jours. Le diagnostic initial ne peut etre qu'approximatif et ne pourra se preciser qu'avec la poursuite du sejour dans le service et des necessites de la prise en charge therapeutique, la semiologie exacte de la BDP, les renseignements obtenus sur la periode prealable, une meilleure connaissance des episodes psychiatriques anterieurs. Mais aussi celle des circonstances declenchantes immediates: deficit intellectuel, absorption de toxiques, evenement psychologiquement traumatisant. L'evolution ulterieure met en evidence par ordre de frequence: des episodes psychotiques aigus s'integrant dans le cadre d'une schizophrenie; des episodes delirants maniaques; des episodes paranoiaques aigus; des episodes delirants depressifs. Enfin, il existe bien des episodes psychotiques aigus ayant la signification des BDP proprement dites et qui peuvent s'averer isoles ou eventuellement repetitifs et de duree effectivement assez breve, en partie du fait de la mise en place de la chimiotherapie, mais aussi parle fait d'un pronostic intrinseque favorable. Ces cas figurent habituellement dans la litterature sous la rubrique des psychoses reactionnelles, et doivent etre separes a notre sens de la schizophrenie.
The acute effect of orlistat on endothelial function in young obese women.

Recent studies indicate that abdominal fat accumulation is related to impaired endothelial function in young healthy volunteers. The aim of this study was to determine the acute effect of gastrointestinal lipase inhibitor on brachial flow-mediated vasodilatation and hemodynamic parameters in young obese women. The study population was composed of 42 female obese patients (mean age 29 +/- 4 years, age range between 18 and 34 years). Flow-mediated endothelial-dependent vasodilatation was assessed in the brachial artery in response to reactive hyperemia using high-resolution ultrasound. Brachial artery diameter (3.46 +/- 0.72 mm to 3.82 +/- 0.84 mm) and flow-mediated vasodilation (7.6 +/- 0.8% to 9.8 +/- 1.6%) changed significantly after 12 weeks of therapy (p < 0.001). Brachial artery flow was not changed (124 +/- 92 ml/min to 148 +/- 14 ml/min, p > 0.05). The results of this study demonstrate that orlistat improved endothelial function, weight, body mass index and systolic and diastolic blood pressure in young women.
The MIT Emissions Prediction and Policy Analysis ( EPPA ) Model : Version 4

The Emissions Prediction and Policy Analysis (EPPA) model is the part of the MIT Integrated Global Systems Model (IGSM) that represents the human systems. EPPA is a recursive-dynamic multi-regional general equilibrium model of the world economy, which is built on the GTAP dataset and additional data for the greenhouse gas and urban gas emissions. It is designed to develop projections of economic growth and anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse related gases and aerosols. The main purpose of this report is to provide documentation of a new version of EPPA, EPPA version 4. In comparison with EPPA3, it includes greater regional and sectoral detail, a wider range of advanced energy supply technologies, improved capability to represent a variety of different and more realistic climate policies, and enhanced treatment of physical stocks and flows of energy, emissions, and land use to facilitate linkage with the earth system components of the IGSM. Reconsideration of important parameters and assumptions led to some revisions in reference projections of GDP and greenhouse gas emissions. In EPPA4 the global economy grows by 12.5 times from 2000 to 2100 (2.5%/yr) compared with an increase of 10.7 times (2.4%/yr) in EPPA3. This is one of the important revisions that led to an increase in CO2 emissions to 25.7 GtC in 2100, up from 23 GtC in 2100 projected by EPPA3. There is considerable uncertainty in such projections because of uncertainty in various driving forces. To illustrate this uncertainty we consider scenarios where the global GDP grows 0.5% faster (slower) than the reference rate, and these scenarios result in CO2 emissions in 2100 of 34 (17) GtC. A sample greenhouse gas policy scenario that puts the world economy on a path toward stabilization of atmospheric CO2 at 550 ppmv is also simulated to illustrate the response of EPPA4 to a policy constraint.
Reducts of finitely bounded homogeneous structures, and lifting tractability from finite-domain constraint satisfaction

Many natural decision problems can be formulated as constraint satisfaction problems for reducts of finitely bounded homogeneous structures. This class of problems is a large generalisation of the class of CSPs over finite domains. Our first result is a general polynomial-time reduction from such infinite-domain CSPs to finite-domain CSPs. We use this reduction to obtain new powerful polynomial-time tractability conditions that can be expressed in terms of topological polymorphism clones. Moreover, we study the subclass $\mathcal{C}$ of CSPs for structures that are first-order definable over equality with parameters. Also this class $\mathcal{C}$ properly extends the class of all finite-domain CSPs. We show that the tractability conjecture for reducts of finitely bounded homogeneous structures is for $\mathcal{C}$ equivalent to the finite-domain tractability conjecture.
Dynamics of warped compactifications and the shape of the warped landscape

The dynamics of warped/flux compactifications is studied, including warping effects, providing a firmer footing for investigation of the ``landscape. '' We present a general formula for the four-dimensional potential of warped compactifications in terms of ten-dimensional quantities. This allows a systematic investigation of moduli-fixing effects and potentials for mobile branes. We provide a necessary criterion, ``slope dominance,'' for evading ``no-go'' results for de Sitter vacua. We outline the ten-dimensional derivation of the nonperturbative effects that should accomplish this in examples of Kachru, Kallosh, Linde and Trivedi and outline a systematic discussion of their corrections. We show that potentials for mobile branes receive generic contributions inhibiting slow-roll inflation. We give a linearized analysis of general scalar perturbations of warped IIB compactifications, revealing new features for both time-independent and dependent moduli, and new aspects of the kinetic part of the four-dimensional effective action. The universal Kahler modulus is found not to be a simple scaling of the internal metric, and a prescription is given for defining holomorphic Kahler moduli, including warping effects. In the presence of mobile branes, this prescription elucidates couplings between bulk and brane fields. Our results are thus relevant to investigations of the existence of de Sitter vacua in string theory, and of their phenomenology, cosmology, and statistics.
Developing the communities of practice, framework for online learning

Doctoral research considered whether healthcare students were able to develop characteristics of Communities of Practice when engaged in an interprofessional online module. Using a case study approach the research included two phases. Within phase one a questionnaire was administered to the group of 109 healthcare students. These were analysed to gain information on which to base sampling for the subsequent phase. Phase two employed three strands of data collection; five students completed an online diary, the online interaction of seven students was captured on a discussion board and three students were interviewed. Data were analysed using a form of pattern matching. The results suggested students were able to develop the essential elements of Communities of Practice. This was not uniformly seen however, and particular issues emerged for the online community. This paper focuses on discussing the contribution of the research to the development of the Communities of Practice framework for online learning. The discussion will review the main findings of the research, showing how these have led to the development of the theory. It offers an augmented framework, in which the elements of mutual engagement, joint enterprise and shared repertoire are enhanced to include those facets necessary to support an online learning community. Finally, it is suggested that the augmented framework may have applicability to other professional groups engaging in online learning and working, with consideration given to how it might support e-based communities.
A Novel Technique for Curing Hot-Carrier-Induced Damage by Utilizing the Forward Current of the PN-Junction in a MOSFET

The hot-carrier-induced damage of a gate dielectric was cured with Joule heat generated by the forward current of the p-n junction between the body and drain, for the first time. The effective recovery voltage and pulse timewere optimized to cure the gate dielectricdamage produced by hot-carrier injection. Moreover, iterative damage and cyclic curing were experimentally demonstrated. Throughlow-frequency noise analyses, the degradationand recovery were verified by identifying trap density along the depth of the gate dielectric. Furthermore, this proposed method produced nearly the same recovery characteristics through source-to-body junction current in a short-channel device.
Childhood invasive pneumococcal disease: A hospital‐based study from Malaysia

Aim: New conjugate vaccine for Streptococcus pneumoniae has been introduced in Malaysia recently. Information on infection due to S. pneumoniae in Malaysian children is scarce. We conducted a retrospective chart review of childhood invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) presented to a single centre in Malaysia.
Aggregation operators and Fuzzy OWL 2

Fuzzy Description Logics (Fuzzy DLs) are logics that allow to deal with structured knowledge affected by fuzziness. Fuzzy DLs are at the heart of Fuzzy OWL 2, a fuzzy version of the standard ontology language OWL 2. Although a relatively important amount of work has been carried out in the last years, fuzzy DLs are open to be extended with several features worked out in other fields. In particular, the integration of aggregation operators (AOs) in fuzzy DLs has received little attention so far. In this work, we show how to support aggregation operators in fuzzy DLs. We provide syntax and semantics of a fuzzy DL extended with AOs, and provide a calculus for a family of AOs (weighted sum, OWA and quantifier-guided OWA). We also show how to encode them into our proposal for Fuzzy OWL 2.
Prediction of Atherosclerotic Plaque Development in an In Vivo Coronary Arterial Segment Based on a Multilevel Modeling Approach

<italic>Objective:</italic> The aim of this study is to explore major mechanisms of atherosclerotic plaque growth, presenting a proof-of-concept numerical model. <italic>Methods:</italic> To this aim, a human reconstructed left circumflex coronary artery is utilized for a multilevel modeling approach. More specifically, the first level consists of the modeling of blood flow and endothelial shear stress (ESS) computation. The second level includes the modeling of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and high-density lipoprotein and monocytes transport through the endothelial membrane to vessel wall. The third level comprises of the modeling of LDL oxidation, macrophages differentiation, and foam cells formation. All modeling levels integrate experimental findings to describe the major mechanisms that occur in the arterial physiology. In order to validate the proposed approach, we utilize a patient specific scenario by comparing the baseline computational results with the changes in arterial wall thickness, lumen diameter, and plaque components using follow-up data. <italic>Results:</italic> The results of this model show that ESS and LDL concentration have a good correlation with the changes in plaque area [<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX"> ${\rm{R}}^{2}\,= \,0.365$</tex-math></inline-formula> (<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$P\,= \,0.029$ </tex-math></inline-formula>, adjusted <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">${\rm{R}}^{2}\,= \,0.307$</tex-math> </inline-formula>) and <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">${\rm{R}}^{2}\,= \,0.368$</tex-math></inline-formula> (<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$P\,= \,0.015$</tex-math></inline-formula>, adjusted <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${\rm{R}}^{2}\,= \,0.342$</tex-math></inline-formula>), respectively], whereas the introduction of the variables of oxidized LDL, macrophages, and foam cells as independent predictors improves the accuracy in predicting regions potential for atherosclerotic plaque development [<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${\rm{R}}^{2}\,= \,0.847$</tex-math></inline-formula> (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$P\,= \,0.009$</tex-math></inline-formula>, adjusted <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${\rm{R}}^{2}\,= \,0.738$</tex-math></inline-formula>)]. <italic>Conclusion:</italic> Advanced computational models can be used to increase the accuracy to predict regions which are prone to plaque development. <italic>Significance:</italic> Atherosclerosis is one of leading causes of death worldwide. For this purpose computational models have to be implemented to predict disease progression.
Fatherhood and the risk of cardiovascular mortality in the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study.

BACKGROUND Fertility potential and reproductive fitness may reflect a man's future health, given that over one-third of the male human genome is involved in reproduction. We sought to determine if offspring number predicts cardiovascular death in the US men. METHODS Using data from the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study, 137,903 men (aged 50-71) without prior cardiovascular disease were followed-up for an average of 10.2 years. International Classification of Diseases, ninth edition, codes were used to establish the cause of death, and multivariable Cox proportional hazards modeling was used to estimate the association between offspring number and cardiovascular death while accounting for sociodemographic and lifestyle characteristics. RESULTS Almost all (92%) participants had fathered at least one child and 50% had three or more offspring. A total of 3082 men died of cardiovascular causes during follow-up for an age-adjusted incidence rate of 2.70 per 1000 person-years. Compared with fathers, after adjusting for sociodemographic and lifestyle factors, childless men had a 17% [hazard ratio (HR): 1.17; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.03-1.32] increased risk of death from cardiovascular disease contracted in the study period, and this elevated risk appeared to extend also to men with only one child. In comparison with fathers of five or more children, adjusted relative hazards for cardiovascular mortality of this sort were 1.06 (95% CI: 0.92-1.22) for four children, 1.02 (0.90-1.16) for three children, 1.02 (0.90-1.16) for two children, 1.11 (0.95-1.30) for one child and 1.21 (1.03-1.41) for no children. CONCLUSIONS Married men who have no children have a higher risk of dying from cardiovascular disease contracted after the age of 50 than men with two or more children.
High-Resolution Imaging Using a Wideband MIMO Radar System With Two Distributed Arrays

Imaging a fast maneuvering target has been an active research area in past decades. Usually, an array antenna with multiple elements is implemented to avoid the motion compensations involved in the inverse synthetic aperture radar (ISAR) imaging. Nevertheless, there is a price dilemma due to the high level of hardware complexity compared to complex algorithm implemented in the ISAR imaging system with only one antenna. In this paper, a wideband multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radar system with two distributed arrays is proposed to reduce the hardware complexity of the system. Furthermore, the system model, the equivalent array production method and the imaging procedure are presented. As compared with the classical real aperture radar (RAR) imaging system, there is a very important contribution in our method that the lower hardware complexity can be involved in the imaging system since many additive virtual array elements can be obtained. Numerical simulations are provided for testing our system and imaging method.
Prevalence of thyroid function test abnormalities and thyroid autoantibodies in children with vitiligo

Although the exact pathogenic processes involved in vitiligo are still unknown, its association with autoimmune disorders and endocrine dysfunction has been reported. One of its associations is with thyroid diseases. The purpose of this retrospective study was to determine the prevalence of thyroid function tests and thyroid autoantibody abnormalities in children diagnosed with vitiligo and compare the results with the literature. The laboratory documents of thyroid function tests (FT3, FT4, and TSH) and thyroid autoantibodies (TgAb and TPOAb) belonging to the pediatric vitiligo patients were studied retrospectively. Thyroid function tests and thyroid autoantibody abnormalities were detected in 20 (25.3%) of the pediatric vitiligo patients. Thirteen (16.4%) patients were evaluated as subclinical hypothyroidism, two (2.5%) were evaluated as hypothyroidism, and five (6.3%) were evaluated as euthyroidism. Thyroid autoantibodies were found to be positive in nine (11.3%) patients. Previously reported prevalence of thyroid disease in children with vitiligo ranged from 10.7 to 24.1%, and the prevalence of 25.3% determined in this study was compatible with the literature. Also, the high rate of subclinical hypothyroidism determined in these patients attracted attention to the probable development of overt hypothyroidism in a long term. Thus, our results suggest that thyroid function tests and thyroid autoantibodies should be analyzed in children with vitiligo.
Measures of atherosclerotic burden are associated with clinically manifest cardiovascular disease in type 2 diabetes: a European cross‐sectional study

There is a need to develop and validate surrogate markers of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in subjects with diabetes. The macrovascular changes associated with diabetes include aggravated atherosclerosis, increased arterial stiffness and endothelial dysfunction. The aim of this study was to determine which of these factors is most strongly associated with clinically manifest cardiovascular events.