Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Prosodic prominence detection in speech

This paper presents work in progress on the automatic detection of prosodic prominence in continuous speech. Prosodic prominence involves two different phonetic features: pitch accents, connected with fundamental frequency (FO) movements and syllable overall energy, and stress, which exhibits a strong correlation with syllable nuclei duration and high-frequency emphasis. By measuring these acoustic parameters it is possible to build an automatic system capable of correctly identifying prominent syllables with an agreement with human-tagged data comparable with the inter-human agreement reported in the literature. These results were achieved without using any information apart from acoustic parameters.
Tauroursodeoxycholic acid increases neural stem cell pool and neuronal conversion by regulating mitochondria-cell cycle retrograde signaling

The low survival and differentiation rates of stem cells after either transplantation or neural injury have been a major concern of stem cell-based therapy. Thus, further understanding long-term survival and differentiation of stem cells may uncover new targets for discovery and development of novel therapeutic approaches. We have previously described the impact of mitochondrial apoptosis-related events in modulating neural stem cell (NSC) fate. In addition, the endogenous bile acid, tauroursodeoxycholic acid (TUDCA) was shown to be neuroprotective in several animal models of neurodegenerative disorders by acting as an anti-apoptotic and anti-oxidant molecule at the mitochondrial level. Here, we hypothesize that TUDCA might also play a role on NSC fate decision. We found that TUDCA prevents mitochondrial apoptotic events typical of early-stage mouse NSC differentiation, preserves mitochondrial integrity and function, while enhancing self-renewal potential and accelerating cell cycle exit of NSCs. Interestingly, TUDCA prevention of mitochondrial alterations interfered with NSC differentiation potential by favoring neuronal rather than astroglial conversion. Finally, inhibition of mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (mtROS) scavenger and adenosine triphosphate (ATP) synthase revealed that the effect of TUDCA is dependent on mtROS and ATP regulation levels. Collectively, these data underline the importance of mitochondrial stress control of NSC fate decision and support a new role for TUDCA in this process.
Indigenous bacteria with antagonistic and plant-growth-promoting activities improve slow-filtration efficiency in soilless cultivation.

In tomato soilless culture, slow filtration allows one to control the development of diseases caused by pathogenic microorganisms. During the disinfecting process, microbial elimination is ensured by mechanical and biological factors. In this study, system efficacy was enhanced further to a biological activation of filter by inoculating the pozzolana grains contained in the filtering unit with 5 selected bacteria. Three strains identified as Pseudomonas putida and 2 as Bacillus cereus came from a filter whose high efficiency to eliminate pathogens has been proven over years. These 5 bacteria displayed either a plant growth promoting activity (P. putida strains) or antagonistic properties (B. cereus strains). Over the first months following their introduction in the filter, the bacterial colonisation of pozzolana grains was particularly high as compared to the one observed in the control filter. Conversely to Bacillus spp. populations, Pseudomonas spp. ones remained abundant throughout the whole cultural season. The biological activation of filter unit very significantly enhanced fungal elimination with respect to the one displayed by the control filter. Indeed, the 6-month period needed by the control filter to reach its best efficacy against Fusarium oxysporum was shortened for the bacteria-amended filter; in addition, a high efficacy filtration was got as soon as the first month. Fast colonization of pozzolana grains by selected bacteria and their subsequent interaction with F. oxysporum are likely responsible for filter efficiency. Our results suggest that Pseudomonas spp. act by competition for nutrients, and Bacillus spp. by antibiosis and (or) direct parasitism. Elimination of other fungal pathogens, i.e., Pythium spp. , seems to differ from that of Fusarium since both filters demonstrated a high efficacy at the experiment start. Pythium spp. elimination appears to mainly rely on physical factors. It is worth noting that a certain percentage of the 5 pozzolana-inoculated bacteria failed to colonise the filter unit and were, thus, driven to the plants by the nutrient solution. Their contribution to the establishment of a beneficial microbial community in the rhizosphere is discussed.
Achieving High Frequency Diversity with Subcarrier Allocation in OFDMA Systems

OFDM can provide frequency diversity gain for point-to-point communications over frequency-selective slow fading channel. Recent works show that OFDM may also form a flexible and efficient multiple access method, which is often referred to OFDMA. However, the user outage probability and the optimal frequency diversity gain in OFDMA systems are not known. In this paper, random bipartite graph is used to model and analyse the multi-user subcarrier allocation problem over frequency-selective slow fading channels. Our aim is to minimize the user outage probability as well as guarantee fairness by dynamic allocating various subcarrier to each user. An optimal subcarrier allocation algorithm, which we shall refer to as the Hungarian method with random vertices rotation, is introduced to achieve these objectives. A simple but effective approximation equation for user outage probability is then derived. It is shown that the optimal frequency diversity gain in OFDMA system is the same as the point-to-point OFDM system. In particular, the frequency diversity gain does not decay as the number of users increases.
Myocardial Oxygen Supply/Demand Relations During Phenylephrine Infusions in Dogs

Experiments were performed on 14 fentanyl-pentobarbital-anesthetized dogs to assess changes in myocardial oxygen supply/demand relations during intravenous infusions of phenylephrine (2.8 μg·kg−1.min−1). Myocardial blood flow was measured with radioactive microspheres. Myocardial oxygen and lactate extraction were determined. Myocardial oxygen consumption was calculated with the Fick equation. In series 1, measurements were obtained during phenylephrine-induced pressor responses. In series 2, measurements were obtained with aortic pressure maintained constant with an extracorporeal reservoir during phenylephrine infusion, so that coronary vasomotor responses could be assessed in the absence of increases in ventricular afterload and perfusion pressure. In series 1, the phenylephrine-induced increase in mean aortic pressure (+42%) was accompanied by proportional (60%) increases in myocardial blood flow and myocardial oxygen consumption and with no change in the endocardium-to-epicardium flow ratio, oxygen extraction, coronary sinus oxygen tension and oxygen saturation, or myocardial lactate extraction. In series 2, phenylephrine infusion caused a transmurally uniform 15% decrease in myocardial blood flow combined with a 10% decrease in myocardial oxygen consumption. The coronary arteriovenous oxygen difference increased modestly (+5%), resulting in small decreases in coronary sinus oxygen tension and oxygen saturation, whereas lactate extraction was unaffected. The present findings suggest that phenylephrine has a direct vasoconstrictor effect in the coronary circulation that is weak and completely overridden by metabolic autoregulatory mechanisms in response to pressure-induced augmentations in cardiac workload. The authors conclude that the myocardium is not at risk when phenylephrine is used to treat hypotension in patients with adequate cardiac function and coronary vasodilator reserve.
Algorithms For Automatic And Robust Registration Of 3D Head Scans

Two methods for registering laser-scans of human heads and transforming them to a new semantically consistent topology defined by a user-provided template mesh are described. Both algorithms are stated within the Iterative Closest Point framework. The first method is based on finding landmark correspondences by iteratively registering the vicinity of a landmark with a re-weighted error function. Thin-plate spline interpolation is then used to deform the template mesh and finally the scan is resampled in the topology of the deformed template. The second algorithm employs a morphable shape model, which can be computed from a database of laser-scans using the first algorithm. It directly optimizes pose and shape of the morphable model. The use of the algorithm with PCA mixture models, where the shape is split up into regions each described by an individual subspace, is addressed. Mixture models require either blending or regularization strategies, both of which are described in detail. For both algorithms, strategies for filling in missing geometry for incomplete laser-scans are described. While an interpolation-based approach can Digital Peer Publishing Licence Any party may pass on this Work by electronic means and make it available for download under the terms and conditions of the current version of the Digital Peer Publishing Licence (DPPL). The text of the licence may be accessed and retrieved via Internet at http://www.dipp. nrw.de/. First presented at the Conference for Visual Media Prodction 2008, extended and revised for JVRB be used to fill in small or smooth regions, the modeldriven algorithm is capable of fitting a plausible complete head mesh to arbitrarily small geometry, which is known as “shape completion”. The importance of regularization in the case of extreme shape completion is shown.
Leishmania major LACK Antigen Is Required for Efficient Vertebrate Parasitization

The Leishmania major LACK antigen is a key target of the immune response in susceptible BALB/c mice and remains a viable vaccine candidate for human leishmaniasis. We describe the genomic organization of the four lack genes in the L. major diploid genome together with results of selected lack gene targeting. Parasites containing a single lack gene in either the upstream or downstream locus grew comparably to wild-type promastigotes in vitro, but failed to parasitize BALB/c mice efficiently, even in a T cell–deficient environment. The replication of single copy lack mutants as amastigotes was attenuated in macrophages in vitro, and parasites failed to increase in numbers in immunodeficient mice, despite their persistence over months. Complementation with an additional lack copy was sufficient to induce robust lesion development, which also occurred using parasites with two lack genes. Conversely, attempts to generate lack-null parasites failed, suggesting that LACK is required for parasite viability. These data suggest that LACK is critical for effective mammalian parasitization and thus represents a potential drug target for leishmaniasis.
Design and Development of a Low-Cost Optical Current Sensor

In this paper we demonstrate the design of a low-cost optical current sensor. The sensor principle is the Faraday rotation of a light beam through a magneto-optical material, SF2, when a magnetic field is present. The prototype has a high sensitivity and a high linearity for currents ranging from 0 up to 800 A. The error of the optical fibre sensor is smaller than 1% for electric currents over 175 A.
Parents' beliefs about condoms and oral contraceptives: are they medically accurate?

CONTEXT Parents are encouraged to be the primary sex educators for their children; however, little is known about the accuracy of parents' views about condoms and oral contraceptives. METHODS Telephone surveys using validated measures provided data on beliefs about the effectiveness, safety and usability of condoms and the pill among 1,069 parents of 13-17-year-olds in Minnesota and Wisconsin in 2002. Pearson chi-square tests and multivariate logistic regression models were used to compare beliefs according to sex, age, race, religion, education, income and political orientation. RESULTS Substantial proportions of parents underestimated the effectiveness of condoms for preventing pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Only 47% believed that condoms are very effective for STD prevention, and 40% for pregnancy prevention. Fifty-two percent thought that pill use prevents pregnancy almost all the time; 39% thought that the pill is very safe. Approximately one-quarter of parents thought that most teenagers are capable of using condoms correctly; almost four in 10 thought that most teenagers can use the pill correctly. Fathers tended to have more accurate views about condoms than mothers did; mothers' views of the pill were generally more accurate than fathers'. Whites were more likely than nonwhites to hold accurate beliefs about the pill's safety and effectiveness; conservatives were less likely than liberals to hold accurate views about the effectiveness of condoms. CONCLUSION Campaigns encouraging parents to talk with their teenagers about sexuality should provide parents with medically accurate information on the effectiveness, safety and usability of condoms and the pill.
Impact of Ti Content on Structural and Electrical Characteristics of High- $\kappa$ Yb2TiO5 $\alpha$ -InZnSnO Thin-Film Transistors

In this letter, we investigated the impact of Ti content on structural properties and electrical characteristics of high-<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${\mathsf \kappa }$ </tex-math></inline-formula> Yb<sub>2</sub>TiO<sub>5</sub> gate dielectrics for amorphous indium–zinc–tin-oxide (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\alpha $ </tex-math></inline-formula>-IZTO) thin-film transistor (TFT) devices. The Yb<sub>2</sub>TiO<sub>5</sub> <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\alpha $ </tex-math></inline-formula>-IZTO TFT device treated at the 120 W condition exhibited excellent electrical characteristics in terms of a low threshold voltage of 0.14 V, high field-effect mobility of 29.8 cm<sup>2</sup>/Vs, high I<sub>ON</sub>/I<sub>OFF</sub> current ratio of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$2.7\times 10^{8}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>, and small subthreshold swing of 202 mV/decade.
Comparative Transcriptome Analysis of Cultivated and Wild Watermelon during Fruit Development

Watermelon [Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.) Matsum. & Nakai] is an important vegetable crop world-wide. Watermelon fruit quality is a complex trait determined by various factors such as sugar content, flesh color and flesh texture. Fruit quality and developmental process of cultivated and wild watermelon are highly different. To systematically understand the molecular basis of these differences, we compared transcriptome profiles of fruit tissues of cultivated watermelon 97103 and wild watermelon PI296341-FR. We identified 2,452, 826 and 322 differentially expressed genes in cultivated flesh, cultivated mesocarp and wild flesh, respectively, during fruit development. Gene ontology enrichment analysis of these genes indicated that biological processes and metabolic pathways related to fruit quality such as sweetness and flavor were significantly changed only in the flesh of 97103 during fruit development, while those related to abiotic stress response were changed mainly in the flesh of PI296341-FR. Our comparative transcriptome profiling analysis identified critical genes potentially involved in controlling fruit quality traits including α-galactosidase, invertase, UDP-galactose/glucose pyrophosphorylase and sugar transporter genes involved in the determination of fruit sugar content, phytoene synthase, β-carotene hydroxylase, 9-cis-epoxycarotenoid dioxygenase and carotenoid cleavage dioxygenase genes involved in carotenoid metabolism, and 4-coumarate:coenzyme A ligase, cellulose synthase, pectinesterase, pectinesterase inhibitor, polygalacturonase inhibitor and α-mannosidase genes involved in the regulation of flesh texture. In addition, we found that genes in the ethylene biosynthesis and signaling pathway including ACC oxidase, ethylene receptor and ethylene responsive factor showed highly ripening-associated expression patterns, indicating a possible role of ethylene in fruit development and ripening of watermelon, a non-climacteric fruit. Our analysis provides novel insights into watermelon fruit quality and ripening biology. Furthermore, the comparative expression profile data we developed provides a valuable resource to accelerate functional studies in watermelon and facilitate watermelon crop improvement.
Exploiting diverse observation perspectives to get insights on the malware landscape

We are witnessing an increasing complexity in the malware analysis scenario. The usage of polymorphic techniques generates a new challenge: it is often difficult to discern the instance of a known polymorphic malware from that of a newly encountered malware family, and to evaluate the impact of patching and code sharing among malware writers in order to prioritize analysis efforts. This paper offers an empirical study on the value of exploiting the complementarity of different information sources in studying malware relationships. By leveraging real-world data generated by a distributed honeypot deployment, we combine clustering techniques based on static and behavioral characteristics of the samples, and we show how this combination helps in detecting clustering anomalies. We also show how the different characteristics of the approaches can help, once combined, to underline relationships among different code variants. Finally, we highlight the importance of contextual information on malware propagation for getting a deeper understanding of the evolution and the “economy” of the different threats.
Nonlinearities Between Attitude and Subjective Norms in Information Technology Acceptance: A Negative Synergy?

Empirical results both from information technology acceptance research as well as from other fields suggest that attitude and subjective norms may have a nonlinear relationship. Based on the economic theory of complementarities, the present paper hypothesizes a substitution relationship or negative synergy between attitude and subjective norms in organizational IT use contexts. Employing two methods for modeling and measuring nonlinear effects of latent constructs, as well as two approaches for visualizing and interpreting interaction and quadratic terms, structural equation modeling analysis of data collected from 258 users of a variety of IT applications in 14 organizations provides support for the hypothesis that attitude and subjective norms were substitutes in predicting intention to use.
A Simple and Fast Word Spotting Method

A simple and efficient pipeline for word spotting in handwritten documents is proposed. The method allows for extremely rapid querying, while still maintaining high accuracy. The dataset images that are to be queried are preprocessed by a simple binarization operation, followed by the extraction of multiple overlapping candidate targets. Each binary target, as well as the binarized query, is resized to fit a fixed-size rectangle and represented by conventional image descriptors. Then, a cosine similarity operator -- followed by maximum pooling over random groups -- is used to represent each target or query as a concise 250D vector. Retrieval is performed in a fraction of a second by nearest-neighbor search within that space, followed by a simple suppression of extra overlapping candidates.
Evaluation of studies of assessment and screening tools, and diagnostic tests

In nursing, diagnostic testing is commonly a regulated activity performed by nurse practitioners and midwives. However, assessment and screening of patients for further testing (case finding) are central elements of nursing. The number of studies evaluating assessments and tests is increasing, but overall, the methodological quality of these studies has been poor.1 Thus, nurses should be able to critically appraise evidence from such studies to ensure that the highest quality assessment and screening tools are used. The tools of assessment, case finding (or screening), and diagnosis are evaluated using different criteria from those applied to studies investigating preventive or therapeutic interventions, although the 3 basic questions of critical appraisal are the same: are the results valid? What are the results? Will the results help me in caring for my patients? In this article, we outline a framework by Sackett et al 2 to critique studies that evaluate a screening tool to assess patients for depression. The same framework can also be applied to studies of assessment tools such as fall risk assessments or pressure sore risk scoring, as well as studies of diagnostic tests. You are a district nurse attending a 68 year old man with a diabetic ulcer in his home. He feels that his ulcer is taking forever to heal and that he will never be well again. You know from previous conversations that his wife died several years ago and his 2 children live outside of the area or overseas. When he could drive, he was socially active, but since becoming reliant on others to assist him, he doesn't get out much now. He reports he is eating okay, and that his glucose concentrations are kept within normal range with his hypoglycaemic medications. He also says he feels tired all the time. You have noticed he …
Operation Shipping for Mobile File Systems

This paper addresses a bottleneck problem in mobile file systems: the propagation of updated large tiles from a weakly-connected client to its servers. It proposes an efficient mechanism called operation shipping or operation-based update propagation. In the new mechanism, the client ships the user operation that updated the large files, rather than the files themselves, across the weak network. (in contrast, existing file systems use value shipping and ship the files.) The user operation is sent to a surrogate client that is strongly connected to the servers. The surrogate replays the user operation, regenerates the files, checks whether they are identical to the originals, and, it so, sends the files to the servers on behalf of the client. Care has been taken such that the new mechanism does not compromise correctness or server scalability. For example, we show how forward error correction (FEC) can restore minor reexecution discrepancies and, thus, make operation shipping work with more applications. Operation shipping can be further classified into two types: application-transparent and application-aware. Their feasibilities and benefits have been demonstrated by the design, implementation, and evaluation of a prototype extension to the Coda File System. In our controlled experiments, operation shipping achieved substantial performance improvements-network traffic reductions from 12 times to nearly 400 times and speedups in the range of 1.4 times to nearly 50 times.