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Introduction: Easy Read health documents prepared for people with intellectual disabilities are often generated from Standard Texts. Language in Easy Read versions is typically assumed to be simpler. However, simplification of language may have unintended consequences. This study aimed to explore the differences in language used between Easy Read health material and the Standard Text versions of the same material produced for the general population. Methods: Five Easy Read/Standard Text pairs were sampled and analysed using Systemic Functional Linguistics. This addressed: how people with intellectual disabilities and others were represented by language, the author stance in relation to the reader and the overall organisation of the text. Results: The Easy Read versions often used language that was less empowering and inclusive. Conclusion: Increased awareness of author power and better knowledge of the impact of language choice could help to redress these issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work deals with optimal systemic design of wind energy generator based on an Integrated Optimal Design (IOD) methodology of a full passive wind turbine system. The originality of the study resides in the use of DC model of wind turbine the make the integration of this model to Genetics Algorithms method possible. The optimization problem concerns the association of the DC model of the wind turbine with a developed Genetics Algorithms to optimize conjointly the global power system mass and total power system energy losses with several constraints. The generator is designed by analytical method validated by finite element method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the application of computer vision and mathematical modeling to analyze the intricate movements involved in weaving a traditional farming tool, the winnowing basket. By utilizing OpenPose algorithms, the study simplifies and visualizes the craftsmen's motions, particularly focusing on wrist movements. Video data of craftsmen in Chiba, Japan, creating Kizumi (place name) winnowing baskets is used as the basis for analysis. The extracted information is used to generate 2D motion trajectories of the wrist, allowing a comparison between beginners who watched parsed videos and those who watched the original videos in terms of skill acquisition and learning time. By visualizing human body behavior and combining statistical results, this study demonstrates the potential of artificial intelligence techniques such as computer vision for observing repetitive human movement and inheriting traditional skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growing complexity of biopharmaceutical sponsored trials has adverse impacts on increased burdens on participants, clinical sites, and sponsors, including greater difficulty recruiting and retaining participants, difficulty engaging sites to participate in trials, excessive cost of trials, and increased cycle times. The schedule of assessments (SoAs) is the origin of and blueprint for complexity that is often generated by copying and pasting from previous SoAs. We developed an approach, termed Lean Design, for redesigning the assessments in SoAs that generate data, the 'Data SoA.' It starts with a simple "ground zero" SoA. Any addition is challenged using several principles of trial design. We employed a system, the Faro Trial Designer Tool, to quantify the impacts of changes in an SoA to provide real-time feedback to the team and sponsor. We applied the approach in workshops with teams for six clinical trials in various stages of design and implementation. The approach resulted in recommendation for substantial potential savings in participant and site staff time, costs, and complexity of the trials. Application of this approach to very early stages of protocol design has the potential to reduce the complexity of biopharmaceutical sponsored trials and its consequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This paper explores the application of computer vision and mathematical modeling to analyze the intricate movements involved in weaving a traditional farming tool, the winnowing basket. By utilizing OpenPose algorithms, the study simplifies and visualizes the craftsmen's motions, particularly focusing on wrist movements. Video data of craftsmen in Chiba, Japan, creating Kizumi (place name) winnowing baskets is used as the basis for analysis. The extracted information is used to generate 2D motion trajectories of the wrist, allowing a comparison between beginners who watched parsed videos and those who watched the original videos in terms of skill acquisition and learning time. By visualizing human body behavior and combining statistical results, this study demonstrates the potential of artificial intelligence techniques such as computer vision for observing repetitive human movement and inheriting traditional skills.

Arabic students frequently encounter errors while learning English as a second language (ESL). This study investigates prevalent interlingual and intralingual errors observed among Arabic learners of English. The authors posit that by addressing morphological, lexical, and semantic inaccuracies, English instructors can assist Arabic learners in cultivating a more comprehensive and nuanced proficiency in the English language, thereby enhancing their communicative abilities across various contexts. The instructional strategies explained in this paper offer valuable insights for ESL teachers and tertiary-level Arabic students aiming to mitigate or eliminate such errors. Additionally, the teaching recommendations presented in this paper serve as beneficial resources for experienced and novice instructors, facilitating the reduction of errors commonly encountered by Arabic students in their English language acquisition journey.

BPJS Kesehatan sebagai lembaga penyelenggara jaminan kesehatan nasional di Indonesia memiliki peran penting dalam memastikan masyarakat mendapatkan akses layanan kesehatan yang berkualitas. Cara yang ditempuh oleh BPJS Kesehatan untuk meminimalisir keluhan dan mengurangi waktu tunggu pelayanan adalah dengan melakukan simplifikasi alur dan berkas layanan administrasi. Rancangan penelitian ini adalah deskriptif kuantitatif dengan tujuan untuk menggambarkan pengaruh simplifikasi alur dan berkas layanan peserta di kantor cabang terhadap kepuasan peserta JKN di Kantor Cabang Kupang. Sampel penelitian berjumlah 50 orang yang diambil dengan teknik Simple Random Sampling. Analisis data penelitian dilakukan secara univariat. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa alur dan berkas persyaratan pelayanan yang sederhana akan memudahkan peserta JKN dalam mendapatkan pelayanan administrasi, sehingga dengan adanya simplifikasi pelayanan bagi peserta berpengaruh pada tercapainya kepuasan peserta terhadap pelayanan di kantor BPJS. BPJS Kesehatan diharapkan dapat memperhatikan kepuasan peserta JKN dengan berkomitmen terhadap penerapan simplifikasi alurdan proses pelayanan demi terwujudnya kualitas pelayanan yang baik.

• Tax penalty collection is a challenge faced by tax administrations worldwide. • We nudge taxpayers in Indonesia to pay their tax penalties on time. • Simplification by providing billing codes outperforms the other nudge letters. • Emphasising deterrence is also effective in increasing timely payment. • The nudge letters prove to be a cost-effective strategy for changing behaviour. We conduct a randomised controlled trial in Indonesia to evaluate the effect of three intervention letters on tax penalty compliance behaviour. Over 10,000 individual taxpayers are randomly assigned to receive either a deterrence, information, or simplification letter, or no letter. Our results indicate that simplification, which makes paying a penalty less burdensome administratively by providing billing codes to pay the penalties, yields the highest probability of timely settlement, increasing compliance by 32% compared to the control group. Deterrence also positively impacts penalty compliance, increasing timely settlement rates by 27%. The least effective intervention is the information letter. Although associated with a 10% increase in timely settlement, this effect is statistically insignificant at the 10% confidence level. Our results suggest that strategic messaging by tax authorities in developing countries can be a cost-effective tool for improving tax penalty payment compliance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: We performed an observational, retrospective, cohort study to assess changes in insulin sensitivity after a switch from dolutegravir/lamivudine (DOL/3TC) or bictegravir/emtricitabine/tenofovir alafenamide (BIC/F/TAF) to doravirine/tenofovir disoproxil fumarate/3TC (DOR/TDF/3TC) in virologically suppressed people living with HIV with recent significant weight gain. Methods: All non‐diabetic patients with HIV treated with DOL/3TC or BIC/F/TAF for ≥12 months, with HIV RNA <20 copies/mL, and with a weight increase ≥3 kg in the last year, who underwent a switch to DOR/TDF/3TC were enrolled into the study. Serum levels of glucose, insulin, and homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA‐IR) index were evaluated every 6 months during a 12‐month follow‐up. Results: Overall, 81 patients were enrolled: 41 were treated with DOL/3TC and 40 with BIC/F/TAF. At baseline, median HOMA‐IR index was 3.18 and insulin resistance (HOMA‐IR index >2.5) was present in 49 subjects (60%). At 12 months after the switch to DOR/TDF/3TC, change in mean serum glucose concentration was not significant, but the reduction in median concentration of insulin was significant (−3.54 mcrUI/L [interquartile range −4.22 to −2.87]; p = 0.012), associated with a significant reduction in mean HOMA‐IR index (−0.54 [interquartile range −0.91 to −0.18]; p = 0.021). A significant reduction in total and low‐density lipoprotein cholesterol was also reported, whereas decreases in mean body weight and mean body mass index were not significant. Conclusions: In our retrospective study in virologically suppressed people living with HIV treated with DOL/3TC or BIC/F/TAF and with recent weight gain, the switch to DOR/TDF/3TC led to a significant improvement in insulin sensitivity and plasma lipids, with a trend to decreased body weight. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The management of type 2 diabetes (T2D) often necessitates treatment intensification, and sometimes simplification to achieve glycaemic targets and mitigate complications. This expert opinion paper evaluates the use and positioning of the fixed-ratio combinations (FRCs) of basal insulin (BI) and glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs) in optimising T2D management. On the basis of the evidence presented and discussions, these FRCs offer a promising approach for both treatment intensification and simplification in people with suboptimal glucose control despite receiving various therapies. In treatment intensification, FRCs provide a synergistic effect by addressing multiple pathophysiological defects contributing to hyperglycaemia. These FRCs effectively control both fasting and postprandial glucose (PPG) excursions, offering significantly improved glycaemic control with a lower hypoglycaemia risk and weight neutrality compared to traditional or complex insulin regimens. Moreover, the reduced injection frequency (once daily) and flexibility in the dosing schedule (with any major meal of the day) help mitigate patient resistance to insulin initiation or titration. This further reduces treatment burden, facilitating treatment adherence and enhancing patient convenience. These key benefits of FRCs over complex insulin regimens play a crucial role in long-term glycaemic management and overall treatment outcomes. Hence, the timely use of FRCs in the treatment algorithm for people with T2D represents a valuable strategy for optimising glycaemic control, addressing treatment barriers and enhancing patient-reported outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This experimental study investigates the impact of ChatGPT-simplified authentic texts on university students’ reading comprehension, inferencing, and reading anxiety levels. A within-subjects design was employed, and 105 undergraduate English as a foreign language (EFL) students engaged in both original and ChatGPT-simplified text readings, serving as their own controls. The findings reveal a significant improvement in reading comprehension scores and inferencing scores following ChatGPT intervention. However, no significant change in reading anxiety levels was observed. Results suggest that ChatGPT simplification positively influences reading comprehension and inferencing, but its impact on reading anxiety remains inconclusive. This research contributes to literature on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in education and sheds light on ChatGPT’s potential to influence language learning experiences within higher education contexts. The study highlights the practical application of ChatGPT as a tool for helping students engage in authentic text readings by making text more comprehensible. Based on the findings, several multifaceted implications that extend to various stakeholders in the field of language education are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Symbolic simplification of analog circuits is a computationally challenging problem due to the exponential growth of the number of symbolic terms with the circuit size. In recent years, researchers have proposed various methods to address this problem, but these methods often require matrix- or graph-based symbolic analysis methods, which can be computationally expensive and memory-intensive, especially for real-size analog circuits. To overcome these limitations, we introduce a new methodology called Direct Simplified Symbolic analysis (DSSA). The proposed DSSA method views simplified symbolic circuit analysis as a modeling problem and directly produces the most significant terms of the transfer function, without the need for traditional circuit analysis. One of the main advantages of DSSA is that it significantly reduces computational complexity and required memory compared to the existing techniques. This is achieved by generating a dataset using the Monte-Carlo simulation method and performing a genetic algorithm to solve the established modeling problem. The objective is to minimize the average numerical error between the simplified symbolic expression and the exact numeric expression for all data points. The proposed method has been tested on five circuits in MATLAB, and the results clearly demonstrate its performance against existing methods. The findings by the DSSA algorithm across five circuits reveal 0.64 dB and 1.36 dB variations for the average and maximum dc-gain, respectively. Moreover, the DSSA algorithm exhibits an average pole/zero error of 6.8% and a maximum pole/zero displacement of 16.8%. It has the potential to improve the efficiency and accuracy of symbolic analysis, making it a promising tool for circuit designers and engineers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arabic students frequently encounter errors while learning English as a second language (ESL). This study investigates prevalent interlingual and intralingual errors observed among Arabic learners of English. The authors posit that by addressing morphological, lexical, and semantic inaccuracies, English instructors can assist Arabic learners in cultivating a more comprehensive and nuanced proficiency in the English language, thereby enhancing their communicative abilities across various contexts. The instructional strategies explained in this paper offer valuable insights for ESL teachers and tertiary-level Arabic students aiming to mitigate or eliminate such errors. Additionally, the teaching recommendations presented in this paper serve as beneficial resources for experienced and novice instructors, facilitating the reduction of errors commonly encountered by Arabic students in their English language acquisition journey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Antiretroviral therapy (ART) can be personalized through simple formulations with high resistance barriers, favorable safety profiles, and novel administration routes. Switching treatments has become a key clinical strategy for addressing drug toxicity and interactions and enhancing adherence and convenience. This strategy aims to improve the quality of life and long-term efficacy, even in challenging cases like people living with HIV (PLWH) with multiple comorbidities, prior virological failure, and drug resistance. The authors reviewed clinical trials and cohort studies providing evidence of benefits and risks of current antiretroviral (ARV) drugs as switching options for PLWH in various scenarios. The literature search included clinical trials, meta-analyses, observational studies, and review articles in English published after 2000, and current HIV treatment guidelines in English and Spanish as of February 2024. New ARV drugs offer advantages in efficacy and safety over previous options but may also have adverse effects. Second-generation integrase inhibitors and tenofovir alafenamide show benefits as switching options in various scenarios, though more research is needed on potential weight gain and metabolic issues. Injectable long-acting ART is promising for switching strategies, but finding the optimal combination of new drugs remains challenging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental assessments (EAs) in Botswana are insufficiently influential in decision-making and have been criticised for contributing to extended transaction costs and timelines. Therefore, efforts to simplify EA have been undertaken. Whilst internationally, the value of EA is judged by its capability to raise the profile of environmental issues and enhance public participation in decision processes, current EA simplification interventions in Botswana aim at constraining access to environmental information, at reducing public participation provisions and at restricting the scope of environmental impacts to be evaluated. Ultimately, EA is intended to be replaced with outcome-based tools aiming to mitigate and compensate for environmental damage rather than avoiding it. The authors therefore suggest that simplification efforts in Botswana are bound to erode benefits associated with EA and are not fit for purpose. In this paper, three recommendations are offered: whilst outcome-based tools can be prepared for projects that were assessed by EA they must be firmly tiered to them. Furthermore, discretion in decision-making needs to remain in place, and data sharing should be enhanced by placing EA reports in the public domain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research addresses the limitations of pretrained models (PTMs) in generating accurate and comprehensive abstractive summaries for scientific articles, with a specific focus on the challenges posed by medical research. The proposed solution named medical text simplification and summarization (MedTSS) introduces a dedicated module designed to enrich source text for PTMs. MedTSS addresses issues related to token limits, reinforces multiple concepts, and mitigates entity hallucination problems without necessitating additional training. Furthermore, the module conducts linguistic analysis to simplify generated summaries, particularly tailored for the complex nature of medical research articles. The results demonstrate a significant enhancement, with MedTSS improving the Rouge-1 score from 16.46 to 35.17 without requiring additional training. By emphasizing knowledge-driven components, this framework offers a distinct perspective, challenging the common narrative of 'more data' or 'more parameters.' This alternative approach, especially applicable in health-related domains, signifies a broader contribution to the field of NLP. MedTSS serves as an innovative model that not only addresses the intricacies of medical research summarization but also presents a paradigm shift with implications for diverse domains beyond its initial scope. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this research, a study is conducted on tax reforms in Ecuador from 2020 to 2023, in order to know the evolution that has existed in these reforms year after year and their impact on tax collection despite the events that have appeared. In Ecuador, tax reforms have undergone significant changes, as well as the enactment of new laws such as: the Organic Law for Tax Simplification and Progressivity, the Organic Law for Humanitarian Support and the Organic Law for Economic Development and Fiscal Sustainability after the Covid-19 pandemic. In addition, the Microenterprise Regime (RIM) and Simplified Regime (RISE) have been replaced with the Microenterprise and Popular Business Regime (RIMPE) for the benefit of small and large entrepreneurs. This work has a bibliographic review of sources such as journal articles and statistical data from official pages (SRI), from which the information on the subject was reviewed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study presents an empirical investigation of 54 police interviews in Norway conducted with suspects speaking Norwegian as a second language. Using Conversation Analysis as our method, we examine how investigators seek to ensure that suspects understand their rights. We find a range of practices for making rights more accessible compared to how they are formulated in legal acts. Investigators divide their turns into smaller segments and monitor the suspect for displays of understanding along the way. They simplify the syntax and substitute technical terms with plain vocabulary. Sometimes they supplement the wording of the prosecution instructions with explanations or reformulations. In a few instances, they also check understanding by asking a simple yes/no question. However, such questions only generate claims of understanding and no actual evidence of what has been understood. While there are isolated cases of requests to retell the rights, even these practices are problematic in generating strong evidence of understanding. This study discusses the importance of linguistic education and training in police forces for dealing with potential or emerging understanding problems during investigative interviews. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the correlativity between the acting of the Seonghwangdang (Village Shrine)-style revolutionary theatre in North Korea and the Stanislavsky system. Kim Jong-il dictates that Seonghwangdang-style revolutionary theatre is one of the representative art works that explains the origin of North Korean juche in his books On the Art of the Cinema and On the Art of the Theatre. Despite his criticism of the Stanislavsky system, Kim almost translates the process of role creation into urisik (our style, that is, North Korean style) one, borrowing a given circumstance, experience, jagam (creative state), and "magic if" from the system according to the principles of juche and sokdojeon (speed battle). The result is simplification of the semantic area of experience and the creative state, which shows how theatrical arts are limited by political ideological centrality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the extent to which Palenquero/Spanish bilinguals, a population that is said to have a residual high tone of African origin, keep their two languages temporally and intonationally distinct across statements. While creole languages that emerged from the contact of African and European languages, such as Palenquero, may develop hybrid prosodic systems with tones from substrate languages, and stress from the majority language, language-specific prosody might be expected to converge or simplify over the course of time. As prosodic convergence seems to be inescapable under Palenquero's circumstances, which factors could support language-specific prosody in this population, if there are any? Two-hundred and thirty-four five-syllable statements were elicited through a discourse completion task, with the participation of ten Palenquero/Spanish bilinguals, in two unilingual sessions. Both phrase-final lengthening and F0 contours were assessed using linear mixed-effects models testing their association with final stress, language, and generation. F0 contours were dimensionally reduced using functional principal component analysis. Despite the strong similarities between the two languages, results indicate that both groups keep their two languages intonationally distinct using plateau-shaped contours in Palenquero initial rises followed by steeper declinations in Spanish. However, elderly bilinguals implement penultimate lengthening language-specifically, being more pronounced in Palenquero. Adults, in contrast, do not show this distinction. In addition to this, elderly speakers show hyperarticulation in Spanish intonation, increasing the difference between their languages. This leads us to believe that adults exhibit a more simplified prosodic system between their languages, relative to elderly bilinguals. In spite of such differences, both generations seem to have the same underlying process (perhaps a substrate effect) driving plateau-shaped intonation in Palenquero, which enhances language differentiation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This experimental study investigates the impact of ChatGPT-simplified authentic texts on university students’ reading comprehension, inferencing, and reading anxiety levels. A within-subjects design was employed, and 105 undergraduate English as a foreign language (EFL) students engaged in both original and ChatGPT-simplified text readings, serving as their own controls. The findings reveal a significant improvement in reading comprehension scores and inferencing scores following ChatGPT intervention. However, no significant change in reading anxiety levels was observed. Results suggest that ChatGPT simplification positively influences reading comprehension and inferencing, but its impact on reading anxiety remains inconclusive. This research contributes to literature on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in education and sheds light on ChatGPT’s potential to influence language learning experiences within higher education contexts. The study highlights the practical application of ChatGPT as a tool for helping students engage in authentic text readings by making text more comprehensible. Based on the findings, several multifaceted implications that extend to various stakeholders in the field of language education are provided.

Logic is an excellent tool for reasoning about most philosophical topics, including logical issues themselves. Discussions about the validity or otherwise of certain principles have been widespread throughout the history of logic. This chapter exemplifies that with the analysis of the debate surrounding connexive logics. In connexive logics, certain principles involving mainly negation and implication hold good, whereas they are not valid in most well-known logics. Despite their intuitiveness, the connexive principles quickly lead to contradictions and even to triviality, i.e. to the truth of every proposition. This chapter surveys the main arguments against the connexive principles and discusses some prospects for challenging those arguments and endorsing the connexive principles.

Simplifying summaries of scholarly publications has been a popular method for conveying scientific discoveries to a broader audience. While text summarization aims to shorten long documents, simplification seeks to reduce the complexity of a document. To accomplish these tasks collectively, there is a need to develop machine learning methods to shorten and simplify longer texts. This study presents a new Simplification Aware Text Summarization model (SATS) based on future n-gram prediction. The proposed SATS model extends ProphetNet, a text summarization model, by enhancing the objective function using a word frequency lexicon for simplification tasks. We have evaluated the performance of SATS on a recently published text summarization and simplification corpus consisting of 5,400 scientific article pairs. Our results in terms of automatic evaluation demonstrate that SATS outperforms state-of-the-art models for simplification, summarization, and joint simplification-summarization across two datasets on ROUGE, SARI, and CSS1. We also provide human evaluation of summaries generated by the SATS model. We evaluated 100 summaries from eight annotators for grammar, coherence, consistency, fluency, and simplicity. The average human judgment for all evaluated dimensions lies between 4.0 and 4.5 on a scale from 1 to 5 where 1 means low and 5 means high.

This analysis takes into consideration the challenge of writing legislative provisions. Legislative expressions must be clear, precise, and unambiguous, on the one hand, and all-inclusive, on the other. A clever balance between the two is the essence of the craftsmanship of normative texts. The nature and extent of specification of legal scope, moreover, represents one of the most difficult tasks in legislative drafting. Based on the hypothesis that linguistics can provide drafters with a method for assessing the effectiveness of the legislator’s provisions, this study demonstrates that drafters often miss the focus of the policy concepts that they aim to communicate, and discusses the latest techniques to successfully achieve the desired conceptual focus.

Teaching materials are significant items that are unique and specific. Therefore, the selections should be relevant to students’ proficiency. This research aimed (1) to disclose lexical density, readability, nominalizations, and modifiers in pedagogical texts as teaching materials, (2) to reveal the linguistic features functional roles on text for pedagogical demand, and (3) to attempt to suggest consideration for simplification on authentic text. This research employed qualitative content analysis. The data sources were 18 pedagogical texts from senior high school textbooks by the Indonesian Ministry of Education. Human instruments and a text analyser for the automatic computation were utilized for the analysis under Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) pilots. This research disclosed the appropriate text lexical density for senior high school students is a fairly difficult construction. Then, nominalizations within the texts are unpreventable and process nominalization is frequently used. The nominalization and the modifiers affect sentence complexities; the nominalizations function to condense information, collocate words, create cohesiveness, interfere with conciseness, and use as trans-categorization while modifiers are to add explicitness to nouns. The simplification considerations are by utilizing lexical density and readability algorithm, de-nominalization, measuring modifiers, and splitting substance of modifiers to increase text accessibility.

The continuous pharmacological advances in antiretroviral treatment (ART) and the increasing understanding of HIV drug resistance has led to a change in the paradigm of ART optimization in the setting of the viral suppression of treatment-experienced patients with the emerging evidence of the effectiveness and safety of dual therapies. The aim of this study is to determine the antiviral efficacy and safety of switching to Dolutegravir + Lamivudine in people living with HIV, and to analyze the rate of patients with virologic failure (VF). A total of 200 patients were included with a median age of 51 years, 189 cells/µL of nadir CD4+, 13 years on ART and four previous ART regimens. Among the 168 patients who completed a follow-up at 48 weeks, a total of five VFs occurred, resulting in a 2.98% (5/168) VF rate. The results of the intention-to-treat analysis were a VF rate of 2.54% (5/197), and the rate of patients/year with viral suppression was 98.3% (298/303) in the observed data analysis. We observed a significant improvement in mean CD4 lymphocytes, the CD4/CD8 ratio and lipid profiles. The optimization of ART to DTG plus 3TC is a cost-effective switch option for treatment-experienced HIV patients, and also improves their lipid profiles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In today's global world, many people can move across borders as travelling has become much easier in many ways. However, the securitization of borders has not been relaxed, implying that multilingual police-civilian interactions are becoming more 'commonplace'. Within the framework of conversation analysis, this article presents a novel study on multilingual police border checks. These are police encounters "on the ground" (not in police custody), and as such, there are no interpreters or language experts present. Focusing on the analysis of a single-case police encounter in which participants have to rely on a second language (English) that none of them are proficient in (i.e., 'novice-novice interaction'), this article examines practices that speakers use to resolve a crime involving the illegal possession of drugs. In addition, some complementary findings from other border checks are presented. Overall, this study shows that participants attempt to achieve intersubjectivity by using interactional (and embodied) practices (e.g., word choice, repair, speech simplification) oriented toward recipient design. By doing so, participants shape the progressivity of the encounter and ultimately achieve their objectives in the interaction. As such, this article shows how a high-stake (police) multilingual situation can also be resolved in the absence of a language expert. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much knowledge production, both academic and non‐academic, is driven by a need to simplify the world in order to enable people to navigate the complexities of everyday life. Such simplifications not only risk offering less reliable representations of the world, they can also turn into disruptive and harmful images of the world. In this article, students and teachers in the field of religion and theology are encouraged to value scientific research as a form of knowledge production that complicates things. In an age in which scientific knowledge is constantly contested and in which it competes with other forms of knowledge production (including problematic ones such as fake news, conspiracy theories, stereotyped representations of religion and religious others, and poorly executed journalism), it is important for students to understand that complicating things is a key step in developing reliable knowledge on religion and the (ir)religious other. This article, written for students starting out in the field of theology and religion and for those who teach them, explains how complicating things takes shape in scientific research by discussing three basic elements: (1) not taking things at face value, (2) understanding science as knowledge production and reflecting on science as production, (3) and realizing that there is no absolute certainty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper is mixed-method research on reducing administrative burden and, more specifically, the learning costs of filling out a property tax declaration form. It presents the development process of a guidebook, which simplified the instructions and experimentally tested the effectiveness of the guidebook in lowering the error rate. Young Slovak adults (N=43) were divided into two groups; the treatment group worked with the guidebook, and the control group used the official instructions the Ministry of Finance provided. The guidebook aimed to decrease learning costs using behavioural support (simplification, highlighting, examples, and the like). The results suggest that the guidebook helps significantly decrease the number of errors compared to the complex instructions the Ministry of Finance provided. However, while the guidebook is very effective in reducing errors in simple tasks, it may not be sufficient help for more complex tasks such as mathematical calculations. Therefore, simplified instructions must go hand-in-hand with interventions such as pre-populating of forms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides an analysis of the continuous transformation of the cohesion policy since its establishment to present. Despite of the original aim at delivering and efficient and effective policy to address the challenges of a harmonious development of all regions and territories of the member states, revisions and changes introduced form one programming to another transformed the cohesion policy into one of the most complex EU policies and generated higher administrative burden for all participants to the management and implementation of the cohesion policy. This article compares the changes produced in the cohesion policy from one period to another with the aim of identifying the transformation produced from one period to another and the main factors contributing to continuous increasing complexity. The results of this analysis provide an overview of the cohesion policy landscape for better understanding which are the challenging areas for the simplification as prerequisites for a smother and more effective the cohesion policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current research aims at the concept of the simplified Brand, its performance, and its activities in children's theater performances. Included: 1. The Brand attached to the Mask gives an added cognitive value through simplification. 2. Using the Brand in children's theater achieves an important goal that activates and strengthens the perceptions of the audience. 3. As for the third chapter, the research community consisted of plays that were presented according to the availability of simple Brand in the performances of children's plays, and the research sample was chosen (intended) because it contained (simple Brands) - the play (The World of Vitamins) directed by Hussein Ali Harf. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study takes the Yong-deng dialect as a case study to investigate the phenomenon of tonal merging observed in Northwest Chinese dialects. It begins by examining the various monosyllabic tone patterns of the Yong-deng dialect, then supplements this with a review of the relevant literature, comparisons with the tone patterns of the neighbouring dialects, and an analysis of its tone sandhi in disyllabic and trisyllabic combinations. Each step of the dialect's tonal variation is scrutinised, allowing for the identification of pertinent phonetic biases and the derivation of associated phonological rules. The central argument advanced here is that both synchronic tonal variation and diachronic tone change are governed by specific phonological rules. Despite the ostensibly variable phonetic manifestations, these rules can enable the prediction of the trajectory of tone change. The paper contributes to the understanding of tone merger and highlights its systemic and rule-bound nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Copyright of Sanat ve Tasarim Dergisi is the property of Ankara Haci Bayram Veli University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Summary: Background: Treatment-simplification strategies are important tools for patient-centred management. We evaluated long-term outcomes from a PI monotherapy switch strategy. Methods: Eligible participants attending 43 UK treatment centres had a viral load (VL) below 50 copies/ml for at least 24 weeks on combination ART. Participants were randomised to maintain ongoing triple therapy (OT) or switch to a strategy of physician-selected PI monotherapy (PI-mono) with prompt return to combination therapy if VL rebounded. The primary outcome, previously reported, was loss of future drug options after 3 years, defined as new intermediate/high level resistance to at least one drug to which the participant's virus was considered sensitive at trial entry. Here we report resistance and disease outcomes after further extended follow-up in routine care. The study was registered as ISRCTN04857074. Findings: We randomised 587 participants to OT (291) or PI-mono (296) between Nov 4, 2008, and July 28, 2010 and followed them for a median of more than 8 years (100 months) until 2018. At the end of this follow-up time, one or more future drug options had been lost in 7 participants in the OT group and 6 in the PI-mono group; estimated cumulative risk by 8 years of 2.7% and 2.1% respectively (difference −0.6%, 95% CI −3.2% to 2.0%). Only one PI-mono participant developed resistance to the protease inhibitor they were taking (atazanavir). Serious clinical events (death, serious AIDS, and serious non-AIDS) were infrequent; reported in a total of 12 (4.1%) participants in the OT group and 23 (7.8%) in the PI-mono group (P = 0.08) over the entire follow-up period. Interpretation: A strategy of PI monotherapy, with regular VL monitoring and prompt reintroduction of combination treatment following rebound, preserved future treatment options. Findings confirm the high genetic barrier to resistance of the PI drug class that makes them well suited for creative, patient-centred, treatment-simplification approaches. The possibility of a small excess risk of serious clinical events with the PI monotherapy strategy cannot be excluded. Funding: The National Institute for Health Research Health Technology Assessment programme.