Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
DISTURBANCES OF SPATIAL ORIENTATION AND VISUAL ATTENTION, WITH LOSS OF STEREOSCOPIC VISION

The following case is placed on record as it is an excellent example of a type of special disturbances of vision which claim our interest, not only on account of their relative rarity, but chiefly because they throw considerable light on the functions and modes of activity of the cerebral cortex, and particularly on those processes which are concerned in the integration and association of sensations. The case is described at length as the patient exhibited many symptoms which could be fully understood only when carefully studied and analyzed. We were particularly fortunate in that he was an intelligent, willing and objective witness, and had no disturbances of speech, or motor or sensory symptoms that could complicate our observations. On the other hand, we have made our discussion of his condition as concise as possible with due regard to clearness, more especially as one of us has recently recorded six
Cyber-Aggression: Definition and Concept of Cyberbullying

Abstract This study examined definitions and concepts of cyberbullying. It identified words, terms and definitions used for negative acts on the internet and mobile phones across different age groups in the United Kingdom. Young people and adults' (N = 32; age = 8–54) constructs and perceptions of negative online behaviours were also reported. Focus groups and individual interviews were employed using qualitative triangulation: Thematic Analysis and Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. The study examined current definitions and concepts of cyberbullying and how these differ in its findings; and considered different ways to foster positive online behaviour for the context of practitioners. The concept of cyber-aggression is used to describe a wide range of behaviours other than cyberbullying. The findings indicate that there is a need to include a broader definition in line with the current trend of a range of behaviours that are common with internet and mobile phone usage.
Percutaneous Doxycycline Treatment of Juxtaphyseal Aneurysmal Bone Cysts

Background: A recurrence rate of 19% to 23% has been reported in juxtaphyseal aneurysmal bone cysts (ABC) without en bloc resection or amputation. No percutaneous surgical techniques or drug treatments have demonstrated consistent bone healing with normal physeal growth and a recurrence rate of <19%. Doxycycline has properties that may make it an appropriate agent for percutaneous treatment of juxtaphyseal ABC in skeletally immature patients. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 16 patients who underwent percutaneous treatment of ABCs with doxycycline from 2006 to 2011. The mean age was 7.1 years (range, 2 to 15 y). There were 16 treatment locations: humerus (9), tibia (3), fibula (2), femur (1), and ulna (1). Sixteen patients completed treatment involving 102 treatment sessions (2 to 14 sessions per patient). Treatment response was evaluated radiographically by measuring the lytic component, thickness of involved cortex, and signs of bony remodeling, and evidence of physeal growth arrest. Recurrence was indicated by new areas of lytic destruction after completion of treatment. The minimum follow-up was 18 months (mean, 39 mo). Results: All 16 patients demonstrated reduction in lytic destruction, bony healing, and bony remodeling. One patient demonstrated recurrent minimal lytic destruction after 20 months of observation. Seven patients (7/16, 44%) demonstrated physeal ABC involvement; 5 of 7 patients healed with a physeal bone bridge, all ⩽15% of the physeal surface area, 1 with mild central physeal deformity. All patients with focal transphyseal ABC involvement (4/4, 100%) demonstrated focal bone bridge after treatment. No patient had diffuse physeal growth arrest; only patients with intraphyseal or transphyseal ABC involvement had focal physeal growth arrest. Conclusions: In this series, patients undergoing percutaneous doxycycline treatment of juxtaphyseal ABCs demonstrated ABC healing and a recurrence rate of 6% at >18 months. Patients without physeal ABC involvement demonstrated no evidence of physeal growth arrest. Level of Evidence: Level IV—therapeutic study.
Auditory training and adult rehabilitation: a critical review of the evidence

Auditory Training (AT) describes a regimen of varied listening exercises designed to improve an individual’s ability to perceive speech. The theory of AT is based on brain plasticity (the capacity of neurones in the central auditory system to alter their structure and function) in response to auditory stimulation. The practice of repeatedly listening to the speech sounds included in AT exercises is believed to drive the development of more efficient neuronal pathways, thereby improving auditory processing and speech discrimination. This critical review aims to assess whether auditory training can improve speech discrimination in adults with mild-moderate SNHL. The majority of patients attending Audiology services are adults with presbyacusis and it is therefore important to evaluate evidence of any treatment effect of AT in aural rehabilitation. Ideally this review would seek to appraise evidence of neurophysiological effects of AT so as to verify whether it does induce change in the CAS. However, due to the absence of such studies on this particular patient group, the outcome measure of speech discrimination, as a behavioural indicator of treatment effect is used instead. A review of available research was used to inform an argument for or against using AT in rehabilitative clinical practice. Six studies were identified and although the preliminary evidence indicates an improvement gained from a range of AT paradigms, the treatment effect size was modest and there remains a lack of large-sample RCTs. Future investigation into the efficacy of AT needs to employ neurophysiological studies using auditory evoked potentials in hearing-impaired adults in order to explore effects of AT on the CAS.
Bridging the Hemispheres through the Use of Technology: International Collaboration in Social Work Training

The social work programs of the University of Fort Hare, East London, South Africa, and Minnesota State University, Mankato, United States, began using various technologies in 2007 to facilitate interaction. This project included conducting practicum supervision and seminars via videoconferencing (using Breeze, Adobe Connect, and Skype) and developing peer e-mail and Facebook partnerships to link students from both continents. This paper explores the benefits to participating students who engaged the structured use of technology to expand their social work and cultural knowledge while also developing international friendships. As technology continues to advance, social work educators must be on the forefront of connecting students by bridging the hemispheres through the use of technology.
Attenuating Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress as a Novel Therapeutic Strategy in Pulmonary Hypertension

Background— Evidence suggestive of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress in the pulmonary arteries of patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension has been described for decades but has never been therapeutically targeted. ER stress is a feature of many conditions associated with pulmonary arterial hypertension like hypoxia, inflammation, or loss-of-function mutations. ER stress signaling in the pulmonary circulation involves the activation of activating transcription factor 6, which, via induction of the reticulin protein Nogo, can lead to the disruption of the functional ER-mitochondria unit and the increasingly recognized cancer-like metabolic shift in pulmonary arterial hypertension that promotes proliferation and apoptosis resistance in the pulmonary artery wall. We hypothesized that chemical chaperones known to suppress ER stress signaling, like 4-phenylbutyrate (PBA) or tauroursodeoxycholic acid, will inhibit the disruption of the ER-mitochondrial unit and prevent/reverse pulmonary arterial hypertension. Methods and Results— PBA in the drinking water both prevented and reversed chronic hypoxia–induced pulmonary hypertension in mice, decreasing pulmonary vascular resistance, pulmonary artery remodeling, and right ventricular hypertrophy and improving functional capacity without affecting systemic hemodynamics. These results were replicated in the monocrotaline rat model. PBA and tauroursodeoxycholic acid improved ER stress indexes in vivo and in vitro, decreased activating transcription factor 6 activation (cleavage, nuclear localization, luciferase, and downstream target expression), and inhibited the hypoxia-induced decrease in mitochondrial calcium and mitochondrial function. In addition, these chemical chaperones suppressed proliferation and induced apoptosis in pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells in vitro and in vivo. Conclusions— Attenuating ER stress with clinically used chemical chaperones may be a novel therapeutic strategy in pulmonary hypertension with high translational potential.
High‐resolution analysis of the murine MHC class II immunopeptidome

The reliable identification of peptides bound to major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II is fundamental for the study of the host immune response against pathogens and the pathogenesis of autoimmune conditions. Here, we describe an improved methodology combining immuno‐affinity enrichment of MHC class II complexes, optimized elution conditions and quadrupole Orbitrap mass spectrometry‐based characterization of the immunopeptidome. The methodology allowed the identification of over 1000 peptides with 1% false discovery rate from 108 murine A20 lymphoma cells. The study revealed the I‐Ad‐specific motif in high resolution after multisequence alignment. The methodology was generally applied to the purification of MHC class II from cell lines and murine spleens. We identified 2963 peptides from BALB/c and 2712 from C57BL/6 mouse spleens. The identification of peptides bound to MHC class II in vitro and in vivo will facilitate the characterization of T‐cell specificities, as well as the development of biotherapeutics and vaccines.
Patient variables that predict atypical cytology by nipple duct lavage

Nipple duct lavage (NDL) may be useful for breast cancer risk stratification. Published guidelines recommend that women with a 5‐year Gail risk ≥1.7% should consider undergoing lavage for any fluid‐yielding ducts, but it is not known whether increased breast cancer risk or nipple fluid production predict lavage atypia.
Predictive Significance of a New Prognostic Score for Patients With Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma in the Interim-Positron Emission Tomography Findings

AbstractWe hypothesized that the objective treatment response of patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) was affected by many factors such as pathophysiological, biological, and pharmaceutical mechanisms. This retrospective study aimed to evaluate the predictive significance of clinical prognostic factors and interim fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT), and to find a new prognostic predictor significantly associated with DLBCL patients’ outcome. A total of 105 adult patients with DLBCL were reviewed. Each patient underwent an interim 18F-FDG PET/CT scan after the second chemotherapy cycle. The visual method based on the Deauville 5-point scale was used to evaluate the interim-PET/CT scans. The relationships among the prognostic factors, the 3-year progression-free survival (PFS) rate and overall survival (OS) rate were analyzed with Kaplan–Meier plots. The predictive value of the newly constructed prognostic score was analyzed with multivariate analysis (Cox proportional hazard regression model). The visual analysis showed statistically significant differences in both PFS and OS between the patients with a negative interim-PET/CT and those with a positive interim-PET/CT. Advanced age, advanced stage, and DLBCL subtype were also significantly associated with outcome. A new prognostic score that composed of the above 4 factors was obtained. New prognostic score stratified patients into 4 risk groups with 3-year PFS of 98.5%, 73.9%, 11.1%, and 0%, and 3-year OS of 100%, 91.3%, 55.6%, and 0% (P < 0.001 for PFS and OS). Multivariate analysis showed that the new prognostic score had the greatest ability to predict relapse (P < 0.001) and death (P < 0.001). In DLBCL patients, interim 18F-FDG PET/CT can provide significant independent prognostic information. Our work illustrates that the new prognostic score has the strongest potential for accurately prognostication, for stratification in clinical trials, and for design of novel strategies for DLBCL patients in the high-risk group.
A CROSS-CULTURAL ANALYSIS OF HUMOR IN STAND-UP COMEDY IN THE UNITED STATES AND JAPAN

Using Goffman’s (1981) participation framework and Brown & Levinson’s (1987) politeness theory, this study examines stand-up comedy in the U.S. and Japan and demonstrates pervasive patterns of communication in comedy performance. In the U.S., stand-up acts are comprised of solo comedian’s narrative performance, while stand-up comic narrative in Japan is performed in the form of dialogue between two comedians. The study conducts a micro-level discourse analysis of live performances by two U.S. comedians and two Japanese comedy duos. Humor in U.S. stand-up emerges through common ground between the comedian and the audience, whereas the Japanese comedians communicate humor on the basis of the boundary between their performance sphere and the audience’s spectator sphere. The boundary markings are further analyzed based on indexical inclusion and exclusion (Strauss & Eun 2005).
Examining the relationship between the interpretation of age and gender across languages

Speech signals vary substantially in a number of their key properties, with the variability deriving from, among other things, talkers' age and gender. Speech processing requires resolution of this variation, necessitating interpretation of age and gender information in the signal. In some signals, the age and gender are not clear from acoustic information alone. In these cases there may be substantial individual variation in judgments of age and gender. This study examined the interplay between the interpretation of age and gender across language communities. Corner vowel stimuli ([i], [u], [a]) generated by an age-varying articulatory synthesizer set at seven different ages (6 months, 2, 4, 5, 10, 16, and 21 years) were presented to native speakers of Cantonese, English, and Japanese. Listeners assigned an age (in years) and a gender (along a visual analog scale ranging from "definitely male" to "definitely female", or the equivalent in Japanese or Cantonese) to each stimulus. Analysis revealed a bifurcation in the interpretation of age and gender for the age 10 stimuli, which subjects rated as either a younger male or older female, suggesting a nonuniformity in the resolution of variability during speech processing. Preliminary analysis further suggests that this nonuniformity may be culture-specific.
High-order finite element method for plasma modeling

High-order accurate finite element methods provide unique benefits for problems that have strong anisotropies and complicated geometries and for stiff equation systems that are coupled through large source terms, e.g. Lorentz force, collisions, or atomic reactions. Magnetized plasma simulations of realistic devices using the kinetic or the multi-fluid plasma models are examples that benefit from highorder accuracy. The multi-fluid plasma model only assumes local thermodynamic equilibrium within each fluid, e.g. ion and electron fluids for the two-fluid plasma model. The algorithm1 implements a discontinuous Galerkin method with an approximate Riemann solver to compute the fluxes of the fluids and electromagnetic fields at the computational cell interfaces. The multi-fluid plasma model has time scales on the order of the electron and ion cyclotron frequencies, the electron and ion plasma frequencies, the electron and ion sound speeds, and the speed of light. A general model for atomic reactions has been developed2 and is incorporated in the multi-fluid plasma model. The multi-fluid plasma algorithm is implemented in a flexible code framework (WARPX) that allows easy extension of the physical model to include multiple fluids and additional physics. The code runs on multi-processor machines and is being adapted with OpenCL to many-core systems, characteristic of the next generation of high performance computers. The algorithm is applicable to study advanced physics calculations of plasma dynamics including magnetic plasma confinement and astrophysical plasmas. The discontinuous Galerkin method has also been applied to solve the Vlasov-Poisson kinetic model. Recently, a mixed finite element algorithm has been developed and implemented which exploits the expected physical behavior to apply either a discontinuous or continuous finite element representation, which improves computational efficiency without sacrificing accuracy.
Cloning, expression, and functional characterization of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis secA gene.

To better understand the protein secretion mechanisms involved in the growth and pathogenesis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, we examined the secA gene from M. tuberculosis (tbsecA; cosmid sequence accession No. z95121.gb_ba). We generated plasmids containing the full-length tbsecA gene or a fusion containing the 5' sequence from the M. tuberculosis secA gene and the remainder from the Escherichia coli secA gene and evaluated the ability of each construct to complement the defective SecA protein in E. coli MM52ts when grown at the non-permissive temperature. The full-length tbsecA gene was unable to compensate for the temperature-sensitive defect, whereas E. coli MM52ts that has been transformed with plasmid pMF8TB226 containing a chimeric secA gene was able to grow at 42 degrees C. This work confirms that the topography of SecA and its ATP binding sites are highly conserved, whereas its membrane insertion domains are species specific.
Space and Time Variations in Crime-Recording Practices within a Large Municipal Police Agency

When comparing crime rates across several locations or analysing general trends, it is usually assumed that police statistics are an imperfect, but relatively constant indicator of the phenomenon. This study delves into the possibility that this may not be the case. Multilevel models are used to analyse the recording rate of six types of offences for the 33 police districts of a large Canadian city between 2005 and 2009. Results demonstrate that geographical and time factors unrelated to the offence committed may influence a police officer's decision whether or not to record certain types of offences. In some cases, official statistics do not provide a meaningful indicator of crime for comparative purposes.
Social justice: redistribution and recognition—a non‐reductionist perspective on disability

The purpose of this article is to present some recent contributions to discussions on social justice and recognition in the context of disability research. Nancy Fraser's theory of redistribution and recognition, and her endeavour to include both a materialist and a cultural perspective in a theory of justice is examined. We also discuss Honneth's Hegelian‐informed model of recognition. Critical realism, emphasizing a non‐reductionist perspective, is briefly presented and, finally, we put forward some ideas on how to analyse and understand disability within such a framework.
Contractual Contingencies and Renegotiation : Evidence from the Use of Pricing Grids ∗

My results suggest that the primary role of performance pricing in bank debt contracts is to delay costly renegotiation. This effect is concentrated in long-term loans, indicating that the renegotiation reduction benefits of pricing grids are larger for long maturities. For instance, a five-year loan with a pricing grid is refinanced for pricing-related reasons on average a year later than a similar loan without such a provision. Since the average time to renegotiation of a five-year loan is roughly 2.5 years, performance pricing allows for substantial savings in contracting costs for non-opaque borrowers. My results also suggest that performance pricing reduces the probability of spread-decreasing outcomes, while having no effect on other types of renegotiation. Thus, pricing grids are most valuable in delaying re-contracting when the credit quality of the borrower improves. JEL Classification: G13; G21; G30
The transfer of V2: inversion and negation in German and Dutch learners of English

This article investigates the transfer of verb-second syntax (V2) from L1 German and Dutch into L2 English. A comparative learner corpus analysis between L1 German, Dutch and French, and native English writing reveals that the German and Dutch speakers produce distinct patterns of inversion in declarative clauses, indicating the transfer of V2. They produce non-target subject–auxiliary inversion and copula inversion. However, other reflexes of V2 in interrogatives or with sentential negation are not produced. This is analysed as evidence that the German and Dutch learners have mastered the syntax of English but transfer continues to occur at the level of discourse-pragmatics, where L1 preferences for topicalization structures continue to transfer. This is in line with predictions of the Interface Hypothesis in second language acquisition, which assumes that the interfaces of syntax with other modules of the grammar are more difficult to acquire and may continue to show L1 effects even after the narrow syntax has been mastered.
Robust reinforcement learning control with static and dynamic stability

Robust control theory is used to design stable controllers in the presence of uncertainties. This provides powerful closed‐loop robustness guarantees, but can result in controllers that are conservative with regard to performance. Here we present an approach to learning a better controller through observing actual controlled behaviour. A neural network is placed in parallel with the robust controller and is trained through reinforcement learning to optimize performance over time. By analysing nonlinear and time‐varying aspects of a neural network via uncertainty models, a robust reinforcement learning procedure results that is guaranteed to remain stable even as the neural network is being trained. The behaviour of this procedure is demonstrated and analysed on two control tasks. Results show that at intermediate stages the system without robust constraints goes through a period of unstable behaviour that is avoided when the robust constraints are included. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
A survey on ear biometrics

Recognizing people by their ear has recently received significant attention in the literature. Several reasons account for this trend: first, ear recognition does not suffer from some problems associated with other non-contact biometrics, such as face recognition; second, it is the most promising candidate for combination with the face in the context of multi-pose face recognition; and third, the ear can be used for human recognition in surveillance videos where the face may be occluded completely or in part. Further, the ear appears to degrade little with age. Even though current ear detection and recognition systems have reached a certain level of maturity, their success is limited to controlled indoor conditions. In addition to variation in illumination, other open research problems include hair occlusion, earprint forensics, ear symmetry, ear classification, and ear individuality. This article provides a detailed survey of research conducted in ear detection and recognition. It provides an up-to-date review of the existing literature revealing the current state-of-art for not only those who are working in this area but also for those who might exploit this new approach. Furthermore, it offers insights into some unsolved ear recognition problems as well as ear databases available for researchers.