Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Speech and language therapists’ views about AAC system acceptance by people with acquired communication disorders

Abstract Objective: Some adults with acquired communication disorders are faced with an inability to communicate coherently through verbal speech with their communication partners. Despite the fact that a variety of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) aided systems is available to assist them in communicating, not all adults accept them. In Cyprus, there is scant research focusing on the factors that are linked to AAC system acceptance and abandonment. Methods: To address this gap, this research involves exploring the experiences of six speech and language therapists supporting adults with acquired communication disorders, who could benefit from the use of AAC systems. The main research question is: What are the factors that influence AAC system acceptance or abandonment? The method used for data collection, was semi-structured interviews and the transcripts were analyzed thematically. Results: The findings show that a number of factors influence the acceptance of AAC systems. These include the time since onset and acceptance of disability, the person’s attitude towards communication facilitators, and the perceptions about AAC systems. These findings indicate that the process of accepting an AAC system is multi-layered and these layers are interrelated. Conclusions: More research is warranted focusing directly on the experiences of people with acquired communication disorders and their communication partners. Implications for Rehabilitation The different myths about AAC systems need to be challenged such that awareness about their usefulness is raised. AAC specialists need to find ways to spread the message that AAC systems can actually support language, speech and communication through different dissemination avenues, such as articles in newspapers and talks through the media.
Facebook in context(s): Measuring emotional responses across time and space

This article advances a contextual approach to understanding the emotional and social outcomes of Facebook use. In doing so, we address the ambiguity of previously reported relationships between Facebook use and well-being. We test temporal (shorter vs longer time spans) and spatial (at home vs away from home) dimensions of Facebook activity using an innovative approach. By triggering smartphone surveys in response to users’ naturalistic Facebook posting, we captured the immediate context of both mobile and desktop activities during daily life. Findings indicated positive—yet fleeting—emotional experiences up to 10 minutes after active posting and higher arousal for 30 minutes following posting at home. Nonetheless, Facebook activities predicted no changes in aggregate mood over 2 weeks, despite showing positive relationships to bridging social capital during the same period. Our results call attention to fleeting experiences (vs enduring consequences) and encourage future research to specify temporal and spatial boundaries.
Too hot to trust: Examining the relationship between attractiveness, trustworthiness, and desire to date in online dating

This study expands upon previous research by examining how the enhancement of a dating profile picture might influence perceptions of interpersonal trustworthiness and how this relationship might further influence the perceived attractiveness and desire to date the respective individual. Participants were exposed to one of four online dating profile conditions and were then asked to rate the attractiveness of the person in the profile, as well as their perceived trustworthiness. The results revealed that men in this study perceived a more attractive female profile picture as less trustworthy, while women found a male with a more attractive profile picture to be more trustworthy. An indirect effects model also revealed that perceived trustworthiness mediates the relationship between similarity and attractiveness, though these effects were not moderated by the picture manipulation itself. Finally, this study found that individuals have greater intentions to date individuals whose profile pictures are perceived as more attractive.
Swarm coordination of mini-UAVs for target search using imperfect sensors

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have a great potential to support search tasks in unstructured environments. Small, lightweight, low speed and agile UAVs, such as multi-rotors platforms can incorporate many kinds of sensors that are suitable for detecting object of interests in cluttered outdoor areas. However, due to their limited endurance, moderate computing power, and imperfect sensing, mini-UAVs should be into groups using swarm coordination algorithms to perform tasks in a scalable, reliable and robust manner. In this paper a biologically-inspired mechanisms is adopted to coordinate drones performing target search with imperfect sensors. In essence, coordination can be achieved by combining stigmergic and flocking behaviors. Stigmergy occurs when a drone releases digital pheromone upon sensing of a potential target. Such pheromones can be aggregated and diffused between flocking drones, creating a spatiotemporal attractive potential field. Flocking occurs, as an emergent effect of alignment, separation and cohesion, where drones self organise with similar heading and dynamic arrangement as a group. The emergent coordination of drones relies on the alignment of stigmergy and flocking strategies. This paper reports on the design of the novel swarming algorithm, reviewing different strategies and measuring their performance on a number of synthetic and real-world scenarios.
Adolescent Tuning of Association Cortex in Human Structural Brain Networks

Motivated by prior data on local cortical shrinkage and intracortical myelination, we predicted age-related changes in topological organisation of cortical structural networks during adolescence. We estimated structural correlation from magnetic resonance imaging measures of cortical thickness at 308 regions in a sample of N=297 healthy participants, aged 14-24 years. We used a novel sliding-window analysis to measure age-related changes in network attributes globally, locally and in the context of several community partitions of the network. We found that the strength of structural correlation generally decreased as a function of age. Association cortical regions demonstrated a sharp decrease in nodal degree (hubness) from 14 years, reaching a minimum at approximately 19 years, and then levelling off or even slightly increasing until 24 years. Greater and more prolonged age-related changes in degree of cortical regions within the brain network were associated with faster rates of adolescent cortical myelination and shrinkage. The brain regions that demonstrated the greatest age-related changes were concentrated within prefrontal modules. We conclude that human adolescence is associated with biologically plausible changes in structural imaging markers of brain network organization, consistent with the concept of tuning or consolidating anatomical connectivity between frontal cortex and the rest of the connectome.
A Pitch Salience Function Derived from Harmonic Frequency Deviations for Polyphonic Music Analysis

In this paper, a novel approach for the computation of a pitch salience function is presented. The aim of a pitch (considered here as synonym for fundamental frequency) salience function is to es- timate the relevance of the most salient musical pitches that are present in a certain audio excerpt. Such a function is used in nu- merous Music Information Retrieval (MIR) tasks such as pitch, multiple-pitch estimation, melody extraction and audio features computation (such as chroma or Pitch Class Profiles). In order to compute the salience of a pitch candidate f , the classical approach uses the weighted sum of the energy of the short time spectrum at its integer multiples frequencies hf. In the present work, we pro- pose a different approach which does not rely on energy but only on frequency location. For this, we first estimate the peaks of the short time spectrum. From the frequency location of these peaks, we evaluate the likelihood that each peak is an harmonic of a given fundamental frequency. The specificity of our method is to use as likelihood the deviation of the harmonic frequency locations from the pitch locations of the equal tempered scale. This is used to cre- ate a theoretical sequence of deviations which is then compared to an observed one. The proposed method is then evaluated for a task of multiple-pitch estimation using the MAPS test-set.
Heme Iron from Meat and Risk of Colorectal Cancer: A Meta-analysis and a Review of the Mechanisms Involved

Red meat and processed meat intake is associated with a risk of colorectal cancer, a major cause of death in affluent countries. Epidemiological and experimental evidence supports the hypothesis that heme iron present in meat promotes colorectal cancer. This meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies of colon cancer reporting heme intake included 566,607 individuals and 4,734 cases of colon cancer. The relative risk of colon cancer was 1.18 (95% CI: 1.06–1.32) for subjects in the highest category of heme iron intake compared with those in the lowest category. Epidemiological data thus show a suggestive association between dietary heme and risk of colon cancer. The analysis of experimental studies in rats with chemically-induced colon cancer showed that dietary hemoglobin and red meat consistently promote aberrant crypt foci, a putative precancer lesion. The mechanism is not known, but heme iron has a catalytic effect on (i) the endogenous formation of carcinogenic N-nitroso compounds and (ii) the formation of cytotoxic and genotoxic aldehydes by lipoperoxidation. A review of evidence supporting these hypotheses suggests that both pathways are involved in heme iron toxicity. Cancer Prev Res; 4(2); 177–84. ©2011 AACR.
Taxonomic Revision of the Order Halichondrida (Porifera: Demospongiae) of Northern Australia: Family Axinellidae

Nine species in five genera of the family Axinellidae, including three new species, Axinella loribellae sp. nov. A. sinoxea sp. nov. and Phakellia tropicalis sp. nov., are recorded for the tropical northern Australian waters of Western Australia, the Northern Territory and the Queensland coast as part of a revision of the order Halichondrida (Porifera: Demospongiae) in this region. One species, Dragmacidon durissimum (Dendy, 1905), generally found in the Indian Ocean, represents a new record for Australia. Taxonomic descriptions and discussion of those species are presented here. The position of Reniochalina within the Axinellidae is also discussed based on new evidence found in this and other studies.
Statistics of the Kolkata Paise Restaurant problem

We study the dynamics of a few stochastic learning strategies for the ‘Kolkata Paise Restaurant’ problem, where N agents choose among N equally priced but differently ranked restaurants every evening, such that each agent tries to get dinner in the best restaurant (with each restaurant serving only one customer and the rest of the customers arriving there going without dinner that evening). We consider the learning strategies to be similar for all the agents, and assume that each follows the same probabilistic or stochastic strategy dependent on information about past successes in the game. We show that some ‘naive’ strategies lead to much better utilization of services than some relatively ‘smarter’ strategies. We also show that a service utilization fraction as high as 0.80 can result for a stochastic strategy, where each agent sticks to his past choice (independent of success achieved or not, with probability decreasing inversely in the past crowd size). The numerical results for the utilization fraction of the services in some limiting cases are analytically examined.
Cardiac status assessment with a multi-signal device for improved home-based congestive heart failure management

State-of-the-Art disease management for Congestive Heart Failure (CHF) patients is still based on easy-to-acquire measures such as heart rate (HR), weight and blood pressure (BP). However, these measures respond late to changes of the patient health status and provide limited information to personalize and adapt medication therapy. This paper describes our concept called “Cardiac Status Assessment” we have been investigating within the European project “HeartCycle” towards next-generation home-based disease management of CHF. In our concept we analyze non-invasive surrogate measures of the cardio-vascular function in particular systolic time intervals and pulse wave characteristics to estimate Cardiac Output (CO) and Systemic Vascular Resistance (SVR) both are established clinical measures. We discuss the underlying concept, a developed measurement system and first results.
Molecular characterisation of multidrug resistant Lactobacillus isolated from dental plaque of dogs using a multiplex PCR assay

Dental caries is a significant public health problem in both humans and animals worldwide. Lactobacillus species have been reported to be highly prevalent in both superficial and deep caries. The aim of this study was to analyse the antibiotic resistance patterns of lactobacilli isolated from dog dental plaque samples. Thirty plaque samples were collected from dog teeth. All Lactobacillus isolates were identified using phenotypic and genotypic methods. Then, their antibiotic susceptibility patterns and genetic determinants responsible for antibiotic resistance were determined. Total of 17 isolates were identified as belonging to the genus Lactobacillus by both methods. The results of antibiotic susceptibility test showed that all isolates (100%) were resistant to cefazolin and cefixime; 94% and 88% – resistant to penicillin and tetracycline; 64%, 58%, 52% and 41% of Lactobacillus isolates were resistant to amoxicillin-clavulanic acid, nitrofurantoin, vancomycin and chloramphenicol respectively. The results of resistance genes identification indicated that blaTEM was the most important determinant responsible for cefazolin, cefixime and amoxicillin-clavulanic acid resistance. The mecA gene was responsible for penicillin resistance while both tetK and tetM genes were equally involved in tetracycline resistance. According to the widespread resistance patterns seen among Lactobacillus isolates in this study, we concluded that antibiotic therapy for oral microbial infections should be used only where extremely needed.
Coupled matrix-tensor factorizations — The case of partially shared factors

Coupled matrix-tensor factorizations have proved to be a powerful tool for data fusion problems in a variety of applications. Uniqueness conditions for such coupled decompositions have only recently been reported, demonstrating that coupling through a common factor can ensure uniqueness beyond what is possible when considering separate decompositions. In view of the increasing interest in application scenarios involving more general notions of coupling, we revisit in this paper the uniqueness question for the important case where the factors common to the tensor and the matrix only share some of their columns. Related computational aspects and numerical examples are also discussed.
CommViz: Visualization of semantic patterns in large social communication networks

We introduce CommViz, an information visualization tool that enables complex communication networks to be explored, exposing trends and patterns in the data at a glance. We adapt a visualization approach known as hive plots to reflect the semantic structure of the networks, a generalization we call semantic hive plots. The method efficiently organizes and provides insight into complex, high-dimensional communication data such as email and messages on social media. We present the architecture of the CommViz tool and its application to the Enron email corpus as a case study, demonstrating how the structure of the visualization enables investigation of patterns and relationships in a large set of messages. We also provide a user study performed with Amazon Mechanical Turk that shows the value of the tool for certain complex data interrogations and further show how the incorporation of semantic structure on semantic coordinates can also be applied to parallel coordinates visualization. The integration of the social network characteristics with semantic attributes of the underlying data in a single visualization is, to our knowledge, a novel contribution of the work. The tool can be accessed at http://commviz.eng.unimelb.edu. au. Code is available at https://bitbucket.org/readbiomed/commviz. The Enron email corpus is available from http://bailando.sims. berkeley.edu/enron_email. html.
Solutions for bargaining games with incomplete information: General type space and action space

A Nash bargaining solution for Bayesian collective choice problem with general type and action spaces is built in this paper. Such solution generalizes the bargaining solution proposed by Myerson who uses finite sets to characterize the type and action spaces. However, in the real economics and industries, types and actions can hardly be characterized by a finite set in some circumstances. Hence our generalization expands the applications of bargaining theory in economic and industrial models.
A Tri-Mode Coupled Coil with Tunable Focal Point Adjustment for Bio-Medical Applications

The paper proposes the design of a tri-mode coupled coil which enables three modes of operation for inducing electromagnetic field, where the focal adjustment of the E field can be optimized. Methods: The setup consists of two identical figure-of-eight coils, namely coil 1 and coil 2, coupled to each other by magnetic resonance coupling. Coil 1 is driven by active source, where coil 2 is driven by the magnetic field coupled from coil 1. The frequency of operation would affect the coupling between the coils and hence the current ratios induced. Results: In the first and the second modes, the current dominates at the first coil and the second coil, respectively. In the third mode, both coils conduct similar amount of currents. Conclusion: The concept is proven by measuring the current ratios of the coils and the voltage induced in biological tissues. The current ratios in the first and the second modes are measured as maximum 13.0 and minimal 0.258 at frequencies 487.7 kHz and 453.2 kHz, respectively, while the current ratio measured in the third mode is 1.03. Significance: The tri-mode coil could potentially be applied for biological applications such as pulsed electromagnetic energy treatment and thermoacoustic imaging.
Photothermal Therapy Generates a Thermal Window of Immunogenic Cell Death in Neuroblastoma.

A thermal "window" of immunogenic cell death (ICD) elicited by nanoparticle-based photothermal therapy (PTT) in an animal model of neuroblastoma is described. In studies using Prussian blue nanoparticles to administer photothermal therapy (PBNP-PTT) to established localized tumors in the neuroblastoma model, it is observed that PBNP-PTT conforms to the "more is better" paradigm, wherein higher doses of PBNP-PTT generates higher cell/local heating and thereby more cell death, and consequently improved animal survival. However, in vitro analysis of the biochemical correlates of ICD (ATP, high-motility group box 1, and calreticulin) elicited by PBNP-PTT demonstrates that PBNP-PTT triggers a thermal window of ICD. ICD markers are highly expressed within an optimal temperature (thermal dose) window of PBNP-PTT (63.3-66.4 °C) as compared with higher (83.0-83.5 °C) and lower PBNP-PTT (50.7-52.7 °C) temperatures, which both yield lower expression. Subsequent vaccination studies in the neuroblastoma model confirm the in vitro findings, wherein PBNP-PTT administered within the optimal temperature window results in long-term survival (33.3% at 100 d) compared with PBNP-PTT administered within the higher (0%) and lower (20%) temperature ranges, and controls (0%). The findings demonstrate a tunable immune response to heat generated by PBNP-PTT, which should be critically engaged in the administration of PTT for maximizing its therapeutic benefits.
Recent changes in reproductive phenology of a K-selected aquatic insect predator, Belostoma flumineum Say (Heteroptera, Belostomatidae)

Abstract The timing of critical events like mating, migration, and development has noticeably and recently shifted in many populations of diverse organisms. Here, we report a change in the breeding phenology of giant waterbugs, Belostoma flumineum Say (Heteroptera, Belostomatidae), in the northeastern United States. Waterbugs collected in 2005 and 2006 exhibited previously typical patterns of mating and reproduction: two annual reproductive peaks in which overwintered adults mated in the spring and young adults from a new generation mated in the fall. In 2012 and 2015, despite similar sampling effort, we detected no fall breeding activity in the study area. Reproductive behaviour under controlled laboratory conditions was also different between the earlier (2005 and 2006) and recent (2012 and 2015) years: waterbugs collected in recent years exhibited significant delays in reproduction (>30 days) under similar photoperiod and thermal conditions. We discuss potential causes of this dramatic change in reproductive behaviour, such as climate change, as well as possible negative impacts of the absence of fall reproduction on populations of B. flumineum in the study region.
Analytical Enhancements and Practical Insights for MPCP with Self-Suspensions

Hardware accelerators such as GP-GPUs and DSPs are being increasingly used in computationally-intensive real-time and multimedia systems. System efficiency is often increased when CPU tasks suspend while using these devices. In this paper, we extend the existing Multiprocessor Priority Ceiling Protocol (MPCP) schedulability analysis in this particular context. We present three methods to improve the traditional MPCP analysis that reduces pessimism in analyzing blocking times. Two of these methods, the request-driven and the job-driven approaches, are motivated by prior work and are adapted to MPCP. The third combines these two approaches in a novel way to consistently outperform either on its own. We note that our underlying observations are general, and that such methods can also be used for analyzing other real-time synchronization protocols. Experimental results indicate that our analytical improvements result in a significantly higher schedulability compared to the traditional recursion-based analysis, even when self-suspensions are not considered. Our approach is also competitive with and often outperforms the linear-programming-based FMLP+ analysis, while having a considerably lower runtime complexity. We further substantiate the practical feasibility of suspension-based MPCP and examine its benefits over the busy-waiting approach by presenting a case-study on an NVIDIA TX2 embedded platform using real-world vision applications.
Deep Learning Based NLOS Identification With Commodity WLAN Devices

Identifying line-of-sight (LOS) and non-LOS channel conditions can improve the performance of many wireless applications, such as signal strength-based localization algorithms. For this purpose, channel state information (CSI) obtained by commodity IEEE 802.11n devices can be used, because it contains information about channel impulse response (CIR). However, because of the limited sampling rate of the devices, a high-resolution CIR is not available, and it is difficult to detect the existence of an LOS path from a single CSI measurement, but it can be inferred from the variation pattern of CSI over time. To this end, we propose a recurrent neural network (RNN) model, which takes a series of CSI to identify the corresponding channel condition. We collect numerous measurement data under an indoor office environment, train the proposed RNN model, and compare the performance with those of existing schemes that use handcrafted features. The proposed method efficiently learns a nonlinear relationship between input and output, and thus, yields high accuracy even for data obtained in a very short period.