Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
When languages die : the extinction of the world's languages and the erosion of human knowledge

It is commonly agreed by linguists and anthropologists that the majority of languages spoken now around the globe will likely disappear within our lifetime. The phenomenon known as language death has started to accelerate as the world has grown smaller. This extinction of languages, and the knowledge therein, has no parallel in human history. K. David Harrison's book is the first to focus on the essential question, what is lost when a language dies? What forms of knowledge are embedded in a language's structure and vocabulary? And how harmful is it to humanity that such knowledge is lost forever? Harrison spans the globe from Siberia, to North America, to the Himalayas and elsewhere, to look at the human knowledge that is slowly being lost as the languages that express it fade from sight. He uses fascinating anecdotes and portraits of some of these languages' last remaining speakers, in order to demonstrate that this knowledge about ourselves and the world is inherently precious and once gone, will be lost forever. This knowledge is not only our cultural heritage (oral histories, poetry, stories, etc.) but very useful knowledge about plants, animals, the seasons, and other aspects of the natural world--not to mention our understanding of the capacities of the human mind. Harrison's book is a testament not only to the pressing issue of language death, but to the remarkable span of human knowledge and ingenuity. It will fascinate linguists, anthropologists, and general readers.
Frequency distributions and composite interval mapping for QTL analysis in 'Steptoe' x 'Morex' barley mapping population

With the advancement of QTL mapping strategies, the traditional approaches for the identification of genes and their effects responsible for trait expression are gradually losing significance. The phenotypic data for heading days, plant height, peduncle length, number of tillers and stripe rust was recorded on 150 recombinant inbred line (RIL) population developed from a barley cross of ‘Steptoe’ and ‘Morex’. Preliminary examinations of frequency distribution plots were fairly useful in the prediction of number of genes governing traits expression in barley (Hordeum vulgare L.). The predictions were then systematically confirmed through QTL mapping. Molecular marker data for the population available at the public domain (GrainGenes website) was used for the construction of linkage map and QTL analysis. Clear colinearity was observed between the number of QTLs identified and the number of genes predicted based upon frequency distribution study alone. A total of 17 QTLs were detected for the five traits evaluated. Several major QTLs were detected on chromosome 2H, which could serve as candidate for mapbased studies of phenomena such as pleiotropism, recombination hot spots, gene-rich regions and QTL clustering.
INTERSECTIONS OF Q-DIVISORS ON KONTSEVICH’S MODULI SPACE M0,n(P, d) AND ENUMERATIVE GEOMETRY

The theory of Q-Cartier divisors on the space of n-pointed, genus 0, stable maps to projective space is considered. Generators and Picard numbers are computed. A recursive algorithm computing all top intersection products of Q-divisors is established. As a corollary, an algorithm computing all characteristic numbers of rational curves in Pr is proven (including simple tangency conditions). Computations of these characteristic numbers are carried out in many examples. The degree of the 1-cuspidal rational locus in the linear system of degree d plane curves is explicitly evaluated.
How Valuable Is a Good Reputation? A Sample Selection Model of Internet Auctions

On the online auction site eBay, by convention, sellers do not ship goods to winning bidders until after they have received payment, so there is an opportunity for sellers to take advantage of bidders' trust. Realizing this, the designers of eBay created a system that relies on self-enforcement using reputation. Several recent studies have found that bidders give little or no reward to sellers who have better reputations. I show that in fact, sellers are strongly rewarded for the first few reports that they have behaved honestly, but marginal returns to additional reports are severely decreasing.
Structured Output Layer Neural Network Language Models for Speech Recognition

This paper extends a novel neural network language model (NNLM) which relies on word clustering to structure the output vocabulary: Structured OUtput Layer (SOUL) NNLM. This model is able to handle arbitrarily-sized vocabularies, hence dispensing with the need for shortlists that are commonly used in NNLMs. Several softmax layers replace the standard output layer in this model. The output structure depends on the word clustering which is based on the continuous word representation determined by the NNLM. Mandarin and Arabic data are used to evaluate the SOUL NNLM accuracy via speech-to-text experiments. Well tuned speech-to-text systems (with error rates around 10%) serve as the baselines. The SOUL model achieves consistent improvements over a classical shortlist NNLM both in terms of perplexity and recognition accuracy for these two languages that are quite different in terms of their internal structure and recognition vocabulary size. An enhanced training scheme is proposed that allows more data to be used at each training iteration of the neural network.
Use of qualitative methods alongside randomised controlled trials of complex healthcare interventions: methodological study

Objective To examine the use of qualitative approaches alongside randomised trials of complex healthcare interventions. Design Review of randomised controlled trials of interventions to change professional practice or the organisation of care. Data sources Systematic sample of 100 trials published in English from the register of the Cochrane Effective Practice and Organisation of Care Review Group. Methods Published and unpublished qualitative studies linked to the randomised controlled trials were identified through database searches and contact with authors. Data were extracted from each study by two reviewers using a standard form. We extracted data describing the randomised controlled trials and qualitative studies, the quality of these studies, and how, if at all, the qualitative and quantitative findings were combined. A narrative synthesis of the findings was done. Results 30 of the 100 trials had associated qualitative work and 19 of these were published studies. 14 qualitative studies were done before the trial, nine during the trial, and four after the trial. 13 studies reported an explicit theoretical basis and 11 specified their methodological approach. Approaches to sampling and data analysis were poorly described. For most cases (n=20) we found no indication of integration of qualitative and quantitative findings at the level of either analysis or interpretation. The quality of the qualitative studies was highly variable. Conclusions Qualitative studies alongside randomised controlled trials remain uncommon, even where relatively complex interventions are being evaluated. Most of the qualitative studies were carried out before or during the trials with few studies used to explain trial results. The findings of the qualitative studies seemed to be poorly integrated with those of the trials and often had major methodological shortcomings.
Co-Reference Resolution for the Indonesian Language Using Association Rules

Abstract In this paper, we proposed a co-reference resolution method for texts in the Indonesian language. The objective of co-reference resolution is to identify equivalence between entities as well as between pronouns and entities that were recognized in a named entity recognition phase. We propose a method that uses association rules. The method combines several features, such as pronoun and name classes, string similarity and position in the text, into a vector of attributes. Applied to a corpus of newspaper articles in the Indonesian language, the method yields an FMeasure of 84.12%. we compare the result to one of state-of-the-art machine learning method for co-reference resolution, decision tree, and the result is comparable.
Vagal modulation of 1‐month‐old infants to auditory stimuli is associated with self‐regulatory behavior

During infancy, cardiac vagal modulation has been associated with attentional and social engagement behaviors. While studies have shown that infants display a behavioral repertoire that enables them to interact with others by being able to regulate themselves in order to attend to and to discriminate emotional and social cues, vagal modulation to sensory stimuli and its association with behavioral outcomes at early ages remains to be addressed. In this study, we analyzed the cardiac vagal response of 1-month-old infants to two auditory stimuli intensities and whether vagal response was associated with social interactive and self-regulatory abilities. Therefore, we recorded cardiac and respiratory physiological responses in 28 infants using a Biopac System. Neurobehavioral assessment was performed using the Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale. We observed increased respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) amplitude to both auditory stimuli intensities when compared to baseline. No intensity effect was found for the RSA response. Additionally, we observed that higher RSA amplitude to both auditory stimuli was positively correlated with adjusted self-regulatory behaviors, suggesting a convergence between multiple measures assessing infants' state regulation. Results are discussed in light of 1-month-old infants' auditory stimuli processing and its implications for regulatory behaviors and the emergent social-like behaviors.
PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS PREDICTING WORKPLACE DEVIANCE BEHAVIOUR AMONG NURSES IN THE PUBLIC HEALTH SECTOR IN LAGOS

This study examined the extent to which work locus of control and perceived organizational justice predict workplace deviant behaviour. Participants were 300 nurses (Male = 123; female = 177) randomly selected from public hospi- tals in 3 local government areas in Lagos. Their ages ranged between 21-58 years (Mage = 36.5; SD = 9.32). They responded to measures of work locus of control, perceived procedural and distributive justice, and workplace deviance behaviour. Results of the multiple regression showed that work locus of con- trol significantly predicted workplace deviant behaviour in such a way that employees who were susceptible to external locus of control tended to exhibit workplace deviant behaviour than those who displayed internal locus of con- trol. Workplace deviant behaviour reduced with employees' perception of or- ganizational justice. Male nurses manifested higher deviant behaviour than their female counterparts. The policy and practice implications of these results were highlighted.
Heat Sensitivity of wMel Wolbachia during Aedes aegypti Development

The wMel strain of Wolbachia bacteria is known to prevent dengue and Zika virus transmission in the mosquito vector Aedes aegypti. Accordingly, the release of wMel-infected A. aegypti in endemic regions has been recommended by the World Health Organization as a potential strategy for controlling dengue and Zika outbreaks. However, the utility of this approach could be limited if high temperatures in the aquatic habitats where A. aegypti develop are detrimental to Wolbachia. We exposed wMel-infected A. aegypti eggs and larvae to fluctuating daily temperatures of 30–40°C for three, five, or seven days during their development. We found that Wolbachia levels in females emerging from heat treatments were significantly lower than in the controls that had developed at 20–30°C. Notably, seven days of high temperatures starting at the egg stage reduced Wolbachia levels in emerging females to less than 0.1% of the wMel control levels. However, after adult females returned to 20–30°C for 4–7 days, they experienced differing degrees of Wolbachia recovery. Our findings suggest that the spread of Wolbachia in wild A. aegypti populations and any consequent protection from dengue and Zika viruses might be limited in ecosystems that experience periods of extreme heat, but Wolbachia levels recover partially after temperatures return to normal.
On the Effects of Social, Temporal, and Dimensional Comparisons on Academic Self-Concept

Students evaluate their domain-specific abilities by comparing their own achievement in a certain domain with the achievement of others (social comparison), with their own prior achievement (temporal comparison), and with their own achievement in other domains (dimensional comparison). This article is the first to analyze the simultaneous effects of social, temporal, and dimensional comparisons on students’ academic self-concepts of various domains in experimental and field studies. In Study 1 (N = 120), students judged their ability self-concept after having received experimentally manipulated social, temporal, and dimensional comparison feedback. In Study 2 (N = 924), students had to rate their math and German self-concept and were asked to directly compare their achievement to social, temporal, and dimensional comparison standards. In the longitudinal Study 3a (N = 3,054) and 3b (N = 14,008), the three types of comparisons were modeled in an extended internal/external frame of reference model (Marsh, 1986) containing paths from math and verbal achievement level and achievement change to math and verbal self-concept. In all studies, social, temporal, and dimensional comparisons showed significant effects on self-concept. For each comparison process, downward comparisons with worse-off standards resulted in higher self-concepts, whereas upward comparisons with better-off standards resulted in lower self-concepts. These results are in accordance with the theories underlying social, temporal, and dimensional comparison processes and support their integration into a combined framework.
Paleopathology of Human Tuberculosis and the Potential Role of Climate

Both origin and evolution of tuberculosis and its pathogens (Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex) are not fully understood. The paleopathological investigation of human remains offers a unique insight into the molecular evolution and spread including correlative data of the environment. The molecular analysis of material from Egypt (3000–500 BC), Sudan (200–600 AD), Hungary (600–1700 AD), Latvia (1200–1600 AD), and South Germany (1400–1800 AD) urprisingly revealed constantly high frequencies of tuberculosis in all different time periods excluding significant environmental influence on tuberculosis spread. The typing of various mycobacteria strains provides evidence for ancestral M. tuberculosis strains in Pre- to early Egyptian dynastic material (3500–2650 BC), while typical M. africanum signatures were detected in a Middle Kingdom tomb (2050–1650 BC). Samples from the New Kingdom to Late Period (1500–500 BC) indicated modern M. tuberculosis strains. No evidence was seen for M. bovis in Egyptian material while M. bovis signatures were first identified in Siberian biomaterial dating 2000 years before present. These results contraindicates the theory that M. tuberculosis evolved from M. bovis during early domestication in the region of the “Fertile Crescent,” but supports the scenario that M. tuberculosis probably derived from an ancestral progenitor strain. The environmental influence of this evolutionary scenario deserves continuing intense evaluation.
The Development and Validation of the Motives to Donate Scale

In this article, we develop and validate a comprehensive self-report scale of why people make charitable donations, relying on a theoretical model of private versus public benefits to donors. In Study 1, we administered an initial pool of 54 items to a general adult sample online. An exploratory factor analysis supported six final factors in the Motives to Donate scale: Trust, Altruism, Social, Tax benefits, Egoism, and Constraints. We then verified this factor structure in a confirmatory factor analysis. Study 1 also examined the final 18-item scale’s demographic correlates and construct validity using the same sample. We found that the scale correlated in predictable ways with personality traits and motives to volunteer. In Study 2, we also found test–retest correlations between . 67 and . 80 after 2 weeks. Taken together, we provide initial evidence for the scale’s internal reliability, test–retest reliability, and validity, and we suggest future directions for research.
Counting Ovals on a Symmetric Riemann Surface

Let S be a compact Riemann surface without boundary. A symmetry θ of S is an anti-conformal, involutary automorphism. The fixed point set of θ is a disjoint union of circles, each of which is called an oval of θ. A method is presented for counting the ovals of a symmetry when S admits a large group G of automorphisms, normalized by θ. The method involves only calculations in G, based on the geometric description of S/G, and the knowledge of the action of θ on G. As an illustrative example, the family of generic, symmetric surfaces of genus three with conformal automorphism group Σ4 is constructed as several 1-parameter families. AMS Classification Numbers: Primary: 05B45, 20H15, 51F15, 52C20, Secondary: 14H10, 20B05, 57M60, 57S17
Derivation and validation of cutoffs for clinical use of cell cycle arrest biomarkers

Background Acute kidney injury (AKI) remains a deadly condition. Tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases (TIMP)-2 and insulin-like growth factor binding protein (IGFBP)7 are two recently discovered urinary biomarkers for AKI. We now report on the development, and diagnostic accuracy of two clinical cutoffs for a test using these markers. Methods We derived cutoffs based on sensitivity and specificity for prediction of Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes Stages 2–3 AKI within 12 h using data from a previously published multicenter cohort (Sapphire). Next, we verified these cutoffs in a new study (Opal) enrolling 154 critically ill adults from six sites in the USA. Results One hundred subjects (14%) in Sapphire and 27 (18%) in Opal met the primary end point. The results of the Opal study replicated those of Sapphire. Relative risk (95% CI) in both studies for subjects testing at ≤0.3 versus >0.3–2 were 4.7 (1.5–16) and 4.4 (2.5–8.7), or 12 (4.2–40) and 18 (10–37) for ≤0.3 versus >2. For the 0.3 cutoff, sensitivity was 89% in both studies, and specificity 50 and 53%. For 2.0, sensitivity was 42 and 44%, and specificity 95 and 90%. Conclusions Urinary [TIMP-2]•[IGFBP7] values of 0.3 or greater identify patients at high risk and those >2 at highest risk for AKI and provide new information to support clinical decision-making. Clinical Trials Registration Clintrials.gov # NCT01209169 (Sapphire) and NCT01846884 (Opal).
Regulation of Connexin43 Protein Complexes by Intracellular Acidification

Abstract— Ischemia-induced acidification of astrocytes or cardiac myocytes reduces intercellular communication by closing gap junction channels and subsequently internalizing gap junction proteins. To determine whether such coupling changes might be attributable to altered interactions between connexin43 (Cx43) and other proteins, we applied the nigericin/high K+ method to vary intracellular pH (pHi) in cultured cortical astrocytes. Intracellular acidification was accompanied by internalization of Cx43 with retention of Cx43 scaffolding protein Zonula Occludens-1 (ZO-1) at cell surfaces, suggesting that ZO-1 and Cx43 dissociate at low pHi. Coimmunoprecipitation studies revealed decreased binding of ZO-1 and increased binding of c-Src to Cx43 at low pHi. Resonant mirror spectroscopy was used to quantify binding of the SH3 domain of c-Src and the PDZ domains of ZO-1 to the carboxyl terminal domain of Cx43 (Cx43CT). Data indicate that the c-Src/Cx43CT interaction is highly pH dependent whereas the ZO-1/Cx43CT interaction is not. Moreover, binding of c-Src to Cx43CT prevented and reversed ZO-1/Cx43CT binding. We hypothesize that increased affinity of c-Src for Cx43 at low pHi aids in separation of Cx43 from ZO-1 and that this may facilitate internalization of Cx43. These data suggest that protracted acidification may remodel protein-protein interactions involving Cx43 and thus provide an important protective mechanism to limit lesion spread after ischemic injury.
Perceptron variants on OCR and Netflix datasets

Since the perceptron was invented in 1957 by Rosenblatt, a large number of variants of the perceptron algorithm have been proposed. For this project, the main task was to find perceptron variants that worked well on the two different types of data sets, OCR and Netflix. Two variants, voted perceptron and longest survivor perceptron, were examined. Both variants were tested with several combinations of the methods, including the perceptron with margin and three different kernels, polynomial, Gaussian and the conventional dot product kernel. The results are compared and analyzed in detail.
Newborn screening for medium chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency in England: prevalence, predictive value and test validity based on 1.5 million screened babies

Background Medium chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency (MCADD) is a rare, life-threatening condition. Early diagnosis by screening asymptomatic newborns may improve outcome, but the benefit to newborns identified with variants not encountered clinically is uncertain. Objective To estimate, overall and by ethnic group: screen-positive prevalence and predictive value (PPV); MCADD prevalence; proportion MCADD variants detected of predicted definite or uncertain clinical importance. Setting All births in areas of high ethnic minority prevalence in England. Methods Prospective multicentre pilot screening service; testing at age five to eight days; standardized screening, diagnostic and management protocols; independent expert review of screen-positive cases to assign MCADD diagnosis and predicted clinical importance (definite or uncertain). Results Approximately 1.5 million babies (79% white; 10% Asian) were screened. MCADD was confirmed in 147 of 190 babies with a positive screening result (screen-positive prevalence: 1.20 per 10,000; MCADD prevalence: 0.94 per 10,000; PPV 77% [95% CI 71–83]), comprising 103 (70%) with MCADD variants of definite clinical importance (95 white [95%]; 2 Asian [2%]) and 44 (30%) with variants of uncertain clinical importance (29 white [67%]; 12 Asian [28%]). Conclusion One baby in every 10,000 born in England is diagnosed with MCADD by newborn screening; around 60 babies each year. While the majority of MCADD variants detected are predicted to be of definite clinical importance, this varies according to ethnic group, with variants of uncertain importance most commonly found in Asian babies. These findings provide support for MCADD screening but highlight the need to take account of the ethnic diversity of the population tested at implementation.