Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Theory of Adaptive Dispersion and Acoustic-Phonetic Properties of Cross-Language Lexical-Tone Systems.

Lexical‐tone languages use fundamental frequency (F0) to convey word‐meaning. Nearly half of all languages use lexical tone [Maddieson (2008)], yet those systems are under‐studied. To increase our understanding of speech‐sound inventory organization, I extend to tone‐systems a model of vowel‐system organization, the theory of adaptive dispersion (TAD) [Liljencrants and Lindblom (1972)]. This is a cross‐language investigation of whether and how tone‐inventory size affects acoustic tone‐space size. Five languages with different‐sized tone‐inventories were compared: Cantonese (six tones), Thai (five tones), Mandarin (four tones), Yoruba (three tones), and Igbo (two tones). Six native speakers (three female) of each language produced 18 CV syllables in isolation, with each of his/her language’s tones, six times. Tonal F0 (semitones) was measured at three equidistant points across the vowel. Each language’s tone‐space was defined in two ways: (1) the F0 difference between its highest and lowest tones and (2) the configuration of tones in a 2‐D space defined by onset F0 x offglide F0. Following the TAD, I predicted that languages with larger tone‐inventories would have larger tone‐spaces; this was not supported by (1). However, the dispersion of tones in (2) supports the TAD hypothesis that sound‐categories will be well‐dispersed across the space and highly contrastive.
’ s repository of research publications and other research outputs Grouping axioms for more coherent ontology descriptions Conference or Workshop Item

Ontologies and datasets for the Semantic Web are encoded in OWL formalisms that are not easily comprehended by people. To make ontologies accessible to human domain experts, several research groups have developed ontology verbalisers using Natural Language Generation. In practice ontologies are usually composed of simple axioms, so that realising them separately is relatively easy; there remains however the problem of producing texts that are coherent and efficient. We describe in this paper some methods for producing sentences that aggregate over sets of axioms that share the same logical structure. Because these methods are based on logical structure rather than domain-specific concepts or language-specific syntax, they are generic both as regards domain and language.
Cooperative adaptive cruise control over unreliable networks: an observer-based approach to increase robustness to packet loss

Cooperative Adaptive Cruise Control (CACC) is nowadays a promising technique to increase highway through-put, safety and comfort for vehicles. Enabled by wireless communication, CACC allows a platoon of vehicles to achieve better performance than Adaptive Cruise Control; however, since wireless is employed, problems related to unreliability arise. In this paper, we design a digital controller to achieve platoon stability, enhanced by an observer to increase robustness against packet losses. A preliminary set of simulation results is presented, which confirms the interest of using an observer in combination with a local and cooperative digital controller.
Canine susceptibility to human influenza viruses ( A / pdm 09 H 1 N 1 , A / H 3 N 2 and B )

Received 7 August 2014 Accepted 8 October 2014 Viral Infectious Disease Research Center, Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Daejeon, Republic of Korea University of Science and Technology, Daejeon, Republic of Korea Research Evaluation Team, Institute for Basic Science, Daejeon, Republic of Korea Research Unit, Green Cross Veterinary Product, Yongin, Gyeonggi, Republic of Korea Korea Zoonosis Research Institute, Chonbuk National University, Jeonju, Jeonbuk, Republic of Korea Biomedical Translational Research Center, Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Daejeon, Republic of Korea Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency, Anyang, Gyeonggi, Republic of Korea Department of Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, Korea University, Sejong, Republic of Korea
CYTOGENETIC AND MOLECULAR ANALYSIS OF PATIENTS WITH AMBIGUOUS GENITALIA

Ambiguity is one of the sex determination disorders which are caused by several genetic and hormonal factors. This study was carried out to determine the association between sex external genitalia and genetic phenotype and to find the role of SRY in ambiguity. Twenty one patients with ambiguous genitalia were involved in the study. Blood samples were used for cytogenetic analysis and for DNA extraction for PCR analysis with SRY and SMCX primers.In this study we examined 21 patients with ambigiuity and we grouped them into two groups according to their external genitalia. The first group consists of 6 patients with apparently female external genitalia and the second group consists of 15 patients with apparently female external genitalia plus micropenis. Cytogenetic and molecular analyses were preformed and the cytogentic analysis revealed that 4 patients of group-1 were with 46,XY karyotype and two with 46,XX karyotype. While 14 patients of group-2 were with 46,XX and one with mosaic karyotype. PCR analysis of the DNA extracted from patients blood of both groups with SRY and SMCX primers or with SRY primers alone showed that discordance between PCR and cytogenetic results was detected in patient no.5 from group-1 and patients no.7 and 8 from group-2 where the PCR positive to SRY while the karyotype is 46,XX. Discordance was detected between the external genitalia and cytogenetic karyotype of the patients with ambiguity. Such discordance was confirmed by PCR analysis.
Incentives, Risk, and Information: Notes Towards a Theory of Hierarchy

This paper analyzes the role of incentives, risk, and information in determining the structure of employment contracts. In particular, we focus on the functions performed by piece rate versus time rate payment systems and by supervisors. The relative reliance on piece rates versus time rates is related to risk sharing, to the use of the payment system as a method of screening employees, and to differential information concerning the difficulties of the tasks being performed. The choice of payment system thus depends on the attitudes toward risk of workers and employers, effort supply elasticities, the sources and magnitude of the uncertainties, and the nature of the supervision used in the employment relation. The supervisor is viewed as monitoring inputs (enforcing contracts), screening individuals, obtaining information about the state of the world, etc. Their roles are related to the nonconvexities associated with information.
Nanorice Chain Waveguides Based on Low and High Order Mode Coupling

We investigate the optical properties of a plasmonic chain waveguide consisting of a linear array of elongated nanoshell particles (i.e. nanorice), where the interaction is based on low and high order mode coupling. Research shows that the propagation length can be improved by this kind of nanorice structures when compared to solid metallic structures with elongated (elliptical) shapes. Furthermore, at high order resonances, the propagation, as well as the energy transfer can be enhanced compared to the propagation at low order mode interactions. These findings allow the design of highly efficient waveguides for guiding light on the nanoscale.
Pacemaker Neurons and Neuronal Networks in Health and Disease

Neural network activity provides the operational basis for diverse neural circuits to determine temporal windows during which multiple, coherent neuronal assemblies engaged in the generation of specific behaviors can be recruited [1-3]. Neural network activity emerges from the combination of intrinsic neural properties and the synaptic interactions among them [1-5]. However, the relative contributions of intrinsic and synaptic properties to circuit activity are diverse and change, depending on the state of the network, mainly through the action of neuromodulators [6]. On top of this diversity, the intrinsic properties of neurons are also heterogeneous, ranging from silent “linear” neurons (also called followers or non-pacemakers; Fig 1 bottom trace) to “non-linear” intrinsic bursters (also called pacemakers; Fig. 1 upper trace) [7]. The presence of pacemaker neurons and their pivotal role in network activity generation is an accepted fact for invertebrate networks [8]. In the case of mammalian circuits, accumulating evidence supports the presence and participation of these pacemakers in generating network rhythmic activity by several circuits throughout the brain in normal and abnormal conditions [1,4,5, 9-11]. In mammalian networks, bursting has been related to neural network generation [1], induction of synaptic plasticity, [12] as well as to the transition of abnormal neural network states [13,14]. Here, I will review just some examples of neural networks that contain pacemaker neurons, the main ionic mechanisms involved in their bursting generation, and the participation of these pacemakers in generating neural network function under normal and pathological conditions.
Language selection errors in switching: language priming or cognitive control?

ABSTRACT Although bilingual speakers are very good at selectively using one language rather than another, sometimes language selection errors occur. We examined the relative contribution of top-down cognitive control and bottom-up language priming to these errors. Unbalanced Dutch-English bilinguals named pictures and were cued to switch between languages under time pressure. We also manipulated the number of same-language trials before a switch (long vs. short runs). Results show that speakers made more language selection errors when switching from their second language (L2) to the first language (L1) than vice versa. Furthermore, they made more errors when switching to the L1 after a short compared to a long run of L2 trials. In the reverse switching direction (L1 to L2), run length had no effect. These findings are most compatible with an account of language selection errors that assigns a strong role to top-down processes of cognitive control.
The Impact of the Clean Air Acts on Coal Mining Employment in Kentucky

This article provides empirical evidence that environmental legislation affecting coal mining employment passed in 1977 had different effects on Western Kentucky, where the coal is of higher sulfur content, compared to Eastern Kentucky, where coals are of lower sulfur content, while the 1990 amendments to the Clean Air Act had no statistically significant impact in either region. The 1977 law generated a statistically significant reduction in West Kentucky employment. In addition, it appears that coal employment in Kentucky is correlated with coal mining employment in the US.
Long-term observations of cloud condensation nuclei in the Amazon rain forest – Part 1: Aerosol size distribution, hygroscopicity, and new model parametrizations for CCN prediction

Abstract. Size-resolved long-term measurements of atmospheric aerosol and cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) concentrations and hygroscopicity were conducted at the remote Amazon Tall Tower Observatory (ATTO) in the central Amazon Basin over a 1-year period and full seasonal cycle (March 2014–February 2015). The measurements provide a climatology of CCN properties characteristic of a remote central Amazonian rain forest site. The CCN measurements were continuously cycled through 10 levels of supersaturation (S = 0.11 to 1.10 %) and span the aerosol particle size range from 20 to 245 nm. The mean critical diameters of CCN activation range from 43 nm at S = 1.10 % to 172 nm at S = 0.11 %. The particle hygroscopicity exhibits a pronounced size dependence with lower values for the Aitken mode (κAit = 0.14 ± 0.03), higher values for the accumulation mode (κAcc = 0.22 ± 0.05), and an overall mean value of κmean = 0.17 ± 0.06, consistent with high fractions of organic aerosol. The hygroscopicity parameter, κ, exhibits remarkably little temporal variability: no pronounced diurnal cycles, only weak seasonal trends, and few short-term variations during long-range transport events. In contrast, the CCN number concentrations exhibit a pronounced seasonal cycle, tracking the pollution-related seasonality in total aerosol concentration. We find that the variability in the CCN concentrations in the central Amazon is mostly driven by aerosol particle number concentration and size distribution, while variations in aerosol hygroscopicity and chemical composition matter only during a few episodes. For modeling purposes, we compare different approaches of predicting CCN number concentration and present a novel parametrization, which allows accurate CCN predictions based on a small set of input data.
Influence of high performance work systems on employee subjective well-being and job burnout: empirical evidence from the Chinese healthcare sector

Over the last two decades, high performance work systems (HPWSs) research has been dominated by examining the effects of these systems on firm performance. Research on the impact of HPWSs on employees has been marginalised. This study examines the impact of HPWSs on two psychological outcomes for employees, namely, subjective well-being (SWB) and workplace burnout, by utilising data collected from 1488 physicians and nurses in 25 Chinese hospitals. It also examines the moderating effects of employees' organisational based self-esteem (OBSE), as an individual intervention and physician–nurse relationships, as an organisational intervention, on the relationship between HPWSs and employee outcomes. HPWS is found to increase employees' SWB and decrease burnout. Such well-being-enhancing and burnout-relieving effects are stronger when employees have high OBSE. The positive effect of HPWS on SWB is also stronger when there is a collaborative relationship among employees in an organisation. The major contribution of this study is to unpack the ‘black box’ of how HPWS influences employee well-being in the Chinese healthcare sector context.
TWENTY-ONE Metamemory : The feeling of knOwi ng and its vagaries

The study of the ''feeling of knowing" (POK) ·provides insights regarding some of the fundamental issues concerning the subjective monitoring of one's own knowledge. How a~curate are FOKs? What are the. processes underlying their accuracy? Recent work• 'suggests that metacognitive judgments do not reflect direct access to the ·underlying memory traces, but are mediated by inferential heuristics, which generally work. Sometimes, however, these heuristics result in serious dissociations between knowing and the FOK. These dissociations may have troubling consequences, because people generally trust their subjective feelings, and use them to control their behaviors.
Effect of long-term administration of Cinnamomum cassia silver nanoparticles on organs (kidneys and liver) of Sprague-Dawley rats

This study investigated the toxic effects of silver on the kidneys and livers of Sprague-Dawley rats after administering multiple doses of silver nanoparticles synthesized using extracts of Cinnamomum cassia (CcAgNPs). Twenty-four Sprague-Dawley rats (250 ± 20 g) were randomly assigned to four groups (A-D) of six animals per group and treated for 8 weeks. Group A was administered 200 mg/kg of Cinnamon Cassia extract (Cc), group B 5 mg/kg of CcAgNPs, group C 10 mg/kg of CcAgNPs, and group D normal saline. Body weight was measured weekly and fasting blood glucose was measured fortnightly. At the end of the experiment, animals were euthanized and organs (livers and kidneys) were fixed in neutral buffered formalin and processed for light microscopy (H&E). Body weight differences were significantly higher (P < 0.05) in the low-dose Cc group and the kidney to body weight ratio was not significant. Renal function analysis of proteins and ketones showed a significant increase in CcAgNP-treated rats (P < 0.05). Kidney and liver histology showed distortions in hepatocytes and sinusoidal linings with infiltrations especially in the higher dose groups. Kidney histology mirrored degenerative changes in glomerular and Bowman's capsules with bfirillary mesangial interstitium. CcAgNPs impairs renal and hepatic morphology and function after a long period of administration.
Intensity and Structure Changes during Hurricane Eyewall Replacement Cycles

AbstractA flight-level aircraft dataset consisting of 79 Atlantic basin hurricanes from 1977 to 2007 was used to develop an unprecedented climatology of inner-core intensity and structure changes associated with eyewall replacement cycles (ERCs). During an ERC, the inner-core structure was found to undergo dramatic changes that result in an intensity oscillation and rapid broadening of the wind field. Concentrated temporal sampling by reconnaissance aircraft in 14 of the 79 hurricanes captured virtually the entire evolution of 24 ERC events. The analysis of this large dataset extends the phenomenological paradigm of ERCs described in previous observational case studies by identifying and exploring three distinct phases of ERCs: intensification, weakening, and reintensification. In general, hurricanes intensify, sometimes rapidly, when outer wind maxima are first encountered by aircraft. The mean locations of the inner and outer wind maximum at the start of an ERC are 35 and 106 km from storm center, respe.
The role of explicit contrast in adjective acquisition: A cross-linguistic longitudinal study of adjective production in spontaneous child speech and parental input

Experimental studies demonstrate that contrast helps toddlers to extend the meanings of novel adjectives. This study explores whether antonym co-occurrence in spontaneous speech also has an effect on adjective use by the child. The authors studied adjective production in longitudinal speech samples from 16 children (16–36 months) acquiring eight different languages. Adjectives in child speech and child-directed speech were coded as either unrelated or related to a contrastive term in the preceding context. Results show large differences between children in the growth of adjective production. These differences are strongly related to contrast use. High contrast users not only increase adjective use earlier, but also reach a stable level of adjective production in the investigated period. Average or low contrast users increase their adjective production more slowly and do not reach a plateau in the period covered by this study. Initially there is a strong relation between contrast use in child speech and child-directed speech, but this relation diminishes with age.
Electron-light interactions beyond the adiabatic approximation: recoil engineering and spectral interferometry

ABSTRACT The adiabatic approximation has formed the basis for much of our understandings of the interaction of light and electrons. The classical nonrecoil approximation or quantum mechanical Wolkow states of free-electron waves have been routinely employed to interpret the outcomes of low-loss electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS) or electron holography. Despite the enormous success of semianalytical approximations, there are certainly ranges of electron–photon coupling strengths where more demanding self-consistent analyses are to be exploited to thoroughly grasp our experimental results. Slow-electron point-projection microscopes and many of the photoemission experiments are employed within such ranges. Here, we aim to classify those regimes and propose numerical solutions for an accurate simulation model. A survey of the works carried out within self-consistent Maxwell–Lorentz and Maxwell–Schrödinger frameworks are outlined. Several applications of the proposed frameworks are discussed, and an outlook for further investigations is also delivered. Abbreviations: CL: Cathodoluminescence CW: continuous – wave DLA: dielectric laser accelerator EDPHS: electron-driven photon source EEGS: electron energy-gain spectroscopy EELS: Electron energy-loss spectroscopy eV: electron-volt fs: femtosecond FDTD: finite-difference time-domain IR: infrared PIC: particle-in-cell PINEM: photon-induced near-field electron microscopy PLDOS: photonic local density of state PPM: point-projection electron microscopy SEM: scanning electron microscope SVA: slowly varying approximation TE: transverse electric TEM: transmission electron microscope THz: terahertz TM: transverse magnetic UV: ultraviolet GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT
An assessment of antibiotic resistant bacteria in poultry litter and agricultural soils in Kandy district, Sri Lanka

Antibiotic resistant gut flora and nearly large amount of antimicrobials used in feed could end up in poultry litter. Hence, poultry litter could serve as sources of antibiotic resistance determinants to the environment. A study was conducted to assess the abundance of antibiotic resistant bacteria (ARB) in poultry litter and manure samples, and agricultural soils. Sampling was performed in WM3 agro-ecological region in Kandy district, Sri Lanka. Soil from thirteen cultivated and two uncultivated lands were sampled. Poultry litter from layer and broiler farms (four each) and poultry manure from five heaps at agricultural fields in the study area were collected. All samples were analyzed for pH, electrical conductivity, respiration, potentially mineralizable N (PMN), active carbon. Bacteria were enumerated using 0.3% tryptic soy agar supplemented with tetracycline or enrofloxacin each at 0, 1 and 10 ppm in spread plate technique. Selected 20 isolates were characterized for gram staining and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) for tetracycline and antibiotic sensitivity towards tetracycline, enrofloxacin and neomycin. The highest and the lowest abundance of culturable bacteria populations were recorded for layer litter (7.42±0.38 log 10 CFU/g) and cultivated soils (6.96±0.34 log 10 CFU/g) respectively. Total Culturable bacteria populations significantly correlated with active C and PMN of soils and manures. In soils, bacteria resistant towards tetracycline and enrofloxacins at 10 ppm ranged from 3.58 to 4.99 log 10 CFU/g and 0.96 to 2.55 log 10 CFU/g respectively. Abundance of bacteria resistant towards tetracycline was higher than enrofloxacin in all samples. MIC and MBC of the isolates ranged from 0.5 to 1024 ppm and 4 to >1024 ppm of tetracycline, respectively. Poultry litter and manure, and soils collected from study area contain bacteria resistant to tetracycline and /or enroflaxacin. Variability in tetracycline and enrofloxacin resistance characters is suggestive of high diversity among ARB.
The influence of progesterone during early pregnancy in cattle

Early pregnancy in the cow In dairy cattle, failure to conceive to a particular mating represents a major constraint to fertility. Current estimates suggest that in the UK only around 50% of dairy cows calve to a particular insemination indicating that in 50% of cows pregnancy fails. The timing and extent of these losses has been reviewed extensively by Sreenan and Diskin (1 986) and more recently by Peters (1996). These reviews report a fertilisation rate of around 90%. Pregnancy rate then falls to around 80% by day 10-13 due to failed embryo development. By day 19 this figure has fallen to around 60-65% due to failure of the embryo to prevent luteolysis and maintain the secretion of progesterone necessary for its continued development. Thus around 2530% of pregnancies fail due to early embryo mortality. Further late embryo losses of around 510% and an abortion rate of around 5% lead to a final calving rate of around 50%. From these figures, based on a number of studies, it can clearly be seen that the most important factor contributing to early pregnancy failure is embryo mortality. This mortality results partly from the direct failure of the embryo to develop, but more commonly from the failure of the embryo to prevent luteolysis and maintain the pregnancy.