A matter of time: Implicit acquisition of recursive sequence structures

A dominant hypothesis in empirical research on the evolution of language is the following: the fundamental difference between animal and human communication systems is captured by the distinction between regular and more complex non-regular grammars. Studies reporting successful artificial grammar learning of nested recursive structures and imaging studies of the same have methodological shortcomings since they typically allow explicit problem solving strategies and this has been shown to account for the learning effect in subsequent behavioral studies. The present study overcomes these shortcomings by using subtle violations of agreement structure in a preference classification task. In contrast to the studies conducted so far, we use an implicit learning paradigm, allowing the time needed for both abstraction processes and consolidation to take place. Our results demonstrate robust implicit learning of recursively embedded structures (context-free grammar) and recursive structures with cross-dependencies (context-sensitive grammar) in an artificial grammar learning task spanning 9 days. Keywords: Implicit artificial grammar learning; centre embedded; cross-dependency; implicit learning; context-sensitive grammar; context-free grammar; regular grammar; non-regular gramma

City-wide Analysis of Electronic Health Records Reveals Gender and Age Biases in the Administration of Known Drug-Drug Interactions

The occurrence of drug-drug-interactions (DDI) from multiple drug dispensations is a serious problem, both for individuals and health-care systems, since patients with complications due to DDI are likely to reenter the system at a costlier level. We present a large-scale longitudinal study (18 months) of the DDI phenomenon at the primary- and secondary-care level using electronic health records (EHR) from the city of Blumenau in Southern Brazil (pop. $\approx 340,000$). We found that 181 distinct drug pairs known to interact were dispensed concomitantly to 12\% of the patients in the city's public health-care system. Further, 4\% of the patients were dispensed drug pairs that are likely to result in major adverse drug reactions (ADR)---with costs estimated to be much larger than previously reported in smaller studies. The large-scale analysis reveals that women have a 60\% increased risk of DDI as compared to men; the increase becomes 90\% when considering only DDI known to lead to major ADR. Furthermore, DDI risk increases substantially with age; patients aged 70-79 years have a 34\% risk of DDI when they are dispensed two or more drugs concomitantly. Interestingly, a statistical null model demonstrates that age- and female-specific risks from increased polypharmacy fail by far to explain the observed DDI risks in those populations, suggesting unknown social or biological causes. We also provide a network visualization of drugs and demographic factors that characterize the DDI phenomenon and demonstrate that accurate DDI prediction can be included in healthcare and public-health management, to reduce DDI-related ADR and costs

Situação atual e perspectivas da cajucultura brasileira.

Análise geral da situação da cajucultura. Perspectivas da cajucultura brasileira.bitstream/item/35288/1/Cj-003.pd

Third-order nonlinear optical properties of bismuth-borate glasses measured by conventional and thermally managed eclipse Z scan

Third-order nonlinearity one order of magnitude larger than silica is measured in bismuth-borate glasses presenting a fast response (<200 fs). The results for the sign and magnitude of the nonlinearity were obtained using a combination of the eclipse Z scan with thermal nonlinearity managed Z scan, whereas the Kerr shutter technique was employed to obtain the electronic time response of the nonlinearity, all performed with 76 MHz repetition rate 150 fs pulses at 800 nm. Conventional Z scans in the picosecond regime at 532 and 1064 nm were also independently performed, yielding the values of the third-order nonlinear susceptibilities at those wavelengths. The results obtained for the femtosecond response, enhanced third-order nonlinearity of this glass (with respect to silica), place this glass system as an important tool in the development of photonics devices. Electro-optical modulators, optical switches, and frequency converters are some of the applications using second-order nonlinear properties of the Bi-glass based on the rectification model