Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Detection and classification of acoustic scenes and events: An IEEE AASP challenge

This paper describes a newly-launched public evaluation challenge on acoustic scene classification and detection of sound events within a scene. Systems dealing with such tasks are far from exhibiting human-like performance and robustness. Undermining factors are numerous: the extreme variability of sources of interest possibly interfering, the presence of complex background noise as well as room effects like reverberation. The proposed challenge is an attempt to help the research community move forward in defining and studying the aforementioned tasks. Apart from the challenge description, this paper provides an overview of systems submitted to the challenge as well as a detailed evaluation of the results achieved by those systems.
Adaptive learning evaluation model for evolutionary art

Evolutionary art system is facing the challenge of how aesthetic judgement can be automated for use as a fitness function. Judging beauty is a highly subjective task, but certain features are considered important in aesthetic judgement. This paper introduces an adaptive learning evaluation model for guiding the evolutionary process. Certain aesthetic features are extracted from internal evolutionary images and external real world paintings, which are then selected by the model. The model is built by selecting learning approach with better accuracy by training these features. Multi-layer perceptron and C4.5 decision tree are compared for machine learning of aesthetic judgements. Our results show that these features play important roles in aesthetic judgements and the adaptive model is efficient at predicting user's preference.
OSCE vs. TEM: Different Approaches to Assess Clinical Skills of Nursing Students

Introduction: Nurses are trained with specific clinical skills, and objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) could be a better approach to assess clinical skills of nursing students. Materials and Methods: A comparative study was conducted by observational checklist regarding antenatal care and opinionnaire on the usefulness of OSCE and tradition evaluation method (TEM) was used to assess the clinical skills and to get opinion. Results: The mean score of OSCE was more than TEM and the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.001). The opinion of students regarding the usefulness of OSCE was higher than TEM. Conclusions: The study concluded that implementing OSCE will overweigh the advantages of the TEM.
Investigating Prosodic Modifications for Polyglot Text-to-Speech Synthesis

This paper investigates the need for applying English prosody when synthesising English portions of mixed English/German texts using a German-based polyglot text-to-speech (TTS) synthesis system. The polyglot system is based on a monolingual German TTS system, which uses a phone mapping from English to German to synthesise English texts. Two systems with varying degrees of assimilation to English are compared, one in which prosody is derived from the German monolingual system, and one in which the prosody is derived from an equivalent English monolingual system. The naturalness of the different prosody approaches and overall intelligibility and acceptability of the polyglot systems is assessed by native bi-lingual speakers of both English and German, on German texts containing varying lengths of English inclusions, and on complete texts in English. The results show that both German and English subjects preferred English prosody for longer English inclusions or complete English texts, but had no preference for short inclusions.
Communication-efficient multi-view keyframe extraction in distributed video sensors

Video sensors are widely used in many applications such as security monitoring and home care. However, the growth of the number of sensors makes it impractical to stream all videos back to a central server for further processing, due to communication bandwidth and server storage constraints. Multi-view video summarization allows us to discard redundant data in the video streams taken by a group of sensors. All prior multi-view summarization methods, however, process video data in an off-line and centralized manner, which means that all videos are still required to be streamed back to the server before conducting the summarization. This paper proposes an on-line, distributed multi-view summarization system, which integrates the ideas of Maximal Marginal Relevance (MMR) and MS-Wave, a bandwidth-efficient distributed algorithm for finding k-nearest-neighbors and k-farthest-neighbors. Empirical studies show that our proposed system can discard redundant videos and keep important keyframes as effectively as centralized approaches, while transmitting only 1/6 to 1/3 as much data.
Economic evaluation of enhanced asthma management: a systematic review

Objectives: To evaluate and compare full economic evaluation studies on the cost-effectiveness of enhanced asthma management (either as an adjunct to usual care or alone) vs. usual care alone. Methods: Online databases were searched for published journal articles in English language from year 1990 to 2012, using the search terms ‘“asthma” AND (“intervene” OR “manage”) AND (“pharmacoeconomics” OR “economic evaluation” OR “cost effectiveness” OR “cost benefit” OR “cost utility”)’. Hand search was done for local publishing. Only studies with full economic evaluation on enhanced management were included (cost consequences (CC), cost effectiveness (CE), cost benefit (CB), or cost utility (CU) analysis). Data were extracted and assessed for the quality of its economic evaluation design and evidence sources. Results: A total of 49 studies were included. There were 3 types of intervention for enhanced asthma management: education, environmental control, and self-management. The most cost-effective enhanced management was a mixture of education and self-management by an integrated team of healthcare and allied healthcare professionals. In general, the studies had a fair quality of economic evaluation with a mean QHES score of 73.7 (SD=9.7), and had good quality of evidence sources. Conclusion: Despite the overall fair quality of economic evaluations but good quality of evidence sources for all data components, this review showed that the delivered enhanced asthma managements, whether as single or mixed modes, were overall effective and cost-reducing. Whilst the availability and accessibility are an equally important factor to consider, the sustainability of the cost-effective management has to be further investigated using a longer time horizon especially for chronic diseases such as asthma.
Repeated unidirectional introgression of nuclear and mitochondrial DNA between four congeneric Tanganyikan cichlids.

With an increasing number of reported cases of hybridization and introgression, interspecific gene flow between animals has recently become a widely accepted and broadly studied phenomenon. In this study, we examine patterns of hybridization and introgression in Ophthalmotilapia spp. , a genus of cichlid fish from Lake Tanganyika, using mitochondrial and nuclear DNA from all four species in the genus and including specimens from over 800 km of shoreline. These four species have very different, partially overlapping distribution ranges, thus allowing us to study in detail patterns of gene flow between sympatric and allopatric populations of the different species. We show that a significant proportion of individuals of the lake-wide distributed O. nasuta carry mitochondrial and/or nuclear DNA typical of other Ophthalmotilapia species. Strikingly, all such individuals were found in populations living in sympatry with each of the other Ophthalmotilapia species, strongly suggesting that this pattern originated by repeated and independent episodes of genetic exchange in different parts of the lake, with unidirectional introgression occurring into O. nasuta. Our analysis rejects the hypotheses that unidirectional introgression is caused by natural selection favoring heterospecific DNA, by skewed abundances of Ophthalmotilapia species or by hybridization events occurring during a putative spatial expansion in O. nasuta. Instead, cytonuclear incompatibilities or asymmetric behavioral reproductive isolation seem to have driven repeated, unidirectional introgression of nuclear and mitochondrial DNA into O. nasuta in different parts of the lake.
Morphological characterization of calanchi (badland) hillslope connectivity

Calanchi, a type of Italian badlands created by a combination of water erosion processes and local geomorphological and tectonic controls, is a striking example of long‐term landscape evolution. In small temporal/spatial scales, the calanchi exhibit many of the geomorphic processes and landforms that may be observed in fluvial landscapes; hence, they may be considered as microbasins where geomorphic dynamics and landscape features can be related. The goal of this research is testing the use of simple morphometric variables for assessing sediment connectivity of calanchi landforms. In order to detect the morphological characteristics controlling the landscape connectivity of calanchi basins, 2 areas located in Sicily (Italy) were examined. The investigated features were identified on 119 calanchi basins and mapped using orthophotographs and 2‐m‐resolution digital elevation models. Application of Hack's law to the calanchi basins showed that the width/length ratio increases with the drainage area, suggesting that calanchi may have a limited connectivity of their hillslopes to the main channel. Moreover, the analysis of the drainage network composition suggested that calanchi are sediment removal systems more efficient than river basins. The empirical frequency distribution of the travel time, which is the ratio between the length and the square root of the hillslope steepness, of each cell of the calanchi digital elevation model was established. Finally, for each calanchi basin, an index of hillslope connectivity was devised. This was explored as a function of the sediment transport efficiency itself estimated by the travel time and the corresponding sediment delivery ratio of each calanco hillslope cell.
Central Vasopressin Administration Regulates the Onset of Facultative Paternal Behavior in Microtus pennsylvanicus (Meadow Voles)

Pharmacological experiments have implicated a role for central arginine vasopressin (AVP) in regulating paternal behavior in monogamous prairie voles. Although nonmonogamous meadow voles exhibit appreciable paternal care when housed under winter, short day lengths (SD), no research has examined whether the same neurobiological systems are involved in regulating paternal behavior in a nonmonogamous species when it behaves paternally. The goal of these experiments was to determine whether central administration of AVP, but not cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), affected the suppression of pup-directed aggression and/or the onset of paternal behavior in meadow voles. Data from experiment 1 implicated a role for AVP in facilitating changes in male behavior: central administration of 1 ng of AVP (but not 3 ng or CSF) inhibited pup-directed aggression in previously pup-aggressive males, and 3 ng of AVP (but not 1 ng or CSF) induced paternal behavior in previously nonpaternal males. In contrast, AVP (1 and 3 ng) did not enhance paternal behavior in already paternal males. Experiment 2 tested the specificity of AVP. Previous research indicated that 24 h of unmated cohabitation with a female reliably induced paternal behavior in SD males. Hence, experiment 2 examined whether administration of a V(1a) AVP antagonist (AVPA), but not CSF, prior to 24 h of unmated cohabitation would block the onset of paternal behavior. Males that received CSF displayed paternal behavior faster and engaged in more investigatory and paternal behaviors than males that received AVPA. Thus, pharmacological experiments support the hypothesis that AVP likely regulates paternal behavior in both facultatively and consistently paternal vole species.
End-to-end simulations of a near-infrared pyramid sensor on Keck II

The future upgrade of Keck II telescope’s adaptive optics system will include a pyramid wavefront sensor working in the near-infrared (J and H band). It will beneﬁt from the recently developed avalanche photodiode arrays, speciﬁcally the SAPHIRA (Selex) array, which provides a low noise ( ă 1 e- at high frame rates). The system will either work with a natural guide star (NGS) in a single conjugated adaptive optics system, or in a laser guide star (LGS) mode. In this case, the pyramid would be used as a low-order sensor only. We report on a study of the pyramid sensor’s performance via end-to-end simulations, applied to Keck’s speciﬁc case. We present the expected Strehl ratio with optimized conﬁgurations in NGS mode, and the expected residual on low orders in LGS mode. In the latter case, we also compare the pyramid to LIFT, a focal-plane sensor, demonstrating the ability of LIFT to provide a gain of about 2 magnitudes for low-order sensing.
Size and Power of Tests for Stationarity in Highly Autocorrelated Time Series

Tests for stationarity are routinely applied to highly persistent time series. Following Kwiatkowski, Phillips, Schmidt and Shin (1992), standard stationarity employs a rescaling by an estimator of the long-run variance of the (potentially) stationary series. This paper analytically investigates the size and power properties of such tests when the series are strongly autocorrelated in a local-to-unity asymptotic framework. It is shown that the behavior of the tests strongly depends on the long-run variance estimator employed, but is in general highly undesirable. Either the tests fail to control for size even for strongly mean reverting series, or they are inconsistent against an integrated process and discriminate only poorly between stationary and integrated processes compared to optimal statistics.
Carotenoid Accumulation in the Tissues of Zebra Finches: Predictors of Integumentary Pigmentation and Implications for Carotenoid Allocation Strategies

Carotenoid pigments produce the bright yellow to red ornamental colors of many animals, especially birds, and must ultimately be derived from the diet. However, they are also valuable for many physiological functions (e.g., antioxidants, immunostimulants, photoprotection, visual tuning, yolk nourishment to embryos), and as a result they are present in numerous internal body tissues (e.g., liver, adipose tissue, retina) whose carotenoid types and amounts are rarely studied in the context of color acquisition. Because male and female animals typically place different priorities on fitness‐enhancing activities (e.g., gametic investment in females, sexual attraction in males), carotenoid allocation may track such investment patterns in the two sexes, and we can test for such sex‐specific priorities of carotenoids by assessing body‐tissue distributions of these pigments. We used high‐performance liquid chromatography to identify and quantify carotenoid pigments from the plasma, liver, adipose tissue, and retina as well as the beak and legs of male and female zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata), a species in which males display sexually attractive, red, carotenoid‐based beak coloration and females also display some (albeit a less rich orange) beak color. To our knowledge, this is the first study of the predictors of carotenoid‐based leg coloration—another potentially important visual signal—in this species. The same suite of dietary (e.g., lutein, zeaxanthin, β‐cryptoxanthin) and metabolically derived (e.g., dehydrolutein, anhydrolutein) yellow and orange carotenoids was present in plasma, liver, and adipose tissue of both sexes. Retina contained two different metabolites (astaxanthin and galloxanthin) that serve specific functions in association with unique photoreceptor types in the eye. Beaks were enriched with four red ketocarotenoid derivatives in both sexes (α‐doradexanthin, adonirubin, astaxanthin, and canthaxanthin), while the carotenoid profile of legs was similar to that of plasma/liver/adipose tissue but with the additional presence of canthaxanthin. Sex differences in beak coloration were attributable to different concentrations of all four red ketocarotenoids. Males also had more colorful legs than did females, and this color difference was due to the increased presence of canthaxanthin in males. Males had higher carotenoid concentrations in plasma and retina than did females, but females had higher carotenoid concentrations in liver and adipose tissue than did males. These patterns are consistent with the apparently different life‐history strategies employed for carotenoids by adult males and females, with females prioritizing future access to carotenoids (in tissue stores for egg production) and males prioritizing current access (in circulation, for maintaining bright color and/or health).
Compositional and chiral profiles of weathered chlordane residues in soil

The fate of chlordane and other persistent organic pollutants in the environment is of international concern. The behavior of persistent organic pollutants under both abiotic and biotic conditions must be determined for the comprehensive elucidation of their cycling through the biosphere. Standard analytical methods such as gas chromatography with electron capture detection are adequate for studies of cycling under abiotic conditions. Since two of the main components of technical chlordane, cis‐chlordane and trans‐chlordane, are optically active, chiral gas chromatography can be used to study the impact of biotic influences on chlordane's fate. We report here the use of chiral gas chromatography interfaced with ion trap mass spectrometry as part of an analytically rigorous method for the simultaneous determination of the compositional and chiral profiles of weathered soil residues of technical chlordane. Using the method described, several patterns in the long‐term weathering of technical chlordane in soil are observed.
Quantitative Calcium Measurements in Subcellular Compartments of Plasmodium falciparum-infected Erythrocytes*

The acidic food vacuole exerts several important functions during intraerythrocytic development of the human malarial parasite Plasmodium falciparum. Hemoglobin taken up from the host erythrocyte is degraded in the food vacuole, and the heme liberated during this process is crystallized to inert hemozoin. Several anti-malarial drugs target food vacuolar pathways, such as hemoglobin degradation and heme crystallization. Resistance and sensitization to some antimalarials is associated with mutations in food vacuolar membrane proteins. Other studies suggest a role of the food vacuole in ion homeostasis, and release of Ca2+ from the food vacuole may mediate adopted physiological responses. To investigate whether the food vacuole is an intracellular Ca2+ store, which in turn may affect other physiological functions in which this organelle partakes, we have investigated total and exchangeable Ca2+ within the parasite's food vacuole using x-ray microanalysis and quantitative confocal live cell Ca2+ imaging. Apparent free Ca2+ concentrations of ∼90, ∼350, and ∼400 nm were found in the host erythrocyte cytosol, the parasite cytoplasm, and the food vacuole, respectively. In our efforts to determine free intracellular Ca2+ concentrations, we evaluated several Ca2+-sensitive fluorochromes in a live cell confocal setting. We found that the ratiometric Ca2+ indicator Fura-Red provides reliable determinations, whereas measurements using the frequently used Fluo-4 are compromised due to problems arising from phototoxicity, photobleaching, and the strong pH dependence of the dye. Our data suggest that the food vacuole contains only moderate amounts of Ca2+, disfavoring a role as a major intracellular Ca2+ store.
Evaluating the effect of seasonal variations on walking behaviour in a hot weather country using logistic regression

ABSTRACT The city of Doha, Qatar experiences a hot and arid weather throughout the year. This study investigates the effect of season, type of day, and time of day on the walking behaviour of pedestrians in these conditions using logistic regression. The study uses data obtained from observational surveys conducted at a densely populated mixed-use neighbourhood located in the heart of the city. The results showed the walking activity is much less during hot weather. The results of the logistic regression analysis suggested that the pedestrians from other nationalities living in Qatar had much higher odds of walking compared to the Qatari nationals. Furthermore, men had almost double the odds of walking compared to females. The choice of the time of day model indicated that a pedestrian has more than twice the odds of walking in the evening time compared to the morning and afternoon times. The results can help policy makers and public agencies to develop programmes to promote the walking culture in this region.
MATREX: The DCU MT System for WMT 2009

In this paper, we describe the machine translation system in the evaluation campaign of the Fourth Workshop on Statistical Machine Translation at EACL 2009. We describe the modular design of our multi-engine MT system with particular focus on the components used in this participation. We participated in the translation task for the following translation directions: French--English and English--French, in which we employed our multi-engine architecture to translate. We also participated in the system combination task which was carried out by the MBR decoder and Confusion Network decoder. We report results on the provided development and test sets.
Introducing a Semi-Coated Model to Investigate Antibacterial Effects of Biocompatible Polymers on Titanium Surfaces

Peri-implant infections from bacterial biofilms on artificial surfaces are a common threat to all medical implants. They are a handicap for the patient and can lead to implant failure or even life-threatening complications. New implant surfaces have to be developed to reduce biofilm formation and to improve the long-term prognosis of medical implants. The aim of this study was (1) to develop a new method to test the antibacterial efficacy of implant surfaces by direct surface contact and (2) to elucidate whether an innovative antimicrobial copolymer coating of 4-vinyl-N-hexylpyridinium bromide and dimethyl(2-methacryloyloxyethyl) phosphonate (VP:DMMEP 30:70) on titanium is able to reduce the attachment of bacteria prevalent in peri-implant infections. With a new in vitro model with semi-coated titanium discs, we were able to show a dramatic reduction in the adhesion of various pathogenic bacteria (Streptococcus sanguinis, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis), completely independently of effects caused by soluble materials. In contrast, soft tissue cells (human gingival or dermis fibroblasts) were less affected by the same coating, despite a moderate reduction in initial adhesion of gingival fibroblasts. These data confirm the hypothesis that VP:DMMEP 30:70 is a promising antibacterial copolymer that may be of use in several clinical applications.