Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Articulatory Suppression and Phonological Codes in Reading for Meaning

The aim of this study was to investigate whether the phonological code that causes errors in printed sentence comprehension is affected by concurrent articulation. Forty adult subjects made speeded judgements of the acceptability of printed sentences. The critical sentences were foils that were (1) orthographi-cally unacceptable but phonologically acceptable (e.g. The palace had a thrown room), and (2) spelling controls that were orthographically and phonologically unacceptable (The palace had a thorns room). Half the subjects performed this task in silence (without concurrently articulating) and showed a marked phonological effect such that false alarms to phonologically acceptable foils were more frequent than false alarms to their spelling controls. The remaining subjects who performed this task with concurrent articulatory suppression showed an increase in false alarm rates, but no effect of phonology. In a control experiment using the same subjects, memory span for visually presented long and short words was measured under conditions of silence or concurrent articulation. The word length effect (Baddeley, Thomson, & Buchanan, 1975) disappeared under suppression, indicating that the suppression manipulation was highly effective. Thus the phonological codes that are used both in sentence comprehension and memory span are highly susceptible to articulatory suppression. We discuss possible relationships between phonological codes that mediate lexical access and those that support short-term verbal memory.
The importance of critical self‐reflection in mentoring newly qualified teachers

Abstract Taxonomies of teaching competences are regarded in some quarters as a suitable framework for mentoring newly qualified teachers. New teachers, however, should be encouraged to engage in a more profound scrutiny of professional practice than any purely skills‐based model can offer. The ethos and priorities of a school are crucial to this approach, as is the encouragement of reflective practice and collaborative problem‐solving in all staff.
Social Development in Infant Twins: Peer and Mother-Child Relationships.

VANDELL, DEBORAH LOWE; OWEN, MARGARET TRESCH; WILSON, KATHY SHORES; and HENDERSON, V. KAY. Social Development in Infant Twins: Peer and Mother-Child Relationships. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1988, 59, 168-177. Infant twins were observed between 6 and 24 months as they interacted with one another and with an unfamiliar peer. The quality of infant-mother attachment was assessed at 12 months. During the first year, significant correlations between the twins' interactions with the co-twin and unfamiliar peer were obtained, suggesting some generalization across these two types of partners. During the second year, correlations over time were apparent, indicating stable patterns over time within both own twin and unfamiliar peer interactions. Developmental changes in twin interaction were also found. By 24 months, the twins were much more likely to interact with one another as opposed to an unfamiliar peer. The twins' interactions were also related to the security of their attachments to mother. As early as 6 months, dyads who were later assessed as securely attached were more interactive than were dyads that included twins who were later determined to be insecurely attached. These results are discussed in terms of their implications for questions related to early peer relationships and attachment.
Optimizing VNF live migration via para-virtualization driver and QuickAssist technology

Live migration of virtual network functions (VNF) is a powerful technique with benefits of server maintenance, resource management and dynamic workload re-balance, among others. Downtime and total migration time are mainly two vital indicators to describe the performance of the VNF live migration (VLM). Modern research has effectively reduced the downtime to zero for some specific VNFs (eg. virtual router). However, for general VNFs predominantly leveraging pre-copy approach, such as firewalls, network address translators (NAT), load balancers, etc., there still remain some intractable problems: inevitable service downtime and long migration time on account of large amount of data transferred during migration, both of which result in a severe performance degradation of VNF services. To resolve these issues, we present a solution called PV-QAT to accelerate the migration process for these general VNFs. The PV-QAT creatively exploits the Para-Virtualization (PV) driver to filter out the useless memory pages in the process of migration, and unprecedentedly applies QuickAssist Technology (QAT) to provide fast compression of memory pages with low overhead, The experimental results show that PV-QAT can significantly reduce 77.5% of downtime and 80.5% of total migration time on average when compared with original pre-copy migration of KVM.
Decentralisation and the management of change in South African teacher training institutions

Democratisation as set out in the constitution of South Africa is based on the ideal of devolving power and authority to community level. Running parallel with the ideal of democratisation and devolution of powers are the imperatives of redress, educational transformation and restructuring, to be managed by central government and provincial authorities. Implementing the process of transformation also affects teacher training colleges. This article discusses the changes that affected teacher training colleges and the challenge faced by college management in managing the change required. A major assumption underpinning the existing body of knowledge is that management has the power and authority to initiate and manage the change required. This assumption could not withstand the scrutiny of research conducted into the transformation of teacher training colleges in South Africa. It was found that if the real power and authority to effect change is located in an agency outside the management structure (i.e., a state department) a whole new set of dynamics were unleashed that alter the whole change management process.
Error analysis for the support of robust voltage scaling

Recently, a new dynamic voltage scaling (DVS) scheme has been proposed that increases energy efficiency significantly by allowing the processor to operate at or slightly below the minimum supply voltage, even if occasional errors result. To determine which technique can reliably and efficiently detect such failures, it is necessary to understand the manner in which digital designs fail at critical voltages. We report hardware measurements of the failure modes of a multiplier circuit under voltage scaling. We show that even at small error rates, it is necessary to deal with multiple errors where bits are flipped from both 0 to 1 and 1 to 0. Intra- and inter-die variations make the exact nature of these flips unpredictable. This suggests that conventional single and unidirectional error detectors will not work. We conclude that the most suitable solution is a simple delay-error tolerant flip-flop that detects and corrects errors by double sampling signals.
An efficient memory hierarchy for full search motion estimation on high definition digital videos

This work presents a memory hierarchy model for a full search motion estimation core. The motion estimation is the most complex module in a video encoder requiring intensive computation and high memory bandwidth, mainly when the focus is high definition videos. The proposed memory hierarchy model is based on a data reuse scheme considering the full search algorithm features. The proposed memory hierarchy expressively reduces the external memory bandwidth required for the motion estimation process and it provides a very high data throughput for the ME core. This throughput is necessary to achieve real time when processing high definition videos. When considering the worst bandwidth scenario, this memory hierarchy is able to reduce the external memory bandwidth in 578 times. A case study for the proposed hierarchy, using 32x32 search window and 8x8 block size, was implemented and prototyped on a Virtex 4 FPGA. The results show that is possible to reach 38 frames per second when processing Full HD frames (1920x1080 pixels) using nearly 299Mbytes per second of external memory bandwidth.
Albumin Fusion of Interleukin-28B: Production and Characterization of Its Biological Activities and Protein Stability

The cytokine interleukin-28B (IL-28B) has potential antiviral properties and regulatory roles in adaptive cellular immunity. A genome-wide association study identified a single nucleotide polymorphism near the IL-28B gene that strongly predicts response to hepatitis C treatment with interferon and ribavirin. In this study, we produced human serum albumin (HSA) fused to interleukin-28B (HSA-IL28B) in an attempt to determine the effects of albumin fusion on anti-Hepatitis C virus (HCV) activity and protein stability. HSA-IL28B was expressed at high levels in the yeast expression system we used and was easily purified. The biological activities of IL-28B were only retained when HSA was fused at the N-terminus. Compared with the native IL-28B, HSA-IL28B showed improved protein stability. HSA-IL28B inhibited HCV infection through the membrane receptors IL28R1and IL10R2. Additionally, we demonstrated that HSA-IL28B was able to induce interferon-stimulated genes, phosphorylate intracellular STAT1, and act in restricted cell types. Our findings highlight the potential clinical applications of the fusion protein during virus infection and for immune regulation.
Multi-Agent Cooperative Target Search

This paper addresses a vision-based cooperative search for multiple mobile ground targets by a group of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) with limited sensing and communication capabilities. The airborne camera on each UAV has a limited field of view and its target discriminability varies as a function of altitude. First, by dividing the whole surveillance region into cells, a probability map can be formed for each UAV indicating the probability of target existence within each cell. Then, we propose a distributed probability map updating model which includes the fusion of measurement information, information sharing among neighboring agents, information decay and transmission due to environmental changes such as the target movement. Furthermore, we formulate the target search problem as a multi-agent cooperative coverage control problem by optimizing the collective coverage area and the detection performance. The proposed map updating model and the cooperative control scheme are distributed, i.e., assuming that each agent only communicates with its neighbors within its communication range. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed algorithms is illustrated by simulation.
When private set intersection meets big data: an efficient and scalable protocol

Large scale data processing brings new challenges to the design of privacy-preserving protocols: how to meet the increasing requirements of speed and throughput of modern applications, and how to scale up smoothly when data being protected is big. Efficiency and scalability become critical criteria for privacy preserving protocols in the age of Big Data. In this paper, we present a new Private Set Intersection (PSI) protocol that is extremely efficient and highly scalable compared with existing protocols. The protocol is based on a novel approach that we call oblivious Bloom intersection. It has linear complexity and relies mostly on efficient symmetric key operations. It has high scalability due to the fact that most operations can be parallelized easily. The protocol has two versions: a basic protocol and an enhanced protocol, the security of the two variants is analyzed and proved in the semi-honest model and the malicious model respectively. A prototype of the basic protocol has been built. We report the result of performance evaluation and compare it against the two previously fastest PSI protocols. Our protocol is orders of magnitude faster than these two protocols. To compute the intersection of two million-element sets, our protocol needs only 41 seconds (80-bit security) and 339 seconds (256-bit security) on moderate hardware in parallel mode.
Reconstructing the knee joint mechanism from kinematic data

The interpretation of joint kinematics data in terms of displacements is a product of the type of movement, the measurement technique and the underlying model of the joint implemented in optimization procedures. Kinematic constraints reducing the number of degrees of freedom (DOFs) are expected to compensate for measurement errors and noise, thus, increasing the reproducibility of joint angles. One approach already successfully applied by several groups approximates the healthy human knee joint as a compound hinge joint with minimal varus/valgus rotation. Most of these optimizations involve an orthogonality constraint. This contribution compares the effect of a model with and without orthogonality constraint on the obtained joint rotation angles. For this purpose, knee joint motion is simulated to generate kinematic data without noise and with normally distributed noise of varying size. For small noise the unconstrained model provides more accurate results, whereas for larger noise this is the case for the constrained model. This can be attributed to the shape of the objective function of the unconstrained model near its minimum.
Marginalization, Information, and Infection: Risk Behavior Correlation in Ghettoized Sociogeographic Networks and the Spread of Disease to Majority Populations

Information theory analysis suggests that observed frequency distributions and intercorrelations of risk—benefit behaviors as determined from administrative data sets and surveys should characterize the internal structure of community-scale social networks, particularly in the context of social disintegration. This perspective further suggests that a ‘code’ is created using behaviors and correlated sequences of behaviors to overcome the noise generated by the oppressive externalities and consequent internal feedbacks causing community disorganization. The often-observed and highly destructive clustering of violence, substance abuse, and unsafe sexual activity appears as a consequence of a fundamental canonical mechanism (described by the Shannon—McMillan theorem) which favors intercorrelated meaningful sequences of behavioral or other signals to maximize the rate of transmission of information under noisy conditions. Such intercorrelation, in addition to accelerating the spread of infection carried by risk behaviors within marginalized communities, may cause their fragmented networks to become highly efficient compound channels, acting as bridges for the spread of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and other pathogens or behavioral pathologies from inner core groups to embedding majority populations. Individually oriented prevention programs addressing risk behaviors in ghettoized populations will thus have limited impact—particularly as strategies for the containment of infection—without a parallel address of the external marginalizing stressors which structure and enhance the value of such behaviors as useful symbols for communication. Without the introduction of new, politically based behaviors as alternative symbols within ‘core group’ communities, control of HIV and other pathogens seems unlikely in the United States.
Leisure Attitudes: A Follow-up Study Comparing Canadians, Chinese in Canada, and Mainland Chinese

Abstract This study examines Mainland Chinese and Canadian's cognitive, affective, and behavioral leisure attitudes, and it compares these attitudes with those of Anglo-Canadians and Chinese in Canada (as reported in Deng, Walker, & Swinnerton; 2006). Data from 132 Mainland Chinese and 198 Canadians visiting, respectively, Tiantong Mountain National Forest Park and Elk Island National Park were obtained. Factor analysis of the Leisure Attitude Scale (Ragheb & Beard, 1982) resulted in four useable sub-scales: cognitive, affective, behavioral/preference, and behavioral/leisure education. A MANOVA and follow-up ANOVAs indicated that our study's Canadian participants had significantly (p < .01) higher mean scores than our Mainland Chinese participants on all but the behavioral/leisure education attitude scale. In order to compare our behavioral leisure attitude findings with Deng's et al., an averaged score was first calculated, and then t-tests of this and the other two leisure attitudes were conducted. Results indicated that: (a) our study's Mainland Chinese participants had a significantly (p < .01) lower cognitive leisure attitude mean score than Deng's et al. Chinese in Canada participants, and this finding held true irrespective of whether those in the latter group were low- or high-acculturated; and (b) our study's Canadian participants had significantly (p < .01) higher affective and behavioral leisure attitude mean scores than Deng's et al. Anglo-Canadian participants. The two studies' findings are compared and contrasted, and research recommendations are proposed.
Effect of Pollen, Pit Powder, and Gemmule Extract of Date Palm on Male Infertility: A Systematic Review

ABSTRACT Pollen, pit powder, and gemmule extract of the date palm are rich in flavonoids. Antioxidant characteristics of the flavonoids have a significant effect on prevention and treatment of infertility. The aim of the present study was to review studies investigating the effects of pollen, pit powder, and gemmule extract of the date palm on male infertility. Articles that were published about the topic between 2005 and 2016 were reviewed from different databases in Turkish and English. The search engines used included PubMed, Science Direct, Clinical Key, Google Scholar, Springer, Dergipark, Ulakbim, and Akademik Dizin. The studies found that pollen, pit powder, and gemmule extract of the date palm created positive changes in hormone levels that have a role in male fertility and increased sperm motility and quality, spermatogenesis, and weights of testes and epididymis. Date palm pollen, pit powder, and gemmule extract have a high antioxidant capacity because of phenolic formations in the composition. Such characteristics have a positive effect on prevention and treatment of male infertility. Furthermore, gonadotropic and steroidal compounds within date palm pollen play a role in treatment of male infertility. The limited number of studies conducted on this topic indicates that more research is needed.
A tool set for teaching design-for-testability of digital circuits

We propose a tool set for teaching and e-learning the main principles of design-for-testability technics for digital systems. It is a collection of software tools which simulate a circuit under test, emulate a pool of different strategies, methods and algorithms of self-testing and improve testability of the exercised circuit. The tools support university courses on digital electronics, testing of digital systems, design for test to learn by hands-on exercises how to design digital systems, how to make them testable, how to build self-testing systems, how to generate test patterns, how to analyze the quality of tests and how to assure the required quality by improving the testability. General ideas of organization of hands-on laboratory research are outlined. The research tasks are set up in a way that involves a competition between students, and as a consequence, motivates them to better understand the problem, and to look for best strategies of design-for-testability.
Une analyse du due process dans le cadre de la normalisation comptable : le cas du projet de comprehensive income par l'IASB

In order to gain political legitimacy, the IASB has established a due process, which is supposed to assure the involvement of constituencies in the international accounting standard-setting process. While the due process is crucial in the IASB’s operating, it has been little investigated by researchers to date. This paper aims to understand how the IASB’s due process works. We focus on the involvement of constituencies and their interactions with the IASB. The research is led from an analysis of a specific project, the revision of IAS 1, which has introduced comprehensive income disclosure.
Prognosis of Surgical Treatment for Degenerative Lumbar Spinal Stenosis: A Prospective Cohort Study of Clinical Outcomes and Health-Related Quality of Life Across Gender and Age Groups

Degenerative lumbar spinal stenosis is a common condition and the most usual indication for spinal surgery in adult patients. The main objective of this study was to investigate clinical outcomes, health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and satisfaction among patients with a diagnosed lumbar spinal stenosis who were surgically treated, and whether these outcomes differed according to gender and age. Surgery was performed on 100 patients with clinical and radiological defined lumbar spinal stenosis. All patients completed questionnaires twice before surgery and at 6 weeks, 12 weeks, and 1 year postoperatively. Main outcomes were symptoms, physical function and patient satisfaction assessed by the Swiss Spinal Stenosis Questionnaire and HRQoL by the Short Form 36 health survey (SF36). There were large improvements in all clinical outcomes and in the physical subscales of the SF36. A marked reduction of average 32.3% was seen in symptoms already at 6 weeks follow-up. Physical function had improved with an average of 29.8% at 1-year follow-up. There was no statistical significant effect of age and gender on symptoms and physical function. Patients more than 65 years were significantly less satisfied at the 1-year follow-up as compared to the younger patients (p=0.012). This study showed that the majority of patients improved significantly in symptoms, physical function and physical HRQoL after surgery for degenerative lumbar spinal stenosis, regardless of age and gender. Age showed to be closely connected to satisfaction.
Physical Education in a Thermal Spa Resort to Maintain an Active Lifestyle at Home: A One-Year Self-Controlled Follow-Up Pilot Study

The self-controlled follow-up pilot study was set up to examine the maintenance of engagement in physical activity by a group of older adults in a thermal spa resort, as a consequence of the inclusion of additional physical education sessions within their usual care offers. A cohort of 42 participants (70.4 ± 4.5 years) underwent three weeks of thermal treatment with additional physical education (PE) sessions. Measurements were established during the intervention in 2 periods (baseline and final thermal treatment evaluation) and 4 periods of measurements in the follow-up (+15 days, +2 months, +6 months, and +1 year). Physical measures (anthropometrics, flexibility, and 6-minute walk test) and intrapersonal and psychosocial factors as well as health-related quality of life (HQOL) and physical activity (PA) were self-reported by participants. Only HQOL and PA were assessed during the follow-up. One year after a 3-week PE session combined with the usual thermal care, 64% of the participants exhibited a higher volume of PA than at baseline. The components of the HQOL changed during the follow-up. This strategy to maintain PA engagement appears to be feasible in a population of thermal care older adults. This work demonstrates the feasibility of a study conducted to maintain physical activity engagement after a thermal treatment.