Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Framework for Bioacoustic Vocalization Analysis Using Hidden Markov Models

Department of Behavioural Ecology, Institute of Environmental Biology, Faculty of Biology, Adam Mickiewicz University, Umultowska 89, 61-614 Pozna n, Poland; E-Mail: osiejuk@amu.edu. pl (T.S.O.) * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail: mike.johnson@marquette.edu; Tel. : +414-288-0631; Fax: +414-288-5579. Received: 1 September 2009; in revised form: 30 October 2009 / Accepted: 9 November 2009 / Published: 18 November 2009 Abstract : Using Hidden Markov Models (HMMs) as a recognition framework for automatic classification of animal vocalizations has a number of benefits, including the ability to handle duration variability through nonlinear time alignment, the ability to incorporate complex language or recognition constraints, and easy extendibility to continuous recognition and detection domains. In this work, we apply HMMs to several different species and bioacoustic tasks using generalized spectral features that can be easily adjusted across species and HMM network topologies suited to each task. This experimental work includes a simple call type classification task using one HMM per vocalization for repertoire analysis of Asian elephants, a language-constrained song recognition task using syllable models as base units for ortolan bunting vocalizations, and a stress stimulus differentiation task in poultry vocalizations using a non-sequential model via a one-state HMM with Gaussian mixtures. Results show strong performance across all
Socio-Cultural Adaptation Through Leisure Among Chinese International Students: An Experiential Learning Approach

Abstract This study adopted experiential learning theory to examine the role of leisure in socio-cultural adaptation among international students from China. It explored how international students integrated the four steps of experiential learning: concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract conceptualization, and active experimentation, into culture learning in the leisure context. Two rounds of semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with 15 first-year Chinese international students attending a large Midwestern university. The findings revealed that leisure could be an effective facilitator of socio-cultural adaptation. Experiential learning strategies such as reflective observation and abstract conceptualization (i.e., seeing beyond stereotypes) and active experimentation (i.e., taking initiative and imitating host nationals’ behavior) were used by the students in the leisure contexts to learn about the host culture. International students also encountered confusions and frustrations during the culture learning process.
N, S Co-Doped Carbon Quantum Dots for the Selective and Sensitive Fluorescent Determination of N-Acetyl-l-Cysteine in Pharmaceutical Products and Urine

Abstract To design a probe with “turn-on” sensing, nitrogen and sulfur co-doped carbon quantum dots (N, S-CQDs) were prepared and screened against some metallic cations to first induce “turn-off” fluorescence. The ferric iron (Fe3+) was shown to be the most responsive and effective in the fluorescence quenching of the N, S-CQDs based on a proposed photo-induced electron transfer mechanism. In addition, the fluorescence of N, S-CQDs-Fe3+ system was well recovered using N-acetyl-l-cysteine (NAC) (turn-on) due to a redox reaction, suggesting that the N, S-CQDs-Fe3+ system acts as a highly sensitive and selective sensor for the determination of N-acetyl-l-cysteine with a low limit of detection equal to 65.0 nmol/L and wide linear ranges from 0.67 to 25.56 and 25.56 to 193.55 μmol/L. The “turn-off/on” fluorescence method was successfully employed to monitor N-acetyl-l-cysteine in pharmaceutical products and human urine samples with a recovery range from 99.2 to 101.3%. In addition, the fluorescence switch properties of the nitrogen and sulfur co-doped carbon quantum dots were also investigated by alternate additions of Fe3+ and N-acetyl-l-cysteine.
Intense Natural Selection on Morphology of Cliff Swallows (Petrochelidon Pyrrhonota) a Decade Later: Did the Population Move between Adaptive Peaks?

ABSTRACT. Unusual climatic events often lead to intense natural selection on organisms. Whether episodic selection events result in permanent microevolutionary changes or are reversed by opposing selection pressures at a later time is rarely known, because most studies do not last long enough to witness rare events and document their aftermath. In 1996, unusually cold and wet weather in southwestern Nebraska led to the deaths of thousands of Cliff Swallows (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) over a 6-day period. Survivors were skeletally larger, with shorter wings and tails, and had less asymmetry in wing length than those that died. We determined trajectories of morphological traits in the decade following this event by measuring yearling birds each year from 1997 to 2006. Wing and middle tail-feather lengths continued to decrease, bill length and width continued to increase, tarsus length was unchanged, and levels of asymmetry in wing length increased. Cumulative directional change in wing, tail, and bill length was greater in the decade after selection than during the selection event itself. Morphological variation could not be explained by phenotypic plasticity resulting from better environmental conditions during growth, because weather variables (that influence food supply and ectoparasitism) were not significantly different before and after selection. There was no evidence that opposing selection restored skeletal size or wing or tail length to that before the selection event. The reasons for continued change in morphology in this population are unclear but may represent a population shift to a different fitness peak in the adaptive landscape as a consequence of the intense selection in 1996.
Temporal Controls of the Asymmetric Cell Division Cycle in Caulobacter crescentus

The asymmetric cell division cycle of Caulobacter crescentus is orchestrated by an elaborate gene-protein regulatory network, centered on three major control proteins, DnaA, GcrA and CtrA. The regulatory network is cast into a quantitative computational model to investigate in a systematic fashion how these three proteins control the relevant genetic, biochemical and physiological properties of proliferating bacteria. Different controls for both swarmer and stalked cell cycles are represented in the mathematical scheme. The model is validated against observed phenotypes of wild-type cells and relevant mutants, and it predicts the phenotypes of novel mutants and of known mutants under novel experimental conditions. Because the cell cycle control proteins of Caulobacter are conserved across many species of alpha-proteobacteria, the model we are proposing here may be applicable to other genera of importance to agriculture and medicine (e.g., Rhizobium, Brucella).
THE GOLDEN TRIANGLE OF HAPPINESS: ESSENTIAL RESOURCES FOR A HAPPY FAMILY

It is normal for people to feel positive about the quality of their lives, despite the presence of challenges. Of special interest here are the challenges of caring for a child or a disabled family member. How do the adults living within such families maintain a positive self-view? Answering this question requires an understanding of subjective well-being as it applies to each individual family member and of the management system that strives to keep each person feeling positive. This paper describes various psychological components of this homeostatic management system, together with a consideration of the most useful resources to support homeostasis. Key resources have been identified by using the Personal Wellbeing Index, a seven-item scale measuring subjective well-being (mood happiness). Over many studies, researchers have found considerable agreement that three kinds of resources — “the Golden Triangle” — are consistently more relevant to subjective well-being than the others. These are feelings of satisfaction with income, relationships, and life purpose. The implications for interventions that offer support to families in need are discussed.
ON GENERALIZED WEIGHT NASH EQUILIBRIA FOR GENERALIZED MULTIOBJECTIVE GAMES

In this paper, we will introduce the general concepts of generalized multiobjective game, generalized weight Nash equi- libria and generalized Pareto equilibria. Next using the fixed point theorems due to Idzik (5) and Kim-Tan (6), we shall prove the exis- tence theorems of generalized weight Nash equilibria under general hypotheses. And as applications of generalized weight Nash equi- libria, we shall prove the existence of generalized Pareto equilibria in non-compact generalized multiobjective game.
Thunderclouds and accretion discs: a model for the spectral and temporal variability of Seyfert 1 galaxies

X-ray observations of Seyfert 1 galaxies offer the unique possibility of observing spectral variability on time-scales comparable to the dynamical time of the inner accretion flow. They typically show highly variable light curves, on a wide range of time-scales, with power density spectra characterized by ‘red noise’ and a break at low frequencies. On the other hand, time-resolved spectral analyses have established that spectral variability on the shortest time-scales is important in all these sources, with the spectra getting softer at high fluxes (in the band, typically), while the reflection component and the iron line often exhibit a complex behaviour. Here we present a model that is able to explain a number of the above mentioned properties, in terms of magnetic flares shining above a standard accretion disc producing the X-ray spectrum via inverse Compton scattering of soft photons (both intrinsic and reprocessed thermal emission from the accretion disc and locally produced synchrotron radiation). We show that the fundamental heating event, likely caused by magnetic reconnection, must be compact, with typical size comparable to the accretion disc thickness, and must be triggered at a height at least an order of magnitude larger than its size. The fundamental property of our ‘thundercloud’ model is that the spatial and temporal distributions of flares are not random: the heating of the corona proceeds in correlated trains of events in an avalanche fashion. The amplitude of the avalanches obeys a power-law distribution and determines the size of the active regions where the spectrum is produced. As a result of the feedback effect of the X-ray radiation reprocessed in the disc, larger active regions produce softer spectra. With our model we simulate X-ray light curves that reproduce the main observational properties of the power density spectra and of the X-ray continuum short-term variability of Seyfert 1 galaxies. By comparing them with observations of MGC–6-30-15, we are able to infer that the accretion disc corona in this source must have a large optical depth and small average covering fraction.
Preschoolers Think Strangers Will Share The Same Knowledge As Other Group Members, But Will Not Behave Like Them

Children learn much of what they know from others’ testimony. But, they are selective: children as young as 3 consider cues to credibility like past accuracy, benevolence, and group membership to decide whom to trust. Research on credulity has centered on how children’s judgments about an individual influences their trust for that same person later. The current study explores whether children generalize epistemic behavior (i.e., knowledgeability) and social behavior (i.e., benevolence) to members who are part of the same group but whom children have not “met”. Four- and 5-year-olds learned that people belonging to one group always either provide accurate information or are nice, and the other group always demonstrates the opposite behavior. Half the children heard the group being labeled and the other half did not. Next, children were introduced to two strangers; one wore a red shirt and the other a blue shirt. These strangers offered the same behaviors as their group earlier demonstrated. Children’s generalizations were conditional, only generalizing the epistemic trait when the stranger’s group was explicitly labeled; they never generalized the social trait to strangers. These data suggest that children use group membership to make inferences about strangers’ epistemic and social characteristics in different ways.
NYTRO: When Subsampling Meets Early Stopping

Early stopping is a well known approach to reduce the time complexity for performing training and model selection of large scale learning machines. On the other hand, memory/space (rather than time) complexity is the main constraint in many applications, and randomized subsampling techniques have been proposed to tackle this issue. In this paper we ask whether early stopping and subsampling ideas can be combined in a fruitful way. We consider the question in a least squares regression setting and propose a form of randomized iterative regularization based on early stopping and subsampling. In this context, we analyze the statistical and computational properties of the proposed method. Theoretical results are complemented and validated by a thorough experimental analysis.
Ion permeation through 5-hydroxytryptamine-gated channels in neuroblastoma N18 cells

Ionic currents induced by 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) in cultured neuroblastoma N18 cells were studied using whole-cell voltage clamp. The response was blocked by 1-10 nM 5-HT3 receptor-specific antagonists MDL 7222 or ICS 205-930, but not by 1 microM 5-HT1/5-HT2 receptor antagonist spiperone or 5-HT2 receptor-specific antagonist ketanserin. These 5-HT3 receptors seem to be ligand-gated channels because the response (a) did not require internal ATP or GTP, (b) persisted with long internal dialysis of CsF (90 mM), A1F4- (100 microM), or GTP gamma S (100 microM), and (c) with ionophoretic delivery of 5-HT developed with a delay of less than 10 ms and rose to a peak in 34-130 ms. Fluctuation analysis yielded an apparent single-channel conductance of 593 fS. The relative permeabilities of the channel for a variety of ions were determined from reversal potentials. The channel was only weakly selective among small cations, with permeability ratios PX/PNa of 1.22, 1.10, 1.01, 1.00, and 0.99 for Cs+, K+, Li+, Na+, and Rb+, and 1.12, 0.79, and 0.73 for Ca2+, Ba2+, and Mg2+ (when studied in mixtures of 20 mM divalent ions and 120 mM N-methyl-D-glucamine). Apparent permeability ratios for the divalent ions decreased as the concentration of divalent ions was increased. Small monovalent organic cations were highly permeant. Large organic cations such as Tris and glucosamine were measurably permeant with permeability ratios of 0.20 and 0.08, and N-methyl-D-glucamine was almost impermeant. Small anions, NO3-, Cl-, and F-, were slightly permeant with permeability ratios of 0.08, 0.04, and 0.03. The results indicate that the open 5-HT3 receptor channel has an effective minimum circular pore size of 7.6 A and that ionic interactions in the channel may involve negative charges near the pore mouth.
Modeling the Effects of Climate Change–Induced Shifts in Reproductive Phenology on Temperature-Dependent Traits

By altering phenology, organisms have the potential to match life-history events with suitable environmental conditions. Because of this, phenological plasticity has been proposed as a mechanism whereby populations might buffer themselves from climate change. We examine the potential buffering power of advancing one aspect of phenology, nesting date, on sex ratio in painted turtles (Chrysemys picta), a species with temperature-dependent sex determination. We developed a modified constant temperature equivalent model that accounts for the effect of the interaction among climate change, oviposition date, and seasonal thermal pattern on temperature during sexual differentiation and thus on offspring sex ratio. Our results suggest that females will not be able to buffer their progeny from the negative consequences of climate change by adjusting nesting date alone. Not only are offspring sex ratios predicted to become 100% female, but our model suggests that many nests will fail. Because the seasonal thermal trends that we consider are experienced by most temperate species, our result that adjusting spring phenology alone will be insufficient to counter the effects of directional climate change may be broadly applicable.
Cultural Diversity a Barrier to Riches?

Using a theory based gravity equation, we first show that cultural dissimilarity negatively affects bilateral imports of countries. More importantly, we examine Huntington’s the Clash of Civilizations hypothesis and provide evidence that the impact of cultural heterogeneity on trade flows is far more accentuated in the post-Cold War period than during the Cold War, a result that confirms Huntington’s thesis from an economic standpoint. In the post-Cold War period, two countries that belong to different civilizations have 40% lower import flows than those of the same civilization, whereas this effect is insignificant during the Cold War. Alternatively, in the post-Cold War epoch, import flows of a country pair with different majority ethnicity are 51% lower than those that sharing the same heritages, whereas this effect is only 27% in the Cold War era.
Production of Red Pigment from Fungal Isolate DMMS-1

Colors have a very noteworthy role in one’s life; Colours have been used for therapeutic tenacity since ages. They play a significant role in setting up one’s mood, emotions, feelings and state of mind. Colour is even a medium of communication. Since colours means so much in one’s life, they have a wide variety of applications; they are used in food industries as colorants, in textile industries as dyes, as antioxidants in pharmaceuticals and cosmetic industries etc. (Kumar et al., 2015). Man puts color on everything he creates in order to make it more eye catching. One wants to be surrounded by a colorful environment. The market is full of industrialized goods, the increased market demand of color has put a lot of pressure on the industries to synthesize high amount of color in order to satisfy its insatiable demand, to do so the industries have been producing the color by the chemical means. Most of the chemical used are of very poor quality. There have been cases reported the chemical dyes causing dermatitis, respiratory disorders, irritation in the upper respiratory tract and mucosal membrane (Bansal and Yadav 2016; International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 8 Number 04 (2019) Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas. com
Teaching the writing of psychological reports through formative assessment: peer and teacher review

Abstract This paper describes the teaching of psychological report writing at Karolinska Institutet and the efforts to improve it through the introduction of formative assessment applied as peer and teacher review. 48 fourth-year psychology students were required to write a psychological report. Half of the students also participated in a non-mandatory peer review of a first draft. All students handed in a preliminary version of the report, had it reviewed by the teachers and made alterations before handing in a final version. The results showed that both peer review and teacher review were valuable methods in the teaching of psychological report writing.
Forced oscillation technique (FOT): a new tool for epidemiology of occupational lung diseases?

The aim of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of the forced oscillation technique (FOT) in the assessment of occupation-related airway changes. The forced oscillation technique and conventional lung function tests were applied in 80 underground coalface workers, aged 35-48 yrs, with chest roentgenogram films classified 0/1 or 1/0 according to the International Labour Office (ILO) classification (G group), and two control groups matched for age and smoking habits. The first control group, was made up of face-workers having normal chest radiographs, whilst the second comprised underground non-face-workers with normal chest radiographs. Spirometric, plethysmographic and transfer factor of the lungs for carbon monoxide single-breath (TL,CO,sb) indices revealed no significant differences between the three groups. As regards the forced oscillation technique, a higher value of resistance/frequency slope (Pa.L-1.s2) was found in the G group compared with the control groups; 2.11 vs 1.06 in the face-workers, and 1.58 in the underground workers. In all three groups, the forced oscillation technique indices (mean resistance (R), resistance at zero frequency (RO), resistance/frequency slope (S), and resonant frequency (fo)) were found to be higher in subjects having a decreased forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) (< or = 90% predicted) or a mildly obstructive pattern of ventilatory function, even though this did not reach statistical significance in each of the groups. These findings together with the feasibility and acceptability of the forced oscillation technique would suggest that it may be a suitable tool for epidemiological studies of occupational respiratory diseases.
Validation of the Cry Unit as Primary Element for Cry Analysis Using an Evolutionary-Neural Approach

The present paper proposes the use of a basic element for the infant cry analysis: the cry unit. In order to display the real possibility of the cry unit for the detection of pathological features (based on Hypoxia) in newborns, a novel combined treatment of the cry signal was implemented using an evolutionary-neural system. For that purpose the cry signal was segmented into cry units, the MFCC were computed as acoustic features, and a genetic feature selection system combined with a feed forward input delay neural network, trained by adaptive learning rate back-propagation were properly developed. The data for the experiments were obtained from a Mexican-Cuban infant cry database. It is also shown a comparison between a simple neural network and the proposed genetic feature selection system, to reduce the feature input vectors. The results are also shown from some experiments, in which the infant cry recognition is improved to 100% using our genetic system.
SceneNet: An annotated model generator for indoor scene understanding

We introduce SceneNet, a framework for generating high-quality annotated 3D scenes to aid indoor scene understanding. SceneNet leverages manually-annotated datasets of real world scenes such as NYUv2 to learn statistics about object co-occurrences and their spatial relationships. Using a hierarchical simulated annealing optimisation, these statistics are exploited to generate a potentially unlimited number of new annotated scenes, by sampling objects from various existing databases of 3D objects such as ModelNet, and textures such as OpenSurfaces and ArchiveTextures. Depending on the task, SceneNet can be used directly in the form of annotated 3D models for supervised training and 3D reconstruction benchmarking, or in the form of rendered annotated sequences of RGB-D frames or videos.