Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Effects of Using Games on English Vocabulary Learning

One of the difficult parts of learning the target language for English language learners is the acquisition of vocabulary. Using educational games for teaching vocabulary has been very popular for several decades. Therefore, the present paper has reviewed the effects of using games on improving vocabulary learning in an English as foreign language or English as second language context. Different studies revealed that games are beneficial in vocabulary learning because they enhance students’ ability to memorize words, encourage student’s interaction, improve their communicative skills and enhance students’ motivation. Games also can help the teachers to create contexts in which the language is useful and meaningful. This study aimed to guide teachers and students towards a better understanding of vocabularies through educational games. This paper suggested game-based learning activities and techniques in the classroom. Hoping that educational games attract more attention and be applied in the classroom in order to learn and teach new vocabulary more effectively.
Physician Perceptions About Generic Drugs

Background With constrained health-care resources, there is a need to understand barriers to cost-effective medication use. Objective To study physician perceptions about generic medications. Methods Physicians used 5-point Likert scales to report perceptions about cost-related medication nonadherence, the efficacy and quality of generic medications, preferences for generic use, and the implications of dispensing medication samples. Descriptive statistics were used to assess physician perceptions and logistic regression models were used to evaluate predictors of physician perceptions. Results: Among the invited sample. 839 (30.4%) responded and 506 (18.3%) were eligible and included in the final study population. Over 23% of physicians surveyed expressed negative perceptions about efficacy of generic drugs, almost 50% reported negative perceptions about quality of generic medications, and more than one quarter do not prefer to use generics as first-line medications for themselves or for their family. Physicians over the age of 55 years were 3.3 times more likely to report negative perceptions about generic quality, 5.8 times more likely to report that they would not use generics themselves, and 7.5 times more likely to state that they would not recommend generics for family members (p < 0.05 for all). Physicians reported that pharmaceutical company representatives are the most common (75%) source of information about market entry of a generic medication. Almost half of the respondents expressed concern that free samples may adversely affect subsequent affordability, yet two thirds of respondents provide free samples. Conclusions: A meaningful proportion of physicians expressed negative perceptions about generic medications, representing a potential barrier to generic use. Payors and policymakers trying to encourage generic use may consider educational campaigns targeting older physicians.
The Relation between Price and Performance in the Mutual Fund Industry

Gruber (1996) drew attention to the puzzle that investors buy actively managed equity mutual funds, even though on average such funds underperform index funds. We uncover another puzzling fact about the market for equity mutual funds: Funds with worse before-fee performance charge higher fees. This negative relation between fees and performance is robust and can be explained as the outcome of strategic fee-setting by mutual funds in the presence of investors with different degrees of sensitivity to performance. We also find some evidence that better fund governance may bring fees more in line with performance. Copyright (c) 2009 the American Finance Association.
Distributed mean shift clustering with approximate nearest neighbours

We introduce an efficient distributed implementation of nearest neighbour mean shift clustering (NNMS). The computationally intensive nature of NNMS has so far restricted its application to complex data sets where a flexible clustering with non-ellipsoidal clusters would be beneficial. A parallel implementation of the standard serial NNMS algorithm on its own brings insufficient performance gains so we introduce two further algorithmic improvements: a normal scale (NS) choice of the optimal number of nearest neighbours, and locality sensitive hashing (LSH) to approximate nearest neighbour searches. Combining these improvements into a single distributed algorithm DNNMS offers the potential for an efficient method for Big Data Clustering.
Quantum Plasmonics

Quantum plasmonics is an exciting subbranch of nanoplasmonics where the laws of quantum theory are used to describe light-matter interactions on the nanoscale. Plasmonic materials allow extreme subdiffraction confinement of (quantum or classical) light to regions so small that the quantization of both light and matter may be necessary for an accurate description. State-of-the-art experiments now allow us to probe these regimes and push existing theories to the limits which opens up the possibilities of exploring the nature of many-body collective oscillations as well as developing new plasmonic devices, which use the particle quality of light and the wave quality of matter, and have a wealth of potential applications in sensing, lasing, and quantum computing. This merging of fundamental condensed matter theory with application-rich electromagnetism (and a splash of quantum optics thrown in) gives rise to a fascinating area of modern physics that is still very much in its infancy. In this review, we discuss and compare the key models and experiments used to explore how the quantum nature of electrons impacts plasmonics in the context of quantum size corrections of localized plasmons and quantum tunneling between nanoparticle dimers. We also look at some of the remarkable experiments that are revealing the quantum nature of surface plasmon polaritons.
Maternal self‐efficacy beliefs, competence in parenting, and toddlers' behavior and developmental status

This study was designed to examine parenting self-efficacy beliefs as correlates of mothers' competence in parenting toddlers and as predictors of toddlers' behavior and development. Sixty-eight predominantly middle-class mother–toddler pairs participated in this study. Mothers completed questionnaires, toddlers were administered the Bayley Scales of Infant Development (BSID-II), and each dyad participated in the Crowell Procedure, which is designed to observe parent and toddler behaviors in a semistructured laboratory context. Although domain-general and domain-specific parenting self-efficacy beliefs were not associated with parenting competence, domain-specific beliefs were significantly related to toddlers' scores on the Mental Scale of the BSID-II and several behaviors observed during the Crowell Procedure (Affection Towards Mother, Avoidance of Mother, Compliance, Enthusiasm, and Negativity). Implications of the findings are discussed. ©2003 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health.
Biologically inspired adaptive walking of a quadruped robot

We describe here the efforts to induce a quadruped robot to walk with medium-walking speed on irregular terrain based on biological concepts. We propose the necessary conditions for stable dynamic walking on irregular terrain in general, and we design the mechanical and the neural systems by comparing biological concepts with those necessary conditions described in physical terms. PD-controller at joints constructs the virtual spring–damper system as the viscoelasticity model of a muscle. The neural system model consists of a central pattern generator (CPG), reflexes and responses. We validate the effectiveness of the proposed neural system model control using the quadruped robots called ‘Tekken1&2’. MPEG footage of experiments can be seen at http://www.kimura. is.uec. ac.jp.
Congestive Heart Failure Alters Receptor‐Dependent cAMP‐Mediated Relaxation of Canine Pulmonary Arteries

BackgroundAlterations in myocardial function and systemic vascular tone are well documented in congestive heart failure (CHF), but little information is available on the effects of CHF on pulmonary vessels. We examined the mechanisms of tone regulation of canine pulmonary arteries during pacing-induced CHF. Methods and ResultsRings 3-4 mm wide from lobar pulmonary arteries were prepared from normal dogs, dogs paced at 210 beats per minute for 3 weeks (paced group, nonfailure), and dogs also paced at 240 beats per minute during the fourth week to induce severe heart failure (CHF group). Contractile responses to 60 mmol/L KCI and phenylephrine and relaxation responses to acetylcholine, bradykinin (endotheliumdependent cyclic GMP [cGMP]-mediated), isoproterenol, arachidonic acid, prostacyclin (receptor-dependent cyclic AMP [cAMP] -mediated), forskolin (direct stimulator of adenylate cyclase), a forskolin analogue (devoid of adenylate cyclase-dependent activity), and RO 20-1724 (phosphodiesterase inhibitor) were characterized. The paced group did not show alterations in vascular reactivity. Contractile response to phenylephrine and cGMP-mediated relaxation responses were not altered in the CHF group; however, receptor-mediated cAMP-induced relaxation responses were significantly inhibited (p<0.05). Relaxation responses to isoproterenol (10-6 mol/L), arachidonic acid (10-5 mol/L), and prostacyclin (10-5 mol/L) were reduced by 56%o, 72%, and 74%, respectively. The relaxation response to RO 20-1724 was not affected by CHF, and this probe did not enhance the impaired relaxation response to isoproterenol. Forskolin-induced relaxation was not altered, and the forskolin analogue produced minimal relaxation compared with forskolin. ConclusionsThese findings suggest that in pacing-induced CHF, canine pulmonary arteries show a selective defect in receptor coupling to cAMP-dependent relaxation mechanisms. There is no evidence of enhanced degradation of cAMP.
Murine CD14 gene expression in vivo: extramyeloid synthesis and regulation by lipopolysaccharide

A murine model system was used to study the distribution and regulation of CD14 gene expression in vivo. Western blot analysis failed to detect CD14 in plasma from untreated CB6 (BALB/c x C57Bl6) mice, but showed markedly increased levels of CD14 in plasma from mice treated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Plasma levels of CD14 increased in a time- and dose-dependent manner, reaching a maximum between 8 and 16 h. Northern blot analysis of total RNA extracted from mouse tissues revealed low, but significant, levels of CD14 mRNA in many tissues of untreated animals with the highest levels in uterus, adipose tissue, and lung. After intraperitoneal injection of LPS, induction of CD14 gene expression was detected in all organs examined with the extent of induction varying between organs. Induction of CD14 mRNA was both time and dose dependent. Maximum induction in the heart and lung was observed 2-4 h after injection of LPS, while liver and kidney showed maximal induction between 8 and 16 h. In situ hybridization showed that CD14 mRNA was expressed in myeloid cells in many tissues, and that expression in these cells was upregulated by LPS. Unexpectedly, CD14 mRNA was also detected in other cells within tissues, including epithelial cells, and expression in these cell types also was upregulated by LPS. Immunochemical analysis revealed that CD14 antigen colocalized to the cytoplasm of cells expressing CD14 mRNA. These studies demonstrate that CD14 gene expression is not restricted to myeloid cells, and that the level of expression of CD14 is influenced by exposure to LPS.
Can training extend current guidelines for cochlear implant candidacy?

Since their introduction in the 1960s, cochlear implants (CIs) have undergone several transformations, ultimately positioning themselves as the best-performing neural prosthesis available today. They have also been recognized as a unique tool for studying the potential protective effects of patterned electrical stimulation on the developing auditory system, with results from animal models often changing the manner in which CIs are used clinically to deliver auditory information to the brain (Moore and Shannon, 2009). From the development of the first successful commercial single-channel device, they have evolved into multi-channel devices that are part of the national health programmes of several countries. From the limited speech information provided by the early, rudimentary cochlear implants, these devices are now in a position to deliver intelligible speech information to the auditory system, largely due to advances in signal processing. Concerted efforts from several disciplines, including engineering, acoustics, neurobiology and otolaryngology have ensured that the continued development of CI technology has resulted in significant benefits to individuals with profound sensorineural hearing loss.
Molecular characterization of two human autoantigens: unique cDNAs encoding 95- and 160-kD proteins of a putative family in the Golgi complex

Serum autoantibodies from a patient with autoantibodies directed against the Golgi complex were used to screen clones from a HepG2 lambda Zap cDNA library. Three related clones, designated SY2, SY10, and SY11, encoding two distinct polypeptides were purified for further analysis. Antibodies affinity purified by adsorption to the lambda Zap- cloned recombinant proteins and antibodies from NZW rabbits immunized with purified recombinant proteins reproduced Golgi staining and bound two different proteins, 95 and 160 kD, from whole cell extracts. The SY11 protein was provisionally named golgin-95 and the SY2/SY10 protein was named golgin-160. The deduced amino acid sequence of the cDNA clone of SY2 and SY11 represented 58.7- and 70-kD proteins of 568 and 620 amino acids. The in vitro translation products of SY2 and SY11 cDNAs migrated in SDS-PAGE at 65 and 95 kD, respectively. The in vitro translated proteins were immunoprecipitated by human anti-Golgi serum or immune rabbit serum, but not by normal human serum or preimmune rabbit serum. Features of the cDNA suggested that SY11 was a full- length clone encoding golgin-95 but SY2 and SY10 together encoded a partial sequence of golgin-160. Analysis of the SY11 recombinant protein identified a leucine zipper spanning positions 419-455, a glutamic acid-rich tract spanning positions 322-333, and a proline-rich tract spanning positions 67-73. A search of the SwissProt data bank indicated sequence similarity of SY11 to human restin, the heavy chain of kinesin, and the heavy chain of myosin. SY2 shared sequence similarity with the heavy chain of myosin, the USO1 transport protein from yeast, and the 150-kD cytoplasmic dynein-associated polypeptide. Sequence analysis demonstrated that golgin-95 and golgin-160 share 43% sequence similarity and, therefore, may be functionally related proteins.
Krylov acceleration for parallelenvironments ?

This paper considers a few variants of Krylov subspace techniques for solving linear systems on parallel computers. The goal of these variants is to avoid global dot-products which hamper parallelism in this class of methods. They are based on replacing the standard Euclidean inner product with a discrete inner product over polynomials. The set of knots for the discrete inner product is obtained by estimating eigenvalues of the coeecient matrix.
Unfolding accessibility provides a macroscopic approach to temporal networks

An accessibility graph of a network contains a link wherever there is a path of arbitrary length between two nodes. We generalize the concept of accessibility to temporal networks. Building an accessibility graph by consecutively adding paths of growing length (unfolding), we obtain information about the distribution of shortest path durations and characteristic time scales in temporal networks. Moreover, we define causal fidelity to measure the goodness of their static representation. The practicability of our proposed methods is demonstrated for three examples: networks of social contacts, livestock trade, and sexual contacts.
Development of the social brain in adolescence

The brain has evolved to understand and interact with other people. We are increasingly learning more about the neurophysiological basis of social cognition and what is known as the social brain, that is the network of brain regions involved in understanding others. This paper focuses on how the social brain develops during adolescence. Adolescence is a time characterized by change – hormonally, physically, psychologically and socially. Yet until recently this period of life was neglected by cognitive neuroscience. In the past decade, research has shown that the brain develops both structurally and functionally during adolescence. Large-scale structural MRI studies have demonstrated development during adolescence in white matter and grey matter volumes in regions within the social brain. Activity in some of these regions, as measured using fMRI, also shows changes between adolescence and adulthood during social cognition tasks. I will also present evidence that theory of mind usage is still developing late in adolescence. Finally, I will speculate on potential implications of this research for society.
Motivation des parents à participer au suivi scolaire de leur enfant au primaire

Cette etude vise a verifier le premier niveau du modele de Hoover-Dempsey et Sandler (1995, 1997) sur le processus de participation parentale. Les auteurs postulent que les parents decident de participer au suivi scolaire de l’enfant en fonction de la comprehension qu’ils ont de leur role parental, de leur sentiment de competence et des invitations a participer de la part des enseignants. L’echantillon est compose de 1 227 parents d’eleves de la 1re a la 6e annee du primaire et frequentant sept ecoles primaires de la region de la Mauricie Centre-du-Quebec. Les analyses ont permis d’identifier deux modeles de la participation parentale, a domicile et a l’ecole. Quelles que soient les caracteristiques individuelles et familiales, le sentiment de competence parentale relie a l’impact des efforts du parent sur les resultats scolaires et les apprentissages de l’enfant constitue le meilleur predicteur de la participation parentale a domicile. La participation parentale a l’ecole est predite principalement par la variable correspondant aux invitations a participer de la part des enseignants, suivie par la comprehension du role parental.
Herpes Simplex Virus 1-Encoded Tegument Protein VP16 Abrogates the Production of Beta Interferon (IFN) by Inhibiting NF-κB Activation and Blocking IFN Regulatory Factor 3 To Recruit Its Coactivator CBP

ABSTRACT Host cells activate innate immune signaling pathways to defend against invading pathogens. To survive within an infected host, viruses have evolved intricate strategies to counteract host immune responses. Herpesviruses, including herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1), have large genomes and therefore have the capacity to encode numerous proteins that modulate host innate immune responses. Here we define the contribution of HSV-1 tegument protein VP16 in the inhibition of beta interferon (IFN-β) production. VP16 was demonstrated to significantly inhibit Sendai virus (SeV)-induced IFN-β production, and its transcriptional activation domain was not responsible for this inhibition activity. Additionally, VP16 blocked the activation of the NF-κB promoter induced by SeV or tumor necrosis factor alpha treatment and expression of NF-κB-dependent genes through interaction with p65. Coexpression analysis revealed that VP16 selectively blocked IFN regulatory factor 3 (IRF-3)-mediated but not IRF-7-mediated transactivation. VP16 was able to bind to IRF-3 but not IRF-7 in vivo, based on coimmunoprecipitation analysis, but it did not affect IRF-3 dimerization, nuclear translocation, or DNA binding activity. Rather, VP16 interacted with the CREB binding protein (CBP) coactivator and efficiently inhibited the formation of the transcriptional complexes IRF-3–CBP in the context of HSV-1 infection. These results illustrate that VP16 is able to block the production of IFN-β by inhibiting NF-κB activation and interfering with IRF-3 to recruit its coactivator CBP, which may be important to the early events leading to HSV-1 infection.
Familial SLE: sustained drug-free remission in a mother successfully treated for anal cancer, but development of SLE in a 16-year old daughter

The immunopathogenesis of systemic lupus erythematosus has been thoroughly investigated recently, and genome-wide association studies have identified genes statistically associated with lupus. However, the progression to overt disease is dependent on the activation of environmental factors (‘triggers’), among which oestrogen stimulation is prominent. Here we report the case of a mother with long-standing SLE entering into long term drug-free remission following intensive, menopause-inducing chemoradiotherapy for cancer, and the opposite case of her daughter, who developed SLE following the initiation of her menstrual cycle.
Linguistic intergroup bias: Evidence for in-group-protective motivation.

Linguistic intergroup bias (LIB) is the tendency to describe positive in-group and negative out-group behaviors more abstractly than negative in-group and positive out-group behaviors. Two experiments investigated the role of in-group-protective motives, by varying threat to ingroup identity of hunters vs. environmentalists (Experiment 1, N = 160) and northern vs. southern Italians (Experiment 2, N = 212). Participants whose in-group had or had not been threatened described positive and negative behaviors of in-group and out-group protagonists. In both experiments, the LIB was greater under identity threat. Experiment 1 also showed that LIB was positively related to postexperimental but not to preexperimental individual and collective self-esteem. Results suggest that the magnitude of LIB depends on in-group-protective motivation and that in-group-favoring language may be functional to self-esteem maintenance. Recently, there has been increasing interest in the role that language may play in the transmission and maintenance of positive in-group perceptions and negative out-group perceptions (Graumann & Wintermantel, 1989; Hamilton, Gibbons, Stroessner, & Sherman, 1992; Maass & Arcuri, 1992; Maass, Salvi, Arcuri, & Semin, 1989). In particular, the linguistic intergroup bias (LIB) model developed by Maass et al. (1989) identifies a systematic bias in language use that may contribute in a subtle way to the maintenance of stereotypes. The main prediction states that positive behaviors are described in more