Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The unstoppable glottal: tracking rapid change in an iconic British variable

This article presents a sociolinguistic investigation of a rapidly expanding innovation in the UK, glottal replacement, in a variety spoken in northeast Scotland. Quantitative analysis of the form shows a dramatic change in apparent time: from a minority variant in the older generation to a full 90 per cent use in the younger generation. Further analysis of the constraints on use provide a detailed snapshot of how this variant moves through social and linguistic space. Males use higher rates of the non-standard form in the older generations but this constraint is neutralised in the younger generations as the form increases. Styleshifting according to interlocutor also neutralises through time. While these results across the social constraints are in line with previous analyses, the linguistic constraints differ in this variety. In contrast to most other varieties, intervocalic contexts such as bottle show high rates of glottal replacement. Moreover, word-internal foot-initial contexts (e.g. sometimes) also frequently allow the non-standard variant, despite this being rare in other dialects. Although glottal replacement is largely considered to be a ‘torchbearer’ of geographical diffusion, this in-depth analysis suggests that different varieties may have different pathways of change in the rapid transition from [t] to [ʔ] throughout the UK.
Introducing a Type-theoretical Approach to Universal Grammar

The idea of Universal Grammar (UG) as the hypothetical linguistic structure shared by all human languages harkens back at least to the 13th century. The best known modern elaborations of the idea are due to Chomsky. Following a devastating critique from theoretical, typological and field linguistics, these elaborations, the idea of UG itself and the more general idea of language universals stand untenable and are largely abandoned. The presentation shows how to tackle the hypothetical structure of UG in a framework very different from the Chomskyan ones, using dependent and polymorphic type theory. The expected outcome of this work in progress is a versatile logic for expressing natural language morphosyntax and compositional semantics.
Biased 2-3 trees

We describe a new data structure for maintaining collections of weighted items. The access time for an item of weight w in a collection of total weight W is proportional to log(W/w) in the worst case (which is optimal in a certain sense), and several other useful operations can be made to work just, as fast. The data structure is simpler than previous proposals, but the running time must be amortized over a sequence of operations to achieve the time bounds.
Diagnostic Performance of Soluble Triggering Receptor Expressed on Myeloid Cells-1 in Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia of Patients with Ischemic Stroke

Objective. To investigate the effect of soluble triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells-1 (sTREM-1) in serum, bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF), endotracheal aspiration (ETA), and exhaled breath condensate (EBC) samples as early biomarkers for the diagnosis of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) in patients with ischemic stroke. Methods. One hundred and thirty-two patients with clinically suspected VAP were enrolled in this study. Bronchoscopy was performed on the day of clinically suspected VAP. sTREM-1 levels in serum, BALF, ETA, and EBC were measured. VAP was diagnosed by quantitative cultures of BALF (≥104 cfu/mL). Results. VAP was confirmed in 76 (57.58%) cases. Patients with VAP showed significantly higher sTREM-1 in BALF [32.35 (IQR, 30.08–41.72) versus 18.92 (11.89–31.72)] pg/mL and in EBC [1.57 (IQR, 1.02–2.61) versus 0.41 (0.19–1.61)] pg/mL than patients without VAP. The area under the curve was 0.813 (p < 0.001). The optimum cut-off value for sTREM-1 in BALF was 23.61 pg/mL, yielding sensitivity and specificity of 85.5% and 73.1%. sTREM-1 in BALF had excellent correlation with that in EBC (R2 = 0.78, p < 0.05). Conclusions. sTREM-1 in EBC and BALF had good diagnostic performance in differentiating patients with and without VAP.
Changes in wealth and the velocity of money

G. J. Santoni is a senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Thomas A. Pollmann provided research assistance. ‘See, for example, Fisher (1963) who notes that: “This theory, though often crudely formulated, has been accepted by Locke, Hume, Adam Smith, Ricardo, Mill, Walker, Marshall, Hadley, Fetter, Kemmerer, and most writers on the subject. ” (p. 14) See also pp. 157—59 and 296—97. More recent examples are Friedman and Schwartz (1963 and 1982). Thornton (1983) presents a nontechnical discussion of the theory. 2Using monetary policy to hit short-run stabilization objectives is problemmaticat if not impossible. See Thornton (1983) and Mankiw and Summers (1986), p.4l9, for discussions of this point. 3Rasche (1986), Mankiw and Summers (1988), Tatom (1983), Taylor (1986), Siegel and Strongin (1986) and Kopcke (1986) represent some of the recent attempts to resolve the issue, havior that velocity has exhibited in recent years can be attributed to changes in wealth. ’
A Framework and User Interface for Automatic Region Based Segmentation Algorithms

In this paper we describe a framework and tool developed for running and evaluating automatic region based segmentation algorithms. The tool was designed to allow simple integration of existing and future segmentation algorithms, both single image based algorithms and those that operate on video data. Our framework supports plug-in segmenters, media decoders, and region-map codecs. We provide several sophisticated implementations of these plug-ins, including a video decoder capable of frame accurate decoding of a large variety of video formats, an image decoder which also handles a comprehensive collection of formats, and a efficient implementation of a region-map codec. The tool includes both a graphical user interface to allow users to browse, visually inspect, and evaluate the algorithm output, and a batch processing interface for segmentation of large data collections. The application allows researchers to focus more on the development and evaluation of segmentation methods, relying on the framework for encoding/decoding input and output, and the front end for visualization.
Investigation of aerobic training and electrical motivation impacts on body fat decrease

Goals: Study and comparison between the effects of walking and the electrical motivation on body fat burning and weight loss. Methodology: The samples were elected among the volunteer healthy females (20-40 years) with an index rate (20 ≤ BMI ≤ 30) provided that they had no regular active exercise activity and they were classified randomly to 2 teams in this quasi-experimental research. The electrical stimulation was used for one group in 1 year each week up to eight, and the period of 40-60 min per session on intestinal muscles. The plan of the group with aerobic exercise included 40-60 min walking with an intensity of the stored heart rate (50-70%) within the similar period. The parameters of BMI, rate of body fact, and LBM were measured at the start and at terminal of study on weight. The given data are investigated via using of t- independent and correlation t-test at level (p≤ 0.05). The parameters of BMI, rate of body fact, and LBM were measured at the start and at terminal of study on weight. Findings: Weight, Body Mass Index (BMI), and body fat percentage were significantly reduced and also the LBM parameter was enhanced in 2 teams. Conclusion: Walking and electrical stimulation similarly caused to decrease in weight, BMI, body fat percentage, and enhance in lean body mass factor (LBM).
Data-Driven Strategies for an Automated Dialogue System

We present a prototype natural-language problem-solving application for a financial services call center, developed as part of the Amities multilingual human-computer dialogue project. Our automated dialogue system, based on empirical evidence from real call-center conversations, features a data-driven approach that allows for mixed system/customer initiative and spontaneous conversation. Preliminary evaluation results indicate efficient dialogues and high user satisfaction, with performance comparable to or better than that of current conversational travel information systems.
Measurement based methods for WCDMA radio network design verification

Competition in telecommunications business is increasing. New business models, like Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs), shape the environment and network operators need to find cost efficient ways to offer good quality services for their end users. For operators it is important to shorten the time from network design to commercial launch. In addition they must ensure continuous service experience also when network extensions are introduced. Continuous service experience can be guaranteed only if the network is pre-analyzed and continuously monitored using measured data. In this paper measurement methods for Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) radio network design verification are introduced and their applicability in different stages of the network life cycle is addressed.
Effectiveness of Front-Of-Pack Nutrition Labels in French Adults: Results from the NutriNet-Santé Cohort Study

Background To date, no consensus has emerged on the most appropriate front-of-pack (FOP) nutrition label to help consumers in making informed choices. We aimed to compare the effectiveness of the label formats currently in use: nutrient-specific, graded and simple summary systems, in a large sample of adults. Methods The FOP label effectiveness was assessed by measuring the label acceptability and understanding among 13,578 participants of the NutriNet-Santé cohort study, representative of the French adult population. Participants were exposed to five conditions, including four FOP labels: Guideline Daily Amounts (GDA), Multiple Traffic Lights (MTL), 5-Color Nutrition Label (5-CNL), Green Tick (Tick), and a “no label” condition. Acceptability was evaluated by several indicators: attractiveness, liking and perceived cognitive workload. Objective understanding was assessed by the percentage of correct answers when ranking three products according to their nutritional quality. Five different product categories were tested: prepared fish dishes, pizzas, dairy products, breakfast cereals, and appetizers. Differences among the label effectiveness were compared with chi-square tests. Results The 5-CNL was viewed as the easiest label to identify and as the one requiring the lowest amount of effort and time to understand. GDA was considered as the least easy to identify and to understand, despite being the most attractive and liked label. All FOP labels were found to be effective in ranking products according to their nutritional quality compared with the “no label” situation, although they showed differing levels of effectiveness (p<0.0001). Globally, the 5-CNL performed best, followed by MTL, GDA and Tick labels. Conclusions The graded 5-CNL label was considered as easy to identify, simple and rapid to understand; it performed well when comparing the products’ nutritional quality. Therefore, it is likely to present advantages in real shopping situations where choices are usually made quickly.
Autoimmunity as a Candidate for the Etiopathogenesis of Meniere's Disease: Detection of Autoimmune Reactions and Diagnostic Biomarker Candidate

Meniere's disease is an inner ear disorder that can manifest as fluctuating vertigo, sensorineural hearing loss, tinnitus, and aural fullness. However, the pathologic mechanism of Meniere's disease is still unclear. In this study, we evaluated autoimmunity as a potential cause of Meniere's disease. In addition we tried to find useful biomarker candidates for diagnosis. We investigated the protein composition of human inner ear fluid using liquid column mass spectrometry, the autoimmune reaction between circulating autoantibodies in patient serum and multiple antigens using the Protoarray system, the immune reaction between patient serum and mouse inner ear tissues using western blot analysis. Nine proteins, including immunoglobulin and its variants and interferon regulatory factor 7, were found only in the inner ear fluid of patients with Meniere's disease. Enhanced immune reactions with 18 candidate antigens were detected in patients with Meniere's disease in Protoarray analysis; levels of 8 of these antigens were more than 10-fold higher in patients than in controls. Antigen-antibody reactions between mouse inner ear proteins with molecular weights of 23–48 kDa and 63–75 kDa and patient sera were detected in 8 patients. These findings suggest that autoimmunity could be one of the pathologic mechanisms behind Meniere's disease. Multiple autoantibodies and antigens may be involved in the autoimmune reaction. Specific antigens that caused immune reactions with patient's serum in Protoarray analysis can be candidates for the diagnostic biomarkers of Meniere's disease.
Lattice-Boltzmann Simulation of Flow around moving Particles

Ich versichere, dass ich die Arbeit ohne fremde Hilfe und ohne Benutzung anderer als der angegebenen Quellen angefer-tigt habe und dass die Arbeit in gleicher oder ähnlicher Form noch keiner anderen Prüfungsbehörde vorgelegen hat und von dieser als Teil einer Prüfungsleistung angenommen wurde. Alle Ausführungen, die wörtlich oder sinngemäß über-nommen wurden, sind als solche gekennzeichnet. Abstract Abstract In the field of particle technology, the characterization of nano-particles and their behavior in a flow has become a major topic for industrial applications. The force interaction between the fluid and the nano-particles is one of most important research areas. Especially the forces, which occur between several sintered particles, are of interest. These forces are responsible for structural changes and are still only basically understood due to the limited capabilities of physical measurements. In contrast to the classical physical nano-particle characterization, the numerical simulation has the ability to gain insight into the structural properties of nano-particles. This thesis presents a way to simulate the nano-particle behavior in a flow by coupling a computational fluid dynamics solver for the simulation of the fluid to a rigid body physics engine for the simulation of the particle movements. For the fluid simulation, the Lattice Boltzmann Method will be used, which has gained increasing popularity in the last decade. Compared to the classic Navier-Stokes approach, it offers a simpler, yet stable implementation for the calculation of the macroscopic fluid properties and offers a better adaptability for parallelization efforts. Due to the kinematic origin of the Lattice Boltzmann Method, it is especially suitable for the coupling to a rigid body physics engine. By extending the basic fluid simulation for the treatment of curved particle surfaces and by a fluid particle force interaction method, the fluid forces acting on the nano-particles can be calculated. With this force interaction between the fluid and the particles and the use of the rigid body physics engine, the movement and collision behavior of nano-particles in a flow can be simulated. Additionally, this coupled simulation system is able to simulate the internal particle forces in the connections between sintered particles, which could break due to the forces of a shear flow. Therefore a prediction of possible break-ups becomes possible. For the validation of the nano-particle simulation several analytical calculations are compared to simulation results. Abstract I
A USB flash disk viruses preventing technique based on filtering access

After analyzing the basic principles of the spread of USB flash disk viruses, this paper concludes that the spread of USB flash disk viruses need two necessary conditions, and on the basis, proposes two counter measures which can prevent the spread of USB flash disk viruses thoroughly. At last, this paper proposes two designs to prevent the spread of USB flash disk viruses.
Multi-Step Animation to Facilitate the Understanding of Spatial Groupings : the Case of List Comparisons

While animation has been shown to be compelling and helpful to reveal transformations of complex graphical representations such as trees or graphs, other studies have cast doubts on animation’s usefulness for learning. We present a new beneficial use of animation: helping users learn and understand the meaning of the spatial grouping of items on the screen. We introduce this technique in the design of two list comparison interfaces: Twinlist, an interface that helps physicians compare and merge two separate lists of medications into a reconciled list; and ManyLists, an interface for product comparison. Animation is used to reveal the similarities and differences between items in the lists and explain the final grouping. A controlled experiment confirmed that animation helped participants learn the groupings of Twinlist. Finally we summarize design guidelines and discuss other possible uses of the technique. Author
Functional capacity before and after cardioversion of atrial fibrillation: a controlled study.

OBJECTIVE--To evaluate the effect of cardioversion on peak oxygen consumption (peak VO2) in patients with long-standing atrial fibrillation, to assess the importance of underlying heart disease with respect to the response to exercise, and to relate functional capacity to long-term arrhythmia outcome. DESIGN--Prospective controlled clinical trial. SETTING--Tertiary referral centre. PATIENTS--63 consecutive patients with chronic atrial fibrillation accepted for treatment with electrical cardioversion. Before cardioversion all patients were treated with digoxin, verapamil, or a combination of both to attain a resting heart rate < or = 100 beats per minute. INTERVENTIONS--Electrical cardioversion. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES--Peak VO2 measured before and 1 month after electrical cardioversion to compare patients who were in sinus rhythm and those in atrial fibrillation at these times. Maintenance of sinus rhythm for a mean follow up of 19 (7) months. RESULTS--Mean (1SD) peak VO2 in patients in sinus rhythm after 1 month (n = 37) increased from 21.4 (5.8) to 23.7 (6.4) ml/min/kg (+11%, P < 0.05), whereas in patients with a recurrence of atrial fibrillation 1 month after cardioversion (n = 26) peak VO2 was unchanged. In patients who were in sinus rhythm both those with and without underlying heart disease improved, and improvement was not related to functional capacity or left ventricular function before cardioversion. Baseline peak VO2 was not a predictive factor for long-term arrhythmia outcome. CONCLUSION--Restoration of sinus rhythm improved peak VO2 in patients with atrial fibrillation, irrespective of the presence of underlying heart disease. Peak VO2 was not a predictive factor for long-term arrhythmia outcome after cardioversion of atrial fibrillation. These findings suggest that cardioversion is the best method of improving functional capacity in patients with atrial fibrillation, whether or not they have underlying heart disease and whatever their functional state.
DQPSK error performance in the presence of in-band interferers with different modulation formats

An analytical tool based on the moment generating function of the receiver decision variable that can evaluate the impact of multi-format in-band crosstalk in optical differential quadrature phase-shift keying (DQPSK) systems is presented. It is shown that the on-off keying (OOK) interferer is the most detrimental interferer in terms of performance degradation. A Monte Carlo simulation tool validates the analytical results.
Deciding the inequivalence of context-free grammars with 1-letter terminal alphabet is S2p-complete

This paper deals with the complexity of context-free grammars with 1-1etter terminal alphabet. We study the complexity of the membership problem and the inequivalence problem. We show that the first problem is NP-complete and the second one is Σ2p- complete with respect to log-space reduction. The second result also implies that the inequivalence problem is in PSPACE, solving an open problem stated in [3] by Hunt III, Rosenkrantz and Szymanski.
Computed tomographic findings in dogs and cats with temporomandibular joint disorders: 58 cases (2006-2011).

OBJECTIVE To describe CT findings in dogs and cats with temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorders. DESIGN Retrospective case series. ANIMALS 41 dogs and 17 cats. PROCEDURES Medical records and CT images of the skull were reviewed for dogs and cats that were examined at a dentistry and oral surgery specialty practice between 2006 and 2011. RESULTS Of 142 dogs and 42 cats evaluated, 41 dogs and 17 cats had CT findings consistent with a TMJ disorder. In dogs, the most common TMJ disorder was osteoarthritis; however, in most cases, there were other TMJ disorders present in addition to osteoarthritis. Osteoarthritis was more frequently identified at the medial aspect rather than the lateral aspect of the TMJ, whereas the frequency of osteoarthritic involvement of the dorsal and ventral compartments did not differ significantly. In cats, fractures were the most common TMJ disorder, followed by osteoarthritis. Clinical signs were observed in all dogs and cats with TMJ fractures, dysplasia, ankylosis, luxation, and tumors; however, only 4 of 15 dogs and 2 of 4 cats with osteoarthritis alone had clinical signs. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE Results indicated that TMJ disorders were frequently present in combination. Osteoarthritis was the most common TMJ disorder in dogs and the second most common TMJ disorder in cats. Computed tomography should be considered as a tool for the diagnosis of TMJ disorders in dogs and cats with suspected orofacial disorders and signs of pain. (J Am Vet Med Assoc 2013;242:69-75).
Comparing live lecture, internet-based & computer-based instruction: A randomized controlled trial

Background: Comparing computer and internet based instruction with traditional giving lecture would provide enough evidence to identify best teaching practice. In this study, we compared lecture, interactive internet based and computer based learning regarding medical students' knowledge acquisition and satisfaction in teaching pathophysiology of hematology and oncology. Methods: Eighty four medical students were randomized into three groups and an identical faculty member conducted the instructions through the above mentioned methods. Students' knowledge was assessed one week before and immediately after the interventions by pre and posttest. Students' satisfaction was assessed using a validated 5-point Likert scale. Results: The results showed that students' satisfaction was significantly higher in interactive internet based group than other ones (p=0.05). There were a significant increase between pre and posttest scores in all groups (p=0.000). We used ANCOVA to compare score changes in the study groups, with posttest scores as the dependent factor and pretest scores as covariate and knowledge acquisition was significantly higher in interactive internet based group than other two groups (p=0.026). Conclusion: The study showed that although interactive internet based instruction is a difficult and time consuming method, it is recommended to integrate this method to medical curricula.
Improved Fixed-Parameter Algorithms for Non-Crossing Subgraphs 1

We consider the problem of computing non-crossing spanning trees in topological graphs. It is known that it is NP-hard to decide whether a topological graph has a noncrossing spanning tree, and that it is hard to approximate the minimum number of crossings in a spanning tree. We give improved fixed-parameter algorithms, where we use the number k of crossing edge pairs and the number μ of crossing edges in the given graph as parameters. The running times of our algorithms are O∗(kO( √ ) and O∗(μO(μ 2/3)), where the O∗-notation neglects polynomial terms. Our method can be applied to several other non-crossing subgraph problems in topological graphs.