Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Exploring Tactile Perceptual Dimensions Using Materials Associated with Sensory Vocabulary

Considering tactile sensation when designing products is important because the decision to purchase often depends on how products feel. Numerous psychophysical studies have attempted to identify important factors that describe tactile perceptions. However, the numbers and types of major tactile dimensions reported in previous studies have varied because of differences in materials used across experiments. To obtain a more complete picture of perceptual space with regard to touch, our study focuses on using vocabulary that expresses tactile sensations as a guiding principle for collecting material samples because these types of words are expected to cover all the basic categories within tactile perceptual space. We collected 120 materials based on a variety of Japanese sound-symbolic words for tactile sensations, and used the materials to examine tactile perceptual dimensions and their associations with affective evaluations. Analysis revealed six major dimensions: “Affective evaluation and Friction,” “Compliance,” “Surface,” “Volume,” “Temperature,” and “Naturalness. ” These dimensions include four factors that previous studies have regarded as fundamental, as well as two new factors: “Volume” and “Naturalness. ” Additionally, we showed that “Affective evaluation” is more closely related to the “Friction” component (slipperiness and dryness) than to other tactile perceptual features. Our study demonstrates that using vocabulary could be an effective method for selecting material samples to explore tactile perceptual space.
A comparison of four pair-wise sequence alignment methods

Protein sequence alignment has become an essential task in modern molecular biology research. A number of alignment techniques have been documented in literature and their corresponding tools are made available as freeware and commercial software. The choice and use of these tools for sequence alignment through the complete interpretation of alignment results is often considered non-trivial by end-users with limited skill in Bioinformatics algorithm development. Here, we discuss the comparison of sequence alignment techniques based on dynamic programming (N-W, S-W) and heuristics (LFASTA, BL2SEQ) for four sets of sequence data towards an educational purpose. The analysis suggests that heuristics based methods are faster than dynamic programming methods in alignment speed.
Identification and characterization of the biotechnological potential of a wild strain of Paraconiothyrium sp

The isolation and characterization of fungal strains from poorly described taxa allows undercover attributes of their basic biology useful for biotechnology. Here, a wild fungal strain (CMU‐196) from recently described Paraconiothyrium genus was analyzed. CMU‐196 was identified as Paraconiothyrium brasiliense by phylogenetic analysis of the rDNA internal transcribed spacer region (ITS). CMU‐196 metabolized 57 out of 95 substrates of the Biolog FF microplates. Efficient assimilation of dextrins and glycogen indicates that CMU‐196 is a good producer of amylolytic enzymes. It showed a remarkably assimilation of α‐d‐lactose, substrate described as inducer of cellulolytic activity but poorly assimilated by several fungi. Metabolically active mycelium of the strain decolorized broth supplemented with direct blue 71, Chicago sky blue and remazol brilliant blue R dyes. The former two dyes were also well removed from broth by mycelium inactivated by autoclaving. Both mycelia had low efficiency for removing fuchsin acid from broth and for decolorizing wastewater from the paper industry. CMU‐196 strain showed extracellular laccase activity when potato dextrose broth was supplemented with Cu+2, reaching a maximum activity of 46.8 (±0.33) U L−1. Studied strain antagonized phytopathogenic Colletotrichum spp. fungi and Phytophthora spp. oomycetes in vitro, but is less effective towards Fusarium spp. fungi. CMU‐196 antagonism includes overgrowing the mycelia of phytopathogens and growth inhibition, probably by hydrosoluble extracellular metabolites. The biotechnological potential of strain CMU‐196 here described warrants further studies to have a more detailed knowledge of the mechanisms associated with its metabolic versatility, capacity for environmental detoxification, extracellular laccase production, and antagonism against phytopathogens. © 2018 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog. , 34:846–857, 2018
Cognitive impairment in HIV infection is associated with MRI and CSF pattern of neurodegeneration

Biomarkers as indicators for the progression of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)‐associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND) remain still elusive. We performed a cross‐sectional study to analyze the correlation between cognitive impairment, abnormalities in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) markers of neurodegeneration in HIV‐infected patients.
Regression Analysis for the Additive Hazards Model with Covariate Errors

In this article, general inference procedures are proposed for the additive hazards model when covariates are subject to measurement errors and the errors are non-informative. The methods are not restricted to classical additive error models, but are capable of handling general covariate error structures. They can be applied to studies with either an external or internal validation sample, and also to studies with replicate measurements of the surrogate covariate. The asymptotic properties of the resulting estimators are derived, and simulation studies are conducted to evaluate the performance of the proposed estimators. A real example is provided.
Cognitive Mechanism Underlying the Relationship Between Rapid Automatized Naming and Reading: A Longitudinal Study on Bilingual Children

Rapid automatized naming has been demonstrated as an important correlate of various reading outcomes. However, the cognitive mechanism underlying the RAN–reading relationship is not well understood. The primary goal of this study is to evaluate three major theoretical accounts for the RAN–reading relationship: phonological processing account, orthographic processing account, and speed of processing explanation. Each theoretical account would lead to different predictions on cross-language transfer of RAN to reading. One-hundred twenty nine Chinese–English bilinguals were followed from Age 4 to Age 5. They were assessed at two time points for their word reading and RAN in Chinese and English. Both concurrent and longitudinal cross-language transfers of RAN to reading were examined. The cross-language transfers from English RAN to Chinese reading were found both concurrently and longitudinally but no transfer from Chinese RAN to English reading. Our results supported the orthographic processing account. Theoretical implications are discussed.
The consequences of sibling formation on survival and reproductive success across different ecological contexts: a comparison of the historical Krummhörn and Quebec populations

Abstract This article investigates the relationship between additional siblings and the probability of offspring survival, marriage, and fertility across the historical populations of the St Lawrence Valley in Quebec (1670–1799) and the Krummhörn region in Germany (1720–1874). Both populations existed in agriculturally based economies, but differ in important ways. The Krummhörn population faced a fixed supply of land, which was concentrated amongst a small number of farmers. Most individuals were landless agricultural workers who formed a relatively competitive labor supply for the large farmers. In contrast, individuals in Quebec had access to a large supply of land, but with far fewer available agricultural workers, and had to rely on their family to develop and farm that land. Results indicate that more siblings of the same gender were generally associated with increases in mortality during infancy and childhood, later ages of first marriage, and fewer numbers of children ever born. For mortality and age at first marriage, the effects of sibling formation appear strongest in the Krummhörn region. Notwithstanding these observed differences, the general consistency and robustness of the sibship effect across the different ecological and economic contexts is our most interesting result. In addition, through side-by-side comparison of across-family and within-family analyses, we argue that sibling competition – or sacrifice – is manifested as an internal familial dynamic, but is obscured in non-fixed effects models by a broader trend of family cooperation. Through this comparison we are able to reconcile family solidarity and sibling competition/sacrifice as coexisting phenomena. Results are robust to inclusion of covariate interactions with time, inclusion of indicators for high levels of extrinsic risk, estimation of shared frailty models, alternative methods of dealing with ties in the dataset, including recomposed families in the dataset, excluding individuals whose death dates are ‘heaped’, and excluding individuals born to large families.
Enhancing the learning experience of interpreting students outside the classroom. A study of the benefits of situated learning at the Scottish Parliament

ABSTRACT The purpose of this article is to observe and analyse the potential benefits of the situated learning experience for MSc interpreting students enrolled in the Conference Interpreting and Translation programme at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh by taking them outside the classroom and confronting them with the realities of a working parliament (the Scottish Parliament). Our curriculum already includes a number of activities designed to draw on theories of experiential learning developed by Lave and Wenger (1991) generally, and D’Hayer (2006) specifically for interpreter education, for instance in the shape of simulated multilingual conferences organised in a university interpreting laboratory. However, this study is designed to analyse the benefits of taking situated learning one step further, by placing students in the real, live environment in which professional interpreters work: an interpreting booth, during a live Scottish parliamentary session. By taking the learning experience out of the usual academic environment and into a professional setting, we intend to use a mixed-method approach in order to examine how students react to the experience and to what extent it contributes to focusing their study strategies and learning.
Analysis of Least Stable Mode of Buoyancy Assisted Mixed Convective Flow in Vertical Pipe Filled with Porous Medium

Least stable mode of convective flow, in- duced by external pressure gradient and buoyancy force in the vertical pipe filled with porous medium, is investigated. Non-Darcy Brinkman-extended model has been considered. To study least stable mode of the fully developed flow linear theory of stability anal- ysis has been used for an wide range (0.01, 100) of Prandtl number (Pr). To this end, coupled ordinary differential equations obtained from linear theory of stability analysis, have been solved numerically us- ing Spectral collocation method. Four different val- ues 10 −1 ,1 0 −2 ,1 0 −3 ,a nd 10 −4 of Darcy number (Da) have been considered to study the impact of perme- ability of the medium on the flow stability. Present study on the least stable mode analysis discloses that when fluid is gas (Pr = 0.7) or water (Pr = 7.0), for relatively large values of Darcy number (i.e. Da =1 0 −1 and 10 −2 ), first azimuthal mode is the least stable mode of the basic flow in the entire range of Reynold's number (Re) considered in this manuscript. However, when Pr = 70, based on the values of Da, there exist a minimum value of Re beyond it the least stability of the fluid is achieved for zero azimuthal number. Further, it was found that for Da equal to 10 −3 or 10 −4 the instability boundary curves in the (Re, Ra)-plane, for all above three fluids, are almost equal.
The effects of age and sex on mental rotation performance, verbal performance, and brain electrical activity.

This study examined the effects of age and sex on mental rotation performance, verbal performance, and brain-wave activity. Thirty-two 8-year-olds (16 boys) and 32 college students (16 men) had EEG recorded at baseline and while performing four computerized tasks: a two-dimensional (2D) gingerbread man mental rotation, a 2D alphanumeric mental rotation, of three-dimensional (3D) basketball player mental rotation, and lexical decision making. Additionally, participants completed a paper- and pencil water level task and an oral verbal fluency task. On the 2D alphanumeric and 3D basketball player mental rotation tasks, men performed better than boys, but the performance of women and girls did not differ. On the water level task, men performed better than women whereas there was no difference between boys and girls. No sex differences were found on the 2D gingerbread man mental rotation, lexical decision-making, and verbal fluency tasks. EEG analyses indicated that men exhibited left posterior temporal activation during the 2D alphanumeric task and that men and boys both exhibited greater left parietal activation than women and girls during the 2D gingerbread man task. On the 3D basketball player mental rotation task, all participants exhibited greater activation of the right parietal area than the left parietal area. These data give insight into the brain activity and cognitive development changes that occur between childhood and adulthood.
Which Antibody Functions are Important for an HIV Vaccine?

HIV antibody (Ab) functions capable of preventing mucosal cell-free or cell-to-cell HIV transmission are critical for the development of effective prophylactic and therapeutic vaccines. In addition to CD4+ T cells, other potential HIV-target cell types including antigen-presenting cells (APCs) (dendritic cells, macrophages) residing at mucosal sites are infected. Moreover, the interactions between APCs and HIV lead to HIV cell-to-cell transmission. Recently discovered broadly neutralizing antibodies (NAbs) are able to neutralize a broad spectrum of HIV strains, inhibit cell-to-cell transfer, and efficiently protect from infection in the experimentally challenged macaque model. However, the 31% protection observed in the RV144 vaccine trial in the absence of detectable NAbs in blood samples pointed to the possible role of additional Ab inhibitory functions. Increasing evidence suggests that IgG Fcγ receptor (FcγR)-mediated inhibition of Abs present at the mucosal site may play a role in protection against HIV mucosal transmission. Moreover, mucosal IgA Abs may be determinant in protection against HIV sexual transmission. Therefore, defining Ab inhibitory functions that could lead to protection is critical for further HIV vaccine design. Here, we review different inhibitory properties of HIV-specific Abs and discuss their potential role in protection against HIV sexual transmission.
Establishing Measurement Equivalence Across Computer- and Paper-Based Tests of Spatial Cognition

Objective The purpose of the present research is to establish measurement equivalence and test differences in reliability between computerized and pencil-and-paper-based tests of spatial cognition. Background Researchers have increasingly adopted computerized test formats, but few attempt to establish equivalence for computer-based and paper-based tests. The mixed results in the literature on the test mode effect, which occurs when performance differs as a function of test medium, highlight the need to test for, instead of assume, measurement equivalence. One domain that has been increasingly computerized and is thus in need of tests of measurement equivalence across test mode is spatial cognition. Method In the present study, 244 undergraduate students completed two measures of spatial ability (i.e., spatial visualization and cross-sectioning) in either computer- or paper-and-pencil-based format. Results Measurement equivalence was not supported across computer-based and paper-based formats for either spatial test. The results also indicated that test administration type affected the types of errors made on the spatial visualization task, which further highlights the conceptual differences between test mediums. Paper-based tests also demonstrated increased reliability when compared with computerized versions of the tests. Conclusion The results of the measurement equivalence tests caution against treating computer- and paper-based versions of spatial measures as equivalent. We encourage subsequent work to demonstrate test mode equivalence prior to the utilization of spatial measures because current evidence suggests they may not reliably capture the same construct. Application The assessment of test type differences may influence the medium in which spatial cognition tests are administered.
Raising an army: the geopolitics of militarizing the lives of working-class boys in an age of austerity

This article examines the political and social impact of elevating military values in society in a context of austerity. Centering on discussions around two British government “military ethos” initiatives, I consider the idea that military service instills desirable qualities and values in military personnel, making them well suited to educating and socializing children, to the advantage of both children and society. Arguing that these schemes primarily target boys from disadvantaged backgrounds in an effort to turn them into “productive” members of society, I suggest that military ethos initiatives contribute to not only the “raising” of working-class boys but the raising of a class-based army. Moreover, rather than focusing solely on the implications of the military ethos in the British context, I argue that its underlying assumptions about military socialization as a social good have significant geopolitical effects. Through characterizing the military as a core institution of society and its values as moral and good for children, these initiatives obscure the military’s core violent functions. Thus, by both normalizing violence and militarism in everyday life and targeting boys from disadvantaged backgrounds, “military ethos” initiatives engender the subjectivities that provide the very political, social economic, and indeed practical resources that make war possible.
A Novel Online Measure of Cache Utility Efficiency in Chip Multiprocessor

The cache partition mechanism is introduced to solve the problem of contention and pollution of caches in Chip Multiprocessor. One of the key questions is to analyze online the utility characteristics and efficiency of cache requests originating from different sources. Cache request is differentiated by hardware thread context id. Based on the working set model, within a certain sampling time frame, a number of specific cache lines are preserved by modifying the cache address mapping mechanism and its number is the same as that of the hardware threads of the processor, performing statistics on the frequency of Stack Distance under LRU respectively. Based on the characteristic of the frequency distribution of Stack Distance, We propose a metric, L*D, to measure online the recognition of the cache utility efficiency of the working set and providing information for the decision making of cache allocation and management. Experiments performed in multiple Benchmarks in Spec Cpu2000 show that the online monitoring mechanism and quantitative metric discussed in this article have achieved fine-grained online monitoring of the efficiency of cache utility based on the working set. Not only do they allow the online recognition of cache space utility characteristic, but they do also enable the identification of any changes in the efficiency of cache utility, achieving an accuracy of over 75%.
Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors in EGFR-Mutated Large-Cell Neuroendocrine Carcinoma of the Lung? A Case Report

Large-cell neuroendocrine carcinoma (LCNEC) of the lung is a high-grade carcinoma belonging to the neuroendocrine tumors of the lung and is different from typical lung large-cell carcinoma. It represents about 3% of all pulmonary malignancies and is characterized by neuroendocrine cytologic features. The treatment usually is platinum-based chemotherapy, however the outcome remains poor. Therefore new therapeutic options are needed. Tyrosine kinase inhibitors have demonstrated greater efficacy and better tolerability than standard chemotherapy in non-small-cell lung cancer harboring epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations. EGFR gene mutations were also rarely identified in LCNEC. We report a patient with lung LCNEC activating EGFR mutations who showed an impressive response to gefitinib.
Vacuolar and plasma membrane stripping and autophagic elimination of Toxoplasma gondii in primed effector macrophages

Apicomplexan protozoan pathogens avoid destruction and establish a replicative niche within host cells by forming a nonfusogenic parasitophorous vacuole (PV). Here we present evidence for lysosome-mediated degradation of Toxoplasma gondii after invasion of macrophages activated in vivo. Pathogen elimination was dependent on the interferon γ inducible-p47 GTPase, IGTP, required PI3K activity, and was preceded by PV membrane indentation, vesiculation, disruption, and, surprisingly, stripping of the parasite plasma membrane. Denuded parasites were enveloped in autophagosome-like vacuoles, which ultimately fused with lysosomes. These observations outline a series of mechanisms used by effector cells to redirect the fate of a classically nonfusogenic intracellular pathogen toward a path of immune elimination.
Theoretical Analysis of Vibration Frequency of Graphene Sheets Used as Nanomechanical Mass Sensor

Nanoelectromechanical resonator sensors based on graphene sheets (GS) show ultrahigh sensitivity to vibration. However, many factors such as the layer number and dimension of the GSs will affect the sensor characteristics. In this study, an analytical model is proposed to investigate the vibration behavior of double-layered graphene sheets (DLGSs) with attached nanoparticles. Based on nonlocal continuum mechanics, the influences of the layer number, dimensions of the GSs, and of the mass and position of nanoparticles attached to the GSs on the vibration response of GS resonators are discussed in detail. The results indicate that nanomasses can easily be detected by GS resonators, which can be used as a highly sensitive nanomechanical element in sensor systems. A logarithmically linear relationship exists between the frequency shift and the attached mass when the total mass attached to GS is less than about 1.0 zg. Accordingly, it is convenient to use a linear calibration for the calculation and determination of attached nanomasses. The simulation approach and the parametric investigation are useful tools for the design of graphene-based nanomass sensors and devices.