Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The acquisition of inflectional prefixes in Nairobi Swahili

This study investigates the acquisition of inflectional prefixes in Swahili, an eastern Bantu language. The order of morphemes in adult Swahili is: Subject Agreement – Tense – (Object Agreement) –Verb Root – (derivational suffixes) –Mood Vowel. I present data from an original corpus of 4 Swahili-speaking children (ages 1;8-3;0) who were recorded in Nairobi, Kenya. An analysis of the children’s verbal utterances reveals that four clause types occur in the speech of all four children:a. Agr–T–Verb StemFull Clauseb. O–T–Verb Stem[-SA] Clausec. Agr–O–Verb Stem[-T] Claused. O–O–Verb StemBare Verb Stem Of these four, only full clauses and [-SA] clauses are permitted by adults in this non-standard dialect of Swahili. A review of five influential theories on the acquisition of morphosyntax (the Metrical Omission Model, Gerken, 1991; the Truncation Hypothesis, Rizzi, 1994; the Underspecification of T, Wexler, 1994; the underspecification of Agr, Clahsen et al. , 1996; and the underspecification of Agr and T, Schutze & Wexler, 1996) shows that the data support the Agr-Tense Omission Model (Schutze & Wexler, 1996) in showing that agreement and tense may be optionally and independently underspecified.
A decrease in retinal progenitor cells is associated with early features of diabetic retinopathy in a model that combines diabetes and hypertension

Purpose Hyperglycemia and hypertension contribute to the development of diabetic retinopathy, and this may involve alterations in the normal retinal cell cycle. In this work, we examined the influence of diabetes and hypertension on retinal cell replication in vivo and the relationship between these changes and several early markers of diabetic retinopathy. Methods Diabetes was induced with streptozotocin in 4- and 12-week-old spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and their Wistar Kyoto (WKY) controls. The rats were killed 15 days later. Retinal cells stained with bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) were seen in rats of both ages. Results In 12-week-old rats, the number of BrdU-positive retinal cells was higher in SHR than in WKY rats. After 15 days of diabetes mellitus, there was a marked reduction in cell replication only in diabetic SHR (p=0.007). The BrdU-positive cells expressed neural, glial, or vascular progenitor markers. There was greater expression of p27Kip1 in the ganglion cell layer of both diabetic groups (p=0.05), whereas in the inner nuclear layer there was enhanced expression only in diabetic SHR (p=0.02). There was a marked increase in the retinal expression of fibronectin (p=0.04) and vascular endothelial growth factor (p=0.02) in diabetic SHR that was accompanied by blood-retinal barrier breakdown (p=0.01). Discussion Concomitant diabetes and hypertension attenuated the proliferation of retinal cells, and it is associated with an increase in p27Kip1 expression, fibronectin accumulation, and blood-retinal barrier breakdown. The replicative retinal cells displayed characteristics of progenitor cells.
Separability of Duration Dependence and Unobserved Heterogeneity

Mixed proportional hazard models are commonly used to estimate duration dependence and unobserved heterogeneity in unemployment exit rates. Some strong assumptions are made in this framework, i.e. that the various influences on the individual unemployment exit rate are separable. The model we use in this paper allows for both the individual duration dependence pattern and the inflow composition to exhibit cyclical variations, thereby relaxing two of the three separability assumptions. The aim of this paper is to assess the validity of the third separability assumption, namely that the duration dependence pattern is the same for all individuals.
Thalidomide impairs insulin action on glucose uptake and glycogen synthesis in patients with type 2 diabetes.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the effect of thalidomide on glucose turnover (glucose production and uptake), on intracellular pathways of glucose utilization (glycogen synthesis [GS], glycolysis [GLS], carbohydrate oxidation, and nonoxidative GLS), and on free fatty acid (FFA) turnover (lipolysis, FFA oxidation, and FFA reesterification). RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS A total of 6 patients with type 2 diabetes were studied with 4-h isoglycemic-hyperinsulinemic clamps (approximately 8 mmol/l and 500-600 pmol/l, respectively) before treatment (Prestudy), after 3 weeks of thalidomide (150 mg orally at bedtime), and after 3 weeks of placebo. RESULTS Thalidomide reduced insulin-stimulated glucose uptake by 31% (from 27.7 to 19.2 pmol x kg(-1) x min(-1), P < 0.05) compared with the prestudy and by 21% (from 24.2 to 19.2 pmol x kg(-1) x min(-1), P < 0.05) compared with placebo. Thalidomide also reduced insulin-stimulated GS by 48% (from 14.1 to 8.2 micromol x kg(-1) x min(-1), P < 0.05) compared with the prestudy and by 40% (from 13.6 to 8.2 micromol x kg(-1) x min(-1), P < 0.5) compared with placebo. Thalidomide had no effect on rates of GLS, carbohydrate oxidation, nonoxidative GLS, lipolysis, FFA oxidation, and reesterification. CONCLUSIONS We conclude that thalidomide increased insulin resistance in obese patients with type 2 diabetes by inhibiting insulin-stimulated GS and that patients taking thalidomide should be monitored for possible deterioration in their glucose tolerance.
Können durch einkommensbezogene Transfers an Arbeitnehmer die Arbeitsanreize gestärkt werden? (Can work incentives be increased, by means of income-related transfers to employees?: An econometric analysis for Germany)

"The paper investigates labor supply effects of reforming social welfare and unemployment assistance on the basis of an econometric model and a detailed tax-transfer simulation model for Germany. Simulation results show that realistic policy reforms with respect to lowering transfer withdrawal rates will have very little labor supply effects. This holds for Germany overall as well as for East and West Germany and for males and females. Depending on the particular policy reform labor supply effects may even be negative. This mainly depends on the initial distribution of employment within the household. " (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))
Parahippocampal volume deficits in subjects with aging-associated cognitive decline.

OBJECTIVE Neuropathological evidence suggests that the earliest changes in Alzheimer's disease selectively affect the parahippocampal regions of the brain. This study was conducted to determine if otherwise healthy elderly subjects with mild cognitive impairment had structural volume deficits affecting the parahippocampal gyrus. METHOD Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was used to compare global and regional brain volumes in 21 subjects with mild cognitive deficits defined according to the criteria for aging-associated cognitive decline, 22 cognitively intact comparison subjects, and 12 patients with Alzheimer's disease. RESULTS Compared with the cognitively intact subjects, the subjects with aging-associated cognitive decline had a significantly smaller mean volume of the right parahippocampal gyrus. The subjects with aging-associated cognitive decline had a mean parahippocampal volume that was intermediate between that of the Alzheimer's disease patients and that of the cognitively intact subjects. CONCLUSIONS Parahippocampal atrophy underlies the observed cognitive deficits in aging-associated cognitive decline. These findings support the hypothesis that aging-associated cognitive decline represents a preclinical stage of Alzheimer's disease.
Simultaneous Partitions of Measures by K-fans

A k-fan is a point in the plane and k semilines emanating from it. Motivated by a neat question of A. Kaneko and M. Kano, we study equipartitions by k-fans of two or more probability measures in the plane, as well as partitions in other prescribed ratios. One of our results: for any two measures there is a 4-fan such that one of its sectors contains 2 5 of both measures, and each of the the remaining three sectors contains 1 5 of both measures.
Smallest axis-parallel rectangle enclosing at least k points

Let P be a set of n points on a two-dimensional plane. In this work, we present an algorithm that identies a smallest area axis-parallel rectangle enclosing at least k points of P (1 < k n). The worst case time and space complexities of the algorithm are O(n 4 ) and O(n 2 ) respectively.
To use or not to use new IT: The effect of healthcare professional's OCB on intention to use new clinical IT

Although compared to other industries the utilization of information technology (IT) has slowly increased in many healthcare organizations, a variety of IT systems in the forms of clinical information systems, personal digital assistants, electronic patient records and other applications have gradually become established in the healthcare industry. IT has been enhanced as a means to advance healthcare services and patient care. Yet, it is impractical to imagine that if a new clinical information system is adopted by a healthcare organization all organizational members will be willing to apply the system simply. As healthcare professionals play an important role in the healthcare industry, there is no doubt that introducing new medical IT should be coupled with healthcare professionals' acceptance to use the IT properly. Clinical IT applications in healthcare are regarded as a key element in raising the quality of medical care. However, factors affecting the healthcare professionals' adoption behavior regarding the clinical IT systems are still not completely clear. In this study, by integrating the professional characteristics of healthcare profession with technology acceptance model, a modified model has been developed to address the issues of accepting new technology in the health care context. In this research (as a conceptual research) the concept of change-oriented Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB) is proposed as the key factor in the proposed conceptual framework concerning healthcare professionals' IT adoption behavior.
Autonomous Navigation Based on a Novel Topological Map

A novel topological map is proposed in this paper. By virtue of the topological map whose nodes are represented with the range finder’s free beams together with the visual scale-invariant features, the mobile robot can autonomously navigates in unknown, large-scale and indoor environments. Different from the traditional navigation methods that rely on accurate global localization, the robot locates itself imprecisely by location recognition rather than calculating its global pose in the world reference frame. By combining the reactive navigational method, BCM, with the topological map, a smooth, real-time navigation without global localization can be realized.
Visual Analytics of Dynamic Social Networks

Several techniques have been proposed to analyze and visualize static network data, but the visualization of dynamic network data is an emerging research field, with several open questions. The dynamic and multi-relational nature of this data poses the challenge of understanding both its topological structure and how it changes over time. In this doctoral proposal, I delineate my plans to investigate how a visual analytics approach, integrating visual, interactive, and automatic methods, can support the examination of dynamic networks. I present the design and implementation of a research prototype, whose effectiveness and usability will be evaluated by experts’ assessments and user studies in a real-world test bed.
A Data Aggregation Scheme in Wireless Sensor Networks for Structure Monitoring

Data aggregation can reduce the communication cost, thereby extending the lifetime of sensor networks. One key issue in structure monitoring is data aggregation. The sensors are typically sampled at high frequencies, producing large amounts of data; limited network resources make acquiring and processing this data quite challenging. In this paper, we propose an novel data aggregation scheme in WSNs for structure monitoring. In scheme, the interesting nodes can autonomously discover each other in a distributed fashion and form an ad hoc aggregation structure that can be used to compute cumulants and moments, or other statistical summaries. Simulation results show that the data size is reduced by a factor of 20 to 30 depending on the scheme in the aggregation.
Retinoic Acid and Arsenic Synergize to Eradicate Leukemic Cells in a Mouse Model of Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia

In acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) patients, retinoic acid (RA) triggers differentiation while arsenic trioxide (arsenic) induces both a partial differentiation and apoptosis. Although their mechanisms of action are believed to be distinct, these two drugs both induce the catabolism of the oncogenic promyelocytic leukemia (PML)/RARα fusion protein. While APL cell lines resistant to one agent are sensitive to the other, the benefit of combining RA and arsenic in cell culture is controversial, and thus far, no data are available in patients. Using syngenic grafts of leukemic blasts from PML/RARα transgenic mice as a model for APL, we demonstrate that arsenic induces apoptosis and modest differentiation, and prolongs mouse survival. Furthermore, combining arsenic with RA accelerates tumor regression through enhanced differentiation and apoptosis. Although RA or arsenic alone only prolongs survival two- to threefold, associating the two drugs leads to tumor clearance after a 9-mo relapse-free period. These studies establishing RA/arsenic synergy in vivo prompt the use of combined arsenic/RA treatments in APL patients and exemplify how mouse models of human leukemia can be used to design or optimize therapies.
Rapid assessment of the sex of codling moth Cydia pomonella (Linnaeus) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) eggs and larvae

Two different methods were tested to identify the sex of the early developmental stages of the codling moth Cydia pomonella (Linnaeus) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) with a WZ/ZZ (female/male) sex chromosome system. First, it was shown that the sex of all larval stages can be easily determined by the presence or absence of sex chromatin, which is formed by the female‐specific W chromosome in interphase nuclei. This trait can also be used to identify the sex of newly hatched larvae but it does require care and accuracy. Secondly, a new sexing technique was developed based on a molecular marker of the codling moth W chromosome. Flanking regions of an earlier described W‐specific sequence (CpW2) were isolated and sequenced and a 2.74 kb sequence (CpW2‐EcoRI), specific for the W chromosome, was obtained. Several PCR tests were conducted, which confirmed that the CpW2‐EcoRI sequence is a reliable marker for the sex identification in codling moth samples of different geographical origin. In addition, a fragment of a codling moth gene, period (Cpper) was isolated and sequenced. Results of southern hybridization of the Cpper probe with female and male genomic DNA suggested that the Cpper gene is located on the Z chromosome. Then a multiplex PCR assay was developed, which co‐amplified the CpW2‐EcoRI sequence to identify the W chromosome and the Z‐linked Cpper sequence, which served as a positive control of accurate processing of tested samples. The multiplex PCR provides an easy and rapid identification of the sex of embryos and early larval instars of the codling moth.
A simulation study of control methods for three-phase energy storage inverter

In this paper, a simulation study of control methods for three-phase energy storage inverter (TPESI) is presented. In energy invertion situation, the proportional integral (PI) control scheme and passivity-based control (PBC) scheme based on single loop control structure are discussed and compared. In energy storage situation, the control structure is usually taken as double loop form: inner current loop and outer voltage loop for the better control performance of both currents and dc voltage. The PI double loop control and some comprehensive control strategies such as the combination of PBC scheme and active disturbance rejection (ADR) control scheme, shorted for PBC-ADR control, and the combination of PBC and PI (PBC-PI) control are discussed. By simulating in Matlab/Simulink environment, the control performances of each method mentioned above are compared and discussed.
GRÖBNER BASES OF ALGEBRAIC INVARIANTS IN POLYNOMIAL DIFFERENTIAL SYSTEMS

We consider polynomial differential systems with coefficients in a field K of characteristic zero and the action of a given group G of linear transformations on these systems. The fundamental idea is based on the test of membership in an ideal. We use Grobner bases to describe the algebra of the covariants in relation to this group of transformations while developing an algorithmic method to construct a minimal system of generators of the covariants of these systems. We are able to determine whether any polynomial expression in the coefficients of the given differential system and the contravariant vector x is a G-covariant and we have an algorithm to calculate its normal form which can be used to express the invariants in a given basis of the G-covariants of these systems. We will give an application in the case of quadratic differential systems when G is the group of centro-affine transformations GL(2,R).
Design and Evaluation of a Goal-Directed Autonomous Agent

The ARTUE (Autonomous Response to Unexpected Events) system was built as a prototype to demonstrate the usefulness of Goal-Directed Autonomy. We provide an overview of some of the design decisions made in its construction, as well as a discussion of how we chose to evaluate it. We close with a brief discussion of interesting research questions raised by ARTUE’s design.
Anti-Hyperlipidemic Effects and Potential Mechanisms of Action of the Caffeoylquinic Acid-Rich Pandanus tectorius Fruit Extract in Hamsters Fed a High Fat-Diet

Hyperlipidemia is considered to be one of the greatest risk factors contributing to the prevalence and severity of cardiovascular diseases. In this work, we investigated the anti-hyperlipidemic effect and potential mechanism of action of the Pandanus tectorius fruit extract in hamsters fed a high fat-diet (HFD). The n-butanol fraction of the P. tectorius fruit ethanol extract (PTF-b) was rich in caffeoylquinic acids (CQAs). Administration of PTF-b for 4 weeks effectively decreased retroperitoneal fat and the serum levels of total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG) and low density lipoprotein–cholesterol (LDL-c) and hepatic TC and TG. The lipid signals (fatty acids, and cholesterol) in the liver as determined by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) were correspondingly reduced. Realtime quantitative PCR showed that the mRNA levels of PPARα and PPARα-regulated genes such as ACO, CPT1, LPL and HSL were largely enhanced by PTF-b. The transcription of LDLR, CYP7A1, and PPARγ was also upregulated. Treatment with PTF-b significantly stimulated the activation of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) as well as the activity of serum and hepatic lipoprotein lipase (LPL). Together, these results suggest that administration of the PTF-b enriched in CQAs moderates hyperlipidemia and improves the liver lipid profile. These effects may be caused, at least in part, by increasing the expression of PPARα and its downstream genes and by upregulation of LPL and AMPK activities.
Scheduling Register-Allocated Codes in User-Guided High-Level Synthesis

In high-level synthesis, as for compilers, an important question is when register assignment should take place. Unlike compilers for which the processor architecture is given, synthesizers can, in principle, perform scheduling before register assignment by instantiating, after scheduling, the adequate number of registers (thus with no spilling) and the right connections between operators. However, this approach may sometimes lead to suboptimal data paths. An alternate solution is to let the designer have some control on the compilation process so as to force desirable data paths and resource sharing. For example, in UGH, a public-domain user-guided high-level synthesis tool, the designer interacts with the synthesizer by providing an early allocation of scalar variables to registers and a draft data path that describes some or all connections between registers and operators. The well-known drawback of early register assignment is that it over-constrains the scheduler with false dependences. The UGH scheduler first removes these dependences and adds them on the fly during scheduling. It has been noticed that, although this approach can achieve good results in practice for suitable user designs, some rare deadlock situations can arise in the scheduler. We analyze the reason for such deadlocks and improve UGH strategy with a new implementation. We show how to avoid the deadlocks as much as possible and how, with some register duplication, they can be circumvented otherwise. We also show that, unless P=NP, there is no hope to design a polynomial test that decides which operation to schedule first so as to avoid a deadlock, therefore a duplication.
Making inference from wildlife collision data: inferring predator absence from prey strikes

Wildlife collision data are ubiquitous, though challenging for making ecological inference due to typically irreducible uncertainty relating to the sampling process. We illustrate a new approach that is useful for generating inference from predator data arising from wildlife collisions. By simply conditioning on a second prey species sampled via the same collision process, and by using a biologically realistic numerical response functions, we can produce a coherent numerical response relationship between predator and prey. This relationship can then be used to make inference on the population size of the predator species, including the probability of extinction. The statistical conditioning enables us to account for unmeasured variation in factors influencing the runway strike incidence for individual airports and to enable valid comparisons. A practical application of the approach for testing hypotheses about the distribution and abundance of a predator species is illustrated using the hypothesized red fox incursion into Tasmania, Australia. We estimate that conditional on the numerical response between fox and lagomorph runway strikes on mainland Australia, the predictive probability of observing no runway strikes of foxes in Tasmania after observing 15 lagomorph strikes is 0.001. We conclude there is enough evidence to safely reject the null hypothesis that there is a widespread red fox population in Tasmania at a population density consistent with prey availability. The method is novel and has potential wider application.