Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Children's Sensitivity to Factors Influencing Vowel Reading.

TO DISAMBIGUATE vowel assignment to a vowel digraph in a word, readers must take into account aspects of the word context beyond the vowel digraph units themselves. The present study examined the development of young readers' use of this context in two experiments. First-, third-, and fifth-grade children read aloud highand low-frequency words containing vowel digraph units with variant and invariant pronunciations (Experiment 1); the third-grade children also read pseudowords containing vowel digraph units with variant pronunciations (Experiment 2). Words and pseudowords containing vowel digraph units with variant pronunciations were further categorized by the uniformity of pronunciation of the vowel digraphfinal consonant unit as it appeared in real words (i.e., the orthographic neighborhood consistency). Word reading accuracy of all groups was affected by word frequency and variation in the pronunciation of the vowel digraph unit; however, only the thirdand fifth-grade children demonstrated sensitivity to orthographic neighborhood consistency. With the pseudowords, the influence of the vowel digraph-final consonant unit in determining pronunciation was again indicated. The findings from both experiments support the hypothesis that with reading experience, children identify the systematic relationship between pronunciation and orthographic structure and utilize that knowledge in the pronunciation of unfamiliar words.
Looking within: Measuring state self-forgiveness and its relationship to psychological well-being.

lthough considerable empirical attention has recently focused on forgiveness, less work has been done on examining self-forgiveness. A major stumbling block for self-forgiveness research has been the lack of a measure to assess self-forgiveness for specific transgressions. This article reports the development of the State Self-Forgiveness Scales and the test of a model of self-forgiveness' relation to psychological well-being in the context of the unwanted end of a romantic relationship. In Study 1, factor analysis revealed a 2-factor structure to the self-forgiveness data. Study 2 found that self-blame predicted depressive affect to the extent that participants forgave the self. The implications of state self-forgiveness for both basic research and therapy are discussed.
Pharmacotherapy of Paget's disease of bone

Introduction: Paget's disease of the bone is a common condition in some populations, affecting almost 10% of older adults in western Europe. Though frequently asymptomatic, it can sometimes result in severe disabilities. Timely intervention is now able to arrest disease progression in the majority of patients. Areas covered: Studies describing the pharmacotherapy of Paget's disease are described in this review, based on a weekly Current Contents search for the term ‘Paget’ from 1995, and from personal knowledge and published references from earlier literature. Expert opinion: Potent bisphosphonates are the cornerstone of current therapy and have been shown to produce biochemical remission, radiographic healing, pain relief and an improved quality of life. A single intravenous dose of zoledronate has produced the highest response rates and the most sustained remissions of any medication studied so far. It is not clear whether Paget's disease is cured in these patients, or whether they merely undergo a prolonged remission. As a result of this approach, we seldom need to retreat patients and our clinical experience is entirely consonant with the long-term follow-up results from the zoledronate trials, indicating that this treatment results in better clinical outcomes and greater quality of life for patients with Paget's disease.
On indexing in the Web of Science and predicting journal impact factor

We discuss what document types account for the calculation of the journal impact factor (JIF) as published in the Journal Citation Reports (JCR). Based on a brief review of articles discussing how to predict JIFs and taking data differences between the Web of Science (WoS) and the JCR into account, we make our own predictions. Using data by cited-reference searching for Thomson Scientific’s WoS, we predict 2007 impact factors (IFs) for several journals, such as Nature, Science, Learned Publishing and some Library and Information Sciences journals. Based on our colleagues’ experiences we expect our predictions to be lower bounds for the official journal impact factors. We explain why it is useful to derive one’s own journal impact factor.
Second Messenger Signaling in Bacillus subtilis: Accumulation of Cyclic di-AMP Inhibits Biofilm Formation

The Gram-positive model organism Bacillus subtilis produces the essential second messenger signaling nucleotide cyclic di-AMP. In B. subtilis and other bacteria, c-di-AMP has been implicated in diverse functions such as control of metabolism, cell division and cell wall synthesis, and potassium transport. To enhance our understanding of the multiple functions of this second messenger, we have studied the consequences of c-di-AMP accumulation at a global level by a transcriptome analysis. C-di-AMP accumulation affected the expression of about 700 genes, among them the two major operons required for biofilm formation. The expression of both operons was severely reduced both in the laboratory and a non-domesticated strain upon accumulation of c-di-AMP. In excellent agreement, the corresponding strain was unable to form complex colonies. In B. subtilis, the transcription factor SinR controls the expression of biofilm genes by binding to their promoter regions resulting in transcription repression. Inactivation of the sinR gene restored biofilm formation even at high intracellular c-di-AMP concentrations suggesting that the second messenger acts upstream of SinR in the signal transduction pathway. As c-di-AMP accumulation did not affect the intracellular levels of SinR, we conclude that the nucleotide affects the activity of SinR.
Insights into Non-projectivity in Hindi

Large scale efforts are underway to create dependency treebanks and parsers for Hindi and other Indian languages. Hindi, being a morphologically rich, flexible word order language, brings challenges such as handling non-projectivity in parsing. In this work, we look at non-projectivity in Hyderabad Dependency Treebank (HyDT) for Hindi. Non-projectivity has been analysed from two perspectives: graph properties that restrict non-projectivity and linguistic phenomenon behind non-projectivity in HyDT. Since Hindi has ample instances of non-projectivity (14% of all structures in HyDT are non-projective), it presents a case for an in depth study of this phenomenon for a better insight, from both of these perspectives. We have looked at graph constriants like planarity, gap degree, edge degree and well-nestedness on structures in HyDT. We also analyse non-projectivity in Hindi in terms of various linguistic parameters such as the causes of non-projectivity, its rigidity (possibility of reordering) and whether the reordered construction is the natural one.
Vegetarian dietary patterns and the risk of colorectal cancers.

IMPORTANCE Colorectal cancers are a leading cause of cancer mortality, and their primary prevention by diet is highly desirable. The relationship of vegetarian dietary patterns to colorectal cancer risk is not well established. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the association between vegetarian dietary patterns and incident colorectal cancers. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS The Adventist Health Study 2 (AHS-2) is a large, prospective, North American cohort trial including 96,354 Seventh-Day Adventist men and women recruited between January 1, 2002, and December 31, 2007. Follow-up varied by state and was indicated by the cancer registry linkage dates. Of these participants, an analytic sample of 77,659 remained after exclusions. Analysis was conducted using Cox proportional hazards regression, controlling for important demographic and lifestyle confounders. The analysis was conducted between June 1, 2014, and October 20, 2014. EXPOSURES Diet was assessed at baseline by a validated quantitative food frequency questionnaire and categorized into 4 vegetarian dietary patterns (vegan, lacto-ovo vegetarian, pescovegetarian, and semivegetarian) and a nonvegetarian dietary pattern. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES The relationship between dietary patterns and incident cancers of the colon and rectum; colorectal cancer cases were identified primarily by state cancer registry linkages. RESULTS During a mean follow-up of 7.3 years, 380 cases of colon cancer and 110 cases of rectal cancer were documented. The adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) in all vegetarians combined vs nonvegetarians were 0.78 (95% CI, 0.64-0.95) for all colorectal cancers, 0.81 (95% CI, 0.65-1.00) for colon cancer, and 0.71 (95% CI, 0.47-1.06) for rectal cancer. The adjusted HR for colorectal cancer in vegans was 0.84 (95% CI, 0.59-1.19); in lacto-ovo vegetarians, 0.82 (95% CI, 0.65-1.02); in pescovegetarians, 0.57 (95% CI, 0.40-0.82); and in semivegetarians, 0.92 (95% CI, 0.62-1.37) compared with nonvegetarians. Effect estimates were similar for men and women and for black and nonblack individuals. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE Vegetarian diets are associated with an overall lower incidence of colorectal cancers. Pescovegetarians in particular have a much lower risk compared with nonvegetarians. If such associations are causal, they may be important for primary prevention of colorectal cancers.
Econometric Modelling based on Pattern recognition via the Fuzzy c-Means Clustering Algorithm

In this paper we consider the use of fuzzy modelling in the context of econometric analysis of both time-series and cross-section data. We discuss and demonstrate a semi-parametric methodology for model identification and estimation that is based on the Fuzzy c-Means algorithm that is widely used in the context of pattern recognition, and the Takagi-Sugeno approach to modelling fuzzy systems. This methodology is exceptionally flexible and provides a computationally tractable method of dealing with non-linear models in high dimensions. In this respect it has distinct theoretical advantages over non-parametric kernel regression, and we find that these advantages also hold empirically in terms of goodness-of-fit in a selection of economic applications.
Fast algorithms for solving H/sub /spl infin//-norm minimization problems

We propose an efficient computational approach to minimize the H/sub /spl infin//-norm of a transfer-function matrix depending affinely on a set of free parameters. The minimization problem, formulated as a semi-infinite convex programming problem, is solved via a relaxation approach over a finite set of frequency values. In this way, a significant speed up is achieved by avoiding the solution of high order LMIs resulting by equivalently formulating the minimization problem as a high dimensional semidefinite programming problem. Numerical results illustrate the superiority of proposed approach over LMIs based techniques in solving zero order H/sub /spl infin//-norm approximation problems.
Encoding seasonal information in a two‐oscillator model of the multi‐oscillator circadian clock

The suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) is a collection of about 10 000 neurons, each of which functions as a circadian clock with slightly different periods and phases, that work in concert with form and maintain the master circadian clock for the organism. The diversity among neurons confers on the SCN the ability to robustly encode both the 24‐h light pattern as well as the seasonal time. Cluster synchronization brings the different neurons into line and reduces the large population to essentially two oscillators, coordinated by a macroscopic network motif of asymmetric repulsive‐attractive coupling. We recount the steps leading to this simplification and rigorously examine the two‐oscillator case by seeking an analytical solution. Through these steps, we identify physiologically relevant parameters that shape the behaviour of the SCN network and delineate its ability to store past details of seasonal variation in photoperiod.
Communicating with patients in cancer care; what areas do nurses find most challenging?

BACKGROUND Patient communication is a cornerstone of comprehensive oncology nursing care. Oncology nurses, however, do not appear to receive much advanced training in communication skills and many nurses do not feel adequately trained in this area. METHOD We designed a 33-item questionnaire to assess nurses' perceived level of difficulty and skill in a variety of common clinical situations where patient communication was a challenge. Three hundred fifty oncology nurses in a major cancer center completed the questionnaire. RESULTS Nurses rated areas where they addressed the physical complaints (pain, fatigue, appetite and weight loss) as least challenging and areas in which they were most prepared. Several items ranked as most difficult and where nurses felt they had the least skills had to do with issues related to death and dying, especially requests for euthanasia and patient loss. Advanced practice nurses rated their perceived communications skills more highly in several different areas. CONCLUSION The communication challenges faced by oncology nurses require skills that go beyond simple supportive techniques like empathy and listening. Teaching advanced communications skills geared to specific problems identified by nurses may be useful.
Characterization of the structural elements in lipid A required for binding of a recombinant fragment of bactericidal/permeability-increasing protein rBPI23

Both human bactericidal/permeability-increasing protein (BPI) and a recombinant amino-terminal fragment of BPI (rBPI23) have been shown to bind with high affinity to the lipid A region of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) (H. Gazzano-Santoro, J. B. Parent, L. Grinna, A. Horwitz, T. Parsons, G. Theofan, P. Elsbach, J. Weiss, and P. J. Conlon, Infect. Immun. 60:4754-4761, 1992). In the present study, lipid A preparations derived from bacterial LPS as well as synthetic lipid A's and various lipid A analogs were used to determine the structural elements required for rBPI23 binding. rBPI23 bound in vitro to a variety of synthetic and natural lipid A preparations (both mono- and diphosphoryl forms), including lipid A's prepared from Escherichia coli and Salmonella, Neisseria, and Rhizobium species. Binding does not require that the origin of negative charge be phosphate, since rBPI23 bound with high affinity to lipid A's isolated from Rhizobium species that contain carboxylate (Rhizobium trifolii) or sulfate (Rhizobium meliloti) anionic groups and lack phosphate. Lipid A acyl chains are important, since rBPI23 did not bind to four synthetic variants of the beta(1-6)-linked D-glucosamine disaccharide lipid A head group, all devoid of acyl chains. rBPI23 also bound weakly to lipid X, a monosaccharide lipid precursor of LPS corresponding to the reducing half of lipid A. Lipid IVA, a precursor identical to E. coli lipid A except that it lacks the 2' and 3' acyl chains, was the simplest structure identified in this study that rBPI23 bound with high affinity. These results demonstrate that rBPI23 has a binding specificity for the lipid A region of LPS and binding involves both electrostatic and hydrophobic components.
Activated protein C ligation of ApoER2 (LRP8) causes Dab1-dependent signaling in U937 cells

Binding of activated protein C (APC) to cells triggers multiple beneficial cytoprotective activities that suppress apoptosis, inflammation, and endothelial barrier breakdown. One paradigm for APC's signaling emphasizes its binding to endothelial cell protein C receptor (EPCR) and subsequent protease activated receptor (PAR)-1 activation. Here we used human monocytic-like U937 cells to evaluate apolipoprotein E receptor 2 (ApoER2)-dependent signaling by APC and found that APC initiated rapid phosphorylation of Tyr-220 in the adaptor protein disabled-1 (Dab1) and of Ser-473 in Akt. APC also induced phosphorylation of Ser-9 in glycogen synthase kinase 3β (GSK3β), which was blocked by the PI3K inhibitor LY294002. Receptor-associated protein (RAP), a general antagonist for binding of ligands to LDL receptor family members, inhibited APC-induced phosphorylation of Dab1 and GSK3β, whereas anti-EPCR or anti-PAR1 blocking antibodies did not. Knocking down ApoER2 by using siRNA-ablated APC induced Dab1 phosphorylation, suggesting that RAP-sensitive APC-induced signaling requires ApoER2. In surface plasmon resonance equilibrium binding studies, APC bound with high affinity to soluble (s) ApoER2 (apparent Kd, ≈30 nM) but not to soluble very low density lipoprotein receptor. RAP blocked APC binding to sApoER2 but not to sEPCR. RAP blocked binding of U937 cells to immobilized APC. RAP also blocked APC's ability to inhibit endotoxin-induced tissue factor pro-coagulant activity of U937 cells. Thus, we propose that ligation of ApoER2 by APC signals via Dab1 phosphorylation and subsequent activation of PI3K and Akt and inactivation of GSK3β, thereby contributing to APC's beneficial effects on cells.
High Frequency Evoked Action Potentials Recorded from the Ear Canal in Man

The present experiment outlines the properties of human APs evoked by high frequency (8 kHz) clicks and recorded from the ear canal in normals. The input-output functions for the AP are established and compared with the corresponding 2 kHz functions: The two latency functions coincide at high-but diverge significantly at low intensities. The two amplitude functions have almost identical maximum values at the highest intensity, but the 8 kHz function is more gradual than the 2 kHz function. It is concluded that at high intensities the two stimuli are equally effective in their excitation of the basal part of the cochlea and that the APs are generated mainly from this area. At low intensities the excitation patterns differ and the two stimuli generate APs originating from different and specific parts of the cochlea. Based on data on single auditory nerve fibres, i.e. tuning curves and rate functions, a qualitative AP-parameter model is proposed and used for the description of the findings.
Tracking micro tool in a dynamic 3D ultrasound situation using Kalman filter and RANSAC algorithm

Ultrasound guidance is used for many surgical applications such as biopsy and electrode insertion. This paper presents an improved method for tracking such micro tools inserted in human tissues. The RANSAC algorithm [1] has been implemented to detect the exact position of the needle in a stationary situation. In this paper, the Kalman filter is added to estimate the position of the needle in a dynamical situation. In the simulation, the RANSAC algorithm is used to get the position of the tip of the needle, and a speckle tracking method is implemented to estimate the inserting speed of the needle. The Kalman filter uses the results given by the two methods above as the measurement to make the estimation of the position of the needle tip. The simulated results show that both, in stationary and dynamic situations, the proposed method gives a more stable results than the RANSAC only algorithm.
Emotional intelligence as predictor of cultural adjustment for success in global assignments

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a new framework for assessing the human resource strategy for international assignment (IA) of managers.Design/methodology/approach – The approach posits the construct of emotional intelligence (EI) as a critical predictor for intercultural adjustment thereby leading to success. A theoretical model and the respective preliminary empirical test of a series of hypotheses pertaining to the relationships between several dimensions of EI, their impact on cross‐cultural adjustment and success of international managers overseas assignments, is presented. Analyses is based on cross sectional data of 67 cases (based on questionnaires), and on 39 cases with rectangular data where both supervisory input and questionnaires were used.Findings – A significant correlation was found between the interpersonal emotional component and specific performance. Thus the capacities of empathy, social responsibility and social relations may predict better performance in the specifi.
Phosphorus limitation of Daphnia growth: Is it real?

The possibility of P limitation for zooplankton growth has many implications for understanding changes in production efficiency and feedback dynamics between consumers and resources. However, there have been no direct tests to determine whether the putative P limitation is real. To answer this question, we directly supplied inorganic P to Daphnia magna apart from food algae, Scenedesmus acutus, and then examined changes in body mass. During the period from birth to age 6 d, D. magna were fed on live algae for 19 h and placed in water of high inorganic P (4 mM: P treatment) for 5 h each day. We used P‐free water as a control treatment. Growth rate estimated from initial and final body mass during the 6‐d incubation was significantly larger in the P treatment than in the control treatment when Daphnia fed on P‐deficient algae, whereas a significant difference was not detected between the treatments for Daphnia fed on P‐sufficient algae (C : P atomic < 300). The results clearly demonstrate that Daphnia growth is in fact limited by P itself when they feed on P‐deficient algae.
Biomechanical Loading Evaluation of Unsintered Hydroxyapatite/poly-l-lactide Plate System in Bilateral Sagittal Split Ramus Osteotomy

OSTEOTRANS MX® (Takiron Co., Ltd., Osaka, Japan) is a bioactive resorbable maxillofacial osteosynthetic material composed of an unsintered hydroxyapatite/poly-l-lactide composite, and its effective osteoconductive capacity has been previously documented. However, the mechanical strength of this plate system is unclear. Thus, the aim of this in vitro study was to assess its tensile and shear strength and evaluate the biomechanical intensity of different osteosynthesis plate designs after sagittal split ramus osteotomy by simulating masticatory forces in a clinical setting. For tensile and shear strength analyses, three mechanical strength measurement samples were prepared by fixing unsintered hydroxyapatite/poly-l-lactide composed plates to polycarbonate skeletal models. Regarding biomechanical loading evaluation, 12 mandibular replicas were used and divided into four groups for sagittal split ramus osteotomy fixation. Each sample was secured in a jig and subjected to vertical load on the first molar teeth. Regarding shear strength, the novel-shaped unsintered hydroxyapatite/poly-l-lactide plate had significantly high intensity. Upon biomechanical loading evaluation, this plate system also displayed significantly high stability in addition to bioactivity, with no observed plate fracture. Thus, we have clearly demonstrated the efficacy of this plate system using an in vitro model of bilateral sagittal split ramus osteotomy of the mandible.
Mathematical formulation of RFID tag floor based localization and performance analysis for tag placement

A radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag floor based localization is recently proposed indoor mobile robot localization method that utilizes super-distributed RFID tag infrastructure (SDRI) installed on a working area. An RFID tag floor localization (RTFL) method is easy to scale up the working area and the number of robots and is reliable in the position estimation. There have been several researches for practical applications of the RTFL, however, the investigation on performance and properties of the localization method is still insufficient. This paper propose a mathematical formulations of the RTFL and its performance index based on an RFID position estimation error variance. This paper also presents simulation results of the RTFL performances and analysis. These results can be used for optimal installation of the RFID tag floor.