Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An ERP study of kind-denoting nouns in subject position in Brazilian Portuguese

Resumo: A referencialidade e um topico que sempre renova o interesse da linguistica teorica e experimental. Isso porque as referencias sao recursos fundamentais das linguas naturais que estabelecem uma relacao entre a lingua no cerebro e as coisas do mundo la fora. Este experimento investiga duas condicoes referentes a mecanismos de referencialidade: uma relaciona-se a um NP nao especifico na posicao do sujeito e a outra se relaciona a um NP que denota tipo influenciado por um contexto especial de Conhecimento do Mundo. A comparacao entre as duas condicoes nas suas versoes congruente e incongruente revelou que a Condicao do Conhecimento do Mundo apresentou um ERP (N400) com latencia mais curta. Ja que as sentencas sao percebidas em uma ordem linear e que o sujeito em portugues (lingua SVO) vem na frente, aqui se propoe que o acesso ao sujeito pragmaticamente saliente na sua posicao sentenca-inicial abre, logo de inicio, uma moldura pragmatica e pode restringir a selecao no verbo-complemento, fazendo com que o merge verbo-objeto se de de forma mais rapida. Isso pode explicar porque o N400 relacionado aos estimulos do Conhecimento do Mundo apareceu mais cedo do que na Condicao de Controle. Adicionalmente, encontrouse um ERP positivo em torno dos 600 ms apenas presente nos estimulos da Condicao de Conhecimento do Mundo e ausente na Condicao de Controle. A interpretacao deste achado e que o pleno acesso ao conteudo pragmatico que esta no sujeito so ocorre apos o merge do complemento ao verbo. Palavras-chave: hipotese sintaxe-primeiro; pragmatica no processamento de sentencas; extracao de potenciais relacionados a evento; N400-P600. Abstract: Referring is a permanently hot topic in theoretical and experimental linguistics since references establish the fundamental relationship between parts of language in the brain and things out there in the world. This experiment investigates two conditions pertaining to reference mechanisms: one relates to a generic NP in the subject position and the other to an NP that is influenced by a special World Knowledge context. The comparison between the two conditions in their congruous and incongruous versions depicts a shorter latency for the N400 ERPs of the World Knowledge stimuli. Since linguistic input gradually reaches the reader from left to right, we propose that the access to a pragmatically salient subject in its sentence-initial position, by opening a window into World Knowledge, may restrict selections in the verb-complement merge more speedily than pragmatically unmarked subjects. This may explain why the N400 related to the World Knowledge stimuli appeared earlier than that of the Control Condition. Additionally, we found a later positive ERP around the 600ms only present in the World Knowledge stimuli and absent in the Control condition. The interpretation of this finding is that full access to the pragmatic contents of the subject only takes place after the verb complement merge. Keywords: syntax-first hypothesis; pragmatics in sentence processing; event-related brain potentials; N400-P600.
How to use independent secret keys for secure broadcasting of common messages

The broadcast channel with independent secret keys is studied. In this scenario, a common message has to be securely broadcast to two legitimate receivers in the presence of an eavesdropper. The transmitter shares with each legitimate receiver an independent secret key of arbitrary rate. These keys can either be used as one-time pads to encrypt the common message or can be interpreted as fictitious messages used as randomization resources for wiretap coding. Both approaches are discussed and the secrecy capacity is derived for various cases. Depending on the qualities of the legitimate and eavesdropper channels, either a one-time pad, wiretap coding, or a combination of both turns out to be capacity-achieving.
Cardiovascular disease risk prediction by the American College of Cardiology (ACC)/American Heart Association (AHA) Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease (ASCVD) risk score among HIV-infected patients in sub-Saharan Africa

Objectives HIV-infected patients are at increased risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD). However, general population CVD risk prediction equations that identify HIV-infected patients at elevated risk have not been widely assessed in sub-Saharan African (SSA). Methods HIV-infected adults from 30–50 years of age with documented viral suppression were enrolled into a cross-sectional study in Gaborone, Botswana. Participants were screened for CVD risk factors. Bilateral carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) was measured and 10-year predicted risk of cardiovascular disease was calculated using the Pooled Cohorts Equation for atherosclerotic CVD (ASCVD) and the 2008 Framingham Risk Score (FRS) (National Cholesterol Education Program III–NCEP III). ASCVD ≥7.5%, FRS ≥10%, and cIMT≥75th percentile were considered elevated risk for CVD. Agreement in classification of participants as high-risk for CVD by cIMT and FRS or ASCVD risk score was assessed using McNemar`s Test. The optimal cIMT cut off-point that matched ASCVD predicted risk of ≥7.5% was assessed using Youden’s J index. Results Among 208 HIV-infected patients (female: 55%, mean age 38 years), 78 (38%) met criteria for ASCVD calculation versus 130 (62%) who did not meet the criteria. ASCVD classified more participants as having elevated CVD risk than FRS (14.1% versus 2.6%, McNemar’s exact test p = 0.01), while also classifying similar proportion of participants as having elevated CVD like cIMT (14.1% versus 19.2%, McNemar’s exact test p = 0.34). Youden’s J calculated the optimal cut point at the 81st percentile for cIMT to correspond to an ASCVD score ≥7.5% (sensitivity = 72.7% and specificity = 88.1% with area under the curve for the receiver operating characteristic [AUC] of 0.82, 95% Mann-Whitney CI: 0.66–0.99). Conclusion While the ASCVD risk score classified more patients at elevated CVD risk than FRS, ASCVD score classified similar proportion of patients as high risk when compared with established subclinical atherosclerosis. However, potential CVD risk category misclassification by established equations such as ASCVD may still exist among HIV-infected patients; hence there is still a need for development of a CVD risk prediction equation tailored to HIV-infected patients in SSA.
Individual Difference in Goal Motives and Goal Content: The Role of Action and State Orientation

Rui Shi,1,∗ Shilei Zhang,2,3,∗ Danmin Miao,4 Qianwen Zhang,3 Zhenhong Wang,2 and Yan Zhang4 1 College of Humanities and Social Development, Northwest A&F University, Yang Ling, P.R. China 2 School of Psychology, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an, P.R. China 3 Psychological Counseling Centre, Chang’an University, Xi’an, P.R. China 4 Department of Psychology, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi’an, P.R. China
Symbol Error Rate Analysis and Antenna Selection in Limited Feedback Distributed Antenna Systems

Abstract-In many practical systems, perfect channel state information (CSI) is difficult to obtain at the base station (BS), we usually use limited feedback CSI to reduce the symbol error rate (SER). To analyze the SER performance of different transmit distributed antenna (DA) subset in limited feedback distributed antenna systems (DAS), the closed-form SER expressions for both binary phase shift keying (BPSK) and M-phase shift keying (MPSK) are derived in this paper. From these expressions, we find there exists an appropriate transmit DA subset which can obtain the best SER performance. Then, an adaptive transmit DA selection scheme with the minimum SER is proposed. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme can achieve SER performance gain than blanket transmission scheme and selection diversity scheme.
Segmenting Objects through an Autonomous Agnostic Exploration Conducted by a Robot

Human's everyday environment is an open environment in which objects with new shapes, colors or textures frequently appear. Enabling robots to deal with such environments and to manipulate those objects raises a difficult challenge: how to recognize an object? How to distinguish it from the background? An approach is proposed here to allow the robot to find this segmentation on its own. It relies on an active exploration of the environment aimed at identifying features of things that move after a contact with robot's end-effector. The only assumption made is that objects of interest are solid objects that the robot can move. The proposed approach can thus be applied without modifications to a large range of environments, as shown by the experiments performed by the robot.
Functional correlates of activity in neurons projecting from the lamina terminalis to the ventrolateral periaqueductal gray

The lamina terminalis (LT) consists of the organum vasculosum of the LT (OVLT), the median preoptic nucleus (MnPO) and the subfornical organ (SFO). All subdivisions of the LT project to the ventrolateral periaqueductal gray (vlPAG). The LT and the vlPAG are implicated in several homeostatic and behavioral functions, including body fluid homeostasis, thermoregulation and the regulation of sleep and waking. By combining visualization of c‐Fos protein and retrograde neuroanatomical tracer we have examined the functional correlates of LT‐vlPAG projection neurons. Rats were injected with retrograde tracer into the vlPAG and, following a 1‐week recovery period, they were subjected to either hypertonic saline administration (0.5 m NaCl, 1 mL/100 g i.p.), 24‐h water deprivation, isoproterenol administration (increases circulating angiotensin II; 50 μg/kg s.c.), heat exposure (39°C for 60 min) or permitted 180 min spontaneous sleep. Retrogradely labeled neurons from the vlPAG and double‐labelled neurons were then identified and quantified throughout the LT. OVLT‐vlPAG projection neurons were most responsive to hypertonic saline and water deprivation. SFO‐vlPAG projection neurons were most active following isoproterenol administration, and MnPO‐vlPAG projection neurons displayed significantly more Fos immunostaining following water deprivation, heat exposure and sleep. These results support the existence of functional subdivisions of LT‐vlPAG‐projecting neurons, and indicate three patterns of activity that correspond to thermal and sleep wake regulation, osmotic or hormonal stimuli.
A new approach in application and design of toroidal axial-flux permanent magnet open-slotted NN type (TAFPMOS-NN) motor

Original scientific paper This paper presents a novel approach in design of toroidal axial flux permanent magnet open-slotted NN type (TAFPMOS-NN) motor. TAFPMOS-NN motor is an accomplished both theoretical and experimental model. The results of theoretical works and experimental works are performed. TAFPMOSNN has open-slotted structure and the winding on the core surface which are the most important properties of TAFPMOS-NN motor. This situation has created the hybrid structure electric machine by combining toroidal winding without open-slotted motor properties and toroidal winding with open-slotted motor properties. The mentioned motor types have a problem such as cogging torque. The cogging problem is resolved greatly by the proposed method so that high torque, efficiency and cost saving for TAFPMOS-NN type motor are acquired.
The Percent-Change Extension to the DuPont Identity

From the DuPont Identity, this paper derives a formula relating the percent changes in the return on equity (ROE) to the percent changes in the DuPont components. This formula is useful in determining the primary reasons why the ROE changed from one period to the next. While the periodic percent change relationship is nonlinear, a simple and intuitive additive formula is an approximation, albeit at times a poor approximation. We also convert the periodic percent changes in the ROE and its DuPont components into their equivalent instantaneous rates of change. These instantaneous rates of changes in the DuPont components do precisely sum to the instantaneous rate of change in the ROE, providing a method for analysts to both intuitively and accurately present their analysis.
Comparison of Paclitaxel Eluting Balloon Angioplasty Combined with Directional Atherectomy and Self Expandable Nitinol Stent Implantation in Treatment of Calcified Stenotic Superficial Femoral Artery Lesions

Amac: Periferik arter hastaligi insidansinin artmasi ve periferik vaskuler cerrahi sonrasi istenmeyen sonuclari azaltmak icin endovaskuler girisimlerin sikligi ve cesitliligi artmistir. Yaygin kalsifik stenotik lezyonlar, endovaskuler prosedurlerin acik kalma oranlarini etkilemekte ve komplikasyon sikligini artirmaktadir. Bu calismada direksiyonel aterektomi (DA) ile kombine edilmis paklitaksel salinimli balon anjioplasti (PEBA) ve kendiliginden acilan nitinol stent (SENS) uygulamalarinin acik kalma oranlari bakimindan karsilastirilmasi amaclandi. Gerec ve Yontemler: Namik Kemal Universitesi Hastanesi Kalp Damar Cerrahisi kliniginde Mart 2013 ile Mayis 2014 tarihleri arasinda kalsifik stenotik superfisyal femoral arter lezyonlari sebebiyle endovaskuler prosedur uygulanmis 56 hasta (her grupta 28 olgu) calismaya alindi. Olgularin yas ortalamasi 65,4±7,6 olup, 10’u kadin 46’si erkek idi. Olgular islem oncesi ve islem sonrasi 6. aya kadar Ayak bilegi-kol indeksi (ABI), Rutherford skoru (RS) ve Doppler ultrasonografi (DUSG) ile takip edildi. Bulgular: DA ve PEBA grubunda ortalama lezyon uzunlugu 66,4±24,8 mm olup SENS grubunda ise 65,0±20,6 mm olarak tespit edildi. Olgularin 6 aylik takibinde primer ve sekonder acik kalma oranlari DA ve PEBA grubunda %85,7 ve %92,9 olarak saptanirken SENS grubunda ise %57,1 ve %71,4 olarak saptandi. Gruplar arasinda istatistiksel olarak anlamli bir fark mevcuttu. Her iki grupta da ABI ve RS acisindan anlamli derecede duzelme oldugu gozlendi. Sonuc: Bu calismadan elde edilen sonuclardan, DA ile kombine edilmis PEBA’nin, basarili erken donem sonuclari olmasi, intravaskuler yabanci cisim icermemesi ve cerrahi sansini anastomoz sahasini etkilemeden devam ettirmesi sebepleriyle SENS uygulamasina gore daha ustun oldugunu dusunmekteyiz.
A tick mannose-binding lectin inhibits the vertebrate complement cascade to enhance transmission of the Lyme disease agent

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Fast Implementation of Box Filtering

In this paper, we propose fast and cache efficient box filtering, and also fast guided filtering using our box filtering. Box filtering is one of the smoothing filters, which computes averaged pixel values in the kernel. Also, guided filtering is one of the edge-preserving filters. This filtering performs multiple times of box filterings to obtain average and variance values in the local window. Therefore, we can use fast box filtering for accelerating guided filtering. Experimental results show that our box filtering is faster than the conventional implementations, and also faster than the conventional implementation of guided filtering. Keywords—box filtering, guided filtering, cache efficiency, acceleration
Identifying activating mutations in the EGFR gene: prognostic and therapeutic implications in non-small cell lung cancer *

Abstract Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Promising new therapies have recently emerged from the development of molecular targeted drugs; particularly promising are those blocking the signal transduction machinery of cancer cells. One of the most widely studied cell signaling pathways is that of EGFR, which leads to uncontrolled cell proliferation, increased cell angiogenesis, and greater cell invasiveness. Activating mutations in the EGFR gene (deletions in exon 19 and mutation L858R in exon 21), first described in 2004, have been detected in approximately 10% of all non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients in Western countries and are the most important predictors of a response to EGFR tyrosine-kinase inhibitors (EGFR-TKIs). Studies of the EGFR-TKIs gefitinib, erlotinib, and afatinib, in comparison with platinum-based regimens, as first-line treatments in chemotherapy-naïve patients have shown that the EGFR-TKIs produce gains in progression-free survival and overall response rates, although only in patients whose tumors harbor activating mutations in the EGFR gene. Clinical trials have also shown EGFR-TKIs to be effective as second- and third-line therapies in advanced NSCLC. Here, we review the main aspects of EGFR pathway activation in NSCLC, underscore the importance of correctly identifying activating mutations in the EGFR gene, and discuss the main outcomes of EGFR-TKI treatment in NSCLC.
Unsupervised Land Cover Change Detection: Meaningful Sequential Time Series Analysis

An automated land cover change detection method is proposed that uses coarse spatial resolution hyper-temporal earth observation satellite time series data. The study compared three different unsupervised clustering approaches that operate on short term Fourier transform coefficients computed over subsequences of 8-day composite MODerate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) surface reflectance data that were extracted with a temporal sliding window. The method uses a feature extraction process that creates meaningful sequential time series that can be analyzed and processed for change detection. The method was evaluated on real and simulated land cover change examples and obtained a change detection accuracy exceeding 76% on real land cover conversion and more than 70% on simulated land cover conversion.
H2-M3-Restricted CD8+ T Cells Induced by Peptide-Pulsed Dendritic Cells Confer Protection against Mycobacterium tuberculosis1

One of the oligopolymorphic MHC class Ib molecules, H2-M3, presents N-formylated peptides derived from bacteria. In this study, we tested the ability of an H2-M3-binding peptide, TB2, to induce protection in C57BL/6 mice against Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Immunization with bone marrow-derived dendritic cell (BMDC) pulsed with TB2 or a MHC class Ia-binding peptide, MPT64190–198 elicited an expansion of Ag-specific CD8+ T cells in the spleen and the lung. The number of TB2-specific CD8+ T cells reached a peak on day 6, contracted with kinetics similar to MPT64190–198-specific CD8+ T cells and was maintained at an appreciable level for at least 60 days. The TB2-specific CD8+ T cells produced less effector cytokines but have stronger cytotoxic activity than MPT64190–198-specific CD8+ T cells. Mice immunized with TB2-pulsed BMDC as well as those with MPT64190–198-pulsed BMDC showed significant protection against an intratracheal challenge with M. tuberculosis H37Rv. However, histopathology of the lung in mice immunized with TB2-pulsed BMDC was different from mice immunized with MPT64190–198-pulsed BMDC. Our results suggest that immunization with BMDC pulsed with MHC class Ib-restricted peptides would be a useful vaccination strategy against M. tuberculosis.
Mismatch and unemployment in local labour markets

This paper examines employer-jobseeker mismatch and the extent to which the time needed to fill vacancies is affected by characteristics and practices of employers in two different travel to work areas. Unemployment due to mismatch has been explained in economic literature as a function of factors such as changes in market structure, information asymmetry caused by inefficient job matching processes such as employment agencies, and lack of workforce flexibility in terms of geographic mobility, wages and skills. Policy measures aimed at reducing mismatch have largely concentrated upon increasing worker flexibility by way of skills training and benefit sanctions together with schemes to increase job search efficiency on the part of the worker. National policies may be effective at reducing the level of unemployment nationally, but they do not take into account the diverse nature of local labour markets. To reduce unemployment in regions with an inherently low demand for labour it may not be sufficient to implement the supply side measures as described above. It has been argued that skill shortages are only a subset of more general recruitment difficulties amongst firms, although many studies equate the two. This paper suggests that supply side factors in general are a subset of recruitment difficulties, particularly in regions with a low demand for labour. It was hypothesised that for both TTWAs there are particular demand side determinants of mismatch unemployment, reflecting the nature and attitude of employers, that would be associated with vacancy duration. The paper reports findings from a series of 126 in-depth interviews carried out with employers in the Edinburgh and Bathgate TTWAs. The interviews generated information of a quantitative and qualitative nature on the characteristics, attitudes and recruitment practices of employers, together with the time taken to fill the last vacancy. Using results from a multiple regression of vacancy duration against the independent variables, evidence is found that firm characteristics, employer reputation, recruitment standards, gender preference, type of contract and methods of recruitment all have a significant effect on vacancy duration. Evidence was found of significant differences between the areas in the factors associated with vacancy duration. Local labour market; mismatch; Skill shortage; Job contracts; Vacancy duration; Training policies
Simulation of pedestrian crowds in normal and evacuation situations

Starting with a short review of the available literature in the field of pedestrian and evacuation research, an overview is given over the observed collective phenomena in pedestrian crowds. This includes lane formation in corridors and oscillations at bottlenecks in normal situations, while different kinds of blocked states are produced in panic situations. By means of molecular-dynamic-like microsimulations based on a generalized force model of interactive pedestrian dynamics, the spatio-temporal patterns in pedestrian crowds are successfully reproduced and interpreted as self-organized phenomena. In contrast to previous socio-psychological approaches, this allows a physical understanding of the observations. Despite the significantly different phenomena occuring in normal and panic situations, the main effects can be described by a unified model containing only well interpretable and plausible terms. The transition between the “rational” normal behavior and the apparently “irrational” panic behavior is controlled by a single parameter, the “nervousness”, which influences fluctuation strengths, desired speeds, and the tendency of herding. Thereby, it causes paradoxial effects like “freezing by heating”, “faster is slower”, and the ignorance of available exits. Nevertheless, there are measures to improve pedestrian flows, both in normal and panic situations. For example, the suitable placement of columns can help, although they reduce the accessible space.
In situ dynamic control of neurite growth by femtosecond laser ablation of substrate patterns

We are developing a methodology to construct a neuron network on a culture substrate for studying neuronal functions on signal processing and memory. Here we show a method to guide neurite growth on a substrate by using fem to second laser ablation of polymer layer. The laser was used to control the affinity of the surface to neurons and neurites. We succeeded in neurite growth with directionality.