Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Researching the cognitive validity of GEPT High-Intermediate and Advanced Reading: an eye tracking and stimulated recall study

It is important for any language test to establish its cognitive validity in order to ensure that the test elicits from test takers those cognitive processes which correspond to the processes which they would normally employ in the target real-life context (Weir 2005). This study investigates the cognitive validity of the GEPT Reading Test at two levels. High-intermediate (CEFR B2) and Advanced (CEFR C1), using innovative eye-tracking technology and detailed stimulated recall interviews and surveys. Representative reading items were carefully selected from across all parts of the GEPT High- Intermediate Level Reading Test and the GEPT Advanced Level Reading Test. Taiwanese students (n=24) studying Masters level programmes at British universities were asked to complete the test items on a computer, while the Tobii X2 Eye Tracker was used to track their gaze behaviour during completion of the test items. Immediately after they had completed each individual part, they were asked to report the cognitive process they employed by using a Reading Process Checklist, and a further (n=8) then participated in a detailed stimulated recall interview while viewing video footage of their gaze patterns. Taking into account all these sources of data, it was found that the High-Intermediate section of the GEPT test successfully elicited and tested an appropriate range of lower and higher cognitive processes, as defined in Khalifa and Weir (2009). It was also concluded that the Advanced sections of the test elicited the same set of cognitive processes as the High- Intermediate test, with the addition in the final section of the most difficult of all in Khalifa and Weir's scheme. In summary, it is apparent that the two elements of the GEPT test which were researched in this project were successful in requiring of candidates the range of cognitive processing activity commensurate with High-Intermediate and Advanced reading levels respectively, which is an important element in establishing the cognitive validity of the GEPT test.
Neural Mechanisms of Social Influence in Consumer Decisions

It is well-known that social influences affect consumption decisions. Although a number of different mechanisms have been hypothesized, a consumer’s tendency to purchase a product is influenced by the choices made by his associative reference group. Here, we use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to elucidate the neural mechanisms associated with social influence on a common consumer good: music. We restricted our study population to adolescents between the ages of 12-17 because music is a common purchase in this age group, and it is widely believed that adolescent behavior is particularly influenced by perceptions of popularity in their reference group. Using 15-second clips of songs downloaded from MySpace, we obtained behavioral measures of preferences and neurobiological responses to the songs. The data were gathered with, and without, the popularity of the song revealed. The popularity had a significant effect on the participants’ ratings of how much they liked the songs. The fMRI results showed a strong correlation between the participants’ rating and activity in the caudate nucleus, a region previously implicated in reward-driven actions. The tendency to change one’s evaluation of a song was correlated with activation only in the anterior insula, a region associated with physiological arousal, particularly to negative affective states. Our results suggest that a principal mechanism whereby popularity ratings affect consumer choice is through the anxiety generated by the mismatch between one’s own preferences and others’. This mismatch anxiety motivates people to switch their choices in the direction of the consensus, suggesting that this is a major force behind conformity observed in music tastes in teenagers. ------------------------*Berns and Moore: Department of Psychiatry, Emory University Medical School, Atlanta, GA, USA. C. Monica Capra: Department of Economics, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA. Noussair: Department of Economics, Tilburg University, the Netherlands.
Exploring Soft-Error Robust and Energy-Efficient Register File in GPGPUs using Resistive Memory

The increasing adoption of graphics processing units (GPUs) for high-performance computing raises the reliability challenge, which is generally ignored in traditional GPUs. GPUs usually support thousands of parallel threads and require a sizable register file. Such large register file is highly susceptible to soft errors and power-hungry. Although ECC has been adopted to register file in modern GPUs, it causes considerable power overhead, which further increases the power stress. Thus, an energy-efficient soft-error protection mechanism is more desirable. Besides its extremely low leakage power consumption, resistive memory (e.g., spin-transfer torque RAM) is also immune to the radiation induced soft errors due to its magnetic field based storage. In this article, we propose to LEverage reSistive memory to enhance the Soft-error robustness and reduce the power consumption (LESS) of registers in the General-Purpose computing on GPUs (GPGPUs). Since resistive memory experiences longer write latency compared to SRAM, we explore the unique characteristics of GPGPU applications to obtain the win-win gains: achieving the near-full soft-error protection for the register file, and meanwhile substantially reducing the energy consumption with negligible performance degradation. Our experimental results show that LESS is able to mitigate the registers soft-error vulnerability by 86% and achieve 61% energy savings with negligible (e.g., 1%) performance degradation.
Optimal linear control for channels with signal-to-noise ratio constraints

We consider the problem of stabilizing and minimizing the disturbance response of a SISO LTI plant, subject to a stochastic disturbance, over an analog communication channel with additive white noise and a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) constraint. The controller is linear, based on output feedback and has a structure with two degrees of freedom: One part represents sensing and encoding operations and the other part represents decoding and issuing the control signal. It is shown that the problem of simultaneously designing the two optimal controller parts can be solved in two stages: First a functional depending both on the 1- and 2-norms of the Youla parameter is minimized. This minimization can be arbitrarily well approximated by a quasiconvex program. The second stage consists of a spectral factorization.
Schema-less structural links in MediaDesc

The maintenance of links in hypermedia documents is a well known problem; research level authoring systems address this problem by means of structural links, which require the definition of a formal schema of the document; this kind of approach discourages rapid prototyping and forbids bottom up development-which is often preferred to a top down approach by authors such as artists and designers. On the other hand commercial authoring systems address the the maintenance of links in hypermedia documents very poorly. On the contrary MediaDesc structural links can exploit regularities in the document structure without forcing the author to define a document schema. MediaDesc structural links can describe sophisticated navigation patterns for well structured documents while, at the same time, authors are not forced to use a complicated document structure if they just need a trivial navigation pattern. Finally we show that MediaDesc authors can start writing a hyperdocument without defining a precise structure and switch to a more structured approach at a later stage with a reasonable effort.
Cancer risk perceptions and distress among women attending a familial ovarian cancer clinic

Of 230 women referred to a familial ovarian cancer clinic, 196 (85%) completed a questionnaire before they attended. The data collected included pre-counselling risk perceptions and an assessment of distress. Respondents were more likely to underestimate (44%) than overestimate (19%) their risk. Those with a family history of breast and ovarian cancer (HBOC) were particularly likely to underestimate their ovarian cancer risk. The variables assessed in this study – sociodemographic, family history, distress, anxiety proneness, coping style and beliefs about health control – explained little of the observed variation in accuracy of risk perception. On the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-30) 30% of the sample obtained scores above the cut-off (≥ 6) recommended for screening for ‘case-level’ psychological distress. Women exhibiting case-level distress were more likely to overestimate their risk (OR = 2.3). On univariate analysis low internal locus of control was associated with ‘case-level’ distress (P = 0.008). On multiple regression the best predictors of ‘caseness’ were high-trait anxiety, being a graduate and inaccurate risk perception. There was no difference in the level of distress shown by women with HBOC vs. those with a history of ovarian cancer only. Implications of these findings for the counselling needs of the women are discussed. The effectiveness of the clinic in improving the accuracy of risk perceptions and relieving distress is being assessed. © 2001 Cancer Research Campaign
Efficacy of a device to narrow the coronary sinus in refractory angina.

BACKGROUND Many patients with coronary artery disease who are not candidates for revascularization have refractory angina despite standard medical therapy. The balloon-expandable, stainless steel, hourglass-shaped, coronary-sinus reducing device creates a focal narrowing and increases pressure in the coronary sinus, thus redistributing blood into ischemic myocardium. METHODS We randomly assigned 104 patients with Canadian Cardiovascular Society (CCS) class III or IV angina (on a scale from I to IV, with higher classes indicating greater limitations on physical activity owing to angina) and myocardial ischemia, who were not candidates for revascularization, to implantation of the device (treatment group) or to a sham procedure (control group). The primary end point was the proportion of patients with an improvement of at least two CCS angina classes at 6 months. RESULTS A total of 35% of the patients in the treatment group (18 of 52 patients), as compared with 15% of those in the control group (8 of 52), had an improvement of at least two CCS angina classes at 6 months (P=0.02). The device was also associated with improvement of at least one CCS angina class in 71% of the patients in the treatment group (37 of 52 patients), as compared with 42% of those in the control group (22 of 52) (P=0.003). Quality of life as assessed with the use of the Seattle Angina Questionnaire was significantly improved in the treatment group, as compared with the control group (improvement on a 100-point scale, 17.6 vs. 7.6 points; P=0.03). There were no significant between-group differences in improvement in exercise time or in the mean change in the wall-motion index as assessed by means of dobutamine echocardiography. At 6 months, 1 patient in the treatment group had had a myocardial infarction; in the control group, 1 patient had died and 3 had had a myocardial infarction. CONCLUSIONS In this small clinical trial, implantation of the coronary-sinus reducing device was associated with significant improvement in symptoms and quality of life in patients with refractory angina who were not candidates for revascularization. (Funded by Neovasc; COSIRA ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT01205893.).
Public Understanding of Science and K-12 STEM Education Outcomes: Effects of Idaho Parents’ Orientation Toward Science on Students’ Attitudes Toward Science

Over the past few decades, public anxiety about how people interact with science has spawned cycles of discourse across a wide range of media, public and private initiatives, and substantial research endeavors. National and international STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) education initiatives and research have addressed how students interact with science and pursue careers in STEM fields. Researchers concerned with adult interaction with science have focused on factors that influence how citizens gather and interpret scientific knowledge and form positions on scientific issues, applications, and/or policy in a politicized democratic milieu. Building from research on how the public interacts with science in and outside of formal education, this study focuses on attitudes toward science among students in 4th, 7th, and 10th grades and their parents. Little research to date has paired the STEM experiences of adults with their children. We find that the extent to which parents are positively oriented toward science significantly shapes their children’s attitudes toward science. Furthermore, between 7th and 10th grades, students with parents holding positive orientations toward science are more likely to sustain positive attitudes toward science. Since the foundation for most adults’ interactions with science develops in the K-12 environment, we demonstrate that the foundation, as expressed in adulthood, may directly affect the ways the next generation of students interacts with science. We offer insights into the importance of developing student learning into the social scientific research on public understanding of science and how important scientific issues of today interplay with society.
Molecular and Cellular Mechanisms of Action of Tumour Suppressor GAS5 LncRNA

It is increasingly recognised that lncRNAs play essential regulatory roles in fundamental biological processes and, consequently, that their dysregulation may contribute to major human diseases, including cancer. Better understanding of lncRNA biology may therefore offer new insights into pathogenetic mechanisms and thereby offer novel opportunities for diagnosis and therapy. Of particular interest in this regard is GAS5 lncRNA, which is down-regulated in multiple cancers, with expression levels related to both clinico-pathological characteristics and patient prognosis. Functional studies have further shown that GAS5 lncRNA both inhibits the proliferation and promotes the apoptosis of multiple cell types, and that together these cellular mechanisms of action are likely to form the basis of its tumour suppressor action. At the same time, advances have been made in our understanding of the molecular mechanisms of GAS5 lncRNA action in recent years, including riborepression of certain steroid hormone receptors and sequestration of miR-21, impacting key regulatory pathways of cell survival. Overall this accumulating knowledge has the potential to improve both the diagnosis and treatment of cancer, and ultimately patient outcome.
Reasoning in inconsistent stratified knowledge bases

This paper proposes a discussion of inconsistency-tolerant consequence relations in prioritized knowledge bases. These inference techniques extend methods for reasoning from inconsistent, non-stratified, knowledge bases to the case where priorities between formulas are available. Priorities between formulas are handled in the framework of possibility theory and allow for the use of pieces of information having various levels of confidence. A comparative analysis of several approaches is carried out, namely, the possibilistic inference and its extensions, three inference methods based on a selection of maximal consistent subsets of formulas, and two inference methods based on arguments.
Predicting Recessions with Factor Linear Dynamic Harmonic Regressions

We propose a new framework for building composite leading indicators for the Spanish economy using monthly targeted predictors and small-scale dynamic factor models. Our leading indicator index, based on the low-frequency components of four monthly economic variables, is able to predict the onset of the Spanish recessions as well as the gross domestic product (GDP) growth cycles and classical industrial production cycles, both historically and in real time. Also, our leading indicator provides substantial aid in forecasting annual and quarterly GDP growth rates. Using only real data available at the beginning of each forecast period, our indicator one-step-ahead forecasts shows substantial improvements over other alternatives. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Exploring the ideal partner preferences of people with disabilities

There is a growing number of initiatives aiming to support people with intellectual disability (ID) to find romantic partners but minimal relevant research to inform these initiatives. The present study explored the ideal partner preferences of people with Down’s syndrome (DS); a genetic disorder resulting in ID. Adults with DS (5 male, 5 female) completed an interview incorporating the repertory grid from Personal Construct Psychology to explore their ideal partner preferences, explanations for these and how they relate to their perceptions of actual partners and self. Interview data was subjected to content analysis, thematic analysis and analysis using Idiogrid. Participants typically preferred partners who were good looking, warm, employed, nondisabled and similar to them with the exception of having no disability. Partner’s parental approval also appeared to be important. Explanations were grouped into five themes. Actual partners were typically dissimilar from ideal partners, including all but one having ID. Four participants’ more unique ways of thinking about people were also discussed. Five participants had a current partner. These relationships appeared to be maintained by valuing unconventional traits such as disability or managing expectations of a partner by making compromises or employing psychological defences. Initiatives aimed at facilitating relationships for people with DS may benefit from incorporating a service dedicated to helping them communicate their ideal partner preferences and process feelings linked with managing expectations. One area of future research could evaluate how best to facilitate these conversations.
Is more always better ? The perception of Dutch vowels by English versus Spanish listeners

The present study investigates Australian English (AusE) monolingual listeners’ perception of non-native vowels in Dutch, a language with fewer vowels compared to AusE. AusE listeners’ performance was compared to native monolingual Peruvian Spanish (PS) listeners whose L1 contains fewer vowels than Dutch. Results show that compared to PS listeners, AusE listeners were better at discriminating only one contrast, /ɪ -ʏ /. AusE listeners took full advantage of their vowel inventory size by mapping Dutch vowels across multiple English categories. Surprisingly, they also appear to duplicate the PS single category assimilation by mapping Dutch /ɪ / and /i/ to both English /i/ and /ɪ /.
Local structure and global connectivity in the cerebral cortex : neuroinformatics, histology and ultra high resolution diffusion MRI in the rhesus and marmoset monkey brain

This thesis concerns the cortical connectivity in Primates. The efficacy of Diffusion weighted MRI (dMRI) is examined. White matter (“WM”) systems subjacent to cortex (“superficial WM” ) are found to be a limiting factor to dMRI tractography. Superficial WM systems are examined with dMRI itself, and with analysis of histological data from the scanned brains. dMRI data was acquired ex-vivo at exceptional spatial and angular resolution (250μm in Rhesus, 150μm in Marmoset). The superficial WM was found to be complex, and with current dMRI methods, an effective barrier to tracking to and from around 50% of cortex in Rhesus. The quality of our data allowed Gray matter seeding, so that penetration both into and out of cortex was examined. We summarize the history of cortical connectivity and current work in tractography. We present an account of the formation and properties of the superficial WM. We compare tracking behaviors to tracer results, and develop a series of scalar maps on cortical surface models to summarize tracking behaviors. We attempt to explain these maps by examining the underlying tracking behavior and the brain tissue itself, revealing the intricate nature of the superficial WM. Chapter 4 contains a separate but related project in which a histologically accurate high resolution 3D and surface atlas of the Rhesus cortex is constructed with unprecedented accuracy. A method to rapidly and accurately non-linearly transform the atlas to a scan of another animal is developed, thus labelling its cortex. accuracy is by comparison to histology of the scanned animals.
Sex differences, but no seasonal variations in the hippocampus of food‐caching squirrels: A stereological study

Recent studies have described sex differences in the relative size of the hippocampus that are associated with sex differences in space use in birds and short‐lived mammals. A correlation between spatial learning and increased hippocampal volume has also been demonstrated in food‐caching animals. Such results suggest that sexually dimorphic spatial learning (sex differences in space use during the breeding season) and seasonal variations in food‐caching behavior (spatial memory for cache locations) might correlate with morphological changes in the hippocampus of adult long‐lived mammals. We used modern stereological techniques to examine the volume and neuron number of the structures forming the hippocampal complex ( dentate gyrus , CA3, and CA1) of wild adult eastern gray squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis) throughout the year. We observed differences in brain size between samples collected at different times of the year (October, January, and June). Our analysis showed sex differences, but no seasonal variations, in the volume of CA1 stratum oriens and stratum radiatum. There were no sex differences or seasonal variations in the relative volume or the number of neurons of any other layer of the structures forming the hippocampal complex. These results confirm the existence of sex differences in the structure of the hippocampus; however, this sexual dimorphism does not vary seasonally in adulthood and is likely to result from developmental processes. These results do not support the hypothesis that seasonal variations in food‐caching behavior might correlate with morphological changes, such as variations in volume or neuron number, in the hippocampal complex of adult long‐lived mammals. J. Comp. Neurol. 425:152–166, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.