Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Challenges for Language Education and Policy : Making Space for People

Preface: Dear Elana, Bernard Spolsky Introduction: A Portrait of the Researcher in a Never-Ending Journey, Ofra Inbar and Michal Tannenbaum Chapter 1: Language Tests for Residency and Citizenship and the Conferring of Individuality, Tim McNamara, Kamran Khan, and Kellie Frost Chapter 2: Setting Standards for Multilingual Curricula to Teach and Test Foreign Languages, Bessie Dendrinos and Voula Gotsoulia Chapter 3: In the Name of the CEFR: Individuals and Standards, Monica Barni Chapter 4: Acknowledging the Diversity of the Language Learner Population in Australia: Towards Context-Sensitive Language Standards, Catherine Anne Elder Chapter 5: Students' Voices: The Challenge of Measuring Speaking for Academic Contexts, Lindsay Brooks and Merrill Swain Chapter 6: Ethical Codes and Responsibility, Alan Davies Chapter 7: Cultivating an Ecology of Multilingualism in Schools, Ofelia Garcia and Kate Menken Chapter 8: English in Ethiopia: Making Space for the Individual in Language Policy, Elizabeth Lanza and Hirut Woldemariam Chapter 9: Portraits of Language Activists in Indigenous Language Revitalization, Nancy H. Hornberger Chapter 10: Refugees in Canada: On the Loss of Social Capital, Thomas Ricento Chapter 11: Linguistic Landscapes Inside Multilingual Schools, Durk Gorter and Jasone Cenoz Chapter 12: "We Are Not Really a Mixed City"- A De-Jure Bilingual Linguistic Landscape - The Case of Jewish-Arab Mixed Cities in Israel, Dafna Yitzhaki and Theodorus du Plessis Chapter 13: Hebraization in the Palestinian Language Landscape in Israel, Muhammad Amara Chapter 14: Hebrew in the North American Linguistic Landscape: Materializing the Sacred, Sharon Avni Chapter 15: Welcome: Synthetic Personalization and Commodification of Sociability in the Linguistic Landscape of Global Tourism, Adam Jaworski Chapter 16: A Researcher's Auto-Socioanalysis: Making Space for the Personal, Claire Kramsch Chapter 17: Understanding the Holocaust: A Personal History, Critical Literacy Analysis of a Gestapo File, David I. Hanauer Chapter 18: Language Experience Changes Language and Cognitive Ability: Implications for Social Policy, Ellen Bialystok Chapter 19: Strategies for the Super-Multilingual in an Increasingly Global World, Andrew D. Cohen Chapter 20: Gender, Sexuality and Multilingualism in the Language Classroom, Lyn Wright Fogle and Kendall A. King Chapter 21: Examining Markers of Identity Construction in English Language Learning: Some Implications for Palestinian-Israeli and Jewish-Israeli Language Learners, Julia Schlam Salman, Elite Olshtain, and Zvi Bekerman Chapter 22: Integrational Linguistics and L2 Proficiency, James P. Lantolf About the Contributors
Beveled fiber-optic probe couples a ball lens for improving depth-resolved fluorescence measurements of layered tissue: Monte Carlo simulations

In this study, we evaluate the feasibility of designing a beveled fiber-optic probe coupled with a ball lens for improving depth-resolved fluorescence measurements of epithelial tissue using Monte Carlo (MC) simulations. The results show that by using the probe configuration with a beveled tip collection fiber and a flat tip excitation fiber associated with a ball lens, discrimination of fluorescence signals generated in different tissue depths is achievable. In comparison with a flat-tip collection fiber, the use of a large bevel angled collection fiber enables a better differentiation between the shallow and deep tissue layers by changing the excitation–collection fiber separations. This work suggests that the beveled fiber-optic probe coupled with a ball lens has the potential to facilitate depth-resolved fluorescence measurements of epithelial tissues.
Moderate Pressure is Essential for Massage Therapy Effects

ABSTRACT Moderate pressure appears to be necessary for massage therapy effects. Studies comparing moderate and light pressure massage are reviewed and they suggest that growth and development are enhanced in infants and stress is reduced in adults, but only by moderate pressure massage. The stimulation of pressure receptors leads to increased vagal activity which, in turn, seems to mediate the diverse benefits noted for massage therapy.
Antioxidant and Antigenotoxic Activities of the Brazilian Pine Araucaria angustifolia (Bert.) O. Kuntze

Polyphenols are natural products with recognized potential in drug discovery and development. We aimed to evaluate the polyphenolic profile of Araucaria angustifolia bracts, and their ability to scavenge reactive species. The antioxidant and antigenotoxic effects of A. angustifolia polyphenols in MRC5 human lung fibroblast cells were also explored. The total polyphenol extract of A. angustifolia was determined by the Folin–Ciocalteu reagent and the chemical composition was confirmed by HPLC. Reactive oxygen species’ scavenging ability was investigated by the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) method and superoxide dismutase- and catalase-like activities. The protective effect of the extract in MRC5 cells was carried out by the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide method and the determination of oxidative lipids, protein, and DNA (alkaline and enzymatic comet assay) damage. Total phenolic content of the A. angustifolia extract was 1586 ± 14.53 mg gallic acid equivalents/100 g of bracts. Catechin, epicatechin, quercetin, and apigenin were the major polyphenols. The extract was able to scavenge DPPH radicals and exhibited potent superoxide dismutase and catalase-like activities. Moreover, A. angustifolia extract significantly protected MRC5 cells against H2O2-induced mortality and oxidative damage to lipids, proteins, and DNA. Therefore, A. angustifolia has potential as a source of bioactive chemical compounds.
Effects of climate and land use on landscape soil respiration in northern Wisconsin, USA: 1972 to 2001

Changes in climate and land use affect soil respiration rates (SRR) significantly, but studies of these effects across entire landscapes are rare. We simulated responses of landscape mean SRR (LMSRR) to such changes from May to October over a 30 yr period in a managed, predominantly forested landscape in northern Wisconsin, USA, using: (1) 6 satellite-derived land-cover maps (1972, 1978, 1982, 1987, 1992, and 2001); (2) monthly air temperature data in the corresponding years of the cover maps; and (3) SRR models driven by soil temperature (Ts) at 5 cm depth. LMSRR seemed to increase linearly by 77% from 0.625 in May to 1.104 g CO2 m -2 h -1 in July, and then decreased at an increasing rate to 0.411 g CO2 m -2 h -1 in October. LMSRR was more sensitive to an increase of mini- mum temperature than that of mean or maximum temperature, suggesting that future climate change might impact SRR in high-latitude forests more than other biomes. LMSRR in September over the study period was similar to that of June but with 92% higher variation, while both landscape mean air temperature and precipitation in September had lower variation than in June. This indicates that the topsoil layer functions differently during soil warming and cooling phases. Changes in land cover composition from 1972 to 2001 increased LMSRR by 2.8 to 3.1% while 2°C differences in growing season mean air temperature increased the SRR by 6.7 to 7.0%. The combined effects of both vari- ables on the SRR are more complex, varying from 3.8 to 10.0%.
Predicting the spatial dynamics of rabies epidemics on heterogeneous landscapes

Often as an epidemic spreads, the leading front is irregular, reflecting spatial variation in local transmission rates. We developed a methodology for quantifying spatial variation in rates of disease spread across heterogeneous landscapes. Based on data for epidemic raccoon rabies in Connecticut, we developed a stochastic spatial model of rabies spread through the state's 169 townships. We quantified spatial variation in transmission rates associated with human demography and key habitat features. We found that large rivers act as semipermeable barriers, leading to a 7-fold reduction in the local rates of propagation. By combining the spatial distribution of major rivers with long-distance dispersal we were able to account for the observed irregular pattern of disease spread across the state without recourse to direct assessment of host-pathogen populations.
Wetlands serve as natural sources for improvement of stream ecosystem health in regions affected by acid deposition

For over 40 years, acid deposition has been recognized as a serious international environmental problem, but efforts to restore acidified streams and biota have had limited success. The need to better understand the effects of different sources of acidity on streams has become more pressing with the recent increases in surface water organic acids, or ‘brownification,’ associated with climate change and decreased inorganic acid deposition. Here, we carried out a large scale multi‐seasonal investigation in the Adirondacks, one of the most acid‐impacted regions in the United States, to assess how acid stream producers respond to local and watershed influences and whether these influences can be used in acidification remediation. We explored the pathways of wetland control on aluminum chemistry and diatom taxonomic and functional composition. We demonstrate that streams with larger watershed wetlands have higher organic content, lower concentrations of acidic anions, and lower ratios of inorganic to organic monomeric aluminum, all beneficial for diatom biodiversity and guilds producing high biomass. Although brownification has been viewed as a form of pollution, our results indicate that it may be a stimulating force for biofilm producers with potentially positive consequences for higher trophic levels. Our research also reveals that the mechanism of watershed control of local stream diatom biodiversity through wetland export of organic matter is universal in running waters, operating not only in hard streams, as previously reported, but also in acid streams. Our findings that the negative impacts of acid deposition on Adirondack stream chemistry and biota can be mitigated by wetlands have important implications for biodiversity conservation and stream ecosystem management. Future acidification research should focus on the potential for wetlands to improve stream ecosystem health in acid‐impacted regions and their direct use in stream restoration, for example, through stream rechanneling or wetland construction in appropriate hydrologic settings.
Diagnostic Value of Liquid-Based Cytology in Urothelial Carcinoma Diagnosis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Objective To evaluate the value of liquid-based cytology (LBC) in the diagnosis of urothelial carcinoma. Method Diagnostic studies were searched for the diagnostic value of LBC in urothelial carcinoma in PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, CBM and CNKI. The latest retrieval date was September 2014. The data were extracted and the quality of the included studies was independently assessed by 2 reviewers. Stata 13 software was used to perform the statistical analysis. The research was conducted in compliance with the PRISMA statement. Result Nineteen studies, which included 8293 patients, were evaluated. The results of the meta-analysis showed that the pooled sensitivity and specificity of LBC were 0.58 (0.51–0.65) and 0.96 (0.93–0.98), respectively. The diagnostic odds ratio (DOR) was 31 (18–56) and the area under the curve (AUC) of summary receiver operating characteristic (SROC) was 0.83 (0.80–0.86). The post-test probability was 80% when a positive diagnosis was made. Compared with high grade urothelial carcinoma (HGUC), the sensitivity of detecting low-grade urothelial carcinoma (LGUC) was significantly lower, risk ratio of sensitivity was 0.54 (0.43–0.66), P<0.001. However, no significant sensitivity improvement was observed with LBC when compared with traditional cytospin cytology, risk ratio was 1.03 (0.94–1.14), P = 0.524. Conclusion Despite LBC having a pooled 58% positive rate for urothelial carcinoma diagnosis in our meta-analysis, no significant improvement in sensitivity was observed based on the studies evaluated. Further research is needed to validate these findings.
Dense Holographic QCD in the Wigner-Seitz Approximation

We investigate cold dense matter in the context of Sakai and Sugimoto's holographic model of QCD in the Wigner-Seitz approximation. In bulk, baryons are treated as instantons on S3 × R1 in each Wigner-Seitz cell. In holographic QCD, Skyrmions are instanton holonomies along the conformal direction. The high density phase is identified with a crystal of holographic Skyrmions with restored chiral symmetry at about 4MKK3/π5. As the average density goes up, it approaches to uniform distribution while the chiral condensate approaches to p-wave over a cell. The chiral symmetry is effectively restored in long wavelength limit since the chiral order parameter is averaged to be zero over a cell. The energy density in dense medium varies as nB5/3, which is the expected power for non-relativistic fermion. This shows that the Pauli exclusion effect in boundary is encoded in the Coulomb repulsion in the bulk.
Antibacterial Activity of Leaf Extracts of Aloe Vera, Ocimum Sanctum and Sesbania Grandiflora against the Gram Positive Bacteria

Diseases have been managed traditionally using medicinal plants, as they contain components of therapeutic value. In view of this, in the present investigation, phytochemical analysis of aqueous, ethanol and chloroform extracts of some herbal leaves like Aloe vera, Ocimum sanctum and Sesbania grandiflora and their antibacterial activities against Gram positive bacteria like Staphylococcus aureus, S. epidermis, Streptococcus mutans, S. pyogenes, S. pneumoniae, Micrococcus luteus, Bacillus cerus and B. subtilis were investigated. The phytochemical analysis revealed the presence of triterpenoid, phenol and tannin in all the extracts of the selected plants. All the leaf extracts of the selected plants inhibited the growth of the test organisms and exhibited antibacterial activity. However, the majority of the bacterial species were susceptible to all the extracts of O. sanctum, when compared to A. vera and S. grandiflora. This work supports the traditional use of these plants and the therapeutic value against bacterial pathogens, so that they can be alternate antibacterial agents in future.
Instantaneous measurement of left and right ventricular stroke volume and pressure-volume relationships with an impedance catheter.

The feasibility of using continuous on-line recording of intraventricular electrical impedance to measure ventricular stroke volume was assessed in 12 patients at cardiac catheterization with a multielectrode impedance catheter and a 1.3 kHz measuring current of 4 microA. Stroke volumes determined by electrical impedance were compared with stroke volumes determined by the thermodilution technique in 10 patients and correlated with an r value of . 95. Directional changes in impedance recordings throughout the cardiac cycle were also compared with volume curves obtained from six patients by radionuclide ventriculography, and in all instances the agreement between the two volume recordings was excellent. For all patients, on-line measurements of impedance showed a beat-by-beat decrease in stroke volume with the Valsalva maneuver and the administration of amyl nitrite, as well as an immediate increase in stroke volume in the contraction following an extra-systolic beat. Similar directional changes in stroke volume were recorded in both left and right ventricles. Left ventricular pressure-volume relationships were assessed with simultaneous left ventricular pressure recordings and volume signals recorded from the impedance catheter to determine if impedance measurements of volume can be used clinically. Pressure-volume diagrams were subsequently plotted, and for all patients these diagrams showed characteristic isovolumetric contraction and relaxation phases as well as typical ejection and filling periods. Moreover, beat-by-beat sequential pressure-volume diagrams constructed for patients during the administration of amyl nitrite revealed a linear end-systolic pressure-volume relationship. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
High-level semantic feature for 3D shape based on deep belief networks

Deep learning has emerged as a powerful technique to extract high-level features from low-level information, which shows that hierarchical representation can be easily achieved. However, applying deep learning into 3D shape is still a challenge. In this paper, we propose a novel high-level feature learning method for 3D shape retrieval based on deep learning. In this framework, the low-level 3D shape descriptors are first encoded into visual bag-of-words, and then highlevel shape features are generated via deep belief network, which facilitates a good semantic preserving ability for the tasks of shape classification and retrieval. Experiments on 3D shape recognition and retrieval demonstrate the superior performance of the proposed method in comparison to the state-of-the-art methods.
Can Emerging Market Bank Regulators Establish Credible Discipline? The Case of Argentina, 1992-1999

In the early 1990s, after decades of high inflation and financial repression, Argentina embarked on a course of macroeconomic and bank regulatory reform. Bank regulatory policy promoted privatization, financial liberalization, and free entry, limited safety net support, and established a novel mix of regulatory and market discipline to ensure stable growth of the banking system during the liberalization process. Argentina suffered some fallout from the Mexican tequila crisis of 1995, but its response to that crisis (allowing weak banks to close) and the redoubling of regulatory efforts to promote market discipline after the crisis made Argentina's banking system quite resilient during the Asian, Russian, and Brazilian crises. Argentina's bank regulatory system now is widely regarded as one of the two or three most successful among emerging market economies. This paper traces the evolution of the regulatory policy changes of the 1990s and shows that the reliance on market discipline has played an important role in prudential regulation by encouraging proper risk management by banks. There is substantial heterogeneity among banks in the interest rates they pay for debt and the rate of growth of their deposits, and that heterogeneity is traceable to fundamental attributes of banks that affect the riskiness of deposits (i.e. asset risk and leverage). Moreover, market perceptions of default risk are mean-reverting, indicating that market discipline encourages banks to respond to increases in default risk by limiting asset risk or lowering leverage.
Global organizing designs

Communication as Antecedents and Consequences of LMX Development Globally: A New Strong Inference Approach, Jaesub Lee. Social Influence from the Bottom Up: A Process Model of LMX Development, Wayne Hochwarter and Stephanie L. Castro. LMX Differentiation: Key concepts and related empirical findings, John Maslyn and Mary Uhl-Bien. Core and Context. Henry Thibodeaux and Rosemary Hays-Thomas. Peer Leadership in Self-Managing Teams: Examining Team Leadership Through a Social Network Analytic Approach, Charlotte Gerstner and Paul E. Tesluk. Japanese Models of Managerial Progress Sponsored, Tournament, and Two-Stage Mobility, George Graen, Mitsuru Wakabayashi and Ravi Dharwadkar. Dyadic Leadership and Organizational Outcomes - Different Results for Different Instruments? , Birgit Schyns and Tina Paul. Three Dyadic Leadership Theories: Comparative Multiple Hypotheses Testing, George Graen. The Determinants of the LMX Exchange: Genetic Influences? , Satoris S. Youngcourt, Zhen Zhang and Rich Arvey. Proper Levels of Analysis, Hierarchical Linear Models and Leadership Theories, George Graen and Dora Lau.
Multi-Tasking Role of the Mechanosensing Protein Ankrd2 in the Signaling Network of Striated Muscle

Background Ankrd2 (also known as Arpp) together with Ankrd1/CARP and DARP are members of the MARP mechanosensing proteins that form a complex with titin (N2A)/calpain 3 protease/myopalladin. In muscle, Ankrd2 is located in the I-band of the sarcomere and moves to the nucleus of adjacent myofibers on muscle injury. In myoblasts it is predominantly in the nucleus and on differentiation shifts from the nucleus to the cytoplasm. In agreement with its role as a sensor it interacts both with sarcomeric proteins and transcription factors. Methodology/Principal Findings Expression profiling of endogenous Ankrd2 silenced in human myotubes was undertaken to elucidate its role as an intermediary in cell signaling pathways. Silencing Ankrd2 expression altered the expression of genes involved in both intercellular communication (cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction, endocytosis, focal adhesion, tight junction, gap junction and regulation of the actin cytoskeleton) and intracellular communication (calcium, insulin, MAPK, p53, TGF-β and Wnt signaling). The significance of Ankrd2 in cell signaling was strengthened by the fact that we were able to show for the first time that Nkx2.5 and p53 are upstream effectors of the Ankrd2 gene and that Ankrd1/CARP, another MARP member, can modulate the transcriptional ability of MyoD on the Ankrd2 promoter. Another novel finding was the interaction between Ankrd2 and proteins with PDZ and SH3 domains, further supporting its role in signaling. It is noteworthy that we demonstrated that transcription factors PAX6, LHX2, NFIL3 and MECP2, were able to bind both the Ankrd2 protein and its promoter indicating the presence of a regulatory feedback loop mechanism. Conclusions/Significance In conclusion we demonstrate that Ankrd2 is a potent regulator in muscle cells affecting a multitude of pathways and processes.
Long Distance Pronominalisation and Global Focus

Our corpus of descriptive text contains a significant number of long-distance pronominal references (8.4% of the total). In order to account for how these pronouns are intepreted, we re-examine Grosz and Sidner's theory of the attentional state, and in particular the use of the global focus to supplement centering theory. Our corpus evidence concerning these long-distance pronominal references, as well as studies of the use of descriptions, proper names and ambiguous uses of pronouns, lead us to conclude that a discourse focus stack mechanism of the type proposed by Sidner is essential to account for the use of these referring expressions. We suggest revising the Grosz & Sidner framework by allowing for the possibility that an entity in a focus space may have special status.
Semantic Parsing of Street Scenes from Video Semantic Parsing of Street Scenes from Video

Semantic models of the environment can significantly improve navigation and decision making capabilities of autonomous robots or enhance level of human and robot interaction. We present a novel approach for semantic segmentation of street scene images into coherent regions, while simultaneously categorizing each region as one of the predefined categories representing commonly encountered object and background classes. We formulate the segmentation on small blob-based superpixels and exploit a visual vocabulary tree as an intermediate image representation. The main novelty of our approach is the introduction of an explicit model of spatial co-occurrence of visual words associated with superpixels and utilization of appearance, geometry and contextual cues in a probabilistic framework. We demonstrate how individual cues contribute towards global segmentation accuracy and how their combination yields superior performance compared with the best known method on the challenging benchmark dataset which exhibits diversity of street scenes with varying viewpoints, a large number of categories, captured in daylight and dusk.