Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Role of Iconic Gestures in Speech Disambiguation: ERP Evidence

The present series of experiments explored the extent to which iconic gestures convey information not found in speech. Electroencephalogram (EEG) was recorded as participants watched videos of a person gesturing and speaking simultaneously. The experimental sentences contained an unbalanced homonym in the initial part of the sentence (e.g., She controlled the ball ) and were disambiguated at a target word in the subsequent clause (which during the game vs. which during the dance ). Coincident with the initial part of the sentence, the speaker produced an iconic gesture which supported either the dominant or the subordinate meaning. Event-related potentials were time-locked to the onset of the target word. In Experiment 1, participants were explicitly asked to judge the congruency between the initial homonym-gesture combination and the subsequent target word. The N400 at target words was found to be smaller after a congruent gesture and larger after an incongruent gesture, suggesting that listeners can use gestural information to disambiguate speech. Experiment 2 replicated the results using a less explicit task, indicating that the disambiguating effect of gesture is somewhat task-independent. Unrelated grooming movements were added to the paradigm in Experiment 3. The N400 at subordinate targets was found to be smaller after subordinate gestures and larger after dominant gestures as well as grooming, indicating that an iconic gesture can facilitate the processing of a lesser frequent word meaning. The N400 at dominant targets no longer varied as a function of the preceding gesture in Experiment 3, suggesting that the addition of meaningless movements weakened the impact of gesture. Thus, the integration of gesture and speech in comprehension does not appear to be an obligatory process but is modulated by situational factors such as the amount of observed meaningful hand movements.
Synthesis and evaluation of ampicillin‐conjugated gum arabic microspheres for sustained release

Ampicillin was conjugated to periodate‐oxidized gum arabic (GA), a branched polysaccharide, to form the imino conjugate of the drug and the polysaccharide. The water‐soluble conjugate was dispersed by sonication in a mixture of toluene and liquid paraffin in the presence of a non‐ionic surfactant as droplet stabilizer and fabricated into microspheres by heat denaturation at 80°C to obtain spheres less than 2 μm in diameter. These microspheres did not undergo dissolution in water on prolonged incubation. In‐vitro release of ampicillin into phosphate buffer from the microspheres was slow and sustained with a cumulative release between 10 and 25% of the drug content in 10 days depending on the degree of oxidation of GA and the drug payload. Release into simulated gastric fluid was faster due to faster hydrolysis of the drug‐GA bond in the acid medium, but when the medium was changed to intestinal fluid, the release was slowed down. Ampicillin released was functionally active and inhibited the growth of S. aureus and E. coli in cultures, although not as actively as free ampicillin. The microspheres underwent slow biodegradation on prolonged incubation in aqueous media. These studies show that ampicillin conjugated with oxidized GA and fabricated into microspheres possesses sustained‐release characteristics for prolonged periods.
PHYSICAL VICTIMIZATION AND BULIMIC- LIKE SYMPTOMS: IS THERE A RELATIONSHIP?*

An increasingly popular clinical impression is that physical victimization plays an important role in the etiology of bulimia. There are few data based studies, however, which have tested this belief. Therefore, data were collected to determine if those who have been victimized are more apt to be bulimic than those who have not been victimized. The four forms of victimization explored were rape, sexual molestation, child abuse and partner abuse. Only child abuse was statistically significantly related to bulimia in the bivariate analyses, although all relationships were in the predicted direction. In the multivariate analysis, severity of bulimic‐like symptoms was regressed on the four forms of victimization and on nine demographic characteristics. Child abuse was the only form of victimization related to the severity of symptoms, when controlling for the effects of the other variables. Contrary to clinical impressions, the effect of sexual molestation on severity of bulimic symptoms was negative, but not.
Cortical spreading depression modulates synaptic transmission of the rat lateral amygdala

Clinical and pathophysiological evidence connects migraine and the amygdala. Cortical spreading depression (CSD) plays a causative role in the generation of aura symptoms. However, the role of CSD in the pathophysiology of other symptoms of migraine needs to be investigated. An in vitro brain slice technique was used to investigate CSD effects on tetanus‐induced long‐term potentiation (LTP) in the lateral amygdala (LA) of the combined rat amygdala–hippocampus–cortex slices. More than 75% of CSD induced in temporal cortex propagated to LA. Induction of CSD in combined amygdala–hippocampus–cortex slices in which CSD propagated from neocortex to LA significantly augmented LTP in LA. LTP was inhibited when CSD travelled only in the neocortical tissues. Separation of the amygdala from the remaining neocortical part of the slice, in which CSD propagation was limited to the neocortex, increased LTP close to the control levels. Pharmacological manipulations of the slices, in which CSD reached LA, revealed the involvement of NMDA and AMPA glutamate subreceptors as well as dopamine D2 receptors in the enhancement of LTP in LA. However, neither blocking of GABA receptors nor activation of dopamine D1 receptors affected LTP in these slices. The results indicate the disturbances of LA synaptic transmission triggered by propagation of CSD. This perturbation of LA synaptic transmission induced by CSD may relate to some symptoms occurring during migraine attacks.
Disaster politics: tipping points for change in the adaptation of sociopolitical regimes

Calls from the climate change community and a more widespread concern for human security have reawakened the interest of geographers and others in disaster politics. A legacy of geographical research on the political causes and consequences of disaster is reviewed and built on to formulate a framework for the analysis of post-disaster political space. This is constructed around the notion of a contested social contract. The Marmara earthquake, Turkey, is used to illustrate the framework and provide empirical detail on the multiple scales and time phasing of post-disaster political change. Priorities for a future research agenda in disaster politics are proposed.
Sex-Dependent Psychoneuroendocrine Effects of THC and MDMA in an Animal Model of Adolescent Drug Consumption

Ecstasy is a drug that is usually consumed by young people at the weekends and frequently, in combination with cannabis. In the present study we have investigated the long-term effects of administering increasing doses of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol [THC; 2.5, 5, 10 mg/kg; i.p.] from postnatal day (pnd) 28 to 45, alone and/or in conjunction with 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine [MDMA; two daily doses of 10 mg/kg every 5 days; s.c. ] from pnd 30 to 45, in both male and female Wistar rats. When tested one day after the end of the pharmacological treatment (pnd 46), MDMA administration induced a reduction in directed exploration in the holeboard test and an increase in open-arm exploration in an elevated plus maze. In the long-term, cognitive functions in the novel object test were seen to be disrupted by THC administration to female but not male rats. In the prepulse inhibition test, MDMA-treated animals showed a decrease in prepulse inhibition at the most intense prepulse studied (80 dB), whereas in combination with THC it induced a similar decrease at 75 dB. THC decreased hippocampal Arc expression in both sexes, while in the frontal cortex this reduction was only evident in females. MDMA induced a reduction in ERK1/2 immunoreactivity in the frontal cortex of male but not female animals, and THC decreased prepro-orexin mRNA levels in the hypothalamus of males, although this effect was prevented when the animals also received MDMA. The results presented indicate that adolescent exposure to THC and/or MDMA induces long-term, sex-dependent psychophysiological alterations and they reveal functional interactions between the two drugs.
Hash-based enhancement of location privacy for radio-frequency identification devices using varying identifiers

Radio-frequency identification devices (RFID) may emerge as one of the most pervasive computing technologies in history. On the one hand, with tags affixed to consumer items as well as letters, packets or vehicles costs in the supply chain can be greatly reduced and new applications introduced. On the other hand, unique means of identification in each tag like serial numbers enable effortless traceability of persons and goods. But data protection and privacy are worthwhile civil liberties. We introduce a simple scheme relying on one way hash-functions that greatly enhances location privacy by changing traceable identifiers on every read getting by with only a single, unreliable message exchange. Thereby the scheme is safe from many threats like eavesdropping, message interception, spoofing, and replay attacks.
Prevalence and risk factors of violence among elementary school children in Cairo.

UNLABELLED School violence is a growing problem that has received widespread attention. Violent behavior for elementary school children is primarily expressed as physical or verbal aggression. Various factors contribute to violent and aggression by children at homes, schools or individual risk factors. The aim of the present study is to measure the prevalence of violence, risk factors, and different forms among elementary school children, to identify consequence of violent exposure and children with abnormal behavior score. A cross-sectional study was done enrolling a total of 500 elementary students from two mixed schools (private and public) 250 from each in North Cairo Educational Zone. Data collected from students, parents and teachers were: violence behavior, home and family atmosphere, peer relation, exposure to violence at school; being victimized, witness, or initiator, and other risk factors. Standardized questionnaires were used as Achenback Child Behavior checklist, parent and teacher forms of Strength and Difficulty questionnaires (SDQ), and developmental history of child. Monthly grades of students, IQ assessment, physical examination of students were recorded. RESULTS Prevalence of different forms of violence was higher in public school than private; physical violence 76%, 62% respectively. All forms of violence were higher among boys. Living with a single parent (OR = 2.3), absence of an attachment figure (OR = 13.6), instrumental delivery or cesarean section (OR = 1.9), corporal punishment (OR = 3), violent video games preference (OR = 2.5), exposure to verbal aggression (OR = 3), relations with aggressive peers (OR = 3) were risk factors for violence. Teacher's report of SDQ revealed abnormal score of student's behavior in (32.4%) and (22%) students of public and private schools respectively. The most frequent problems revealed by SDQ among victimized students of both schools was conduct problems (64.7%) in teacher's report and peer relation problems 93.6% in parent's report. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS Abnormal and borderline scores of SDQ are high among studied students, Follow up and supervision is needed to prevent violence among them. An effective role model to direct student's behavior should receive more concern at the school and home level.
Cadmium benzenethiolate clusters of various size: molecular models for metal chalcogenide semiconductors

The optical and electrochemical properties of three cadmium benzenethiolate clusters, Cd(SPh)42-, Cd4(SPh)lo2-, and Cdl,$4(SPh)16e, are studied as function of the cluster size. The Cd, clusters (n = 1,4, 10) which may represent molecular models for the semiconductor CdS show structured absorption spectra that are assigned to both ligand-t*metal charge-transfer (LMCT) and intraligand transitions. The absorption and emission bands of Cdlo are red-shifted compared to those of Cdl and Cd,. The emission of the Cd, clusters (n = 4, 10) is ascribed to a LMCT transition as suggested by the short luminescence lifetimes and the red shift with increasing cluster size. Illumination of the Cd, clusters yields thianthrene, dibenzothiophene, and benzenethiol, the rate of photodegradation depending on the cluster size. Electrochemical studies of Cd, show that, with increasing cluster size, the oxidation potential is shifted negative while the reduction potential is shifted positive. Both Cd, and Cdlo form charge-transfer complexes with methyl viologen. However, steady-state illumination of these clusters in the presence of methyl viologen does not result in the formation of the methyl viologen radical cation.
Low-Power Bitstream-Residual Decoder for H.264/AVC Baseline Profile Decoding

We present the design and VLSI implementation of a novel low-power bitstream-residual decoder for H.264/AVC baseline profile. It comprises a syntax parser, a parameter decoder, and an Inverse Quantization Inverse Transform (IQIT) decoder. The syntax parser detects and decodes each incoming codeword in the bitstream under the control of a hierarchical Finite State Machine (FSM); the IQIT decoder performs inverse transform and quantization with pipelining and parallelism. Various power reduction techniques, such as data-driven based on statistic results, nonuniform partition, precomputation, guarded evaluation, hierarchical FSM decomposition, TAG method, zero-block skipping, and clock gating , are adopted and integrated throughout the bitstream-residual decoder. With innovative architecture, the proposed design is able to decode QCIF video sequences of 30 fps at a clock rate as low as 1.5 MHz. A prototype H.264/AVC baseline decoding chip utilizing the proposed decoder is fabricated in UMC 0.18 m 1P6M CMOS technology. The proposed design is measured under 1 V 1.8 V supply with 0.1 V step. It dissipates 76 W at 1 V and 253 W at 1.8 V.
Effects of Cleaning and Disinfection in Reducing the Spread of Norovirus Contamination via Environmental Surfaces

A reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction assay was used to study the transfer of Norovirus (NV) from contaminated faecal material via fingers and cloths to other hand-contact surfaces. The results showed that, where fingers come into contact with virus-contaminated material, NV is consistently transferred via the fingers to melamine surfaces and from there to other typical hand-contact surfaces, such as taps, door handles and telephone receivers. It was found that contaminated fingers could sequentially transfer virus to up to seven clean surfaces. The effectiveness of detergent- and disinfectant-based cleaning regimes typical of those that might be used to decontaminate faecally contaminated surfaces and reduce spread of NV was also compared. It was found that detergent-based cleaning with a cloth to produce a visibly clean surface consistently failed to eliminate NV contamination. Where there was faecal soiling, although a combined hypochlorite/detergent formulation at 5000 ppm of available chlorine produced a significant risk reduction, NV contamination could still be detected on up to 28% of surfaces. In order consistently to achieve good hygiene, it was necessary to wipe the surface clean using a cloth soaked in detergent before applying the combined hypochlorite/detergent. When detergent cleaning alone or combined hypochlorite/detergent treatment failed to eliminate NV contamination from the surface and the cleaning cloth was then used to wipe another surface, the virus was transferred to that surface and to the hands of the person handling the cloth. In contrast, were surfaces where contaminated with NV-infected faecal suspension diluted to 1 in 10 and 1 in 80, intended to simulate surfaces that have become contaminated after secondary transfer, treatment with a combined bleach/detergent formulation, without prior cleaning, was sufficient to decontaminate surfaces and prevent transfer.
Personality and psychotic disorders

The subject of the current thesis is the contribution of normal personality traits as conceptualized by the Five-Factor Model of personality (FFM) to the manifestation of illness in patients with psychotic disorders. These studies were part of the Dutch national Genetic Risk and Outcome of Psychosis (GROUP) study. The main objective of this thesis was to examine whether normal personality traits as conceptualized by the FFM contribute to the vast heterogeneity found in expression of psychotic disorders. Second, we aimed to better understand how FFM personality traits may be connected to symptom expression in patients with psychotic disorders, i.e. to relate our findings to the different models of inter-relations between personality and psychopathology.
An Investigation of Neural Correlates in Adults with Developmental Dyscalculia Using fMRI

Developmental dyscalculia is a specific learning difficulty which reflects deficits in arithmetical skills. The cause behind this disorder is not known. Recent studies provide evidence in favor of believing that the disorder is somehow tied with specific brain regions’ roles. These regions include the intraparietal sulcus (IPS), the angular gyrus (ANG) and the supramarginal gyrus (SMG) in developmental dyscalculia. The present study investigates the role of these regions in adults with developmental dyscalculia. Brain images were collected from 10 participants with developmental dyscalculia and 10 control participants using fMRI while conducting number comparison, multiplication and subtraction tasks. The results revealed the activation of the intraparietal sulcus during number comparison and the activation of both the angular gyrus, the supramarginal gyrus, and the intraparietal sulcus during calculation tasks. These results suggest that the IPS activation was not less than the developmental dyscalculia group than in the control group when conducting the number comparison task; and that there were activation in the ANG, SMG and IPS regions of the brain in participants’ brains during both the multiplication and subtraction tasks.
Adrenocortical hyporesponsiveness and glucocorticoid feedback resistance in old male brown Norway rats.

This study was designed to examine adrenocortical function in old (30 months) and young (6 months) male Brown Norway rats. The following observations were made. First, stress induced a higher pituitary adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) response in the aged male Brown Norway rats than in young rats, while peak circulating corticosterone (CORT) levels were not different. Moreover, this type of "repeated" stress involving subcutaneous injection and blood sampling at various time points by pinching the tail vein, evoked a prolonged ACTH and CORT response in the aged animal. Second, exogenous ACTH1-24 administered to dexamethasone-pretreated Brown Norway rats, used as an in vivo challenge test for adrenocortical function, resulted in a delayed CORT response in the aged rats. The termination of the CORT response to ACTH, however, was not different between young and old rats. Third, ACTH1-24 stimulation of adrenocortical cells in vitro showed a tendency to a reduced CORT output, when these cells were obtained from old animals. Fourth, adrenalectomy (ADX) differentially affected pituitary ACTH release at both ages. The initial post-ADX ACTH surge was more pronounced in the aged animals. Beyond 4 days post-ADX the old Brown Norway rats did not show the pronounced afternoon peak in circulating ACTH as was observed in the young animals. This study demonstrates that during the aging process a deficiency in adrenocortical function develops in the male Brown Norway rat. This deficiency involves a less efficient stress-induced activation of adrenocortical output of CORT having enhanced pituitary ACTH release as one of the consequences. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Millimetric Observations of the Center of M81: A Starved Nucleus with Intraday Variability

The central kiloparsec of M81 has been observed in the CO J = 1–0 line and the 3 mm continuum at a 100 pc resolution in an attempt to probe molecular gas and to search for the nuclear inner Lindblad resonance (NILR) around the low-luminosity AGN M81*. We found the following: (1) Molecular gas in the central kiloparsec is mainly on a "pseudoring" or a spiral arm at a radius of about 500 pc. (2) The region within ∼300 pc from the nucleus is mostly devoid of molecular gas except for a diffuse one; in particular, there is neither a giant molecular cloud that is now accreting on the nucleus, nor a conspicuous gas feature that can be identified as an NILR. (3) The 3 mm continuum emission shows significant intraday variation, suggesting an emitting region of ∼100 AU. (4) The 3 σ upper limit for CO absorption toward the continuum source is τCO(0→1)dV < 0.1 for a line width of 10 km s-1. The dearth of accreting molecular gas in the vicinity of the nucleus may explain the low luminosity of M81*.
Explaining the Premiums Paid for Large Acquisitions: Evidence of CEO Hubris

We thank Mark Sirower for bringing Buffett's remarks to our attention. This study examines the role of a chief executive officer's hubris, or exaggerated self-confidence, in explaining the large size of some premiums paid for acquisitions. In a sample of 106 large acquisitions, we found that four indicators of CEO hubris are highly associated with the size of premiums paid: the acquiring company's recent performance, recent media praise for the CEO, a measure of the CEO's self-importance, and a composite factor of these three variables. The relationship between CEO hubris and premiums is further strengthened when board vigilance is lacking-when the board has a high proportion of inside directors and when the CEO is also the board chair. On average, we found losses in acquiring firms' shareholder wealth following an acquisition, and the greater the CEO hubris and acquisition premiums, the greater the shareholder losses. Thus, CEO hubris has substantial practical consequences, in addition to having potentially great theoretical significance to observers of strategic behavior. '