Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Eye Movements and Processing Stages in Reading: Relative Contribution of Visual, Lexical, and Contextual Factors

The independent and the combined influence of word length, word frequency, and contextual predictability on eye movements in reading was examined across processing stages under two priming-context conditions. Length, frequency, and predictability were used as predictors in multiple regression analyses, with parafoveal, early, late, and spillover eye movement measures as the dependent variables. There were specific effects of: (a) length, both on where to look (how likely a word was fixated and in which location) and how long to fixate, across all processing stages; (b) frequency, on how long to fixate a word, but not on where to look, at an early processing stage; and (c) predictability, both on how likely a word was fixated and for how long, in late processing stages. The source of influence for predictability was related to global rather than to local contextual priming. The contribution of word length was independent of contextual source. These results are relevant to determine both the time course of the influence of visual, lexical, and contextual factors on eye movements in reading, and which main component of eye movements, that is, location or duration, is affected. El estudio investiga la influencia específica y la conjunta que la longitud de las palabras, su frecuencia léxica y su predecibilidad contextual tienen sobre los movimientos oculares durante la lectura, a lo largo de varios estadios de procesamiento y en dos condiciones contextuales. Longitud, frecuencia y predecibilidad fueron predictores en un análisis de regresión múltiple, mientras que medidas parafoveales, tempranas, tardías y de arrastre en los movimientos oculares fueron las variables dependientes. Se encontraron efectos específicos de: (a) la longitud, sobre dónde se fija la mirada y durante cuánto tiempo, en todas las fases de procesamiento; (b) la frecuencia léxica, sobre cuánto tiempo dura la fijación, pero no dónde se produce ésta, en una fase temprana de procesamiento; y (c) la predecibilidad, sobre la probabilidad y duración de la fijación, en una fase tardía de procesamiento. La fuente de influencia de la predecibilidad fue global más que local. La contribución de la longitud fue independiente del contexto. Estos resultados son relevantes para determinar el curso temporal de la influencia de factores visuales, léxicos y contextuales sobres los movimientos oculares en la lectura, y qué componente— ubicación y/o duración—es afectado.
High order sliding mode and an unknown input observers: Comparison with integral sliding mode control for induction machine drive

This paper presents a comparison study between high order sliding mode and unknown input observers performances which embedded in an integral sliding mode control scheme for induction machine drive. Both observers purpose is to estimate the machine states. Based on these states, an integral sliding mode controller is designed. The stability of the closed-loop system is shown by using the Lyapunov theory. A comparative simulation results are presented to show the effectiveness of both observers and performance of the controller, in terms of robustness, in low and high speed operation mode, with respect to machine resistances variations and load disturbance.
Enhancing jump ground reaction forces in children through jump training

Plyometric training is a popular form of exercise training and is often included in exercise programmes and tests for children. As such, the aim of the study was to determine the effect of different types of plyometric jumps on jump performance in children. Forty children were randomly assigned into either one of three experimental groups: Group 1, mean age 13.80±1.23, (training based on jumps) (JUM); Group 2, mean age, 13.50±0.97 (training based on hops) (HOP); Group 3, mean age, 13.90±1.20 (training based on box drills) (BOX); Group 4, mean age 13.90±1.20 (non-exercising control group) (CON). Training lasted nine weeks. Jump ground reaction forces were assessed using: counter-movement jump (CMJ), continuous jump with bent legs (CJb) and drop jump (DJ). This study elicited significant (p≤0.05) improvements in jump height in all test jumps (CMJ, CJb and DJ) in the JUM, HOP and BOX. Furthermore, the JUM and HOP resulted in increases in jumping power during CMJ and CJb with only the BOX improving jump power during the DJ. Only the JUM resulted in significant increases in jump force during the CMJ. These improvements following simple jumps requiring minimal equipment strongly support the use of jump training to enhance athletic performance in children.
Differences in the Genetic Susceptibility to Age-Related Macular Degeneration Clinical Subtypes.

PURPOSE We compared across age-related macular degeneration (AMD) subtypes the effect of AMD risk variants, their predictive power, and heritability. METHODS The prevalence of AMD was estimated among active non-Hispanic white Kaiser Permanente Northern California members who were at least 65 years of age as of June 2013. The genetic analysis included 5,170 overall AMD cases ascertained from electronic health records (EHR), including 1,239 choroidal neovascularization (CNV) cases and 1,060 nonexudative AMD cases without CNV, and 23,130 controls of non-Hispanic white ancestry from the Kaiser Permanente Genetic Epidemiology Research on Adult Health and Aging (GERA) cohort. Imputation was based on the 1000 Genomes Project reference panel. RESULTS The narrow-sense heritability due to common autosomal single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) was 0.37 for overall AMD, 0.19 for AMD unspecified, 0.20 for nonexudative AMD, and 0.60 for CNV. For the 19 previously reported AMD risk loci, the area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was 0.675 for overall AMD, 0.640 for AMD unspecified, 0.678 for nonexudative AMD, and 0.766 for CNV. The individual effects on the risk of AMD for 18 of the 19 SNPs were in a consistent direction with those previously reported, including a protective effect of the APOE ε4 allele. Conversely, the risk of AMD was significantly increased in carriers of the ε2 allele. CONCLUSIONS These findings provide an independent confirmation of many of the previously identified AMD risk loci, and support a potentially greater role of genetic factors in the development of CNV. The replication of established associations validates the use of EHR in genetic studies of ophthalmologic traits.
A Mobile Cloud-Based Parkinson’s Disease Assessment System for Home-Based Monitoring

Background Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the most prevalent movement disorder of the central nervous system, and affects more than 6.3 million people in the world. The characteristic motor features include tremor, bradykinesia, rigidity, and impaired postural stability. Current therapy based on augmentation or replacement of dopamine is designed to improve patients’ motor performance but often leads to levodopa-induced adverse effects, such as dyskinesia and motor fluctuation. Clinicians must regularly monitor patients in order to identify these effects and other declines in motor function as soon as possible. Current clinical assessment for Parkinson’s is subjective and mostly conducted by brief observations made during patient visits. Changes in patients’ motor function between visits are hard to track and clinicians are not able to make the most informed decisions about the course of therapy without frequent visits. Frequent clinic visits increase the physical and economic burden on patients and their families. Objective In this project, we sought to design, develop, and evaluate a prototype mobile cloud-based mHealth app, “PD Dr”, which collects quantitative and objective information about PD and would enable home-based assessment and monitoring of major PD symptoms. Methods We designed and developed a mobile app on the Android platform to collect PD-related motion data using the smartphone 3D accelerometer and to send the data to a cloud service for storage, data processing, and PD symptoms severity estimation. To evaluate this system, data from the system were collected from 40 patients with PD and compared with experts’ rating on standardized rating scales. Results The evaluation showed that PD Dr could effectively capture important motion features that differentiate PD severity and identify critical symptoms. For hand resting tremor detection, the sensitivity was . 77 and accuracy was . 82. For gait difficulty detection, the sensitivity was . 89 and accuracy was . 81. In PD severity estimation, the captured motion features also demonstrated strong correlation with PD severity stage, hand resting tremor severity, and gait difficulty. The system is simple to use, user friendly, and economically affordable. Conclusions The key contribution of this study was building a mobile PD assessment and monitoring system to extend current PD assessment based in the clinic setting to the home-based environment. The results of this study proved feasibility and a promising future for utilizing mobile technology in PD management.
Human immunodeficiency virus 1 expression in the female genital tract in association with cervical inflammation and ulceration.

OBJECTIVES Determining the source of human immunodeficiency virus 1 in the female genital tract and identifying factors that influence the amount of virus shed are important in the understanding of heterosexual human immunodeficiency virus 1 transmission. STUDY DESIGN Cervicovaginal human immunodeficiency virus 1 ribonucleic acid shedding was quantified before and after treatment of cervical squamous intraepithelial lesions in 14 women. Genotypic analysis was performed on peptide HIV-1 env gp120 of the major human immunodeficiency virus 1 species in plasma and cervicovaginal lavage of selected samples. RESULTS At 2 to 4 weeks after treatment, when cervices were inflamed and ulcerated, human immunodeficiency virus 1 ribonucleic acid in lavage samples increased 1.0 to 4.4 log 10. Genotypic analysis showed significant differences between the predominant human immunodeficiency virus 1 species in paired plasma and lavage samples from 2 of 4 women, suggesting that the increase in human immunodeficiency virus 1 was the result of local viral replication. CONCLUSIONS Cervical inflammation and ulceration are associated with local human immunodeficiency virus 1 expression, which increases as much as 10,000-fold the amount of human immunodeficiency virus 1 shed into genital secretions. This may explain why sexually transmitted diseases are important risk factors for human immunodeficiency virus transmission.
Protein rotational diffusion and lipid/protein interactions in recombinants of bovine rhodopsin with saturated diacylphosphatidylcholines of different chain lengths studied by conventional and saturation-transfer electron spin resonance.

Bovine rhodopsin has been reconstituted in seven different saturated diacylphosphatidylcholine species of odd and even chain lengths from C-12 to C-18 at a lipid/protein ratio (60:1 mol/mol) comparable to that in the native rod outer segment disk membrane. All recombinants were found to be photochemically active, in that optical bleaching produced a temperature- and lipid chain-length-dependent mixture of species absorbing at 480 and 380 nm. Both the rotational diffusion of rhodopsin and lipid-protein interactions in the various recombinants were studied by saturation transfer and conventional electron spin resonance spectroscopy of spin-labeled rhodopsin and of spin-labeled phosphatidylcholine, respectively. In the fluid lipid phase, the rotational diffusion rate of rhodopsin was found to be dependent on the lipid chain length of the different recombinants in a nonmonotonic manner. The diffusion rate in dilauroylphosphatidylcholine was found to be very slow, indicating extensive protein aggregation, whereas that in dipentadecanoylphosphatidylcholine was rapid (effective correlation time ca. 7 microseconds), consistent with the presence of monomeric protein. For recombinants with longer lipid chain lengths, the rotational diffusion rate again decreased, indicating the presence of di- or oligomeric protein. The fraction of lipid motionally restricted at temperatures in the fluid phase was also dependent on the chain length of the phosphatidylcholine used in the reconstitution. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Measurement of exogenous and endogenous inhibin in sheep serum using a new and extremely sensitive bioassay for inhibin based on inhibition of ovine pituitary FSH secretion in vitro.

An extremely sensitive and reliable bioassay for inhibin based on inhibition of ovine pituitary FSH secretion in vitro was developed and used to measure exogenous and endogenous inhibin activity in the ewe. The sheep inhibin bioassay is 30- to 40-fold more sensitive than conventional rat inhibin bioassays. The minimum sensitivity of each bioassay in the measurement of inhibin activity in 1 ml of sheep serum is 220 mu. and 4080 mu. in the sheep and rat bioassays respectively. This sensitive inhibin bioassay has permitted, for the first time, the measurement of endogenous inhibin in the peripheral and ovarian vein blood of the sheep, as well as exogenously administered inhibin. The half-life of exogenously administered ovine inhibin (in follicular fluid) in the sheep was calculated as two components (18-24 and 50-60 min) from the inhibin profiles of six ewes. Inhibin contained in the ovine follicular fluid, given as a bolus i.v. injection, increased to maximum levels after 5 min and then remained increased for 10-32 min depending upon the dose administered, before exponentially decaying. The time for inhibin to exert its effect ranged from 3 to 6 h after injection and appeared to be dose-related. The bolus injection of inhibin, apart from causing suppression of FSH, evoked a large rebound increase of FSH up to 400% of preinjection levels. The development of the sheep bioassay will allow the measurement of biologically active inhibin in the peripheral circulation and ovarian vein blood of sheep with the possibility of extending this to man.
“Like a Ball and Glove”: Teachers’ Conceptions of the Promise and Challenges of Conducting Classroom Inquiry

ABSTRACT Teacher inquiry holds promise in teacher education, but only if student teachers take up inquiry practices as they leave preservice and transition to teaching. As they learn to conduct inquiry during preservice, student teachers may begin to internalize dispositions that promote ongoing inquiry experiences. Through analysis of questionnaires conducted at preservice and inservice, and through a focus group discussion, the authors sought to understand how teachers who had experienced one scaffolded, student-focused, and data-based preservice teacher inquiry model conceptualized the relationship between teaching and inquiry. Analyses revealed that teachers’ conceptions cast inquiry overall as a tight fit with teaching in three ways: by fostering a focus on students, by generating metacognitive knowledge about inquiry as a useful classroom process, and by deepening teacher knowledge about ways to respond thoughtfully to diagnosed student need. Analyses suggest program model elements may have seeded these conceptions.
Widespread tinea corporis caused by Trichophyton rubrum with non‐typical cultural characteristics – diagnosis via PCR

From the epidemiological point of view, Trichophyton rubrum is the most important dermatophyte in the Western world. Mostly, the lesions of fungal infections of the skin are restricted and circumscribed. Immunodeficiency, diabetes or treatment with steroids, however, favour widespread disease involving the entire integument. In the present study, we describe a patient without immunodeficiency or diabetes presenting with widespread tinea corporis caused by T. rubrum. The fungal isolate showed atypical morphological features. Moreover, the typical metabolic features (negative urease test, production of red pigment on potato dextrose agar) were expressed with delay after 6 weeks of cultivation. Thus, sequencing of the internal transcribed spacer of the ribosomal DNA was applied to identify the fungal isolate and led us to the correct diagnosis, before conventional mycological methods were successful.
Comparative Outcomes of Younger and Older Hospitalized Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease Treated with Corticosteroids

Background:Data on the differences in inpatient treatment approaches and outcomes between younger and older patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are limited. Therefore, we used a parallel cohort study design to compare outcomes between younger and older patients with IBD. Methods:All anti–tumor necrosis factor (TNF)–naive patients aged 60 years and older hospitalized at our institution between 2003 and 2011 and treated with corticosteroids for an IBD flare were matched 1:1 to younger patients aged 18 to 50 years. Rates of corticosteroid response, colectomy, and initiation of anti-TNF therapy were compared. Results:Sixty-five patients were identified in each cohort. Median ages were 70 years (range, 60–94) and 30 years (range, 18–50) for the older and younger groups, respectively. Twenty-three percent of older patients were refractory to corticosteroids compared with 38% of the younger cohort (odds ratio, 0.5; 95% confidence intervals, 0.2–1.1). Older corticosteroid-refractory patients had surgery (80% versus 72%) and were started on anti-TNF therapy (20% versus 12%; P = 0.71), at a similar frequency as younger patients. Older steroid-responsive patients were less likely to start an anti-TNF agent during the first year of follow-up than younger patients (7% versus 31%, P = 0.006), but there was no difference in 1-year colectomy rates (27% versus 28%, P = 0.63). Conclusions:Corticosteroid response was similar in older and younger patients hospitalized for IBD. Inpatient treatment for corticosteroid-refractory patients was similar between cohorts. Older corticosteroid-responsive patients were less likely to be treated with an anti-TNF than younger patients.
Disease-proportional proteasomal degradation of missense dystrophins

Significance Duchenne and Becker muscular dystrophies occur at a frequency of 1:4,000 live male births. Patients experience progressive muscle weakness and often succumb to cardiac or respiratory failure. Many laboratories are investigating potential treatments, including several therapies that target subsets of patients with certain types of mutations. Yet there are currently no treatments specific to patients with missense mutations in the affected protein, dystrophin. Here, we have shown missense mutant dystrophin is degraded by the cell, which can be prevented by several small molecules targeting the cellular degradation machinery. In addition to determining disease mechanism, this work has generated new cell-based models that may aid in the discovery of personalized medicines for dystrophinopathy patients afflicted with missense mutations. The 427-kDa protein dystrophin is expressed in striated muscle where it physically links the interior of muscle fibers to the extracellular matrix. A range of mutations in the DMD gene encoding dystrophin lead to a severe muscular dystrophy known as Duchenne (DMD) or a typically milder form known as Becker (BMD). Patients with nonsense mutations in dystrophin are specifically targeted by stop codon read-through drugs, whereas out-of-frame deletions and insertions are targeted by exon-skipping therapies. Both treatment strategies are currently in clinical trials. Dystrophin missense mutations, however, cause a wide range of phenotypic severity in patients. The molecular and cellular consequences of such mutations are not well understood, and there are no therapies specifically targeting this genotype. Here, we have modeled two representative missense mutations, L54R and L172H, causing DMD and BMD, respectively, in full-length dystrophin. In vitro, the mutation associated with the mild phenotype (L172H) caused a minor decrease in tertiary stability, whereas the L54R mutation associated with a severe phenotype had a more dramatic effect. When stably expressed in mammalian muscle cells, the mutations caused steady-state decreases in dystrophin protein levels inversely proportional to the tertiary stability and directly caused by proteasomal degradation. Both proteasome inhibitors and heat shock activators were able to increase mutant dystrophin to WT levels, establishing the new cell lines as a platform to screen for potential therapeutics personalized to patients with destabilized dystrophin.
What's in a Grade? A Mixed Methods Investigation of Teacher Assessment of Grammatical Ability in L2 Academic Writing

This study investigates how grammatical ability is assessed in L2 academic writing classrooms. In the assessment literature, grammatical ability is defined to include syntax and morphology (Purpura, 2004; Weigle, 2002) and lexical forms, cohesion, and information management on the subsentential, sentential, and suprasentential levels (Purpura, 2004). Writing teachers would, therefore, need to attend to morphosyntactic and other grammatical aspects in L2 texts that serve to organize information and create cohesion on the sentence, paragraph, and text levels. In a mixed methods triangulation design (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2007) using both quantitative and qualitative methods, this study examines the indicators of grammatical ability that writing teachers (n = 2) attend to when assessing their students‘ (n = 33) grammatical ability in academic essays in one highintermediate and one advanced L2 writing course at an English-medium university in Canada. In addition, the study considers to what extent the students‘ learning is affected by the teachers‘ assessment criteria. In the first phase of this study, the students‘ essay exams and the teacher-assigned grammar grade were collected and analyzed quantitatively using accuracy and complexity measures as indicators of morphosyntactic ability. They were also examined qualitatively within a framework of systemic functional linguistics to assess the students‘ ability to manage information in their texts. In phase two, student questionnaires were administered, and student interviews were conducted to determine the students‘ knowledge of the teachers‘ assessment criteria for grammar. In phase three, the teachers were interviewed about their criteria and their priorities in the assessment of grammar. Finally, the results from all three phases and all four data
Mechanical response of copper nanowires under torsion

Molecular dynamics simulations are used to investigate mechanical properties of <; 1 0 0 >, <; 1 1 0 > and <; 1 1 1 > oriented copper nanowires under different torsional loading rate and temperature. The embedded-atom potential is employed to describe the interactions between Cu atoms. The effects of loading rates and temperature on the critical angle of Cu are discussed. These results of molecular dynamics simulations about the torsion of copper nanowires show that there is a positive correlation between critical angle and loading rate. On the contrary, during the torsion process of copper nanowires, the critical angle decreases with the increasing of temperature. However, mechanical response of copper nanowires under torsion still has some diversity for different lattice orientations. For different loading rate, the amplitude of critical angle of lattice orientation <; 1 1 0 > is much bigger than others. What's more, lattice orientation <; 1 1 1 > has a better temperature stability.