While most research in applied linguistics has focused on second language (L2) speakers and their language capabilities, the success of interaction between such speakers and first language (L1) ...speakers also relies on the positive attitudes and communication skills of the L1 speakers. However, some research has suggested that many L1 speakers lack these things. We therefore review three possible approaches to instructing L1 speakers to improve their communication with speakers of other varieties. First, theories from social psychology, specifically contact theory and perspective-taking, have led to interventions that have improved L1 speakers' attitudes toward L2 speech. Secondly, both implicit and explicit instructions may improve L1 speakers' comprehension of unfamiliar accents, at least for brief utterances. Finally, research on English as a lingua franca has suggested a number of successful communicative strategies that we recommend investigating for their possible efficacy for L1 speaker use and ultimately for L1-speaker training. We propose an agenda for future research ultimately bridging these three areas to create comprehensive pedagogies for improving L1 speakers' performance in communication across linguistic difference.
The mechanisms by which neutrophils, key effector cells of the innate immune system, express new gene products in inflammation are largely uncharacterized. We found that they rapidly translate ...constitutive mRNAs when activated, a previously unrecognized response. One of the proteins synthesized without a requirement for transcription is the soluble IL-6 receptor α, which translocates to endothelial cells and induces a temporal switch to mononuclear leukocyte recruitment. Its synthesis is regulated by a specialized translational control pathway that is inhibited by rapamycin, a bacterial macrolide with therapeutic efficacy in transplantation, inflammatory syndromes, and neoplasia. Signal-dependent translation in activated neutrophils may be a critical mechanism for alteration of the inflammatory milieu and a therapeutic target.
We report on a search for nuclear recoil signals from solar B-8 neutrinos elastically scattering off xenon nuclei in XENON1T data, lowering the energy threshold from 2.6 to 1.6 keV. We develop a ...variety of novel techniques to limit the resulting increase in backgrounds near the threshold. No significant B-8 neutrinolike excess is found in an exposure of 0.6 t x y. For the first time, we use the nondetection of solar neutrinos to constrain the light yield from 1-2 keV nuclear recoils in liquid xenon, as well as nonstandard neutrino-quark interactions. Finally, we improve upon world-leading constraints on dark matter-nucleus interactions for dark matter masses between 3 and 11 GeV c(-2) by as much as an order of magnitude.
Abstract
Background
Heart failure (HF) is a major cause of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Despite recent advances in diagnosis and management of HF, the prognosis remains poor. HF and ...chronic kidney disease (CKD) are interlinked chronic health conditions. The availability of large volume of patient data and modern analytic techniques opens new opportunities for identification of individuals at elevated risk of HF.
Purpose
Develop risk prediction model for HF hospitalizations (HHF) in patients with non-diabetic CKD by applying data-driven computational intelligence techniques to a US population-based administrative claims database.
Methods
Individual-level data from the US Optum Clinformatics Data Mart for years 2008–2018 were analysed. To be eligible for inclusion, adult individuals were required to have non-diabetic CKD stage 3 or 4 (index event) and one year continuous insurance coverage prior to the index date (baseline period). Selection criteria and the main clinical outcome, hospitalisation for heart failure (HHF), were identified by using laboratory tests results and/or specific codes from common clinical coding systems. Risk prediction model for HHF was built on patient data in the baseline period composed to more than 6,000 variables. Computational intelligence method based on ant colony optimization was used to develop a time-to-first-event risk prediction model for HHF.
Results
Of the 64 million individuals in the database, 504,924 satisfied the selection criteria. Median age was 75 years, 60% were female. Among most common baseline comorbidities were hypertension (85%) and hyperlipidaemia (68%). Coronary artery disease, HF, atrial fibrillation and peripheral artery disease were recorded in 24%, 16%, 15% and 14% of individuals. Over a median follow-up of 744 days, 53,282 (11%) patients had recorded HHF, the corresponding incidence rate was 3.95 events/100 patient-years.
The developed risk prediction model for HHF in non-diabetic CKD contained 20 risk factors. The five strongest risk factors were history of HF, intake of loop diuretics, severely increased albuminuria, atrial fibrillation or flutter and CKD 4 as observed “yes/no” in the baseline period. Fig. 1 depicts the final risk prediction model. To assess model performance, all patients in the cohort were stratified into five HHF risk groups. For each group, a Kaplan-Meier curve was built based on the HHF outcome data in the database. Fig. 2 shows clear separation between the curves, demonstrating high performance of the developed risk prediction model.
Conclusion
Despite many existing scores to predict HHF, their use is limited. Some scores rely on availability of rarely collected information, some are applicable for specific patient populations only. Risk prediction model for HHF in non-diabetic CKD is presented, which contains risk factors routinely collected by healthcare providers. Therefore, it might be applicable for HHF risk estimation in various settings.
Funding Acknowledgement
Type of funding sources: Other. Main funding source(s): Bayer AG Forest plot of HHF risk prediction modelKaplan-Meier plot of risk strata
We report on a search for particle dark matter with the XENON100 experiment, operated at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso for 13 months during 2011 and 2012. XENON100 features an ultralow ...electromagnetic background of (5.3 ± 0.6) × 10(-3) events/(keV(ee) × kg × day) in the energy region of interest. A blind analysis of 224.6 live days × 34 kg exposure has yielded no evidence for dark matter interactions. The two candidate events observed in the predefined nuclear recoil energy range of 6.6-30.5 keV(nr) are consistent with the background expectation of (1.0 ± 0.2) events. A profile likelihood analysis using a 6.6-43.3 keV(nr) energy range sets the most stringent limit on the spin-independent elastic weakly interacting massive particle-nucleon scattering cross section for weakly interacting massive particle masses above 8 GeV/c(2), with a minimum of 2 × 10(-45) cm(2) at 55 GeV/c(2) and 90% confidence level.
Abstract
Introduction: Attempting to expedite delivery of care to wounded war fighters, this study aimed to quantify the ability of medical and surgical teams to perform lifesaving damage control and ...resuscitation procedures aboard nontraditional US Navy Vessels on high seas. Specifically, it looked at the ability of the teams to perform procedures in shipboard operating and emergency rooms by analyzing motion of personnel during the procedures. Methods: One hundred and twelve damage control and resuscitation procedures were performed during a voyage of the US Naval Ship Brunswick in transit from Norfolk, Virginia, to San Diego, California. The ability of personnel to perform these procedures was quantified by the use of motion link analysis designed to track the movement of each participant as they completed their assigned tasks. Results: The link analysis showed no significant change in the number of movements of participants from the beginning to the end of the study. However, there was a learning effect observed during the study, with teams completing tasks faster at the end of the study than at the beginning. Conclusion: This shows that the working conditions aboard the US Naval Ship Brunswick were satisfactory for the assigned tasks, indicating that these medical operations may be feasible aboard nontraditional US Navy vessels.
International river basins are mostly characterized by upstream-downstream externalities that involve asymmetric incentives to cooperate and, therefore, suggest a high conflict potential between ...riparian states. However, with more than 400 river basin treaties, cooperation along international rivers by far outweighs water-related conflicts. The abundance of international water cooperation despite the odds is puzzling and has so far received little systematic attention. Against this background, I develop a research framework that draws on international regime theory and combines power, interest, knowledge and contextbased approaches to water regime formation. In a second step, I probe the plausibility of my framework in two case studies on international water cooperation in the Rhine and Elbe river basins. The empirical findings suggest that there is no “one-answer-fits-all” in trying to explain water regime formation. While power-based approaches are of limited explanatory value, a thorough understanding of cooperation along the two international rivers requires the combination of interest, knowledge and context-based arguments.
The XENON1T experiment searches for dark matter particles through their scattering off xenon atoms in a 2 metric ton liquid xenon target. The detector is a dual-phase time projection chamber, which ...measures simultaneously the scintillation and ionization signals produced by interactions in target volume, to reconstruct energy and position, as well as the type of the interaction. The background rate in the central volume of XENON1T detector is the lowest achieved so far with a liquid xenon-based direct detection experiment. In this work we describe the response model of the detector, the background and signal models, and the statistical inference procedures used in the dark matter searches with a 1 metric ton×year exposure of XENON1T data, that leads to the best limit to date on WIMP-nucleon spin-independent elastic scatter cross section for WIMP masses above 6 GeV/c2.
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