Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Oral narratives in monolingual and bilingual preschoolers with SLI.

BACKGROUND The body of literature on narratives of bilingual children with and without specific language impairment (SLI) is growing. However, little is known about the narrative abilities of bilingual preschool children with SLI and their patterns of growth. AIMS To determine the similarities and differences in narrative abilities between preschoolers with and without SLI who are either monolingual or bilingual at two time points. METHODS & PROCEDURES Forty children completed a narrative retell task in English at two test points. The mean ages were 52 and 58 months at Times 1 and 2, respectively. We examined performance on measures of narrative macrostructure (narrative information) and microstructure (sentence length, number of different words, verb accuracy, first mentions) in monolingual and bilingual children with and without SLI. The bilingual children were from diverse first-language backgrounds and all spoke English most of the time. OUTCOMES & RESULTS A series of repeated-measures analyses of variance was used with language ability (typical development or SLI) and bilingual status (monolingual versus bilingual) as the between-subjects factors and time (Times 1 or 2) as the within-subjects factor. Results indicated a significant main effect of time for four measures (i.e., Information Score, lexical diversity, sentence length and verb accuracy). The between-subjects analyses indicated a significant difference between the typically developing children and the children with SLI in all measures and a significant difference between monolingual and bilingual children for verb accuracy only. CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS This study showed that all four groups of children showed growth over a 6-month period and that bilingual children exposed predominantly to English in the home performed similarly to their monolingual peers in measures of narrative information, sentence length, number of different words and first mentions.
A New Search Approach for Interactive-Predictive Computer-Assisted Translation

Although significant improvements have been achieved in statistical machine translation (SMT), even the best machine translation technology is far from competing with human translators. An alternative approach to obtain high quality translation is to use a human translator who is assisted by an SMT. In interactive-predictive computer-assisted translation (IPCAT) paradigm, the human translator begins to type the translation of a given source text; by typing each character the MT system interactively offers the choices to complete the translation. Human translator may continue typing or accept the whole completion or part of it. In this paper, we propose a new search approach for increasing the performance of the IPCAT. This new search approach consists of a new search method and a hybrid back-off model. We achieve 2.3% and 1.16% absolute improvements by using the proposed search approach for two different corpora.
Hepatic resection for bilobar hepatocellular carcinoma: is it justified?

HYPOTHESIS Patients with bilobar stage IVa hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) are generally considered unsuitable for hepatic resection. Recent data suggest that palliative hepatic resection in selected patients with advanced HCC may result in a favorable survival outcome. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the operative outcome and survival benefits of hepatic resection for patients with bilobar HCC. DESIGN Retrospective study. SETTING Tertiary referral center. PATIENTS The study comprised 78 patients who were diagnosed as having unilobar HCC and considered initially suitable candidates for curative hepatic resection on preoperative investigations from 1989 to 2000. Bilobar disease with discrete tumor nodules in the contralateral lobe was diagnosed in these patients on laparoscopy (44 patients) or laparotomy (34 patients) with the help of intraoperative ultrasonography. Fifteen patients (19%) underwent palliative hepatic resection (group A), and hepatic resection was not performed in the remaining 63 patients (81%) (group B). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES The clinicopathologic data and operative and survival outcomes of both groups of patients were compared. RESULTS The clinicopathologic parameters were comparable in both groups of patients. In group A, 12 patients (80%) underwent major hepatic resection, and the mean +/- SEM size of the resected tumors was 8.3 +/- 0.9 cm. The operative morbidity and mortality were 20% and 0%, respectively. Treatment for tumors in the contralateral lobe included wedge excision (5 patients), alcohol injection (5 patients), cryotherapy (2 patients), and transarterial oily chemoembolization (3 patients). In group B, treatment for HCC included transarterial oily chemoembolization (42 patients), systemic chemotherapy (3 patients), transarterial oily chemoembolization and systemic chemotherapy (5 patients), cryotherapy (2 patients), tamoxifen (3 patients), and no treatment (8 patients). The median survival of patients in group A was 19.5 months, with 4 patients surviving for more than 3 years. The survival in group A was significantly better than in group B (median = 7.1 months; P =.008). On multivariate analysis, hepatic resection and preoperative serum alpha-fetoprotein level were the 2 independent factors that significantly affected patient survival. CONCLUSIONS Hepatic resection for HCC in patients with stage IVa bilobar disease results in a better survival outcome than nonresectional therapies. It should be considered in selected patients with low operative risks and satisfactory liver function.
The Great Salt Lake Ecosystem (Utah, USA): long term data and a structural equation approach

Great Salt Lake (Utah, USA) is one of the world's largest hypersaline lakes, supporting many of the western U.S.'s migratory waterbirds. This unique ecosystem is threatened, but it and other large hypersaline lakes are not well understood. The ecosystem consists of two weakly linked food webs: one phytoplankton-based, the other organic particle/benthic algae-based. Seventeen years of data on the phytoplankton-based food web are presented: abundances of nutrients (N and P), phytoplankton (Chlorophyta, Bacillariophyta, Cyanophyta), brine shrimp (Artemia franciscana), corixids (Trichocorixa verticalis), and Eared Grebes (Podiceps nigricollis). Abundances of less common species, as well as brine fly larvae (Ephydra cinerea and hians) from the organic particle/benthic algae-based food web are also presented. Abiotic parameters were monitored: lake elevation, temperature, salinity, PAR, light penetration, and DO. We use these data to test hypotheses about the phytoplankton-based food web and its weak linkage with the organic particle/benthic algae-based food web via structural equation modeling. Counter to common perceptions, the phytoplankton-based food web is not limited by high salinity, but principally through phytoplankton production, which is limited by N and grazing by brine shrimp. Annual N abundance is highly variable and depends on lake volume, complex mixing given thermo- and chemo-clines, and recycling by brine shrimp. Brine shrimp are food-limited, and predation by corixids and Eared Grebes does not depress their numbers. Eared Grebe numbers appear to be limited by brine shrimp abundance. Finally, there is little interaction of brine fly larvae with brine shrimp through competition, or with corixids or grebes through predation, indicating that the lake's two food webs are weakly connected. Results are used to examine some general concepts regarding food web structure and dynamics, as well as the lake's future given expected anthropogenic impacts.
Estimation of Perceptual Spaces for Speaker Identities Based on the Cross-Lingual Discrimination Task

This paper reconfirms that talker identity can be transmitted across languages. Talker discrimination was examined in the ABX paradigm, where the stimuli A and B were utterances by different talkers in the same language and the stimulus X was an utterance by either of A or B in the different language. The average hit rate of this discrimination task was as high as 0.89. The mutual distance matrices were generated using the discrimination index, ′ d . By applying the multidimensional scaling, three-dimensional perceptual spaces were estimated. The features related with loudness and spectral centroid had high contribution to the perceptual dimensions. Index Terms: talker discrimination, bilingual corpus, MDS, auditory model
Blood pressure by age in childhood and adolescence: a review of 129 surveys worldwide.

The pre-adult patterns of change in blood pressure with age have been investigated by review and pooled analysis of the relevant worldwide literature. The results indicate, foremost, the almost universal overall upward progression of blood pressure levels between ages 6 and 18 years, separately for systolic, fourth-phase and fifth-phase diastolic pressures (SBP, DBP4, DBP5). This report summarizes results of an extensive literature search based on 129 qualifying publications, in many languages, of which 79 yielded data adequate for a pooled age-sex-specific analysis for boys and girls aged 6-18 years. More than 200,000 observations were available for SBP and nearly 100,000 each for DBP4 and DBP5, respectively. In this overall pool, SBP increased uniformly for boys from age 6-12 and for girls from 6-9, at 1.4 mm Hg/yr; for boys the slope increased abruptly to 3.2 mm Hg/yr from 12-15 and fell to 0 at age 18; for girls the maximum increase was only 2.1 mm Hg/yr, from 9-13, and it reversed at age 16, reaching -3.4 mm Hg/yr from 17-18. Thus for SBP the absolute values for boys and girls were identical up to age nine and nearly so to age 14 and then separated, with values for girls increasing only slightly to age 16 and actually decreasing to age 18. A similar separation of age-specific values by sex occurred with DBP4, but not until age 16, after which DBP4 decreased for girls. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Molecular Evolution and Functional Divergence of the Cytochrome P450 3 (CYP3) Family in Actinopterygii (Ray-Finned Fish)

Background The cytochrome P450 (CYP) superfamily is a multifunctional hemethiolate enzyme that is widely distributed from Bacteria to Eukarya. The CYP3 family contains mainly the four subfamilies CYP3A, CYP3B, CYP3C and CYP3D in vertebrates; however, only the Actinopterygii (ray-finned fish) have all four subfamilies and detailed understanding of the evolutionary relationship of Actinopterygii CYP3 family members would be valuable. Methods and Findings Phylogenetic relationships were constructed to trace the evolutionary history of the Actinopterygii CYP3 family genes. Selection analysis, relative rate tests and functional divergence analysis were combined to interpret the relationship of the site-specific evolution and functional divergence in the Actinopterygii CYP3 family. The results showed that the four CYP3 subfamilies in Actinopterygii might be formed by gene duplication. The first gene duplication event was responsible for divergence of the CYP3B/C clusters from ancient CYP3 before the origin of the Actinopterygii, which corresponded to the fish-specific whole genome duplication (WGD). Tandem repeat duplication in each of the homologue clusters produced stable CYP3B, CYP3C, CYP3A and CYP3D subfamilies. Acceleration of asymmetric evolutionary rates and purifying selection together were the main force for the production of new subfamilies and functional divergence in the new subset after gene duplication, whereas positive selection was detected only in the retained CYP3A subfamily. Furthermore, nearly half of the functional divergence sites appear to be related to substrate recognition, which suggests that site-specific evolution is closely related with functional divergence in the Actinopterygii CYP3 family. Conclusions The split of fish-specific CYP3 subfamilies was related to the fish-specific WGD, and site-specific acceleration of asymmetric evolutionary rates and purifying selection was the main force for the origin of the new subfamilies and functional divergence in the new subset after gene duplication. Site-specific evolution in substrate recognition was related to functional divergence in the Actinopterygii CYP3 family.
Blocked All-Pairs Shortest Paths Algorithm for Hybrid CPU-GPU System

This paper presents a blocked algorithm for the all-pairs shortest paths (APSP) problem for a hybrid CPU-GPU system. In the blocked APSP algorithm, the amount of data communication between CPU (host) memory and GPU memory is minimized. When a problem size (the number of vertices in a graph) is large enough compared with a blocking factor, the blocked algorithm virtually requires CPU$\rightleftharpoons$GPU exchanging of two block matrices for a block computation on the GPU. We also estimate a required memory/communication bandwidth to utilize the GPU efficiently. On a system containing an Intel West mere CPU (Core i7 970) and an AMD Cypress GPU (Radeon HD 5870), our implementation of the blocked APSP algorithm achieves the performance up to 1 TFlop/s in single precision.
Toward a dual-learning systems model of speech category learning

More than two decades of work in vision posits the existence of dual-learning systems of category learning. The reflective system uses working memory to develop and test rules for classifying in an explicit fashion, while the reflexive system operates by implicitly associating perception with actions that lead to reinforcement. Dual-learning systems models hypothesize that in learning natural categories, learners initially use the reflective system and, with practice, transfer control to the reflexive system. The role of reflective and reflexive systems in auditory category learning and more specifically in speech category learning has not been systematically examined. In this article, we describe a neurobiologically constrained dual-learning systems theoretical framework that is currently being developed in speech category learning and review recent applications of this framework. Using behavioral and computational modeling approaches, we provide evidence that speech category learning is predominantly mediated by the reflexive learning system. In one application, we explore the effects of normal aging on non-speech and speech category learning. Prominently, we find a large age-related deficit in speech learning. The computational modeling suggests that older adults are less likely to transition from simple, reflective, unidimensional rules to more complex, reflexive, multi-dimensional rules. In a second application, we summarize a recent study examining auditory category learning in individuals with elevated depressive symptoms. We find a deficit in reflective-optimal and an enhancement in reflexive-optimal auditory category learning. Interestingly, individuals with elevated depressive symptoms also show an advantage in learning speech categories. We end with a brief summary and description of a number of future directions.
Distribución espacial y desigualdad de la renta salarial en el área metropolitana de Barcelona

Las diferencias geograficas en los niveles de ingresos son importantes para elaborar e implementar politicas en las ciudades. Con el objetivo de estimar el nivel de ingresos y analizar su distribucion espacial se presenta un metodo alternativo e innovador que enlaza estimaciones de salarios provenientes de la Encuesta de Estructura Salarial (EES) con datos del padron de habitantes (1996) y del Censo (2001) desagregados por secciones censales. Los resultados tienen un nivel de detalle espacial significativamente mejor que los disponibles. Se obtiene el valor de la Renta Salarial Media para cada una de las 2500 secciones censales de los 36 municipios pertenecientes a la AMB y para dos periodos. La Renta Salarial presenta una elevada autocorrelacion espacial positiva; zonas con niveles similares se concentran espacialmente. La desigualdad en el AMB ha aumentado en el periodo analizado. Este aumento se debe principalmente al componente intra-municipal, es decir, las diferencias en el interior de cada municipio.
Acute toxicity modeling of rainbow trout and silver sea bream exposed to waterborne metals

Of three proposed acute toxicity models, the uptake–depuration (UD) model, the time‐integrated concentration (TIC) model, and the concentration–time (CT) model are derived and verified with acute toxicity data to estimate the internal residues of waterborne metals in fish as a function of a few constants and variables. The main factors are the exposure time, the external exposure concentration, the bioconcentration factor (BCF), and the depuration rate constant (k2). The UD model is based on the concept of residue levels at the cell membrane well correlating with the whole‐body concentrations, whereas the TIC and the CT models are based on the idea of irreversible inhibition of the enzyme acetylcholinesterase (AChE) governing the metal acute toxicity in that metals in the entire fish or in the aqueous phase can be described by the critical area under the time–concentration curve that is associated with a critical TIC of toxicant in the target tissue. A highly significant correlation (r2>0.9) was found between predictions and LC50(t) data for both the TIC and the CT models, indicating successfully describe 4‐ to 18‐d LC50(t) data of arsenic (As), cobalt (Co), copper (Cu), and Co/Cu mixture in rainbow trout (Oncorhyuchus mykiss) and of Cu in fingerlings and subadults of silver sea bream (Sparus sarba). The time‐dependent lethal internal concentration at the site of action that causes 50% mortality is also predicted for a given compound and species. It concludes that the TIC and the CT models can be applied to regulate the acute toxicity and to estimate incipient LC50 values and internal residues of waterborne metals in fish. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Environ Toxicol 16: 349–360, 2001
Development and Performance of Electronic Acute Kidney Injury Triggers to Identify Pediatric Patients at Risk for Nephrotoxic Medication-associated Harm

Summary Background: Nephrotoxic medication-associated acute kidney injury (NTMx-AKI) is a costly clinical phenomenon and more common than previously recognized. Prior efforts to use technology to identify AKI have focused on detection after renal injury has occurred. Objectives: Describe an approach and provide a technical framework for the creation of risk-stratifying AKI triggers and the development of an application to manage the AKI trigger data. Report the performance characteristics of those triggers and the refinement process and on the challenges of implementation. Methods: Initial manual trigger screening guided design of an automated electronic trigger report. A web-based application was designed to alleviate inefficiency and serve as a user interface and central workspace for the project. Performance of the NTMx exposure trigger reports from September 2011 to September 2013 were evaluated using sensitivity (SN), specificity (SP), positive and negative predictive values (PPV, NPV). Results: Automated reports were created to replace manual screening for NTMx-AKI. The initial performance of the NTMx exposure triggers for SN, SP, PPV, and NPV all were 0.78, and increased over the study, with all four measures reaching 0.95 consistently. A web-based application was implemented that simplifies data entry and couriering from the reports, expedites results viewing, and interfaces with an automated data visualization tool. Sociotechnical challenges were logged and reported. Conclusion: We have built a risk-stratifying system based on electronic triggers that detects patients at-risk for NTMx-AKI before injury occurs. The performance of the NTMx-exposed reports has neared 100% through iterative optimization. The complexity of the trigger logic and clinical work-flows surrounding NTMx-AKI led to a challenging implementation, but one that has been successful from technical, clinical, and quality improvement standpoints. This report summarizes the construction of a trigger-based application, the performance of the triggers, and the challenges uncovered during the design, build, and implementation of the system. Citation: Kirkendall ES, Spires WL, Mottes TA, Schaffzin JK, Barclay C, Goldstein SL. Development and performance of electronic acute kidney injury triggers to identify pediatric patients at risk for nephrotoxic medication-associated harm. Appl Clin Inf 2014; 5: 313–333 http://dx.doi. org/10.4338/ACI-2013-12-RA-0102
Modelling the growth of parasitic plants

1. Hemiparasitic plants, such as Rhinanthus species, have substantial effects on community composition and biomass. For example, the presence of parasites often increases diversity but reduces the combined biomass of hosts and parasites by c. 25% compared with unparasitized controls. We present and test a simple model of the host–parasite interaction in which parasite growth rate is a function of host growth rate that offers a new explanation for why hemiparasitic plants reduce ecosystem productivity.
3DCLIMBER: A climbing robot for inspection of 3D human made structures

3DCLIMBER is a running project in the University of Coimbra for developing a climbing robot with the capability of manipulating over 3D human-made structures. This paper mainly discuss the conceptual and detailed design and development of a Pole Climbing robot with minimum degrees of freedom which can climb over 3D structures with bends and branches followed by Preliminary test results of the robot performance. Electronics architecture and control algorithms are briefly described. The paper finishes with discussion of the current results and identifies some future works.
Fuzzy-Logic Congestion Control of Transcoded Video Streaming Without Packet Loss Feedback

Congestion control of a variable bit-rate video stream crossing the Internet is crucial to ensuring the quality of the received video. When a fuzzy-logic congestion controller (FLC) changes the sending rate of a video transcoder, it does so without feedback of packet loss, using packet dispersion instead. Compared with the well-known TFRC and RAP controllers, the FLC's sending rate is significantly smoother, allowing it to more closely take up available bandwidth at a bottleneck link. There is an accompanying order of magnitude reduction in packet losses. Due to better utilization of the available bandwidth, video quality is improved over time by several decibels in low-packet-loss conditions. The strength of the FLC solution is demonstrated by the resulting video quality when typical Web traffic forms the background traffic. The FLC avoids any risk of congestion collapse through fairness to coexisting TCP flows and is robust to changes in path delay and router buffer configuration.
High resolution spatio-temporal analysis by an active array

We present in this paper a high resolution method for the joint estimation of directions of arrival (DOA) and travel time (TT). This algorithm applies to an active antenna for which the transmitted signal of some sources is known. We show how to take into account the a priori information about the signal in MUSIC. The method is presented and a non asymptotic statistical performance analysis using perturbation expansions is applied. The major result, is a formula for mean-squared error of the DOA and TT estimations. Simulation results verify the analytically predicted performance.