Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Exploring the Neural Representation of Novel Words Learned through Enactment in a Word Recognition Task

Vocabulary learning in a second language is enhanced if learners enrich the learning experience with self-performed iconic gestures. This learning strategy is called enactment. Here we explore how enacted words are functionally represented in the brain and which brain regions contribute to enhance retention. After an enactment training lasting 4 days, participants performed a word recognition task in the functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) scanner. Data analysis suggests the participation of different and partially intertwined networks that are engaged in higher cognitive processes, i.e., enhanced attention and word recognition. Also, an experience-related network seems to map word representation. Besides core language regions, this latter network includes sensory and motor cortices, the basal ganglia, and the cerebellum. On the basis of its complexity and the involvement of the motor system, this sensorimotor network might explain superior retention for enactment.
Atmospheric Conditions for Advection‐Radiation Fog Over the Western Yellow Sea

Advection fog occurs usually when warm and moist air flows over cold sea surface. It is occasionally reported that the fog air temperature falls below sea surface temperature (called here the sea fog with sea surface heating [ssH]) due to longwave radiation cooling at fog top. Using 8‐year buoy observations, this study reveals that about 33% of the time, the advection fog is with ssH in the western Yellow Sea. By synthesizing long‐term observations from meteorological stations, atmospheric soundings, and offshore buoys, this study further investigates the marine atmospheric boundary layer (MABL) structure and atmospheric circulation associated with the ssH sea fog. Composite analysis shows that a local anomalous high pressure favors widespread formation of the ssH sea fog. The subsidence in the high pressure intensifies the thermal and moist stratification between the MABL and free atmosphere through adiabatic warming. The dry air above helps cool the fog layer by enhancing the longwave radiative cooling at the fog top and the vertical mixing beneath, causing air temperature to drop below sea surface temperature. The ratio of sea fog with ssH to total sea fog decreases from spring to summer as the descending motion and MABL stratification both weaken. This study highlights the importance of longwave radiative cooling at the advection fog top and suggests a way to improve sea fog forecast in the Yellow Sea.
Comparing semiliterate and illiterate users' ability to transition from audio+text to text-only interaction

Multimodal interfaces with little or no text have been shown to be useful for users with low literacy. However, this research has not differentiated between the needs of the fully illiterate and semiliterate - those who have basic literacy but cannot read and write fluently. Text offers a fast and unambiguous mode of interaction for literate users and the exposure to text may allow for incidental improvement of reading skills. We conducted two studies that explore how semiliterate users with very little education might benefit from a combination of text and audio as compared to illiterate and literate users. Results show that semiliterate users reduced their use of audio support even during the first hour of use and over several hours this reduction was accompanied by a gain in visual word recognition; illiterate users showed no similar improvement. Semiliterate users should thus be treated differently from illiterate users in interface design.
Posterior Epidural Migration of Sequestrated Cervical Disc Fragment: Case Series

Study Design A retrospective study was undertaken to delineate the characteristics of non-traumatic sequestrated epidurally migrated cervical disc prolapse. Purpose To present first case series of eight such cases diagnosed preoperatively and to discuss their magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) characteristics and their management. Overview of Literature Non-traumatic spontaneous migration of the sequestrated disc fragment epidurally behind cervical vertebral body is rare. Only ten cases have been reported in literature. Methods Detailed clinico-radiological profiles of these 8 cases are presented. In six cases their clinical picture was suggestive of cervical myelopathy. MRI scan showed single level epidural migrated disc behind body of C4, C6, and C7 in six patients and two cases with multiple levels (C5-C6). In six cases, anterior corpectomy with excision of the disc was performed and the seventh patient underwent dorsal laminectomy. The eighth patient chose not to undergo surgery. Results T1 images of the MRI scan showed an isointense signal in all the 8 cases. T2 images revealed a varying intensity. In six cases who underwent anterior corpectomy, there was a rent in the posterior longitudinal ligament. Among those in two cases multiple disc fragments were seen. In the rest four cases, a single large fragment was observed. These patients improved after anterior corpectomy and disc excision. There was no improvement in the patient who had undergone dorsal laminectomy. The eighth patient who refused surgery progressively deteriorated. Conclusions We opine that MRI scan especially T1 images are useful in these cases. We prefer to treat these cases through anterior corpectomy with excision of the sequestrated disc which proved to result in excellent outcome.
The 24-hour sleep propensity function: experimental bases for somnotypology.

The present study investigated the temporal structure of sleep propensity during 48 hours using an ultrashort 7-min sleep/13-min wake cycle. Eight subjects were tested under two experimental conditions of either attempting sleep, or resisting sleep after a monitored night in the laboratory. Electrophysiological recordings were carried out during the 7-min trials. The temporal structure and the overall level of sleepiness of the 48-hour sleep propensity functions calculated from the amount of total sleep in each trial revealed a high within-subjects stability. This was found both across the two days of the study within conditions, and across conditions. Also, diurnal levels of sleepiness were systematically related to nocturnal sleep parameters. Subjects having short nocturnal sleep latencies and higher sleep efficiencies slept more during the day. It is proposed that the structure and level of the sleep propensity function can be used to characterize individuals along two dimensions of somnotypology: "morningness-eveningness" and "sleepy-alert. "
Family Socioeconomic Status and Child Executive Functions: The Roles of Language, Home Environment, and Single Parenthood

Abstract The association between family socioeconomic status (SES) and child executive functions is well-documented. However, few studies have examined the role of potential mediators and moderators. We studied the independent and interactive associations between family SES and single parenthood to predict child executive functions of inhibitory control, cognitive flexibility, and working memory and examined child expressive language abilities and family home environment as potential mediators of these associations. Sixty families from diverse SES backgrounds with a school-age target child (mean [SD] age = 9.9 [0.96] years) were evaluated. Child executive functioning was measured using a brief battery. The quality of the home environment was evaluated using the Home Observation for the Measurement of the Environment inventory. Family SES predicted the three child executive functions under study. Single parent and family SES were interactively associated with children’s inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility; such that children from low SES families who were living with one parent performed less well on executive function tests than children from similarly low SES who were living with two parents. Parental responsivity, enrichment activities and family companionship mediated the association between family SES and child inhibitory control and working memory. This study demonstrates that family SES inequalities are associated with inequalities in home environments and with inequalities in child executive functions. The impact of these disparities as they unfold in the lives of typically developing children merits further investigation and understanding. (JINS, 2011, 17, 000–000)
Ethnic Diversity and Preferences for Redistribution: Reply

In a comment to Dahlberg, Edmark and Lundqvist (2012), Nekby and Pettersson-Lidbom (2012) argue (i) that the refugee placement program should be measured with contracted rather than actually placed refugees, and claim that the correlation between the two measures is insignificant and close to zero; (ii) that instead of using the rotating individual panel, we should have used the full cross-sections in combination with municipality fixed effects; and (iii) that immigrants should be defined based on country of birth rather than citizenship. In this response, we discuss why we (i) do not agree that contracted refugees is the preferred measure, and we show that the correlation between the two measures is highly significant and large; (ii) do not agree that the full cross-sections can be used; and (iii) do agree that defining immigrants according to country of birth is preferred. In a re-analysis, the conclusion from Dahlberg, Edmark and Lundqvist (2012) that ethnic diversity has a statistically and economically significant negative effect on preferences for redistribution is only marginally affected.
Paleomagnetic secular variation at the Azores during the last 3 ka

[1] We report on 33 new paleomagnetic directions obtained from 16 lava flows emplaced in the last 3 ka on Sao Miguel, the largest island of the Azores. The data provide 27 well-dated directions from historical or 14C dated flows which, together with 6 directions previously gathered from the same flows by Johnson et al. (1998), yield the first paleomagnetic directional record of the last 3 ka from the Atlantic Ocean. Within-flow directions are consistent, suggesting that inclination swings from 60° to 25° and declination changes between −10° to 20° reflect variations in the geomagnetic field over the last 3 ka. To a first approximation, the declination record is consistent with predictions from CALS3k.4 and gufm1 global field models. Conversely, inclination values are lower than model predictions at two different ages: 1) four sites from the 1652 AD flow yield I = 48° instead of I = 63° predicted by gufm1; 2) data from several flows nicely mimic the inclination minimum of 800–1400 AD, but inclination values are lower by ∼10° than CALS3k.4 model predictions. By interpolating a cubic spline fit on declination / inclination versus age data, we tentatively infer the directional evolution of the geomagnetic field at the Azores from 1000 BC to 1600 AD. The obtained curve shows three tracks in virtual overlap during the 1000–800 BC, 800–500 BC, and 400–700 AD time spans.
Task and relationship orientation of Americans: a study of gender, age, and work experience

This paper examines the management orientation of employees in the United States by comparing the leadership perception of 484 respondents from the Alaska and Florida regions. It appears that Americans have a significantly higher score on the relationship-orientation than task-orientation. Similarly, the variables of gender, age and work experience produced similar results, showing a significantly higher score for the relationship orientation for these Alaskans and Floridians. The study also presents practical recommendations, suggestions for future research and implications of the study.
Dynamic graph connectivity in polylogarithmic worst case time

The dynamic graph connectivity problem is the following: given a graph on a fixed set of n nodes which is undergoing a sequence of edge insertions and deletions, answer queries of the form q(a, b): "Is there a path between nodes a and b? " While data structures for this problem with polylogarithmic amortized time per operation have been known since the mid-1990's, these data structures have Θ(n) worst case time. In fact, no previously known solution has worst case time per operation which is o(√n). We present a solution with worst case times O(log4 n) per edge insertion, O(log5 n) per edge deletion, and O(log n/log log n) per query. The answer to each query is correct if the answer is "yes" and is correct with high probability if the answer is "no". The data structure is based on a simple novel idea which can be used to quickly identify an edge in a cutset. Our technique can be used to simplify and significantly speed up the preprocessing time for the emergency planning problem while matching previous bounds for an update, and to approximate the sizes of cutsets of dynamic graphs in time O(min{|S|, |V\S|}) for an oblivious adversary.
Cerebral small vessel disease and Alzheimer’s disease

Cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD) is a group of pathological processes with multifarious etiology and pathogenesis that are involved into the small arteries, arterioles, venules, and capillaries of the brain. CSVD mainly contains lacunar infarct or lacunar stroke, leukoaraiosis, Binswanger’s disease, and cerebral microbleeds. CSVD is an important cerebral microvascular pathogenesis as it is the cause of 20% of strokes worldwide and the most common cause of cognitive impairment and dementia, including vascular dementia and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). It has been well identified that CSVD contributes to the occurrence of AD. It seems that the treatment and prevention for cerebrovascular diseases with statins have such a role in the same function for AD. So far, there is no strong evidence-based medicine to support the idea, although increasing basic studies supported the fact that the treatment and prevention for cerebrovascular diseases will benefit AD. Furthermore, there is still lack of evidence in clinical application involved in specific drugs to benefit both AD and CSVD.
ECG and GSR measure and analysis using wearable systems: Application in anorexia nervosa adolescents

The objective of this study was to test the feasibility of using wearable sensors and wireless technology to measure the autonomic function and stress level in the ambulatory setting. Autonomic function was studied acquiring ECG tracings by means of a wearable sensorized chest strap. Galvanic skin response (GSR) was measured as an indicator of stress level by two electrodes positioned on the palm of the non dominant hand and a wireless acquisition module in a wrist support. Data were acquired in a group of young adolescents with anorexia nervosa (AN) as compared to controls in resting conditions. From ECG the tachogram, the mean RR intervals (meanRR), the root mean square of successive differences (RMSSD) the power of low frequency (LF) and high frequency (HF) bands and the LF/HF ratio were assessed. From GSR mean, median, variance, standard deviation, area under the curve of the sampled signal and delta between maximum and minimum conductance values were computed. All AN patients showed reduced HR and increased meanRR and RMSSD. HF increase, LF decrease and LF/HF reduction were suggestive of prevalence of parasympathetic over sympathetic activity. Additionally, AN showed a decreased GSR variance, standard deviation and delta value with respect to controls. The results of this study show that wearable sensors used in this study were feasible, unobtrusive and therefore extremely suitable for young patients providing the means for future monitoring in the home setting which may be preferable in this population burdened by high cardiovascular morbidity and mortality.
Endocarditis Pathogen Promotes Vegetation Formation by Inducing Intravascular Neutrophil Extracellular Traps Through Activated Platelets

Background— Endocarditis-inducing streptococci form multilayered biofilms in complex with aggregated platelets on injured heart valves, but the host factors that interconnect and entrap these bacteria-platelet aggregates to promote vegetation formation were unclear. Methods and Results— In a Streptococcus mutans endocarditis rat model, we identified layers of neutrophil extracellular traps interconnecting and entrapping bacteria-platelet aggregates inside vegetation that could be reduced significantly in size along with diminished colonizing bacteria by prophylaxis with intravascular DNase I alone. The combination of activated platelets and specific immunoglobulin G–adsorbed bacteria are required to induce the formation of neutrophil extracellular traps through multiple activation pathways. Bacteria play key roles in coordinating the signaling through spleen tyrosine kinase, Src family kinases, phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase, and p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase pathways to upregulate the expression of P-selectin in platelets, while inducing reactive oxygen species–dependent citrullination in the arm of neutrophils. Neutrophil extracellular traps in turn serve as the scaffold to further enhance and entrap bacteria-platelet aggregate formation and expansion. Conclusions— Neutrophil extracellular traps promote and expand vegetation formation through enhancing and entrapping bacteria-platelet aggregates on the injured heart valves. (Circulation. 2015;131:571–581. DOI: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.114.011432.)
Detection of aquifer system compaction and land subsidence using interferometric synthetic aperture radar, Antelope Valley, Mojave Desert, California

Interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) has great potential to detect and quantify land subsidence caused by aquifer system compaction. InSAR maps with high spatial detail and resolution of range displacement (±10 mm in change of land surface elevation) were developed for a groundwater basin (∼103 km2) in Antelope Valley, California, using radar data collected from the ERS‐1 satellite. These data allow comprehensive comparison between recent (1993–1995) subsidence patterns and those detected historically (1926–1992) by more traditional methods. The changed subsidence patterns are generally compatible with recent shifts in land and water use. The InSAR‐detected patterns are generally consistent with predictions based on a coupled model of groundwater flow and aquifer system compaction. The minor inconsistencies may reflect our imperfect knowledge of the distribution and properties of compressible sediments. When used in conjunction with coincident measurements of groundwater levels and other geologic information, InSAR data may be useful for constraining parameter estimates in simulations of aquifer system compaction.
A Study of the Effects of Online Advertising: A Focus on Pop-Up and In-Line Ads

Pop-up, pop-under, and in-line ads have been said to be intrusive, and previous findings suggest that they could have important effects on user perception and cognition. Using a 2x2 factorial design, this experimental study examines the effects of those ads. Besides a control group without ads, factors included ad placement (pop-up vs inline) and ad congruence (with the site's content or not). Results indicated that intention to return was impaired by ads; retention of website information was higher when ads were inline or when ads were not congruent with website content; and retention of ad content was higher for inline ads and those that were not congruent to the content of the website. However, contrary to expectations, intentions to return were not affected by ad placement, retention of site content was not affected by the existence of ads, and intrusiveness of ads was not affected by ad congruence.
Priority Scheduling in Wireless Ad Hoc Networks

Ad hoc networks formed without the aid of any established infrastructure are typically multi-hop networks. Location dependent contention and hidden terminal problem make priority scheduling in multi-hop networks significantly different from that in wireless LANs. Most of the prior work related to priority scheduling addresses issues in wireless LANs. In this paper, priority scheduling in multi-hop networks is discussed. We propose a scheme using two narrow-band busy tone signals to ensure medium access for high priority source stations. The simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.
Fragmented Iris Recognition System using BPNN

The authentication of people using Iris based recognition system is the most reliable biometric traits due to its stability, invariant and distinctive features for personal identification. Iris recognition consists of localization of the Iris region, extracting Iris features, generation of data set of Iris images and then Iris pattern recognition. This paper presents Iris recognition system based on partial portion of Iris patterns using Back Propagation Neural Network (BPNN). Experimental results have demonstrated the effectiveness of the propose system in terms of recognition accuracy in comparison with the previous methods.
Rise and fall of conflicting intuitions during reasoning

Recent dual process models proposed that the strength of competing intuitions determines reasoning performance. A key challenge at this point is to search for boundary conditions; identify cases in which the strength of different intuitions will be weaker/stronger. Therefore, we ran two studies with the two-response paradigm in which people are asked to give two answers to a given reasoning problem. We adopted base-rate problems in which base rate and stereotypic information can cue conflicting intuitions. By manipulating the information presentation order, we aimed to manipulate their saliency; and by that, indirectly the activation strength of the intuitions. Contrary to our expectation, we observed that the order manipulation had opposite effects in the initial and final response stages. We explain these results by taking into account that the strength of intuitions is not constant but changes over time; they have a peak, a growth, and a decay rate.
Azoxymethane-induced fulminant hepatic failure in C57BL/6J mice: characterization of a new animal model.

Without transplantation, ∼50-90% of all patients with fulminant hepatic failure (FHF) die. This poor outcome is due in part to the absence of an appropriate animal model, which would allow for a greater understanding of the pathophysiology of this syndrome. Given the reports of liver injury in humans and livestock fed cycad palm nuts on the island of Guam, we hypothesized that the active ingredient azoxymethane (AOM) could cause FHF. We therefore evaluated AOM in C57BL/6J mice. Histologically, we observed microvesicular steatosis 2 h, sinusoidal dilatation 4 h, and centrilobular necrosis 20 h after AOM administration, and transmission electron microscopy showed that this agent causes mitochondrial injury. FHF was associated with all four stages of encephalopathy, as well as by a prodromal period of decreased eating and drinking lasting ∼15 h before the development of stage I encephalopathy (i.e., loss of scatter reflex). Late encephalopathy was associated with increased arterial ammonia, decreased serum glucose, and evidence of brain edema (astrocyte swelling). We show that AOM-induced FHF is highly reproducible, without evidence of lot-to-lot variability, and is dose dependent. These findings therefore suggest that AOM is an excellent agent for the study of FHF, as well as indicate that Guamanian FHF may be due to AOM found in unwashed cycad palm nuts.