Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Retrieval-induced Forgetting: Testing the Competition Assumption of Inhibition Theory Investigating Rif

Practicing the retrieval of some information can lead to poorer retrieval of other related information, a phenomenon called retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF). This pattern has been explained as the result of inhibition of the related information during practice (Anderson, 2003). A core assumption of this inhibition account is that, to be suppressed, the related information must compete with the target information at the time of retrieval practice. Three experiments are reported that test this competition assumption. One experiment showed that RIF did not occur without specific retrieval practice of the target items when semantic generation of subordinates was performed. However, in 2 further experiments, RIF did occur when the semantic generation task was paired with category retrieval. Although there was no need for competition between target information and related information in these experiments, RIF was observed. These experiments undermine the competition assumption and hence the inhibition account. Forgetting can be a distressing event. When trying to recall the name of an acquaintance, one might find that the names of other acquaintances come to mind, without successful recall of the name being sought. However frustrating these lapses of memory may be, our processing system functions to reduce the influence of irrelevant information so as to facilitate the processing and remembering of relevant information. Indeed, constantly remembering previous experiences that are not relevant to our present situation would be quite distracting, even disturbing. Our ability to forget is an adaptive function (see Bjork, 1989; James, 1890). One form of forgetting has been of particular interest recently because it seems rather paradoxical. Not surprisingly, the act of retrieval improves later memory for the retrieved materialever, this act of retrieval also influences memory for related but not retrieved material. Such retrieval may actually result in a cost for related items, a phenomenon called retrieval-induced forgetting The paradigm typically used to investigate RIF was developed by Anderson et al. (1994). It involves studying several sets of category-exemplar pairs taken from different categories. Thus, participants might study FRUIT–apple, FRUIT– orange, DRINK–wine, and DRINK–rum at random points throughout a list. Participants are later tested on these items, but a critical intervening task occurs first: retrieval practice of half of the items from half of the categories. During this intervening retrieval-practice task, participants might practice retrieving apple from the FRUIT category by completing a word stem (e.g., FRUIT–ap__); this task would not be performed on orange or on any …
Extended exhaled nitric oxide analysis in field surveys of schoolchildren: A pilot test

Extended exhaled nitric oxide (eNO) analysis can distinguish proximal and distal airway contributions to FeNO. Thus, it has the potential to detect effects of different environmental influences, allergic phenotypes, and genetic variants on proximal and distal airways. However, its feasibility in field surveys has not been demonstrated, and models for estimating compartmental NO contributions have not been standardized. In this study we verified that extended NO tests can be performed by children in schools, and assessed different analytical models to estimate bronchial flux and alveolar NO concentration. We tested students at a middle school, using EcoMedics NO analyzers with ambient NO scrubbers, at flows of 50 (conventional), 30, 100, and 300 ml/sec, with 2–3 trials at each flow. Data from 65 children were analyzed by two linear and four nonlinear published models, plus a new empirical nonlinear model. Bronchial NO flux estimates from different models differed in magnitude but were strongly correlated (r ≥ 0.95), and increased in subjects with allergic asthma. Alveolar concentration estimates differed among models and did not consistently show the same effects of allergy or asthma. A novel index of nonlinear behavior of NO output versus flow was significantly related to asthma status, and not strongly correlated with bronchial flux or alveolar concentration. Field‐based extended NO testing of children can yield useful information about NO in different regions of the respiratory tract that is not obtainable from conventional FeNO. Extended NO analysis holds promise for investigating environmental and genetic determinants of regional airway inflammatory states. Pediatr Pulmonol. 2009; 44:1033–1042. ©2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience Aging Neuroscience Hundred Days of Cognitive Training Enhance Broad Cognitive Abilities in Adulthood: Findings from the Cogito Study Materials and Methods Participants and Procedure

basis of general cognitive abilities. Examples for such functions are working memory (WM) and executive functions (Klingberg et al. recently reported transfer of WM training to performance on a matrices test of Gf. However, as transfer of training had been demonstrated for only one task, the study does not warrant strong conclusions about the scope of transfer (Sternberg, 2008; Moody, 2009). Specifically, transfer may have just been restricted to a single test of Gf based on figural materials and may have been absent for other fluid tests with figural content , or for tests using numerical or verbal materials. Generally, demonstrating that transfer has occurred for a single test of a particular ability is insufficient for claiming that this ability has improved. Whenever transfer effects are reported for just one task, it is more parsimonious to assume that the observed gains, both on the trained and on the transfer task, result from com-monalities in mechanisms and content that does not generalize to cognitive abilities. To overcome these limitations, proposals have been made to base the evaluation of transfer effects on changes at the ability as a reference frame, arbitrary definitions of near vs. far transfer can be replaced with definitions of transfer in terms of narrow, broad, or general abilities. Such a shift of transfer assessment from tasks to abilities can be achieved in two steps. First, the targeted abilities have to be indexed by more than one task, and preferably with tasks that vary both in procedure and content to represent the given ability in a sufficiently broad way (Little et al., 1999). IntroductIon The goal of improving cognitive abilities through practice and training has been pursued in numerous intervention studies, particularly with older adults (for reviews, see The main conclusions drawn from this research were that: (a) cogni-tive performance can be substantially improved through strategy training and practice up to very old age; (b) performance gains can be maintained up to several years; and (c) positive transfer of training to non-practiced tasks is generally non-existent or small (see also Owen et al., 2010). The widespread absence of positive transfer in cognitive intervention studies is consistent with the longstanding distinction between the acquisition of skills, with limited applicability beyond trained tasks, and the improvement of abilities, denoting gains in general mechanisms and capacities that carry the potential for improved performance across a wide range of tasks (cf. Thorndike, 1906). …
On the joint source-channel coding error exponent for discrete memoryless systems

We investigate the computation of Csisza/spl acute/r's bounds for the joint source-channel coding (JSCC) error exponent E/sub J/ of a communication system consisting of a discrete memoryless source and a discrete memoryless channel. We provide equivalent expressions for these bounds and derive explicit formulas for the rates where the bounds are attained. These equivalent representations can be readily computed for arbitrary source-channel pairs via Arimoto's algorithm. When the channel's distribution satisfies a symmetry property, the bounds admit closed-form parametric expressions. We then use our results to provide a systematic comparison between the JSCC error exponent E/sub J/ and the tandem coding error exponent E/sub T/, which applies if the source and channel are separately coded. It is shown that E/sub T//spl les/E/sub J//spl les/2E/sub T/. We establish conditions for which E/sub J/>E/sub T/ and for which E/sub J/=2E/sub T/. Numerical examples indicate that E/sub J/ is close to 2E/sub T/ for many source-channel pairs. This gain translates into a power saving larger than 2 dB for a binary source transmitted over additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channels and Rayleigh-fading channels with finite output quantization. Finally, we study the computation of the lossy JSCC error exponent under the Hamming distortion measure.
Global inference for sentence compression : an integer linear programming approach

Sentence compression holds promise for many applications ranging from summarization to subtitle generation. Our work views sentence compression as an optimization problem and uses integer linear programming (ILP) to infer globally optimal compressions in the presence of linguistically motivated constraints. We show how previous formulations of sentence compression can be recast as ILPs and extend these models with novel global constraints. Experimental results on written and spoken texts demonstrate improvements over state-of-the-art models.
Immunoprotection of Mice against Schistosomiasis Mansoni Using Solubilized Membrane Antigens

Background Schistosomiasis continues to be one of the most prevalent parasitic diseases in the world. Despite the existence of a highly effective antischistosome drug, the disease is spreading into new areas, and national control programs do not arrive to complete their tasks particularly in low endemic areas. The availability of a vaccine could represent an additional component to chemotherapy. Experimental vaccination studies are however necessary to identify parasite molecules that would serve as vaccine candidates. In the present work, C57BL/6 female mice were subcutaneously immunized with an n-butanol extract of the adult worm particulate membranous fraction (AWBE) and its protective effect against a S. mansoni challenge infection was evaluated. Methodology and Findings Water-saturated n-butanol release into the aqueous phase a set of membrane-associated (glyco)proteins that are variably recognized by antibodies in schistosome-infected patients; among the previously identified AWBE antigens there is Alkaline Phosphatase (SmAP) which has been associated with resistance to the infection in mice. As compared to control, a significantly lower number of perfuse parasites was obtained in the immunized/challenged mouse group (P<0.05, t test); and consequently, a lower number of eggs and granulomas (with reduced sizes), overall decreasing pathology. Immunized mice produced high levels of sera anti-AWBE IgG recognizing antigens of ∼190-, 130-, 98-, 47-, 28-23, 14-, and 9-kDa. The ∼130-kDa band (the AP dimer) exhibited in situ SmAP activity after addition of AP substrate and the activity was not apparently inhibited by host antibodies. A preliminary proteomic analysis of the 25-, 27-, and 28-kDa bands in the immunodominant 28–23 kDa region suggested that they are composed of actin. Conclusions Immunization with AWBE induced the production of specific antibodies to various adult worm membrane molecules (including AP) and a partial (43%) protection against a challenging S. mansoni infection by mechanism(s) that still has to be elucidated.
Interactions between the Superior Temporal Sulcus and Auditory Cortex Mediate Dynamic Face/Voice Integration in Rhesus Monkeys

The existence of multiple nodes in the cortical network that integrate faces and voices suggests that they may be interacting and influencing each other during communication. To test the hypothesis that multisensory responses in auditory cortex are influenced by visual inputs from the superior temporal sulcus (STS), an association area, we recorded local field potentials and single neurons from both structures concurrently in monkeys. The functional interactions between the auditory cortex and the STS, as measured by spectral analyses, increased in strength during presentations of dynamic faces and voices relative to either communication signal alone. These interactions were not solely modulations of response strength, because the phase relationships were significantly less variable in the multisensory condition as well. A similar analysis of functional interactions within the auditory cortex revealed no similar interactions as a function of stimulus condition, nor did a control condition in which the dynamic face was replaced with a dynamic disk mimicking mouth movements. Single neuron data revealed that these intercortical interactions were reflected in the spiking output of auditory cortex and that such spiking output was coordinated with oscillations in the STS. The vast majority of single neurons that were responsive to voices showed integrative responses when faces, but not control stimuli, were presented in conjunction. Our data suggest that the integration of faces and voices is mediated at least in part by neuronal cooperation between auditory cortex and the STS and that interactions between these structures are a fast and efficient way of dealing with the multisensory communication signals.
The Loss-Delay Based Adjustment Algorithm: A TCP-Friendly Adaptation Scheme

Many distributed multimedia applications have the ability to adapt to fluctuations in the network conditions. By adjusting temporal and spatial quality to available bandwidth, or manipulating the playout time of continuous media in response to variations in delay, multimedia flows can keep an acceptable QoS level at the end systems. In this paper, we present a new scheme called the loss-delay based adjustment algorithm (LDA) for adapting the transmission rate of multimedia applications to the congestion level of the network. The LDA algorithm was designed to reduce losses and improve utilization in a TCP-friendly way that avoids starving competing TCP connections. It relies on the end-to-end Real Time Transport Protocol (RTP) for feedback information. In addition, we enhanced RTP with functionalities for determining the bottleneck bandwidth of a connection. The bottleneck bandwidth is then used for dynamically determining the adaptation parameters. Simulations and measurements of the LDA algorithm suggest the efficiency of the scheme in utilizing network resources, decreasing loss ratios and its fairness towards competing TCP traffic. Our investigations also suggest that the report intervals and feedback information of RTP require some enhancements to accommodate the needs of adaptive QoS control schemes.
Acute bacterial meningitis in Qatar.

OBJECTIVE To study the changes in the epidemiology, clinical and bacteriological profiles of bacterial meningitis in the era of the Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib)vaccine and pneumococcus resistance. METHODS This is a retrospective study of children aged <12 years admitted to the Hamad Medical Corporation, Qatar between January 1998 through December 2002 with positive cerebrospinal fluid culture. RESULTS We described 64 patients with culture proven bacterial meningitis. In infants <3 months (n=29 [45%]), the most common organism was Group B Streptococcus (GBS) (20%). Children >3 months (n=35 [55%]); Hib (25%) and Streptococcus pneumoniae (STP) (20%) were the most common organisms before introduction of Hib vaccination. A significant drop of Hib infections were noticed after introduction of the vaccine. Fever, neck stiffness, seizure, vomiting, and bulging fontanel were the most frequent presenting features. Group B Streptococcus were sensitive to ampicillin and cefotaxime with no resistance detected. Forty percent of STP isolates were resistant to penicillin and 12% were resistant to ceftriaxone. Fifty percent of Hib were resistant to ampicillin; while none of Hib were resistant to ceftriaxone. No case of Listeria monocytogenes meningitis was diagnosed. Morbidity was 28%, and one patient expired (2%) after Klebsiella pneumoniae meningitis. Streptococcus pneumoniae was associated with the highest morbidity (62%) while Hib had zero morbidity in our patients. CONCLUSION Bacterial meningitis is a serious illness with a significant morbidity and mortality. Haemophilus influenzae type b infection decreased which indicated an effective vaccination. As there is 12% bacterial resistance of STP reported against ceftriaxone; We recommend Cefotaxime for infants <3 months while ceftriaxone plus vancomycin as empiric therapy for older patients with community acquired bacterial meningitis. A pneumococcal vaccination may further decrease the incidence of meningitis in our community. A continuos surveillance to detect changes in the microbiology of organisms causing bacterial meningitis or their sensitivity in our community is essential to update these recommendations.
Videoconferencing to Reduce Stress Among Hospitalized Children

OBJECTIVES: Family-Link is a videoconferencing program that allows hospitalized children and their parents to virtually visit family members and friends using laptops, webcams, and a secure Wi-Fi connection. We evaluated the association of Family-Link use on the reduction in stress experienced by children during hospitalization. METHODS: We offered Family-Link to pediatric patients who had an expected length of hospitalization equal to or greater than 4 days. We measured the stress levels of hospitalized children at admission and discharge using the previously published Parental Stress Survey. We used propensity score matching and multivariable linear regression methods to evaluate the relationship between the use of Family-Link and stress experienced by children during hospitalization. RESULTS: We included a total of 367 children in the study: 232 Family-Link users and 135 non–Family-Link users. Using the propensity score matching method, we found that the use of Family-Link was significantly associated with a greater reduction in overall mean stress compared with non–Family-Link users among the cohort of patients who lived closer to the hospital and had shorter lengths of hospitalization (β = 0.23; 95% confidence interval, 0.03 to 0.43; P < .05). In this cohort, the reduction in overall mean stress was 37% greater among Family-Link users than non–Family-Link users. CONCLUSIONS: The use of videoconferencing by some hospitalized children and families to conduct virtual visits with family and friends outside of the hospital was associated with a greater reduction in stress during hospitalization than those who did not use videoconferencing.
An Assessment of Design-for-Environment Practices in Leading US Electronics Firms

A growing number of managers believe that addressing environmental impacts in product-design decisions has tangible advantages to firms. Yet many firms struggle to diffuse design-for-environment (DfE) practices across their product-development teams. Four leading electronics firms' attempts to adopt DfE suggest that the establishment of highly interconnected, internal information networks may be a robust diffusion strategy. Technically competent centers acting as clearinghouses of companywide information relevant to environmental design and coordinated with specialists on individual product-design teams seem to be an effective organizational structure for diffusing DfE. Internal information networks reduce the cost to designers of assessing environmental costs and benefits and thus lower the motivational barriers of product managers.Environmental design tools may be a component of successful DfE practice but do not seem to be sufficient in themselves. The complexity of environmental issues requires an approach that continually generates new information. Dense information networks allow pockets of expertise to form in response to ever-changing needs.
Spatial processing layer effects on the evolution of neural networks to play the game of Othello

Neural networks (NNs) were evolved to learn to play the zero-sum game Othello (also known as reversi) without relying on a-priori or expert knowledge. Such neural networks were able to discover game-playing strategies through co-evolution, where the neural networks just play against themselves across generations. The effect of the spatial processing layer on evolution was investigated. It was found that the evolutionary process was crucially dependent on the way in which spatial information was presented. A simple sampling pattern based on the squares attacked by a single queen in Chess resulted the networks converging to a solution in which the majority of networks, handicapped by playing Black and playing without using any look-ahead algorithm, could defeat a positional strategy using look-ahead at plydepth=4 and a piece-differential strategy using look-ahead at ply-depth=6. Improvement and convergence was observed to be accompanied by an gradual increase in the survival time of neural network strategies from less than 10 generations to about 600 generations. Surprisingly, evolved neural networks had difficulty in defeating a simple mobility strategy playing at a ply-depth=2. This work suggests that in deciding a suitable way to spatially sample a board position, it is important to consider the rules of the game.
T Cells Expressing Activated LFA-1 Are More Susceptible to Infection with Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Particles Bearing Host-Encoded ICAM-1

ABSTRACT The incorporation of host-derived proteins in nascent human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) particles is a well-established phenomenon. We recently demonstrated that the physical presence of host-encoded ICAM-1 glycoproteins on HIV-1 leads to a significant increase in virus infectivity in an ICAM-1/LFA-1-dependent fashion (J.-F. Fortin, R. Cantin, G. Lamontagne, and M. Tremblay, J. Virol. 71:3588–3596, 1997). We show here that conversion of LFA-1 to high affinity for ICAM-1 with the use of anti-LFA-1 antibodies (clones NKI-L16 and MEM83) markedly enhances the susceptibility of different target T-lymphoid cell lines, as well as of primary peripheral blood mononuclear cells, to infection by ICAM-1-bearing HIV-1 particles (6- to 95-fold). It is known that T-cell receptor (TCR) cross-linking induces a transient increase in LFA-1 affinity for ICAM-1. Treatment of peripheral blood mononuclear cells with anti-TCR antibodies (clone OKT3) resulted in a transient increase in susceptibility to infection by ICAM-1-positive virions that parallels the previously reported kinetics of the LFA-1/ICAM-1 adhesion mechanism. Our results led us to postulate that the strong interaction taking place between virally incorporated ICAM-1 and cell surface-activated LFA-1 markedly enhances the efficiency of virus binding and entry, thus favoring greater infection by ICAM-1-bearing HIV-1 particles. In view of the knowledge that primary HIV-1 isolates harbor host-derived ICAM-1 on their surfaces, these results provide new information about the role of host-derived ICAM-1 in the life cycle of HIV-1 and how it could positively modulate the dynamics of the viral infection, mainly in cellular compartments, such as the lymphoid tissues, where the level of cellular activation is high and where the probability of encountering a T cell expressing the activated LFA-1 form is also elevated.
The effect of input data transformations on object-based image analysis

The effect of using spectral transform images as input data on segmentation quality and its potential effect on products generated by object-based image analysis are explored in the context of land cover classification in Accra, Ghana. Five image data transformations are compared to untransformed spectral bands in terms of their effect on segmentation quality and final product accuracy. The relationship between segmentation quality and product accuracy is also briefly explored. Results suggest that input data transformations can aid in the delineation of landscape objects by image segmentation, but the effect is idiosyncratic to the transformation and object of interest.