Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The role of African Americans in Philadelphia sound change

Abstract A number of studies of African American communities show a tendency to approximate the phonological patterns of the surrounding mainstream white community. An analysis of the vowel systems of 36 African American speakers in the Philadelphia Neighborhood Corpus compares their development over the 20th century with that of the mainstream community. For vowels involved in change in the white community, African Americans show very different patterns, often moving in opposite directions. The traditional split of short-a words into tense and lax categories is a more fine-grained measure of dialect relations. The degree of participation by African Americans is described by measures of bimodality, which are applied as well to the innovative nasal short-a system. The prototypical African American speakers show no bimodality in either measure, recombining the traditional tense and lax categories into a single short-a in lower mid, nonperipheral position. The lack of relation between the two short-a systems is related to the high degree of residential segregation, in that linguistic contact is largely diffusion among adults rather than the faithful transmission found among children.
High formation of secondary organic aerosol from the photo-oxidation of toluene

Toluene and other aromatics have long been viewed as the dominant anthropogenic secondary organic aerosol (SOA) precursors, but the SOA mass yields from toluene reported in previous studies vary widely. Experi- ments conducted in the Carnegie Mellon University envi- ronmental chamber to study SOA formation from the photo- oxidation of toluene show significantly larger SOA produc- tion than parameterizations employed in current air-quality models. Aerosol mass yields depend on experimental con- ditions: yields are higher under higher UV intensity, under low-NOx conditions and at lower temperatures. The extent of oxidation of the aerosol also varies with experimental con- ditions, consistent with ongoing, progressive photochemical aging of the toluene SOA. Measurements using a thermode- nuder system suggest that the aerosol formed under high- and low-NOx conditions is semi-volatile. These results suggest that SOA formation from toluene depends strongly on ambi- ent conditions. An approximate parameterization is proposed for use in air-quality models until a more thorough treatment accounting for the dynamic nature of this system becomes available.
Flow and the Five-Factor Model (FFM) of personality characteristics

Flow is an area that has had a flourish of research emerge within the past couple of decades originating in the sport psychology literature (Jackson & Eklund, 2006; Hefferon & Ollis, 2006; Kee & Wang, 2008) and in a multitude of other areas of study since such as academics, creativity, motivation, and gaming (Cermakova, Moneta, & Spada, 2010; Fritz & Avsec, 2007; Fullagar & Mills, 2008; Jin, 2011; Lee, 2005). Presently, the study of flow has arisen in the area of personality and the individual characteristics that contribute to one’s personality (Ullén, et al., 2012). The purpose of the current study was to provide the beginning investigation into flow and personality characteristics (as represented by the FiveFactor Model of Personality) to offer insight into dispositional flow and the autotelic personality. Additionally, the purpose of this study was to improve on the limitations that were presented in Ullén and colleagues’ (2012) and Ross and Keiser’s (2014) studies. The sample consisted of 409 English-speaking adults who completed the study measures online. Results of exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses indicated relationships between dispositional flow and four of the five personality factor. Specifically, results revealed iv positive relationships between dispositional flow and the following personality factors: extraversion, openness to experience, and conscientiousness. These relationships suggest that individuals higher in these personality traits may have a greater disposition to experience flow. Results revealed an inverse relationship between dispositional flow and neuroticism suggesting that neurotic tendencies may possibly hinder an individual’s disposition to experience flow. Furthermore, the present study improved upon the limitations of the current studies by providing a larger, more heterogeneous sample that aligned more closely with the normative sample of the measurements and utilized valid and reliable measurements for dispositional flow and personality. The present findings highlight the complex and multi-dimensional relationships that exist between dispositional flow and personality characteristics; as well as providing a foundation for future research to continue to explore these relationships. Limitations, future areas of research, and implications are discussed.
Frictional Melanosis of Rubbing Thighs in Iraqi Patients

Background: Frictional melanosis of rubbing inner thighs is a common problem among Iraqi females causing great psychological and cosmetic impact. It might simulate lifa disease but it is a different entity. It is unfortunately not reported in the medical literatures although commonly encountered in daily clinical practice. Objective: To evaluate the hyperpigmentation of inner aspects of thighs in Iraqi females as an isolated pigmentary problem. Patient and Methods: Sixty patients with frictional melanosis of rubbing thighs were seen in Department of Dermatology, Baghdad Teaching Hospital in this case descriptive, clinical and histopathological study, during the period from April 2011 to March 2012. Any associated skin problems were also noticed like folliculitis and boils at area of friction. Forty individuals were enrolled in the present work as the healthy control group. The pigmentation was assessed by clinical, Wood’s light and histopathological examinations (H&E and Fontana stains). Body mass index was obtained for all patients and obesity was graded according to WHO recommendations. Results: The ages of patients ranged between 19 - 52 (32.86 ± 7.65) years, with 59 (98.3%) females and 1 (1.6%) male. By Wood’s light examination, accentuation in pigmentation was observed in 39 (58%) patients, while 21 (42%) of lesions showed no change. Body mass index was ranged from 23.3 - 43.6 (34.04 ± 4.13), history of vigorous rubbing of pigmented area with washing tool (lifa) was positive in 46 (76.6%) patients. Skin biopsies in 10 patients showed pure dermal melanophages in 3 of biopsies with slight melanosis of basal layer of epidermis, while the other 7 biopsies showed mainly increase in basal melanin. There was a statistically significant association between obesity and the severity of pigmentation of the inner thighs. Forty control individuals (2 males and 38 females) were assessed, their ages ranged from 19 - 50 (31.72 ± 6.40) years. All females were within normal weight while males were overweight and BMI was ranged from 19.7 - 28.2 (22.49 ± 1.84). All control individuals showed no pigmentation of inner aspects of thighs. Conclusion: Frictional melanosis of rubbing thighs is considered a new entity which had been not reported before in the medical literatures. This is a disease of mostly young obese females and the effective therapy is weight reduction and possibly liposuction.
Influence of plasma diffusion losses on dust charge relaxation in discharge afterglow

The influence of diffusive losses on residual dust charge in a complex plasma afterglow has been investigated. The dust residual charges were simulated based on a model developed to describe complex plasma decay. The experimental and simulated data show that the transition from ambipolar to free diffusion in the decaying plasma plays a significant role in determining the residual dust particle charges. The presence of positively charged dust particles is explained by a broadening of the charge distribution function in the afterglow plasma.
Ambulant children with spastic cerebral palsy and their parents’ perceptions and expectations prior to multilevel surgery

Purpose: This study explores the pre-operative situation of children accepted for multilevel surgery for cerebral palsy (CP) and their parents. Methods: Eight ambulatory children with varied severity of spastic CP and their parents were included. Qualitative, semi-structured interviews were carried out separately with the children and parents. Results: Everyday life of the children and their parents was vulnerable. The degree to which children strived for social acceptance and normality increased their pain. Deteriorating physical capacity resulted in pain and fatigue and was the parents’ and children's main motivation for the operation. Although the parents were ambivalent to the operation they mediated hope and cautious optimism about a better life for their children. Conclusion: Parents’ and children's experiences imply the need for improvements to ensure facilitation for disabled children in schools and all levels of the health service, equality of communication and awareness-raising in the pre-operative phase of multilevel surgery.
Antecedents of Brand Post Popularity in Facebook: The Influence of Images, Videos, and Text

Social media offers huge potential for corporate communication and branding activities. However, due to the novelty of the research field, many mechanisms regarding communication effectivity are still not fully understood. The aim of this study is therefore to investigate the influence of images, videos, and text on brand post popularity in Facebook. We analyzed 560 Facebook posts of three automotive premium brands to identify most promising communication approaches to increase social media performance. The results show that posts including images are most successful in terms of received likes. Moreover, we found that videos do not trigger as much likes as posts containing images. Regarding verbal post elements, the findings reveal that social media users prefer a moderate amount of text. We conclude that if marketers want to increase post likes, it is important to publish posts that allow fast processing.
Towards Specification and Execution of Linked Systems

We introduce the formalism of Linked Systems for specifying and executing dynamical systems that operate over ReadWrite Linked Data. Linked Systems cover user agents (components that emit HTTP requests) and servers (components that receive HTTP requests). The formalisation is inspired by automata theory and the concepts of state transition systems and state machines. For the proposed formalism to scale to the web, we try to minimise the burden on component providers. We thus assume a Read-Write Linked Data interface that offers only a few operations: resources identified via URIs can be created and deleted, and the state of resources is expressed in RDF and can be read and updated. Our near-term goal is to provide executable specifications of autonomous behaviour expressed in a rule-based language, without requiring formal service descriptions of the operations on resources. In the long term, we plan to use our formalism as basis for applying techniques from the fields of formal verification and artificial intelligence (AI) planning.
Gastric inhibitory polypeptide does not inhibit gastric emptying in humans.

The insulinotropic gut hormone gastric inhibitory polypeptide (GIP) has been demonstrated to inhibit gastric acid secretion and was proposed to possess "enterogastrone" activity. GIP effects on gastric emptying have not yet been studied. Fifteen healthy male volunteers (23.9 +/- 3.3 yr, body mass index 23.7 +/- 2.3 kg/m(2)) were studied with the intravenous infusion of GIP (2 pmol.kg(-1). min(-1)) or placebo, each administered to the volunteers on separate occasions from -30 to 360 min in the fasting state. At 0 min, a solid test meal (250 kcal containing [(13)C]sodium octanoate) was served. Gastric emptying was calculated from the (13)CO(2) exhalation rates in breath samples collected over 360 min. Venous blood was drawn in 30-min intervals for the determination of glucose, insulin, C-peptide, and GIP (total and intact). Statistical calculations were made by use of repeated-measures ANOVA and one-way ANOVA. During the infusion, GIP rose to steady-state concentrations of 159 +/- 15 pmol/l for total and 34 +/- 4 pmol/l for intact GIP (P < 0.0001). Meal ingestion further increased GIP concentrations in both groups, reaching peak levels of 265 +/- 20 and 82 +/- 9 pmol/l for total and 67 +/- 7 and 31 +/- 9 pmol/l for intact GIP during the administration of GIP and placebo, respectively (P < 0.0001). There were no differences in glucose, insulin, and C-peptide between the experiments with the infusion of GIP or placebo. Gastric half-emptying times were 120 +/- 9 and 120 +/- 18 min (P = 1.0, with GIP and placebo, respectively). The time pattern of gastric emptying was similar in the two groups (P = 0.98). Endogenous GIP secretion, as derived from the incremental area under the curve of plasma GIP concentrations in the placebo experiments, did not correlate to gastric half-emptying times (r(2) = 0.15, P = 0.15 for intact GIP; r(2) = 0.21, P = 0.086 for total GIP). We conclude that gastric emptying does not appear to be influenced by GIP. The secretion of GIP after meal ingestion is not suppressed by its exogenous administration. The lack of effect of GIP on gastric emptying underlines the differences between GIP and the second incretin glucagon-like peptide 1.
Exploiting the Interplay between Innate and Adaptive Immunity to Improve Immunotherapeutic Strategies for Epstein-Barr-Virus-Driven Disorders

The recent demonstration that immunotherapeutic approaches may be clinically effective for cancer patients has renewed the interest for this strategy of intervention. In particular, clinical trials using adoptive T-cell therapies disclosed encouraging results, particularly in the context of Epstein-Barr-virus- (EBV-) related tumors. Nevertheless, the rate of complete clinical responses is still limited, thus stimulating the development of more effective therapeutic protocols. Considering the relevance of innate immunity in controlling both infections and cancers, innovative immunotherapeutic approaches should take into account also this compartment to improve clinical efficacy. Evidence accumulated so far indicates that innate immunity effectors, particularly NK cells, can be exploited with therapeutic purposes and new targets have been recently identified. We herein review the complex interactions between EBV and innate immunity and summarize the therapeutic strategies involving both adaptive and innate immune system, in the light of a fruitful integration between these immunotherapeutic modalities for a better control of EBV-driven tumors.
The Role of a Potassium Transporter OsHAK5 in Potassium Acquisition and Transport from Roots to Shoots in Rice at Low Potassium Supply Levels1[W][OPEN]

A high-affinity rice potassium transporter plays a major role in K acquisition by roots faced with low external K and in K upward transport from roots to shoots in K-deficient rice plants. In plants, K transporter (KT)/high affinity K transporter (HAK)/K uptake permease (KUP) is the largest potassium (K) transporter family; however, few of the members have had their physiological functions characterized in planta. Here, we studied OsHAK5 of the KT/HAK/KUP family in rice (Oryza sativa). We determined its cellular and tissue localization and analyzed its functions in rice using both OsHAK5 knockout mutants and overexpression lines in three genetic backgrounds. A β-glucuronidase reporter driven by the OsHAK5 native promoter indicated OsHAK5 expression in various tissue organs from root to seed, abundantly in root epidermis and stele, the vascular tissues, and mesophyll cells. Net K influx rate in roots and K transport from roots to aerial parts were severely impaired by OsHAK5 knockout but increased by OsHAK5 overexpression in 0.1 and 0.3 mm K external solution. The contribution of OsHAK5 to K mobilization within the rice plant was confirmed further by the change of K concentration in the xylem sap and K distribution in the transgenic lines when K was removed completely from the external solution. Overexpression of OsHAK5 increased the K-sodium concentration ratio in the shoots and salt stress tolerance (shoot growth), while knockout of OsHAK5 decreased the K-sodium concentration ratio in the shoots, resulting in sensitivity to salt stress. Taken together, these results demonstrate that OsHAK5 plays a major role in K acquisition by roots faced with low external K and in K upward transport from roots to shoots in K-deficient rice plants.
Response to combination antiretroviral therapy: variation by age

Objective:To provide information on responses to combination antiretroviral therapy in children, adolescents and older HIV-infected persons. Design and setting:Multicohort collaboration of 33 European cohorts. Subjects:Forty-nine thousand nine hundred and twenty-one antiretroviral-naive individuals starting combination antiretroviral therapy from 1998 to 2006. Outcome measures:Time from combination antiretroviral therapy initiation to HIV RNA less than 50 copies/ml (virological response), CD4 increase of more than 100 cells/μl (immunological response) and new AIDS/death were analysed using survival methods. Ten age strata were chosen: less than 2, 2–5, 6–12, 13–17, 18–29, 30–39 (reference group), 40–49, 50–54, 55–59 and 60 years or older; those aged 6 years or more were included in multivariable analyses. Results:The four youngest age groups had 223, 184, 219 and 201 individuals and the three oldest age groups had 2693, 1656 and 1613 individuals. Precombination antiretroviral therapy CD4 cell counts were highest in young children and declined with age. By 12 months, 53.7% (95% confidence interval: 53.2–54.1%) and 59.2% (58.7–59.6%) had experienced a virological and immunological response. The probability of virological response was lower in those aged 6–12 (adjusted hazard ratio: 0.87) and 13–17 (0.78) years, but was higher in those aged 50–54 (1.24), 55–59 (1.24) and at least 60 (1.18) years. The probability of immunological response was higher in children and younger adults and reduced in those 60 years or older. Those aged 55–59 and 60 years or older had poorer clinical outcomes after adjusting for the latest CD4 cell count. Conclusion:Better virological responses but poorer immunological responses in older individuals, together with low precombination antiretroviral therapy CD4 cell counts, may place this group at increased clinical risk. The poorer virological responses in children may increase the likelihood of emergence of resistance.
Whole-brain morphometric study of schizophrenia revealing a spatially complex set of focal abnormalities.

CONTEXT Neuroanatomic abnormalities in schizophrenia may underlie behavioral manifestations. Characterization of such abnormalities is required for interpreting functional data. Frontotemporal abnormalities have been documented by using predetermined region-of-interest approaches, but deformation-based morphometry permits examination of the entire brain. OBJECTIVES To perform whole-brain analyses of structural differences between patients with schizophrenia and controls, to examine sex and medication effects, and to apply a high-dimensional nonlinear pattern classification technique to quantify the degree of separation between patients and controls, thereby testing the potential of this new technique as an aid to diagnostic procedures. DESIGN Whole-brain morphologic analysis using high-dimensional shape transformations. SETTING Schizophrenia Research Center, University of Pennsylvania Medical Center. PARTICIPANTS Neuroleptic-naïve and previously treated patients with DSM-IV schizophrenia (n = 69) and sociodemographically matched controls (n = 79). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Gray matter, white matter, and ventricular cerebrospinal fluid volumes in the brain. RESULTS Magnetic resonance images showed reduced gray matter and increased ventricular cerebrospinal fluid volumes in patients with schizophrenia in the whole brain and in specific foci: the hippocampus and adjacent white matter, the cingulate and orbitofrontal cortex, the frontotemporal and parietotemporal areas, and the occipital areas near the lingual gyrus. The classifier had a mean classification accuracy of 81.1% for men and women combined (82% for women and 85% for men, when each group was treated separately), determined via cross-validation. CONCLUSIONS This study confirms previous findings of reduced frontotemporal volumes and suggests new hypotheses, especially involving occipital association and speech production areas. It also suggests finer localization of volume reduction in the hippocampus and other limbic structures and in the frontal lobe. Pattern classification showed high sensitivity and specificity for the diagnosis of schizophrenia, suggesting the potential utility of magnetic resonance imaging as a diagnostic aid.
Fast stochastic optimization on Riemannian manifolds

We study optimization of finite sums of \emph{geodesically} smooth functions on Riemannian manifolds. Although variance reduction techniques for optimizing finite-sum problems have witnessed a huge surge of interest in recent years, all existing work is limited to vector space problems. We introduce \emph{Riemannian SVRG}, a new variance reduced Riemannian optimization method. We analyze this method for both geodesically smooth \emph{convex} and \emph{nonconvex} functions. Our analysis reveals that Riemannian SVRG comes with advantages of the usual SVRG method, but with factors depending on manifold curvature that influence its convergence. To the best of our knowledge, ours is the first \emph{fast} stochastic Riemannian method. Moreover, our work offers the first non-asymptotic complexity analysis for nonconvex Riemannian optimization (even for the batch setting). Our results have several implications; for instance, they offer a Riemannian perspective on variance reduced PCA, which promises a short, transparent convergence analysis.
Local Fractal Dimension Estimation.

Abstract : This study focused on developing a fractal dimension estimator which will be accurate over the limited range of fractal dimensions characteristic of the earth's natural relief. The estimator presented will have the advantage of reduced complexity and processing over the more optimal techniques. Local window estimates will be investigated as well as synthetic fractal surfaces produced from two different synthesis techniques. (AN)
A Model-Based Joint Detection and Tracking Approach for Multi-Vehicle Tracking With Lidar Sensor

This paper presents a method for joint detection and tracking of vehicles with a scanning laser rangefinder. The lidar measurements of an object have the particularity to be spatially distributed, which generally leads to a detection step before any tracking. Differently, the proposed method relies on the raw measurement processing without any detection step, which improves the overall performance in multiobject tracking while providing good estimation accuracies. The solution uses the sequential Monte Carlo methods by incorporating the geometric invariant of the objects of interest (vehicles). This approach also offers an efficient solution to the problem of multitarget tracking by integrating naturally the track management in the filtering process.
Cell line banks and their role in cancer research

The utility of centralized cell banks in providing reference cultures for cancer research is reviewed. Procedures applied at The American Type Culture Collection in development, maintenance and expansion of such a resources are discussed for example, with emphasis on human tumor cell lines. The various categories of cell‐line holdings are explained, and status with regard both to the numbers of lines available and distribution experienced are documented. The locations of other national cell repositories plus contact data are provided. © 1996 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.