Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Mechanisms and scope of planning in language production

Mechanisms and Scope of Planning in Language Production by Jason Crowther Two series of experiments were conducted in relation to the issues of how speakers select and plan linguistic representations during language production. The first was an aging and individual differences study relating performance on standard tests of executive functioning to performance on a blocked cyclic naming experiment. Few differences were found between the two age groups that could not be attributed to a decline in the speed of processing and shifting the focus of attention in the components of working memory. Combined group analyses revealed two separate processes influencing performance in the blocked cyclic naming task, with one being a proactive interference effect involving competition between items in the response set and the other being a distractor interference effect involving the intrusion of a previously presented item. The proactive interference effect was not modulated by semantic relatedness, except in the first cycle, and it was argued that this reflected competition between a set of activated lexical items, whereas the distractor interference effect was modulated by semantic relatedness, and it was argued that it was due to the persistence in the activation of a particular item after it was no longer relevant. The second series of sentence production experiments was intended to distinguish between different accounts of the scope of planning in sentence production by varying phrasal complexity and lexical variables thought to affect the ease of retrieving items at different levels of representation. Across the experiments, evidence was found, as in
Incidence of Clostridium difficile Infection in Children with Inflammatory Bowel Disease Compared to Oncology and Immunocompetent Patients

Aims: The aim of this study was to determine the incidence of Clostridium difficile infection in hospitalized children with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and to compare it to other immunosuppressed patients at risk (oncology patients) as well as to immunocompetent patients. Methods: We analyzed data from all hospitalized children who underwent stool detection of C. difficile toxins A and B (n = 757) in a 5.5-year study period. Results: The number of positive tests was significantly increased in the oncology group compared to the IBD group (12.45 vs. 6.02%, p = 0.03) and immunocompetent group (12.45 vs. 5.7%, p = 0.01). Patients who had C. difficile infection used antibiotics prior to the test more often than patients who did not (12.69 vs. 1.73%, p = 0.03). Pearson’s correlation was positive for C. difficile infection and both antibiotics and immunosuppressants, while no correlation was found regarding age and gender. There were no significant differences regarding either IBD diagnosis (Crohn’s disease vs. ulcerative colitis, p = 0.71) or treatment used for IBD (p = 0.53) and C. difficile infection. Conclusion: In our setting, the incidence of C. difficile infection among hospitalized children with active IBD was found to be low. Children at increased risk for C. difficile infection were oncology patients receiving immunosuppressants and antibiotics.
How periods abroad affect vocabulary growth in a foreign language.

Dans cet article, l'A. s'interesse a la question du developpement du vocabulaire des etudiants lors de programmes d'echanges linguistiques a l'etranger. Il examine plus particulierement le developpement du vocabulaire en Grande Bretagne, a travers l'analyse statistique de tests et de questionnaires proposes a 53 etudiants issus des programmes ERASMUS et LINGUA
ConSeq: detecting concurrency bugs through sequential errors

Concurrency bugs are caused by non-deterministic interleavings between shared memory accesses. Their effects propagate through data and control dependences until they cause software to crash, hang, produce incorrect output, etc. The lifecycle of a bug thus consists of three phases: (1) triggering, (2) propagation, and (3) failure. Traditional techniques for detecting concurrency bugs mostly focus on phase (1)--i.e., on finding certain structural patterns of interleavings that are common triggers of concurrency bugs, such as data races. This paper explores a consequence-oriented approach to improving the accuracy and coverage of state-space search and bug detection. The proposed approach first statically identifies potential failure sites in a program binary (i.e., it first considers a phase (3) issue). It then uses static slicing to identify critical read instructions that are highly likely to affect potential failure sites through control and data dependences (phase (2)). Finally, it monitors a single (correct) execution of a concurrent program and identifies suspicious interleavings that could cause an incorrect state to arise at a critical read and then lead to a software failure (phase (1)). ConSeq's backwards approach, (3)! (2)! (1), provides advantages in bug-detection coverage and accuracy but is challenging to carry out. ConSeq makes it feasible by exploiting the empirical observationthat phases (2) and (3) usually are short and occur within one thread. Our evaluation on large, real-world C/C++ applications shows that ConSeq detects more bugs than traditional approaches and has a much lower false-positive rate.
(anti-Ω x × Σ z )-based k-set agreement algorithms

This paper considers the k-set agreement problem in a crashprone asynchronous message passing system enriched with failure detectors. Two classes of failure detectors have been previously identified as necessary to solve asynchronous k-set agreement: the class anti-leader anti-Ωk and the weak-quorum class Σk. The paper investigates the families of failure detector (anti-Ωx)1≤x≤n and (Σz)1≤z≤n. It characterizes in an n processes system equipped with failure detectors anti-Ωx and Σz for which values of k, x and z k-set-agreement can be solved. While doing so, the paper (1) disproves previous conjunctures about the weakest failure detector to solve k-set-agreement in the asynchronous message passing model and, (2) introduces the first indulgent algorithm that tolerates a majority of processes failures.
Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire D'évaluation Des Politiques Publiques Matching, Sorting and Wages Matching, Sorting and Wages *

We develop an empirical search-matching model with productivity shocks so as to analyze policy interventions in a labor market with heterogeneous agents. To achieve this we develop an equilibrium model of wage determination and employment, which is consistent with key empirical facts. As such our model extends the current literature on equilibrium wage determination with matching and provides a bridge between some of the most prominent macro models and microeconometric research. The model incorporates long-term contracts, on-the-job search and counter-offers, and a vacancy creation and destruction process linked to productivity shocks. Importantly, the model allows for the possibility of assortative matching between workers and jobs, a feature that had been ruled out by assumption in the empirical equilibrium search literature to date. We use the model to estimate the potential gain from an optimal unemployment insurance scheme, as well as the redistributive effects of such a policy. * We have benefitted greatly from comments and questions from many seminar participants at Princeton Uni
Differential Physiological Responses of Portuguese Bread Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) Genotypes under Aluminium Stress

The major limitation of cereal production in acidic soils is aluminium (Al) phytotoxicity which inhibits root growth. Recent evidence indicates that different genotypes within the same species have evolved different mechanisms to cope with this stress. With these facts in mind, root responses of two highly Al tolerant Portuguese bread wheat genotypes—Barbela 7/72/92 and Viloso mole—were investigated along with check genotype Anahuac (Al sensitive), using different physiological and histochemical assays. All the assays confirmed that Barbela 7/72/92 is much more tolerant to Al phytotoxicity than Viloso Mole. Our results demonstrate that the greater tolerance to Al phytotoxicity in Barbela 7/72/92 than in Viloso Mole relies on numerous factors, including higher levels of organic acid (OAs) efflux, particularly citrate efflux. This might be associated with the lower accumulation of Al in the root tips, restricting the Al-induced lipid peroxidation and the consequent plasma membrane integrity loss, thus allowing better root regrowth under Al stress conditions. Furthermore, the presence of root hairs in Barbela 7/72/92 might also help to circumvent Al toxicity by facilitating a more efficient uptake of water and nutrients, particularly under Al stress on acid soils. In conclusion, our findings confirmed that Portuguese bread wheat genotype Barbela 7/72/92 represents an alternative source of Al tolerance in bread wheat and could potentially be used to improve the wheat productivity in acidic soils.
Engaging Clients in Eating Disorder Treatment: Reducing Dropout

The purpose of this study was to explore how to successfully engage clients in eating disorder treatment and reduce dropout. This study collected qualitative data from five female therapists and one male therapists working in outpatient settings with individuals with eating disorders. Qualitative interviews were conducted over a period of two weeks. Interviews were audio recorded to assist in data analysis. The strongest themes found in this study were low dropout, anorexia has the highest dropout rate, and educating the family. Themes that coincided with the literature included participants having no experience asking clients to leave treatment and providing family support. Social work implications were also discussed. Given the high mortality rate with this population, it is important that we continue to research this issue with the hope of reducing dropout. Engaging Clients in Eating Disorder Treatment ii Acknowledgments Thank you Dr. Chovanec for your incredible amount of hard work and dedication throughout this entire process, none of this would have been possible without you. Thank you to my amazing committee members, Amanda and Rebecca, who gave up hours of their time to read my paper and come to committee meetings, you guys are the best. Thank you to my entire research seminar, you all provided a little bit of light and humor during our Thursday night meetings. Thank you to all of the clinicians that took time out of their busy schedules to participate in this study. Thank you Dominic for putting up with me and supporting me for the past year even when it hasn’t been the easiest job, you’re the best. Most importantly, thank you Mom and Dad for your constant support and encouragement. You have always believed in me even when I didn’t believe in myself. I love you both so much and appreciate everything that you do for me. Engaging Clients in Eating Disorder Treatment iii
Orthokeratology to Control Myopia Progression: A Meta-Analysis

Objective To evaluate the clinical treatment effects of orthokeratology to slow the progression of myopia. Methods Several well-designed controlled studies have investigated the effects of orthokeratology in school-aged children. We conducted this meta-analysis to better evaluate the existing evidence. Relevant studies were identified in the Medline and Embase database without language limitations. The main outcomes included axial length and vitreous chamber depth reported as the mean ± standard deviation. The results were pooled and assessed with a fixed-effects model analysis. Subgroup analyses were performed according to geographical location and study design. Results Of the seven eligible studies, all reported axial length changes after 2 years, while two studies reported vitreous chamber depth changes. The pooled estimates indicated that change in axial length in the ortho-k group was 0.27 mm (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.22, 0.32) less than the control group. Myopic progression was reduced by approximately 45%. The combined results revealed that the difference in vitreous chamber depth between the two groups was 0.22 mm (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.14, 0.31). None of the studies reported severe adverse events. Conclusion The overall findings suggest that ortho-k can slow myopia progression in school-aged children.
Latent autoimmune diabetes in adults: increased awareness will aid diagnosis

Latent autoimmune diabetes iln adults (LADA) is the term used for patients with non-insulin dependent diabetes who progress to insulin dependency as their pancreatic secretion of insulin fails. Diagnosis is based on adult age at the time of diabetes, the presence of serum autoantibodies to pancreatic antigens and the absence of a requirement for insulin at diagnosis. High titres of serum glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) antibodies act as a marker for LADA. Serum C-peptide concentrations are also lower in autoimmune diabetic patients. The best treatment for patients with LADA is not clear, but early insulin treatment may prevent pancreatic β-cell failure.
Clonal selection and therapy resistance in acute leukaemias: mathematical modelling explains different proliferation patterns at diagnosis and relapse

Recent experimental evidence suggests that acute myeloid leukaemias may originate from multiple clones of malignant cells. Nevertheless, it is not known how the observed clones may differ with respect to cell properties, such as proliferation and self-renewal. There are scarcely any data on how these cell properties change due to chemotherapy and relapse. We propose a new mathematical model to investigate the impact of cell properties on the multi-clonal composition of leukaemias. Model results imply that enhanced self-renewal may be a key mechanism in the clonal selection process. Simulations suggest that fast proliferating and highly self-renewing cells dominate at primary diagnosis, while relapse following therapy-induced remission is triggered mostly by highly self-renewing but slowly proliferating cells. Comparison of simulation results to patient data demonstrates that the proposed model is consistent with clinically observed dynamics based on a clonal selection process.
Effectiveness of low-cut modified amplification strategy and channel-free hearing aid in individuals with auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder

Abstract Objective: The present study attempted to compare the aided benefit using low-cut modified amplification and channel-free hearing aids in individuals with auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder (ANSD). It was also attempted to determine these effects in good and poor performers with ANSD. Design: Cross-sectional within group pretest, post-test design. Study sample: Twenty-five individuals with acquired ANSD were selected for the study. The study sample included 11 males and 14 females between the age ranges of 17–40 years (mean age of 24.6 years). Results: The results of the repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed that aided benefit was significantly higher with the channel-free hearing aid. Mixed ANOVA results showed that the improvement was more in good performers than poor performers with ANSD. Multiple regression analyses showed that speech identification scores are a strong predictor of aided benefit. Conclusions: The results of the present study suggest that channel-free hearing aids and low-cut modified amplification can be used as an efficient alternative technique during hearing aid fitting for individuals with ANSD. However, further evidence-based studies on a larger group are essential to validate the results.
The Dual Role of Pharmacogenetics in HIV Treatment: Mutations and Polymorphisms Regulating Antiretroviral Drug Resistance and Disposition

Significant intra- and interindividual variability has been observed in response to use of pharmacological agents in treatment of HIV infection. Treatment of HIV infection is limited by high rates of adverse drug reactions and development of resistance in a significant proportion of patients as a result of suboptimal drug concentrations. The efficacy of antiretroviral therapy is challenged by the emergence of resistant HIV-1 mutants with reduced susceptibility to antiretroviral drugs. Moreover, pharmacotherapy of patients infected with HIV is challenging because a great number of comorbidities increase polypharmacy and the risk for drug-drug interactions. Drug-metabolizing enzymes and drug transporters regulate drug access to the systemic circulation, target cells, and sanctuary sites. These factors, which determine drug exposure, along with the emergence of mutations conferring resistance to HIV medications, could explain variability in efficacy and adverse drug reactions associated with antiretroviral drugs. In this review, the major factors affecting the disposition of antiretroviral drugs, including key drug-metabolizing enzymes and membrane drug transporters, are outlined. Genetic polymorphisms affecting the activity and/or the expression of cytochromes P450 or UGT isozymes and membrane drug transport proteins are highlighted and include such examples as the association of neurotoxicity with efavirenz, nephrotoxicity with tenofovir, hepatotoxicity with nevirapine, and hyperbilirubinemia with indinavir and atazanavir. Mechanisms of drug resistance conferred by specific viral mutations are also reviewed, with particular attention to replicative viral fitness and transmitted HIV drug resistance with the objectives of providing a better understanding of mechanisms involved in HIV drug resistance and helping health care providers to better manage interpatient variability in drug efficacy and toxicity.
ROSAT/ASCA Observations of the Mixed-Morphology Supernova Remnant W28

We present three sets of ROSAT Position Sensitive Proportional Counter and four sets of ASCA observations of the supernova remnant (SNR) W28. The overall shape of X-ray emission in W28 is elliptical, dominated by a centrally concentrated interior emission, sharply peaked at the center. There are also partial northeastern and southwestern shells, and both the central and shell X-ray emission is highly patchy. The ASCA spectra reveal emission lines of Ne, Mg, Si, and Fe Kα and continuum extending at least up to 7 keV, showing that X-ray emission in W28 is mostly of thermal origin with a hot thermal component. We found that spectral variations are present in W28. The southwestern shell can be fitted well by a plane-shock model with a temperature of 1.5 keV and an ionization timescale of 1.5 × 1011 cm-3 s. The long ionization timescale combined with a low estimated electron density of ~0.2 cm-3 imply an SNR age of several times 104 yr. The low density in the southwest is consistent with the shock breakout away from molecular clouds in the north and northeast. The northeastern shell, with a lower temperature of 0.56 keV and a longer ionization timescale of 1.7 × 1013 cm-3 s, spatially coincides with the radiative shell delineated by radio and optical filaments, but a relatively high temperature and a low density of X-ray-emitting gas in the northeastern shell indicate that we are not observing gas cooling from high temperatures. Unlike for the southwestern and northeastern shells, the central emission cannot be fitted well by a single-temperature model, but two components with temperatures of 0.6 and 1.8 keV are required. The long ionization timescales imply that the gas is close to the ionization equilibrium. The low-temperature component is similar to those seen in other mixed-morphology SNRs. The X-ray luminosity of W28 is ~6 × 1034 ergs s-1, and the estimated X-ray mass is only ~20-25 M☉. A comparison of W28 with other typical mixed-morphology SNRs reveals significant differences in its X-ray properties; W28 has a higher temperature and noticeable spectral variations. W28 belongs to a class of SNRs considered by Chevalier, with a radiative shell interacting with clumpy molecular clouds. X-ray emission at its center is a "fossil" radiation from gas that was shocked early in the evolution of the remnant, and its centrally peaked morphology could have been caused by processes such as evaporation, electron thermal conduction, and mixing induced by various hydrodynamical instabilities, but W28 poses a challenge for existing models of X-ray emission because the evaporation model of White & Long is in conflict with observations, while the presence of temperature variations seems inconsistent with SNR models with efficient thermal conduction.
SUSCEPTIBILITY OF RACCOONS (PROCYON LOTOR) TO INFECTION WITH MYCOBACTERIUM BOVIS

Tuberculosis due to Mycobacterium bovis infection is endemic in white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in the northeastern portion of the lower Michigan peninsula (USA). Various wild carnivores and omnivores, including raccoons (Procyon lotor), are infected with M. bovis within the endemic area. To investigate the pathogenesis of tuberculosis in raccoons and the likelihood of M. bovis transmission from infected raccoons to other susceptible hosts, we experimentally inoculated raccoons with single oral doses of M. bovis (ranging from 30 to 1.7 × 105 colony forming units [CFU]), five daily oral doses of M. bovis (ranging from 10 to 1 × 105 CFU), or a single intravenous (IV) dose of 1 × 105 CFU of M. bovis, from November 1998 through December 2000. Granulomatous lesions consistent with tuberculosis, or tissue colonization with M. bovis, were seen in one of five raccoons in the single low oral dose group, one of five raccoons in the multiple low oral dose group, two of five raccoons in the multiple medium oral dose group, five of five raccoons in the multiple high oral dose group, and five of five raccoons in the IV inoculated group. In orally inoculated raccoons, lesions were most common in the tracheobronchial and mesenteric lymph nodes and lung. Excretion of M. bovis in saliva or nasal secretions was noted in all IV inoculated raccoons and two of five multiple low oral dose raccoons. Mycobacterium bovis was not isolated from urine or feces from any experimentally inoculated raccoons. The need for multiple large oral doses to establish infection, and the low number of orally inoculated raccoons that excreted M. bovis in nasal secretions or saliva, suggest that widespread tuberculosis among raccoons is unlikely.
Four primality testing algorithms

In this expository paper we describe four primality tests. The first test is very efficient, but is only capable of proving that a given number is either composite or ‘very probably’ prime. The second test is a deterministic polynomial time algorithm to prove that a given numer is either prime or composite. The third and fourth primality tests are at present most widely used in practice. Both tests are capable of proving that a given number is prime or composite, but neither algorithm is deterministic. The third algorithm exploits the arithmetic of cyclotomic fields. Its running time is almost, but not quite polynomial time. The fourth algorithm exploits elliptic curves. Its running time is difficult to estimate, but it behaves well in practice.
Quercetin Treatment Ameliorates Systemic Oxidative Stress in Cirrhotic Rats

Our aim was to investigate whether the antioxidant quercetin protects against liver injury and ameliorates the systemic oxidative stress in rats with common bile duct ligation. Secondary biliary cirrhosis was induced through 28 days of bile duct obstruction. Animals received quercetin (Q) after 14 days of obstruction. Groups of control (CO) and cirrhotic (CBDL) animals received a daily 50 mg/kg body weight i.p. injection of quercetin (CO + Q; CBDL + Q) or vehicle (CO; CBDL). Quercetin corrected the reduction in superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase CAT, and glutathione peroxidase GPx activities and prevented the increase of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), aminotransferases, and alkaline phosphatase in cirrhotic animals. Quercetin administration also corrected the reduced total nitrate concentration in the liver and prevented liver fibrosis and necrosis. These effects suggest that quercetin might be a useful agent to preserve liver function and prevent systemic oxidative stress.