Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Concentration of Rift Valley Fever and Chikungunya Viruses by Precipitation

Simple and efficient methods for concentrating Rift Valley fever (RVF) virus and chikungunya (CHIK) virus are described. Ammonium sulfate, potassium sulfate, or alcohol was used as a precipitating agent and the precipitate was resuspended to volumes suitable for further processing and purification. The methods permitted concentration of live RVF virus and CHIK virus about 100-fold with negligible losses of virus. RVF virus retained a high level of infectivity with potassium aluminum sulfate and alcohol, but CHIK virus retained a higher infectivity level with ammonium sulfate than with potassium aluminum sulfate. The data indicate that serum plays an important role in the concentration of both viruses, at least when the sulfate methods are used.
Predicting innovative alternations in Korean verb paradigms

In Korean verbal inflection, all forms in the paradigm (A-suffix, C-suffix, or ɨ-suffix forms) suffer from neutralization of some lexical contrasts, and there is no single form of the paradigm from which one can correctly predict all the other forms in the paradigm. Nevertheless, a survey of child errors and historical change show that the attested reanalyses are overwhelmingly based on ambiguities in A-forms, rather than in other affixal contexts (Kang 2006). In this study we conducted a computational modeling of learning of inflected forms of 952 Korean verbs using the Minimal Generalization Learner algorithm (MGL; Albright and Hayes 2002, 2003) to account for this striking asymmetry. The simulation result shows that A-suffix form correctly predicts the other forms in the paradigm at a higher rate than C-suffix form or ɨsuffix form does, indicating that the A-suffix form is indeed the most informative form of the paradigm. This is in line with the previous studies showing that learners designate the most informative form as a privileged base form (Albright 2002, 2008). We compare the model’s errors with attested child errors and historical changes.
Accuracy of cystoscopy in predicting histologic features of bladder lesions.

PURPOSE To correlate individual endoscopist impressions of the nature (benign/malignant) of a urothelial lesion and, in the case of malignancy, "clinical" grade and stage of bladder lesions with the histologic findings after transurethral biopsy/resection. Furthermore, we compared the assessments of trainees and experienced urologists. PATIENTS AND METHODS We considered 146 patients submitted to cystoscopy and transurethral excision of tumors or biopsy of suspect regions. Clinical and pathologic diagnoses were compared, and the agreement between reports was assessed by calculating kappa statistics. RESULTS Complete agreement between the cystoscopic and histologic diagnoses was found in 131 of 146 cases. Both specialists and trainees had a tendency to overdiagnose bladder cancer, and they were not effective in predicting the precise stage: complete agreement with the pathologic stage was observed in 66.1% and 64.5% of cases, respectively. Grade was assessed correctly in 55.1% and 54.3% of the cases. The two teams of surgeons expressed complete agreement in the prediction of stage in 78.7% of cases (kappa 0.658) and of grade in 73.2% of cases (kappa 0.584). CONCLUSIONS Our study confirms the diagnostic value of cystoscopy, given the high recognizability of the malignant nature of a lesion by both specialists and trainees. However, cystoscopy is less satisfactory for the characterization of the stage and grade of a cancer. The comparative assessment of the endoscopic and pathologic findings could prove useful to assess the effectiveness of training in endoscopy.
Assessing intracortical myelin in the living human brain using myelinated cortical thickness

Alterations in the myelination of the cerebral cortex may underlie abnormal cortical function in a variety of brain diseases. Here, we describe a technique for investigating changes in intracortical myelin in clinical populations on the basis of cortical thickness measurements with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at 3 Tesla. For this, we separately compute the thickness of the shallower, lightly myelinated portion of the cortex and its deeper, heavily myelinated portion (referred to herein as unmyelinated and myelinated cortex, respectively). Our expectation is that the thickness of the myelinated cortex will be a specific biomarker for disruptions in myeloarchitecture. We show representative atlases of total cortical thickness, T, unmyelinated cortical thickness, G, and myelinated cortical thickness, M, for a healthy group of 20 female subjects. We further demonstrate myelinated cortical thickness measurements in a preliminary clinical study of 10 bipolar disorder type-I subjects and 10 healthy controls, and report significant decreases in the middle frontal gyrus in T, G, and M in the disorder, with the largest percentage change occurring in M. This study highlights the potential of myelinated cortical thickness measurements for investigating intracortical myelin involvement in brain disease at clinically relevant field strengths and resolutions.
‘KNOWABLE’ AS ‘KNOWN AFTER AN ANNOUNCEMENT’

Public announcement logic is an extension of multiagent epistemic logic with dynamic operators to model the informational consequences of announcements to the entire group of agents. We propose an extension of public announcement logic with a dynamic modal operator that expresses what is true after any announcement: ⋄φ expresses that there is a truthful announcement ψ after which φ is true. This logic gives a perspective on Fitch's knowability issues: For which formulas φ, does it hold that φ → ⋄Kφ? We give various semantic results and show completeness for a Hilbert-style axiomatization of this logic. There is a natural generalization to a logic for arbitrary events.
Corruption and Development: A Review of Issues

In this paper we start with a discussion of some of the different denotations of the problem of corruption. We then consider the ways in which the damaging consequences of corruption operate in a developing economy, while not ignoring its possible redeeming features in some cases. We pursue the question of why corruption is perceptibly so different in different societies and also persistent. Finally, we examine the feasible policy issues that arise in this context.
Symbol emergence in robotics: a survey

Humans can learn a language through physical interaction with their environment and semiotic communication with other people. It is very important to obtain a computational understanding of how humans can form symbol systems and obtain semiotic skills through their autonomous mental development. Recently, many studies have been conducted regarding the construction of robotic systems and machine learning methods that can learn a language through embodied multimodal interaction with their environment and other systems. Understanding human? -social interactions and developing a robot that can smoothly communicate with human users in the long term require an understanding of the dynamics of symbol systems. The embodied cognition and social interaction of participants gradually alter a symbol system in a constructive manner. In this paper, we introduce a field of research called symbol emergence in robotics (SER). SER represents a constructive approach towards a symbol emergence system. The symbol emergence system is socially self-organized through both semiotic communications and physical interactions with autonomous cognitive developmental agents, i.e. humans and developmental robots. In this paper, specifically, we describe some state-of-art research topics concerning SER, such as multimodal categorization, word discovery, and double articulation analysis. They enable robots to discover words and their embodied meanings from raw sensory-motor information, including visual information, haptic information, auditory information, and acoustic speech signals, in a totally unsupervised manner. Finally, we suggest future directions for research in SER. Graphical Abstract
Corporate Social Responsibility, Public Policy, and Ngo Activism in Europe and the United States: An Institutional-Stakeholder Perspective

abstract Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is an increasingly pervasive phenomenon on the European and North American economic and political landscape. In this paper, we extend neo‐institutional and stakeholder theory to show how differences in the institutional environments of Europe and the United States affect expectations about corporate responsibilities to society. We focus on how these differences are manifested in government policy, corporate strategy, and non‐governmental organization (NGO) activism towards specific issues involving the social responsibilities of corporations. Drawing from recent theoretical and empirical research, and analysis of three case studies (global warming, trade in genetically modified organisms, and pricing of anti‐viral pharmaceuticals in developing countries), we find that different institutional structures and political legacies in the US and EU are important factors in explaining how governments, NGOs, and the broader polity determine and implement preferences regarding CSR in these two important world regions.
Rumination, Magnification, and Helplessness: How do Different Aspects of Pain Catastrophizing Relate to Pain Severity and Functioning?

Objectives:Although there is a large body of research on the relationship between pain catastrophizing and functioning among individuals with chronic pain, little is known about the potential differential impact of specific aspects of pain catastrophizing. The current study evaluates the relationship between the Rumination, Helplessness, and Magnification subscales of the Pain Catastrophizing Scale and pain-related outcomes. Materials and Methods:In total, 844 patients who were admitted to a chronic pain rehabilitation program completed survey measures of pain, catastrophizing, quality of life (QOL), and depression. Results:A series of analyses were conducted entering the 3 subscales simultaneously in a predictive model after pain intensity and demographic variables (ie, age, sex, pain duration, current opioid use). The Helplessness subscale accounted for unique variance in the prediction of pain severity, pain-related interference, mental and physical health-related QOL, and depressed mood. Magnification was significantly related to physical and mental health-related QOL and depressed mood. The Rumination subscale was not uniquely associated with any of the outcome measures beyond that which was accounted for by pain severity, magnification, or helplessness. Discussion:Pain catastrophizing is a multifaceted construct, and different domains of catastrophizing are uniquely related to pain-related outcomes. This study represents the first to evaluate the functioning of these subscales in a large, diagnostically heterogeneous sample of chronic pain patients.
The Impact of Chronic Kidney Disease and Short-Term Treatment with Rosiglitazone on Plasma Cell-Free DNA Levels

Patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) are at increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Circulating free nucleic acids, known as cell-free DNA (cfDNA), have been proposed as a novel biomarker of cardiovascular risk. The impact of renal impairment on cfDNA levels and whether cfDNA is associated with endothelial dysfunction and inflammation in CKD has not been systematically studied. We analysed cfDNA concentrations from patients with varying degrees of CKD. In addition, to determine whether there is a relationship between cfDNA, inflammation, and endothelial dysfunction in CKD, levels of proinflammatory cytokines and von Willebrand Factor (vWF) were measured in patients treated with the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma agonist rosiglitazone or placebo for 8 weeks. cfDNA levels were not increased with renal impairment or associated with the degree of renal dysfunction (P = 0.5). Treatment with rosiglitazone for 8 weeks, but not placebo, was more likely to lead to a reduction in cfDNA levels (P = 0.046); however, the absolute changes in cfDNA concentrations during treatment were not statistically significant (P > 0.05). cfDNA levels correlated with markers of endothelial dysfunction (hsCRP P = 0.0497) and vWF (P = 0.0005). In conclusion, cell-free DNA levels are not influenced by renal impairment but do reflect endothelial dysfunction in patients with CKD.
Is there an aid Laffer curve

Comparing aid flows in the 1990s with those from the 1970s make it clear that there are now many more countries receiving what may be termed "high aid" (say in excess of 30 per cent of GNP) and that there has emerged a group of countries receiving very high aid. Whilst never formally considered in the literature, there is a feeling that such high aid may do more harm than good, a notion which may be captured in an aid Laffer curve. This paper presents an endogenous growth model which exhibits negative returns to aid at high aid levels, and offer some additional reasons as to why such a phenomenon may exist. Finally, empirical evidence is provided from cross-country regressions which confirms the existence of an aid Laffer curve.
A Passion for Teaching

Introduction: The Need for Passion 1. Why Passion is Essential 2. Moral Purposes: Care, Courage and Pupil's Voices 3. Emotions and Identities 4. The Passion of Commitment: Job Satisfaction, Motivation and Efficacy 5. Building Knowledge About Practice 6. A Passion for Learning and Development 7. Passionate Learning Communities 8. Sustaining the Passion
Fuzzy support vector machines for pattern classification

In conventional support vector machines (SVMs), an n-class problem is converted into n two-class problems. For the ith two-class problem we determine the optimal decision function which separates class i from the remaining classes. In classification, a datum is classified into class i only when the value of the ith decision function is positive. In this architecture, the datum is unclassifiable if the values of more than one decision function are positive or all the valves are negative. In the paper, to overcome this problem, we propose fuzzy support vector machines (FSVMs). Using the decision functions obtained by training the SVM, for each class, we define a truncated polyhedral pyramidal membership function. Since, for the data in the classifiable regions, the classification results are the same for the two methods, the generalization ability of the FSVM is the same as or better than that of the SVM. We evaluate our method for three benchmark data sets and demonstrate the superiority of the FSVM over the SVM.
Early Onset Problem Behavior, Young Adult Psychopathology, and Contextual Risk

Abstract A prospective study of 692 male twins was undertaken to investigate the relationships among early adolescent problem behavior, contextual risk, and disinhibitory psychopathology. Early adolescent problem behavior was assessed by the number of the following behaviors engaged in by the time of the age-14 assessment: (1) tobacco use, (2) alcohol use, (3) marijuana use, (4) other illicit drug use, (5) sexual intercourse, and (6) police contact. Contextual risk was assessed as a composite of measures of peer models, parent-offspring conflict, and academic engagement from the age-14 assessment. Disinhibitory psychopathology was assessed by symptoms of nicotine dependence, alcohol dependence, drug dependence, and adult antisocial behavior at the age-18 assessment. Early adolescent problem behavior and contextual risk were strongly correlated (r = .53) and both were strongly and independently associated with symptoms of disinhibitory psychopathology (r from .35 to .60). The association of early adolescent problem behavior with both contextual risk and disinhibitory psychopathology was mediated entirely by genetic factors while the association between contextual risk and disinhibitory psychopathology was mediated by both genetic and nonshared environmental factors. The results are discussed in the context of emerging research on the prognostic significance of early adolescent problem behavior for risk of adult psychopathology.
Lexical Decision and Language Switching

Previous research has suggested that there is a cost in switching between language in a lexical decision task. This paper reports two studies exploring its basis. Experiment 1 confirmed such a cost in a lexical decision task in which the target language for a trial is specified. German-English bilinguals were slower on switch trials compared to nonswitch trials. Experiment 2 changed the task to one in which a word response could be given independent of language. In this case, there was still a cost of switching between languages but it was much reduced. We propose that in bilingual lexical decision a cost arises because of the process of testing the output of the lexico-semantic system. Different lexical decision tasks induce different output tests. We also outline a mechanism that could give rise to these effects based on the notion of competition between language schemas.
Formalization, Role Stress, Organizational Commitment, and Propensity-to-Leave

Abstract This study of Korean industrial salespeople (N = 140) examines the relationships among organizational formalization, role stress, organizational commitment, and propensity to leave. Although most of the theoretical and empirical research in this area was done in the United States, this study examines whether the same concepts could be applied to a culturally different salesforce. The results of the structural modeling analysis suggest that overall the model of job variables and propensity to leave developed in the U.S. could be applied to a Korean salesforce. However, some culture-related differences do exist in the nature of specific relationships.
Self-managed work teams in nursing homes: implementing and empowering nurse aide teams.

PURPOSE This article describes the progress of our study to examine the advantages and costs of using self-managed nurse aide teams in nursing homes, steps that are being taken to implement such teams, and management strategies being used to manage the teams. DESIGN AND METHODS A quasi-experimental design is underway where certified nurse aide (CNA) teams are being established in five nursing homes (NHs) in the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area, and five additional NHs are being treated as comparison NHs. RESULTS As of March 2004 CNA teams were established in five NHs, and baseline survey data were collected from the CNAs, nurses, residents, and family members in each of these NHs as well as from those in the five comparison homes. IMPLICATIONS Qualitative analyses show positive effects of CNA teams. Quantitative analyses will not be complete until follow-up survey data are collected 12 months after team implementation. Steps for implementing teams include surveying management to be sure that they want nurse teams; orienting and training the managers, nurses, and nurse aides; and facilitating the teams. Management of the teams includes routine feedback from management to the teams and vice versa while using a give-and-take approach.
10-Year results after sector resection with or without postoperative radiotherapy for stage I breast cancer: a randomized trial.

PURPOSE To study the long-term effectiveness of postoperative radiotherapy after sector resection for breast cancer in a randomized trial in which mammography is a major pathway to diagnosis. PATIENTS AND METHODS Three hundred eighty-one women with a unifocal breast cancer < or = 20 mm in diameter on the preoperative mammogram and without histopathologic signs of axillary metastases were treated by sector resection plus axillary dissection. Of these patients, 184 women were randomized to receive postoperative radiotherapy to the breast (XRT group), and 197 women received no further treatment (non-XRT group). RESULTS The local recurrence rate was 8.5% (95% confidence interval [CI], 3.9% to 13.1%) in the XRT group and 24.0% (95% CI, 17.6% to 30.4%) in the non-XRT group (P =.0001). Survival free from regional and distant recurrence was 83. 3% in the XRT group (95% CI, 77.5% to 89.1%) and 80.0% in the non-XRT group (95% CI, 73.9% to 86.1%) (P =.23). Overall survival was 77.5% in the XRT group (95% CI, 70.9% to 84.1%) and 78% in the non-XRT group (95% CI, 71.7% to 84.3%) (P =.99). A subgroup analysis suggested that women older than 55 years of age without comedo or lobular carcinomas had a low risk of local recurrence of 6.1% (95% CI, 0.1% to 9.1%) in the XRT-group and 11.0% (4.0% to 18.0%) in the non-XRT group (P =.16). CONCLUSION Sector resection plus radiotherapy resulted in an absolute reduction in local recurrence of 16% at 10 years compared with surgery alone. Women older than 55 years of age without comedo or lobular carcinomas may have a low risk of local recurrence. Postoperative radiotherapy was not shown to reduce distant recurrences or improve overall survival.
Interaction of Amorphous Silica Nanoparticles with Erythrocytes in Vitro: Role of Oxidative Stress

Background/Aims: The use of engineered nanomaterials in the form of nanoparticles (NP) for various biomedical applications, as well as in consumer products, has raised concerns about their safety for human health. These NP are intended to be administered directly into the circulation following intravenous injection, or they may reach the circulation following other routes of administration such as oral or inhalation, and interact with circulating cells such as erythrocytes. However, little is known about the interaction of amorphous SiNP with erythrocytes. Methods: We studied the interaction of amorphous silica nanoparticles (SiNP) at various concentrations (1, 5, 25 and 125µg/ml) with mouse erythrocytes in vitro. Results: Incubation of erythrocytes with SiNP caused a dose-dependent hemolytic effect. Likewise, the activity of lactate dehydrogenase was dose-dependently increased by SiNP. Transmission electron microscopy analysis revealed that SiNP are taken up by erythrocytes. Lipid erythrocyte susceptibility to in vitro peroxidation measured by malondialdehyde showed a significant and dose-dependent increase in erythrocytes. SiNP also enhanced the antioxidant activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase and reduced glutathione (GSH). Moreover, SiNP increased caspase 3, triggered annexin V-binding and caused a dose-dependent increase of cytosolic calcium concentration. Conclusion: It can be concluded that SiNP cause a dose-dependent hemolytic activity and are taken up by the erythrocytes. We also found that SiNP induce the occurrence of oxidative activity, apoptosis and increase cytosolic Ca2+, which may explain their haemolytic activity. Our in vitro data suggest that SiNP may, plausibly, lead to anemia and circulatory disorders in vivo.
The genetic structure of a province as revealed by surnames and HLA genes: potential utility in transplantation policy

The combined use of surnames, which simulate selectively neutral genetic markers, and HLA genes may constitute a useful tool for the genetic survey of a small area. We found a coincidence between HLA genetic structure and surname ‘selectively neutral’ pattern, in an Italian province, although HLA genes indicate a more pronounced genetic isolation for one particular subregion of the province. The patchiness of HLA allele distribution that is sometimes created by drift and/or selection can be used as the basis both of anthropological and of epidemiological studies. The creation of genetic maps of relatively small areas may also constitute a tool for the selection of bone marrow donors.