Improving EFL Learners Language Written Production Using Subtitled Videos

English as a Foreign Language (EFL) Learners tend to produce their speech or written production as they are associated with what they see and what they hear. So, they are able and desired to give comment spontaneously after watching and listening to them. Producing written language can, as a matter of fact, be detected from learners\u27 fluency, accuracy and complexity. This article endeavors to elaborate written language production done by university students by using English subtitled videos. Two intact groups were assigned to accomplish two different tasks; that is, one group watched the video with subtitle and the other one without subtitle. The result of the study reveals that learners who carry out the tasks of watching video with subtitle improve their ability in written production in terms of fluency and accuracy regardless to complexity

Genetic variants in TKT and DERA in the NADPH pathway predict melanoma survival

Background: Cutaneous melanoma (CM) is the most lethal type of skin cancers. Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) plays an important role in anabolic reactions and tumorigenesis, but many genes are involved in the NADPH system. Methods: We used 10,912 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) (2018 genotyped and 8894 imputed) in 134 NADPH-related genes from a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of 858 patients from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (MDACC) in a single-locus analysis to predict CM survival. We then replicated the results in another GWAS data set of 409 patients from the Nurses' Health Study (NHS) and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (HPFS). Results: There were 95 of 858 (11.1%) and 48 of 409 (11.7%) patients who died of CM, respectively. In multivariable Cox regression analyses, we identified two independent SNPs (TKT rs9864057 G > A and deoxyribose phosphate aldolase (DERA) rs12297652 A > G) to be significantly associated with CM-specific survival [hazards ratio (HR) of 1.52, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.18-1.96, P = 1.06 × 10-3 and 1.51 (1.19-1.91, 5.89 × 10-4)] in the meta-analysis, respectively. Furthermore, an increasing number of risk genotypes of these two SNPs was associated with a higher risk of death in the MDACC, the NHS/HPFS, and their combined data sets (Ptrend A and DERA rs12297652 A > G were also significantly associated with higher mRNA expression levels in sun-exposed lower-leg skin (P = 0.043 and 0.006, respectively). Conclusions: These results suggest that these two potentially functional SNPs may be valuable prognostic biomarkers for CM survival, but larger studies are needed to validate these findings

Detectable Clonal Mosaicism from Birth to Old Age and its Relationship to Cancer

Clonal mosaicism for large chromosomal anomalies (duplications, deletions and uniparental disomy) was detected using SNP microarray data from over 50,000 subjects recruited for genome-wide association studies. This detection method requires a relatively high frequency of cells (>5–10%) with the same abnormal karyotype (presumably of clonal origin) in the presence of normal cells. The frequency of detectable clonal mosaicism in peripheral blood is low (<0.5%) from birth until 50 years of age, after which it rises rapidly to 2–3% in the elderly. Many of the mosaic anomalies are characteristic of those found in hematological cancers and identify common deleted regions that pinpoint the locations of genes previously associated with hematological cancers. Although only 3% of subjects with detectable clonal mosaicism had any record of hematological cancer prior to DNA sampling, those without a prior diagnosis have an estimated 10-fold higher risk of a subsequent hematological cancer (95% confidence interval = 6–18)

Abstract Conceptual Modeling for Interaction Design

A usable interactive system provides its users with presentation and manipulation of useful concepts for solving their problems at hand without becoming bogged down in accidental features of user interface. It implicates that interaction design is directed by the acquisition and representation of knowledge about the context of use in a way that can be traced back to the users’ problem-solving activity. In this paper we focus on conceptualization of that activity. The conceptualization is characterized by a set of ontological terms that capture a continuum between user tasks and problem domain in a declarative way, and by a framework of conceptual models that describe a system on a very abstract level without being limited to particular design models.

A Hybrid Recommender System for Gaussian Mixture Model and Enhanced Social Matrix Factorization Technology Based on Multiple Interests

Recommender systems are recently becoming more significant in the age of rapid development of the information technology and pervasive computing to provide e-commerce users’ appropriate items. In recent years, various model-based and neighbor-based approaches have been proposed, which improve the accuracy of recommendation to some extent. However, these approaches are less accurate than expected when users’ ratings on items are very sparse in comparison with the huge number of users and items in the user-item rating matrix. Data sparsity and high dimensionality in recommender systems have negatively affected the performance of recommendation. To solve these problems, we propose a hybrid recommendation approach and framework using Gaussian mixture model and matrix factorization technology. Specifically, the improved cosine similarity formula is first used to get users’ neighbors, and initial ratings on unrated items are predicted. Second, users’ ratings on items are converted into users’ preferences on items’ attributes to reduce the problem of data sparsity. Again, the obtained user-item-attribute preference data is trained through the Gaussian mixture model to classify users with the same interests into the same group. Finally, an enhanced social matrix factorization method fusing user’s and item’s social relationships is proposed to predict the other unseen ratings. Extensive experiments on two real-world datasets are conducted and the results are compared with the existing major recommendation models. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method achieves the better performance compared to other techniques in accuracy

DynaView: General Dynamic Visualization Model for SHM

We present a general dynamic visualization model named DynaView to construct virtual scenes of structural health monitoring (SHM) process. This model consists of static, dynamic, and interaction submodels. It makes the visualization process dynamic and interactive. By taking an example of a simplified reinforced concrete beam structure model, we obtain raw data through the examination. We conduct the effective general and practicable assessment of structural damage conditions based on fuzzy pattern recognition to compute the assessment results. We construct the DynaView model of the sample structure and visualize it. The instance indicates that DynaView model is efficient and practically applicable

FROM CONCEPTUAL MODELLING TO ARCHITECTURAL MODELLING — A UCD METHOD FOR INTERACTIVE SYSTEMS

Abstract. Software design is a process of transformation from problem domain to implementation domain based on two crucial models: conceptual and system models. User-Centred Design (UCD) differs from traditional software design in the perspective providing to conceptual modelling. It concentrates on knowledge about the context of use rather than the accidental features of problem domain. UCD is also concerned with the integration of that knowledge into the system model by means of contextualization that allows combining the descriptions of usage with the functional specifications during the process in order to accomplish a valid design solution. In this paper, we present the ADOI (Another Dimension of Information) approach that aims at providing support for contextual development. Due to its declarative specifications ADOI allows explicit conceptualization of usage, as well as of contextual linkage required for the transformation. A conceptualization- driven architecture is in ADOI open with respect to different perspectives for the user interface and the system. As a result, ADOI realizes the role of a complement of existing methods by providing a development support that can be integrated into different design models. Key words. User-centered design, conceptual models, Architectural models, Contextual development, Software design processes 1. Introduction.

NLRP3 inflammasome contributes to inflammation after intracerebral hemorrhage

OBJECTIVE: The NLRP3 (NALP3, cryopyrin) inflammasome, a key component of the innate immune system, facilitates caspase-1 and interleukin (IL)-1β processing, which amplifies the inflammatory response. Here, we investigated whether NLRP3 knockdown decreases neutrophil infiltration, reduces brain edema, and improves neurological function in an intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) mouse model. We also determined whether mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (ROS) governed by mitochondrial permeability transition pores (mPTPs) would trigger NLRP3 inflammasome activation following ICH. METHODS: ICH was induced by injecting autologous arterial blood (30μl) into a mouse brain. NLRP3 small interfering RNAs were administered 24 hours before ICH. A mPTP inhibitor (TRO-19622) or a specific mitochondria ROS scavenger (Mito-TEMPO) was coinjected with the blood. In naive animals, rotenone, which is a respiration chain complex I inhibitor, was applied to induce mitochondrial ROS production, and followed by TRO-19622 or Mito-TEMPO treatment. Neurological deficits, brain edema, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, Western blot, in vivo chemical cross-linking, ROS assay, and immunofluorescence were evaluated. RESULTS: ICH activated the NLRP3 inflammasome. NLRP3 knockdown reduced brain edema and decreased myeloperoxidase (MPO) levels at 24 hours, and improved neurological functions from 24 to 72 hours following ICH. TRO-19622 or Mito-TEMPO reduced ROS, NLRP3 inflammasome components, and MPO levels following ICH. In naive animals, rotenone administration induced mPTP formation, ROS generation, and NLRP3 inflammasome activation, which were then reduced by TRO-19622 or Mito-TEMPO. INTERPRETATION: The NLRP3 inflammasome amplified the inflammatory response by releasing IL-1β and promoting neutrophil infiltration following ICH. Mitochondria ROS may be a major trigger of NLRP3 inflammasome activation. The results of our study suggest that the inhibition of the NLRP3 inflammasome may effectively reduce the inflammatory response following ICH.ANN NEUROL 2014;75:209-219