Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cognitive representation of colour in bilinguals: The case of Greek blues*

A number of recent studies demonstrate that bilinguals with languages that differ in grammatical and lexical categories may shift their cognitive representation of those categories towards that of monolingual speakers of their second language. The current paper extended that investigation to the domain of colour in Greek–English bilinguals with different levels of bilingualism, and English monolinguals. Greek differentiates the blue region of colour space into a darker shade called ble and a lighter shade called ghalazio. Results showed a semantic shift of category prototypes with level of bilingualism and acculturation, while the way bilinguals judged the perceptual similarity between within- and cross-category stimulus pairs depended strongly on the availability of the relevant colour terms in semantic memory, and the amount of time spent in the L2-speaking country. These results suggest that cognition is tightly linked to semantic memory for specific linguistic categories, and to cultural immersion in the L2-speaking country.
Optimal Growth Models with Bounded or Unbounded Returns: A Unifying Approach

In this paper we propose a unifying approach to study optimal growth models with bounded or unbounded returns (above/below). We prove existence of optimal solutions. We prove also, without using contraction method, that the Value function is the unique solution to the Bellman equation in some classes of functions. The value function can be obtained by the usual algorithm defined by the operator provided by the Bellman equation. The well-known results, and those in Alvarez and Stokey (1998) can be obtained from this paper.
End-to-end annealing of microtubules in vitro

Mixtures of pre-formed microtubules, polymerized from chicken erythrocyte and brain tubulin, rapidly anneal end-to-end in vitro in standard microtubule assembly buffer. The erythrocyte tubulin segments in annealed heteropolymers can be distinguished by an immunoelectron microscopic assay that uses an antibody specific for chicken erythrocyte beta-tubulin. An annealing process is consistent with the following observations: (a) Microtubule number decreases while the polymer mass remains constant. (b) As the total number of microtubules declines, the number of heteropolymers, and the number of segments contained in each heteropolymer, increases. (c) The size of the segments determined after annealing and antibody labeling is the same as the original microtubule polymers. (d) Points of discontinuity in the annealing heteropolymers can be observed directly by electron microscopy, and correspond to type-specific polymer domains. The junctions probably represent initial contact points during the annealing process. Microtubule annealing occurs rapidly in vitro and may be significant for determining properties of microtubule dynamics in vivo.
Consensus Statements on Driving for Persons with Dementia

ABSTRACT The presence of dementia can have a profound effect on a person's capacity for driving, and will lead to eventual cessation of driving and reliance on alternative transportation options. This paper offers evidence and discussion that affirm eight consensus statements related to drivers with dementia and the impact of dementia on the driving task. These statements offer guidance for occupational therapy practitioners when addressing driving and community mobility, a valued instrumental task of daily living.
FAST TRACK: A randomized study of antiretroviral management based on plasma genotypic antiretroviral resistance testing in patients failing therapy

A randomized study of antiretroviral management based on plasma genotypic antiretroviral resistance testing in patients failing therapy John D. Baxter, Douglas L. Mayers, Deborah N. Wentworth, James D. Neaton, Marie L. Hoover, Mark A. Winters, Sharon B. Mannheimer, Melanie A. Thompson, Donald I. Abrams, Barbara J. Brizz, John P.A. Ioannidis, Thomas C. Merigan and the CPCRA 046 Study Team for the Terry Beirn Community Programs for Clinical Research on AIDS (CPCRA)
A multilevel network study of the effects of delinquent behavior on friendship evolution

A multilevel approach is proposed to the study of the evolution of multiple networks. In this approach, the basic evolution process is assumed to be the same, while parameter values may differ between different networks. For the network evolution process, stochastic actor-oriented models are used, of which the parameters are estimated by Markov chain Monte Carlo methods. This is applied to the study of effects of delinquent behavior on friendship formation, a question of long standing in criminology. The evolution of friendship is studied empirically in 19 school classes. It is concluded that there is evidence for an effect of similarity in delinquent behavior on friendship evolution. Similarity of the degree of delinquent behavior has a positive effect on tie formation but also on tie dissolution. The last result seems to contradict current criminological theories, and deserves further study.
Exceptional Convergence on the Macroevolutionary Landscape in Island Lizard Radiations

Playing the Tape of Life Should the tape of life be replayed, would it produce the same music? Many influential evolutionary biologists, notably Stephen J. Gould, have argued that the answer is “no.” However, patterns of convergence among different species filling similar niches all over the world have argued that the answer is neither so simple nor perhaps so negative. Classic cases of convergence, such as marsupials on the Australian continent or cichlids across the African rift lakes, have demonstrated that similar ecological pressures can result in species with similar ecological traits. Such classic examples, however, do not allow for the influence of niche filling based purely on chance. Mahler et al. (p. 292) take advantage of the well-studied species clades of Caribbean anoles to examine patterns of adaptation and niche filling across species and islands. Across-islands convergence on a few distinct adaptive peaks (or niches) has driven diversification of species. Anomalies from these ecotypes are only found on the largest, most diverse islands. Thus, ecological niches powerfully shape species and convergence on particular forms is an inherent component of adaptation. Thus, it seems that the tape of life might play the same music, despite being produced by different instruments. A comparative study describes morphological evolution across the entire Greater Antillean anole lizard fauna. G. G. Simpson, one of the chief architects of evolutionary biology’s modern synthesis, proposed that diversification occurs on a macroevolutionary adaptive landscape, but landscape models are seldom used to study adaptive divergence in large radiations. We show that for Caribbean Anolis lizards, diversification on similar Simpsonian landscapes leads to striking convergence of entire faunas on four islands. Parallel radiations unfolding at large temporal scales shed light on the process of adaptive diversification, indicating that the adaptive landscape may give rise to predictable evolutionary patterns in nature, that adaptive peaks may be stable over macroevolutionary time, and that available geographic area influences the ability of lineages to discover new adaptive peaks.
The Indian Diaspora in Transnational Context: Social Relations and Cultural Identities of Immigrants to New York City

This paper applies the emerging construct of transnationalism to a detailed exploration of cultural identity and social relationships in the life stories of Indian immigrants to New York City (NYC). NYC is home to one of the most rapidly growing Indian diaspora communities in the USA. The participants’ social relations with family, peers and ethnic community were explored through individual interviews. Their pre-immigration expectations of life in the USA and their actual post-immigration experiences were compared and contrasted. The study found that India's hierarchal social class system was present in NYC's diaspora community, despite the widespread stereotype in the USA of its Asian Indian population as uniformly composed of affluent professionals. The participants articulated and stressed a difference between two types of identity, that is, their personal identity as Indian and as members of the Indian diaspora community in NYC. The implications for ethnic and cultural identity issues among US-born Indian Americans (“American-born desis”) in the transnational contexts of their lives are presented.
Hypnotic behavior: A social-psychological interpretation of amnesia, analgesia, and “trance logic”

Abstract This paper examines research on three hypnotic phenomena: suggested amnesia, suggested analgesia, and “trance logic. ” For each case a social-psychological interpretation of hypnotic behavior as a voluntary response strategy is compared with the traditional special-process view that “good” hypnotic subjects have lost conscious control over suggestion-induced behavior. I conclude that it is inaccurate to describe hypnotically amnesic subjects as unable to recall the material they have been instructed to forget. Although amnesics present themselves as unable to remember, they in fact retain control over retrieval processes and accommodate their recall (or lack of it) to the social demands of the test situation. Hypnotic suggestions of analgesia do not produce a dissociation of pain from phenomenal awareness. Nonhypnotic suggestions of analgesia and distractor tasks that deflect attention from the'noxious stimuli are as effective as hypnotic suggestions in producing reductions in reported pain. Moreover, when appropriately motivated, subjects low in hypnotic suggestibility report pain reductions as large as those reported by highly suggestible hypnotically analgesic subjects. Finally, the data fail to support the view that a tolerance for logical incongruity (i.e., trance logic) uniquely characterizes hypnotic responding. So-called trance-logic-governed responding appears to reflect the attempts of “good” subjects to meet implicit demands to report accurately what they experience.
Magnetic field structure of permanent magnet linear synchronous motor for reduction of thrust ripple

It is difficult to apply the thrust ripple reduction method to a 4-pole 3-slot permanent magnet linear synchronous motor (PMLSM). This paper describes about a new method of the thrust ripple reduction by using the magnet and the ferromagnetic block affixed to its airgap surface divided into five parts. The validity of the five division method is proved by comparing with the results when the movable member is subjected to the normal type skew and the fletching type skew known as thrust ripple reduction method.
Spontaneous Innovation for Future Deception in a Male Chimpanzee

Background The ability to invent means to deceive others, where the deception lies in the perceptually or contextually detached future, appears to require the coordination of sophisticated cognitive skills toward a single goal. Meanwhile innovation for a current situation has been observed in a wide range of species. Planning, on the one hand, and the social cognition required for deception on the other, have been linked to one another, both from a co-evolutionary and a neuroanatomical perspective. Innovation and deception have also been suggested to be connected in their nature of relying on novelty. Methodology/Principal Findings We report on systematic observations suggesting innovation for future deception by a captive male chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes). As an extension of previously described behaviour – caching projectiles for later throwing at zoo visitors – the chimpanzee, again in advance, manufactured concealments from hay, as well as used naturally occurring concealments. All were placed near the visitors' observation area, allowing the chimpanzee to make throws before the crowd could back off. We observed what was likely the first instance of this innovation. Further observations showed that the creation of future-oriented concealments became the significantly preferred strategy. What is more, the chimpanzee appeared consistently to combine two deceptive strategies: hiding projectiles and inhibiting dominance display behaviour. Conclusions/Significance The findings suggest that chimpanzees can represent the future behaviours of others while those others are not present, as well as take actions in the current situation towards such potential future behaviours. Importantly, the behaviour of the chimpanzee produced a future event, rather than merely prepared for an event that had been reliably re-occurring in the past. These findings might indicate that the chimpanzee recombined episodic memories in perceptual simulations.
All your location are belong to us: breaking mobile social networks for automated user location tracking

Location-based social networks (LBSNs) feature friend discovery by location proximity that has attracted hundreds of millions of users world-wide. While leading LBSN providers claim the well-protection of their users' location privacy, for the first time we show through real world attacks that these claims do not hold. In our identified attacks, a malicious individual with the capability of no more than a regular LBSN user can easily break most LBSNs by manipulating location information fed to LBSN client apps and running them as location oracles. We further develop an automated user location tracking system and test it on leading LBSNs including Wechat, Skout, and Momo. We demonstrate its effectiveness and efficiency via a 3 week real-world experiment on 30 volunteers and show that we could geo-locate any target with high accuracy and readily recover his/her top 5 locations. Finally, we also develop a framework that explores a grid reference system and location classifications to mitigate the attacks. Our result serves as a critical security reminder of the current LBSNs pertaining to a vast number of users.
Characterization of Wet and Dry DepositionAt An Industrial City Of Western India

Atmospheric samples of wet and dry depositions were collected on seasonal variation basis at various sampling sites situated in five different zones from an industrial city Kota, India during 2012-2013. The analytical results show seasonal and spatial variation in metal concentration (crustal and anthropogenic) during monitoring months. Average concentrations of heavy metals (Cu, Cd, Zn and Pb) were higher in winter and lower in summer and reversed trend was observed in crustal metals (Fe, Ca and Mg). Overall, heavy metal concentrations showed the following trend - Zn > Pb > Cu > Cd in both wet and dry depositions. Analysis of enrichment factor of heavy metals showed moderately enriched Cu, Cd, Zn, and Pb. The study clearly indicates that wet and dry depositions varied as function of sampling sites, seasons and distance from coal based thermal power plant.
Viral and Atypical Bacterial Etiology of Acute Respiratory Infections in Children under 5 Years Old Living in a Rural Tropical Area of Madagascar

Background In Madagascar, very little is known about the etiology and prevalence of acute respiratory infections (ARIs) in a rural tropical area. Recent data are needed to determine the viral and atypical bacterial etiologies in children with defined clinical manifestations of ARIs. Methods During one year, we conducted a prospective study on ARIs in children between 2 to 59 months in the community hospital of Ampasimanjeva, located in the south-east of Madagascar. Respiratory samples were analyzed by multiplex real-time RT-PCR, including 18 viruses and 2 atypical bacteria. The various episodes of ARI were grouped into four clinical manifestations with well-documented diagnosis: “Community Acquired Pneumonia”(CAP, group I), “Other acute lower respiratory infections (Other ALRIs, group II)”, “Upper respiratory tract infections with cough (URTIs with cough, group III)”and “Upper respiratory tract infections without cough (URTIs without cough, group IV)”. Results 295 children were included in the study between February 2010 and February 2011. Viruses and/or atypical bacteria respiratory pathogens were detected in 74.6% of samples, the rate of co-infection was 27.3%. Human rhinovirus (HRV; 20.5%), metapneumovirus (HMPV A/B, 13.8%), coronaviruses (HCoV, 12.5%), parainfluenza virus (HPIV, 11.8%) and respiratory syncytial virus A and B (RSV A/B, 11.8%) were the most detected. HRV was predominantly single detected (23.8%) in all the clinical groups while HMPV A/B (23.9%) was mainly related to CAP (group I), HPIV (17.3%) to the “Other ALRIs” (group II), RSV A/B (19.5%) predominated in the group “URTIs with cough” (group III) and Adenovirus (HAdV, 17.8%) was mainly detected in the “without cough” (group IV). Interpretation This study describes for the first time the etiology of respiratory infections in febrile children under 5 years in a malaria rural area of Madagascar and highlights the role of respiratory viruses in a well clinically defined population of ARIs.
Measuring Attitudes toward Adult Sibling Relationships: The Lifespan Sibling Relationship Scale

Based on research noting the importance of sibling relation-ships throughout the lifespan and grounded in basic research on attitudes structure, a self-report instrument called the Lifespan Sibling Relationship Scale (LSRS) was developed. The current study examined the psychometric properties of the LSRS. A sample of 711 participants completed the LSRS, which measures three dimensions of the sibling relationship in childhood and adulthood: frequency and positivity of behavior toward the sibling, affect toward the sibling, and beliefs about the sibling and the sibling relationship. Results suggested that the LSRS possesses good psychometric properties, including high internal consistency of all six subscales and the total instrument, as well as evidence supporting a coherent factor structure and stability of responses over time. Significant correlations with social support, overall relation-ship satisfaction, closeness of the sibling relationship, the degree to which the sibling served as a role model, and a measure of various sibling relationship qualities supported the construct validity of the LSRS. Lack of correlations between the LSRS, social desirability, and theoretically unrelated scales demonstrated discriminant validity. Correlations with personality traits and psychological well-being indicated that satisfactory sibling relationships were associated with emotional adjustment. The utility of the LSRS for use in future research is discussed.
Community assembly of a euryhaline fish microbiome during salinity acclimation

Microbiomes play a critical role in promoting a range of host functions. Microbiome function, in turn, is dependent on its community composition. Yet, how microbiome taxa are assembled from their regional species pool remains unclear. Many possible drivers have been hypothesized, including deterministic processes of competition, stochastic processes of colonization and migration, and physiological ‘host‐effect’ habitat filters. The contribution of each to assembly in nascent or perturbed microbiomes is important for understanding host–microbe interactions and host health. In this study, we characterized the bacterial communities in a euryhaline fish and the surrounding tank water during salinity acclimation. To assess the relative influence of stochastic versus deterministic processes in fish microbiome assembly, we manipulated the bacterial species pool around each fish by changing the salinity of aquarium water. Our results show a complete and repeatable turnover of dominant bacterial taxa in the microbiomes from individuals of the same species after acclimation to the same salinity. We show that changes in fish microbiomes are not correlated with corresponding changes to abundant taxa in tank water communities and that the dominant taxa in fish microbiomes are rare in the aquatic surroundings, and vice versa. Our results suggest that bacterial taxa best able to compete within the unique host environment at a given salinity appropriate the most niche space, independent of their relative abundance in tank water communities. In this experiment, deterministic processes appear to drive fish microbiome assembly, with little evidence for stochastic colonization.
Beta Cell Function in Long Term NIDDM (Type 2) Patients and its Relation to Treatment

Pancreatic beta cell function was assessed by estimation of fasting and post prandial plasma C-peptide in 183 non-insulin dependent diabetic patients, who were treated with oral hypoglycaemic drugs, for more than 10 years. One-hundred-and-forty-one patients, continued to respond to oral hypoglycaemic agents (Group I) and in 42 the control was not satisfactory and had to be changed over to insulin (secondary failure, Group II). Significant beta cell reserve (PP CP greater than or equal to 0.6 pmol/ml) was present in 89 out of 183 patients (48%) and 83 (93%) of them responded to oral hypoglycaemic agents. Among the 94 patients with low beta cell reserve, 58 (62%) were on oral hypoglycaemic agents and the other 36 (38%) were on insulin. Of the 42 patients with secondary failure to the oral drugs, 36 (86%) had low C-peptide while 6 (14%) had significant C-peptide values. Secondary failure to oral hypoglycaemic agents can also occur in spite of good beta cell reserve. Beta cell reserve was not correlated either to the duration of diabetes or the age at diagnosis of the patients.
The long and the short of it! Naming a set of prime words before a set of related picture targets at two different intertrial intervals

Previous work has shown that naming word primes can subsequently interfere with naming related picture targets in a paradigm that mixes words and pictures together. An experiment is reported in which all the prime words were presented before all the related and unrelated pictures, and picture naming times were measured. The time interval between stimuli was manipulated (either 1 or 4s intervals before next fixation) with the intention of reducing the likelihood of anticipatory strategies or prime elaboration. Analysis of naming times indicated a significant main effect of relatedness, which did not interact with time interval; naming prime words at least 4 trials and potentially up to 33 trials earlier slowed related picture naming times. The interference effect is discussed in relation to competitive accounts of picture name retrieval and a recent postlexical account of semantic interference effects.
Distributed sound rendering for interactive virtual environments

Sound rendering deals with adding environmental effects to localized sound sources. There are a few sound rendering methods proposed, with different targets of application, such as architectural simulation and modeling of multi-user interactive environments. To improve the rendering performance, some of these methods employ parallel hardware architectures or dedicated sound processing hardware. We propose a distributed sound rendering architecture for real-time sound rendering in an interactive environment with moving observers and sound sources. We also propose the distributed prioritized sound rendering method to improve the rendering performance while preserving the perceptual quality. The new architecture has the advantages that it is based on low cost PCs and is scalable.