Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Convergence and Divergence in the Swiss German Dialects

In view of the medial diglossia which determines language use in German-speaking Switzerland, the changes presently emerging in this dialect area are of particular interest. Will the use of the speaker's own local dialect with people speaking a different Swiss German dialect lead to convergence of dialects? And will the omnipresent standard German variety lead to convergence with the other German-speaking countries? This study reports on 'natural' changes in the old 'base dialects' which tend to lead to convergence within German-speaking Switzerland. In a few cases they also lead to divergence from standard German. Furthermore, the use of variants confined to a small area decreases, a process leading to larger dialect areas in the end. On the level of the lexicon there are clear signs of convergence with standard German. Moreover, when inexperienced speakers 'translate' a text written in standard German into the dialect, as is often the case in public speech, the influence of the standard language is undeniable. However, the dialect changes found in the data are not to the extent that the origin of young speakers cannot be localised any longer
Matrix multiplication via arithmetic progressions

We present a new method for accelerating matrix multiplication asymptotically. This work builds on recent ideas of Volker Strassen, by using a basic trilinear form which is not a matrix product. We make novel use of the Salem-Spencer Theorem, which gives a fairly dense set of integers with no three-term arithmetic progression. Our resulting matrix exponent is 2.376.
Optimality and domination in repeated games with bounded players

We examine questions of optimality and domination in repeated stage games where one or both players may draw their strategies only from (perhaps different ) computationally bounded sets. We also consider optimality and domination when bounded convergence rates of the infinite payoff. We develop a notion of a “grace period” to handle the problem of vengeful strategies.
Disparities in Children's Exposure to Environmental Tobacco Smoke in the United States, 2007

OBJECTIVES: This study examined racial/ethnic, socioeconomic, and geographic disparities in children's exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) or secondhand smoke in the home. METHODS: The 2007 National Survey of Children's Health (N = 90 853) was used to calculate the prevalence of children's exposure to ETS. State-level data on home smoking ban from the 2006–2007 Current Population Survey–Tobacco Use Supplement were used to supplement analyses. Logistic regression was used to estimate adjusted odds of exposure. RESULTS: In 2007, 7.6% of US children, or 5.5 million children, lived in households where someone smoked inside the home. The prevalence varied from a low of 1.1% for Utah and 1.9% for California to a high of 17.9% for West Virginia and 17.6% in Kentucky. After adjustment for sociodemographic factors, children in Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania had 12 times higher odds and those in Wisconsin, Missouri, Delaware, and the District of Columbia had 10 times higher odds of being exposed to ETS than children in Utah. Compared with children from higher socioeconomic backgrounds, Hispanic ethnicity, and non–English-speaking households, children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds had 7.3 to 10.6 times higher adjusted odds; non-Hispanic white, black, American Indian, and mixed-race children had 2.0 to 2.6 times higher odds; and children from English-speaking households had 4.1 times higher odds of ETS exposure. CONCLUSIONS: Considerable disparities exist in children's exposure to ETS, with geographic pattern strongly related to home smoking ban. Greater exposure to ETS among children in several states and disadvantaged socioeconomic groups is likely to exacerbate existing health disparities.
Differential Effects of Immunosuppressive Drugs on Chemokine Receptor CCR7 in Human Monocyte-Derived Dendritic Cells: Selective Upregulation by Rapamycin

Background. Appropriate recruitment of dendritic cells (DC) at sites of inflammation and migration to secondary lymphoid organs is of critical importance for the initiation of Ag-specific immune responses. The proper localization of DC in selected tissues is guided primarily by the coordinated expression of chemokine receptors (CKR). Here we show that immunosuppressive drugs have divergent effects on the modulation of CKR in maturing DC. Methods and Results. Dexamethazone (DEX) and IL-10 inhibited human DC migration to CCL19 in vitro and mouse DC migration to lymph nodes (LN) in vivo, by impairing CCR7 expression. The calcineurin inhibitors cyclosporine A (CsA) and tacrolimus (FK506) were characterized by the inability to modulate CKR expression and migratory activity. Rapamycin (RAPA) increased DC migration to CCL19 in vitro and to LN in vivo by enhancing CCR7 expression. This effect could be mediated, in LPS-maturing DC, by the inhibition of autocrine IL-10 production. The in vivo data obtained with ex vivo RAPA treated DC were confirmed in a model of in vivo drug administration in mice, suggesting a potential clinical relevance. Conclusions. These findings demonstrate that immunosuppressive agents differently modulate the CKR switch associated with maturing DC; in particular, RAPA selectively up-regulates CCR7 and enhances the migration of differentiated DC to regional LN. This study contributes to a better understanding of the role of immunosuppressive therapy on DC migration, a potentially relevant check point of immunosuppressive treatment.
Proximity fuzzy clustering for web context analysis

This study extends the web classification approach through a proximity-based fuzzy clustering sensible to the influence of the page. The proximity-based fuzzy clustering works in an unsupervised manner, augmented by a certain auxiliary supervision mechanism. The supervision scheme is realized via a number of proximity “hints” (constraints) that specify an extent to which some pairs of patterns are regarded similar or different. The hints are provided externally to the clustering algorithm and improve the searching activity by customizing the user’s navigation. In this paper we focus on the feature spaces corresponding to the Web data characterizing the context analysis and we discuss how the knowledge extraction process identifies the right context.
Attachment of Escherichia coli to urinary sediment epithelial cells from urinary tract infection-prone and healthy children

Escherichia coli isolated from patients with recurrent urinary tract infections were tested for ability to attach to human urinary sediment epithelial cells in vitro. Higher mean capacity to bind bacteria was found for epithelial cells of the patient from whom the E. coli strain had been isolated than for epithelial cells from subjects without a history of urinary tract infection. The two populations were age matched. No relation was found between the age of the cell donor (0 to 15 years) and the capacity for E. coli attachement.
AML results for OAEI 2015

AgreementMakerLight (AML) is an automated ontology matching system based primarily on element-level matching and on the use of external resources as background knowledge. This paper describes its configuration for the OAEI 2015 competition and discusses its results. For this OAEI edition, we focused mainly on the Interactive Matching track due to its expansion, as handling user interactions on large-scale tasks is a critical challenge in ontology matching. AML's participation in the OAEI 2015 was successful, as it obtained the highest F-measure in 6 of the 7 ontology matching tracks. Notably, it obtained the highest F-measure in all tasks of the Interactive Matching track while posing less queries to the user than comparable participating systems.
The impact of stress on visual function in nystagmus

Infantile Nystagmus Syndrome (INS) is defined as a constant involuntary movement of the eyes, affecting 0.12% of the population. Previous research shows that eye movements in patients with nystagmus increase in stressful conditions, and they report that their vision gets worse. However, there have been no definitive conclusions as to the effect of stress on visual acuity (VA). The aim of the studies described here was to assess visual function, including VA, during periods of stress. The results showed that there was no difference in VA measured with horizontally and vertically oriented Landolt C’s, but, in agreement with published research, VA was found to be poorer when using vertically oriented gratings as compared to horizontal gratings. Using a Trans-Cutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS) machine, an effective clinical stressor, we confirmed that the intensity of nystagmus increased when under stress; however VA, as measured using Landolt Cs, was not affected. Patient response time also increased during stressful periods and was significantly longer in INS than in control subjects. Using a questionnaire, we identified the most stressful situations for patients with nystagmus as being: “finding a person in a crowd” and “crossing a road in heavy traffic”. Under stress, rather than vision becoming blurred, patients with nystagmus reported that they “take longer to see things” and “have difficulty with seeing facial features and small detail”. The results reported here have important implications for patients with nystagmus in the real world, strongly suggesting that, although maximum acuity is unaffected by stress, more time should be allowed for tasks at both work and school. Further research is required to fully understand the changes in other aspects of visual function with stress.
Efficacy and safety of pitavastatins in patients with acute myocardial infarction: Livalo in Acute Myocardial Infarction Study (LAMIS) II

Background/Aims We evaluated the efficacy and safety and influence on glucose tolerance by different doses of pitavastatins in acute myocardial infarction (AMI) patients. Methods Consecutive 1,101 AMI patients who were enrolled in Livalo in Acute Myocardial Infarction Study (LAMIS)-II were randomly assigned to receive either 2 mg of pitavastatin or 4 mg of pitavastatin orally per day. Primary efficacy endpoint was composite of cardiac death, nonfatal myocardial infarction, target-lesion revascularization, and hospitalization for unstable angina, heart failure or arrhythmic events at 12-month. Results There was no significant difference in primary efficacy endpoint between 2 mg and 4 mg groups (9.07% vs. 9.13%, p = 0.976). The degree of the reduction of low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) was significantly greater in 4 mg group compared to 2 mg group from baseline to follow-up (–42.05 ± 32.73 mg/dL vs. –34.23 ± 31.66 mg/dL, p = 0.002). Fasting plasma glucose level was reduced significantly in both groups (–20.16 ± 54.49 mg/dL in 4 mg group and –24.45 ± 63.88 mg/dL in 2 mg group, p < 0.001 and p < 0.001, respectively) and there was no significant change of glycated hemoglobin in two groups from baseline to follow-up (–0.13% ± 1.21% in 4 mg group and –0.04% ± 1.10% in 2 mg group, p = 0.256 and p = 0.671, respectively). Conclusions Although LDL-C was reduced more significantly by using 4 mg of pitavastatin compared to 2 mg of pitavastatin, the event rate was comparable without adverse effects on glucose tolerance in both groups in AMI patients who were enrolled in LAMIS-II.
Sensitivity and specificity of plasma and urine complement split products as indicators of lupus disease activity.

OBJECTIVE To determine if measurement of serum complement split products (C4d, Bb, C5b-9) is better than conventional C3 and C4 measurements in distinguishing patients with varying degrees of lupus disease activity, and to determine if the presence of C3d in urine is helpful in distinguishing lupus patients with from those without early lupus nephritis. METHODS Lupus disease activity was prospectively determined at 3 consecutive visits an average of 4 months apart, using the Systemic Lupus Activity Measure (SLAM), the Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Disease Activity Index (SLEDAI), and physician global assessment (PGA). Blood samples were evaluated for the presence of C4d, Bb, and C5b-9 by quantitative microassay plate enzyme immunoassay at each patient visit. We characterized urinary excretion of C3 fragments (with attention to C3d) by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis with Western blotting. RESULTS Thirty-one SLE patients were enrolled in the study. The mean SLAM score and the mean SLEDAI score each correlated well with the PGA at all 3 visits. A SLAM score of 6 and a SLEDAI score of 4 had the best overall sensitivity and specificity for predicting moderate-to-severe disease activity by PGA (100% and 73%, respectively, for the SLAM and 86% and 94%, respectively, for the SLEDAI). Serum C4d and Bb were more sensitive indicators of current moderate-to-severe lupus disease activity at all 3 visits than were serum C5b-9, C3, and C4. C3 and C4 were more specific indicators of moderate-to-severe disease activity. Serum C4d and Bb were more sensitive at predicting moderate-to-severe disease activity at subsequent visits than were C5b-9, C3, and C4. Urine C3d was better than C3, plasma C4d, Bb, C5b-9 and anti-double-stranded DNA antibody in distinguishing patients with from those without acute lupus nephritis (P = 0.02). CONCLUSION C4d and Bb are sensitive indicators of moderate-to-severe lupus disease activity and may be most helpful in situations where conventional measurements are not, such as in lupus patients whose C3 and C4 levels remain normal despite evidence of clinical disease activity. It appears from this study that detection of urine C3d may be a simple way of measuring complement activation in the setting of lupus renal disease. The availability of instruments for clinical disease activity measurement such as the SLAM and the SLEDAI may enable more consistent definition of lupus disease activity and may thus provide a means for better examining the role of complement activation products in predicting lupus disease activity in larger patient populations.
Scene optimization for optogenetic retinal prosthesis

Optogenetic retinal prosthesis is promising a new technique aiming to restore vision to those with disorders of the retina. However, to restore mobility and scene recognition to the patients, the transferred visual information to these patients should be optimized. In this paper we present a processing scheme to simplify and spatially compress the visual scene prior to transfer to the retina prosthesis.
‘It's a struggle’: the construction of the ‘new student’ in higher education

This paper explores constructions of the ‘new’ university student in the context of UK government policy to widen participation in higher education. New Labour discourse stresses the benefits of widening participation for both individuals and society, although increasing the levels of participation of students from groups who have not traditionally entered university has been accompanied by a discourse of ‘dumbing down’ and lowering standards. The paper draws on an ongoing longitudinal study of undergraduate students in a post–1992 inner‐city university in the UK to examine students' constructions of their experiences and identities in the context of public discourses of the ‘new’ higher education student. Many of the participants in this study would be regarded as ‘non‐traditional’ students, i.e. those students who are the focus of widening participation policy initiatives. As Reay et al. (2002) discovered, for many ‘non‐traditional’ students studying in higher education is characterized by ‘struggle’, something that also emerged as an important theme in this research. The paper examines the ways in which these new student identities both echo the New Labour dream of widening participation and yet continue to reflect and re‐construct classed and other identities and inequalities.
Quadrature Down-Conversion Based Analog Self-Interference Cancellation for Continuous Wave Radars

For continuous wave radars, self-interference signals coupled from the local transmitter are significantly stronger than the desired echoes, such that the receiver will become saturated. To cancel the self-interference, this paper proposes a novel scheme based on a simple quadrature down-conversion operation, for which two frequency-swept carriers with a 90-degree phase-difference are adopted in both transmitter and receiver to realize a high- sensitive reception of echoes as well as high isolation between the transmitter and the receiver. A search algorithm is proposed to minimize the power of the residual self-interference. Since both the desired echoes and the self-interference are replicas of the transmitted signal, the desired echoes may be mistaken for self-interference signals and attenuated significantly. Thus, this paper analyzes the impact of the proposed scheme on the desired echoes and develops a method to avoid the potential attenuation of the desired echoes. In addition, this paper derives a closed-form expression for the self-interference cancellation performance. Extensive simulations are performed to verify the proposed method.
Factors in classification of stop consonant place of articulation

The goal of this study is to uncover significant factors in the classification of English stop consonant place of articulation, and determine their relative importance to the classification. Factor analysis arranges a set of acoustic attributes used for the classification into factors that can be interpreted in terms of articulatory attributes. Each factor is found to be comprised of attributes explaining a particular aspect of the acoustic cues significant to place classification. For a stop in CV context, significant factors are: ‘normalized burst amplitude’, ‘burst shape’, ‘formant frequency’, and ‘formant transition’. The first two always remain regardless of the vowel frontness. The two formant-related factors arrange differently depending on the frontness. Discriminant analysis is deployed to determine the contribution of each factor to the classification. Without vowel frontness information, the burst-related factors are found to contribute more than the formant-related factors do. However, with known frontness, the opposite is true.
Quantifying the Association between Bovine and Human Trypanosomiasis in Newly Affected Sleeping Sickness Areas of Uganda

Background Uganda has active foci of both chronic and acute HAT with the acute zoonotic form of disease classically considered to be restricted to southeast Uganda, while the focus of the chronic form of HAT was confined to the northwest of the country. Acute HAT has however been migrating from its traditional disease focus, spreading rapidly to new districts, a spread linked to movement of infected cattle following restocking. Cattle act as long-term reservoirs of human infective T. b. rhodesiense showing few signs of morbidity, yet posing a significant risk to human health. It is important to understand the relationship between infected cattle and infected individuals so that an appropriate response can be made to the risk posed to the community from animals infected with human pathogens in a village setting. Methodology/Principal Findings This paper examines the relationship between human T. b. rhodesiense infection and human infective and non-human T. brucei s.l. circulating in cattle at village level in Kaberamaido and Dokolo Districts, Uganda. The study was undertaken in villages that had reported a case of sleeping sickness in the six months prior to sample collection and those villages that had never reported a case of sleeping sickness. Conclusions and Significance The sleeping sickness status of the villages had a significant effect with higher odds of infection in cattle from case than from non-case villages for T. brucei s.l. (OR: 2.94, 95%CI: 1.38–6.24). Cattle age had a significant effect (p<0.001) on the likelihood of T. brucei s.l. infection within cattle: cattle between 18–36 months (OR: 3.51, 95%CI: 1.63–7.51) and cattle over 36 months (OR: 4.20, 95%CI: 2.08–8.67) had significantly higher odds of T. brucei s. l. infection than cattle under 18 months of age. Furthermore, village human sleeping sickness status had a significant effect (p<0.05) on the detection of T. b. rhodesiense in the village cattle herd, with significantly higher likelihood of T. b. rhodesiense in the village cattle of case villages (OR: 25, 95%CI: 1.2–520.71). Overall a higher than average T. brucei s.l. prevalence (>16.3%) in a village herd over was associated with significantly higher likelihood of T. b. rhodesiense being detected in a herd (OR: 25, 95%CI: 1.2–520.71).
The Poplar MYB Master Switches Bind to the SMRE Site and Activate the Secondary Wall Biosynthetic Program during Wood Formation

Wood is mainly composed of secondary walls, which constitute the most abundant stored carbon produced by vascular plants. Understanding the molecular mechanisms controlling secondary wall deposition during wood formation is not only an important issue in plant biology but also critical for providing molecular tools to custom-design wood composition suited for diverse end uses. Past molecular and genetic studies have revealed a transcriptional network encompassing a group of wood-associated NAC and MYB transcription factors that are involved in the regulation of the secondary wall biosynthetic program during wood formation in poplar trees. Here, we report the functional characterization of poplar orthologs of MYB46 and MYB83 that are known to be master switches of secondary wall biosynthesis in Arabidopsis. In addition to the two previously-described PtrMYB3 and PtrMYB20, two other MYBs, PtrMYB2 and PtrMYB21, were shown to be MYB46/MYB83 orthologs by complementation and overexpression studies in Arabidopsis. The functional roles of these PtrMYBs in regulating secondary wall biosynthesis were further demonstrated in transgenic poplar plants showing an ectopic deposition of secondary walls in PtrMYB overexpressors and a reduction of secondary wall thickening in their dominant repressors. Furthermore, PtrMYB2/3/20/21 together with two other tree MYBs, the Eucalyptus EgMYB2 and the pine PtMYB4, were shown to differentially bind to and activate the eight variants of the 7-bp SMRE consensus sequence, composed of ACC(A/T)A(A/C)(T/C). Together, our results indicate that the tree MYBs, PtrMYB2/3/20/21, EgMYB2 and PtMYB4, are master transcriptional switches that activate the SMRE sites in the promoters of target genes and thereby regulate secondary wall biosynthesis during wood formation.
Thyroid Hormone and Seasonal Rhythmicity

Living organisms show seasonality in a wide array of functions such as reproduction, fattening, hibernation, and migration. At temperate latitudes, changes in photoperiod maintain the alignment of annual rhythms with predictable changes in the environment. The appropriate physiological response to changing photoperiod in mammals requires retinal detection of light and pineal secretion of melatonin, but extraretinal detection of light occurs in birds. A common mechanism across all vertebrates is that these photoperiod-regulated systems alter hypothalamic thyroid hormone (TH) conversion. Here, we review the evidence that a circadian clock within the pars tuberalis of the adenohypophysis links photoperiod decoding to local changes of TH signaling within the medio-basal hypothalamus (MBH) through a conserved thyrotropin/deiodinase axis. We also focus on recent findings which indicate that, beyond the photoperiodic control of its conversion, TH might also be involved in longer-term timing processes of seasonal programs. Finally, we examine the potential implication of kisspeptin and RFRP3, two RF-amide peptides expressed within the MBH, in seasonal rhythmicity.