Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Characterization of unsaturated mine waste: a case history

It is becoming increasingly common in the mining industry for either crushed ore or filtered mine waste to be stacked to a significant height (>100 m) in a moist state with little compaction, resulting in deposits that can be potentially loose and unsaturated. This paper presents a case history describing the characterization of stacked filtered tailings at a mine site in South America. Cone penetration tests with pore pressure and seismic velocity measurements (SCPTu) were carried out along with selected drilling, sampling, and laboratory testing. Compression wave velocity (Vp) and shear wave velocity (Vs) profiles were obtained and compared with laboratory values on reconstituted saturated and unsaturated samples. Results indicate that shear wave velocity is sensitive to suction hardening effects and appears to capture the correct unsaturated in situ behavior. The cone resistance, which is a large strain measurement, can destroy the beneficial effects of suction hardening and appears to be insensitive t.
Immediate newborn outcome and mode of delivery: Use of standardized fetal heart rate pattern management

Objective: To determine whether a rule-based system for fetal heart rate interpretation can result in reduced metabolic acidemia without increasing obstetrical intervention. Methods: Rates of vacuum-assisted delivery and Cesarean sections, and umbilical artery pH and base excess values were determined over a 5-year period in a single hospital with 3907 deliveries in Japan. Results were compared for 2 years before and 2 years after a 6-month training period in rule-based fetal heart rate interpretation. Results: The pre- and post-training rates of unscheduled Cesarean deliveries (4.8% vs. 6.0%) and vacuum deliveries (21.2% vs. 18.1%) did not differ significantly. The rates of umbilical arterial pH <7.15 (1.51% vs. 0.18%, p < 0.05) and base excess <–12 mEq/L (1.76% vs. 0.25%, p < 0.05) were significantly lower after training. Conclusion: A standardized fetal heart rate pattern management system was associated with a 7-fold reduction of newborn metabolic acidemia with no change in operative intervention.
Phylodynamics of H5N1 avian influenza virus in Indonesia

Understanding how pathogens invade and become established in novel host populations is central to the ecology and evolution of infectious disease. Influenza viruses provide unique opportunities to study these processes in nature because of their rapid evolution, extensive surveillance, large data sets and propensity to jump species boundaries. H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (HPAIV) is a major animal pathogen and public health threat. The virus is of particular importance in Indonesia, causing severe outbreaks among poultry and sporadic human infections since 2003. However, little is known about how H5N1 HPAIV emerged and established in Indonesia. To address these questions, we analysed Indonesian H5N1 HPAIV gene sequences isolated during 2003–2007. We find that the virus originated from a single introduction into East Java between November 2002 and October 2003. This invasion was characterized by an initially rapid burst of viral genetic diversity followed by a steady rate of lineage replacement and the maintenance of genetic diversity. Several antigenic sites in the haemagglutinin gene were subject to positive selection during the early phase, suggesting that host‐immune‐driven selection played a role in host adaptation and expansion. Phylogeographic analyses show that after the initial invasion of H5N1, genetic variants moved both eastwards and westwards across Java, possibly involving long‐distance transportation by humans. The phylodynamics we uncover share similarities with other recently studied viral invasions, thereby shedding light on the ecological and evolutionary processes that determine disease emergence in a new geographical region.
Limitations in activities in patients with osteoarthritis of the hip or knee: The relationship with body functions, comorbidity and cognitive functioning

Purpose. To determine the relationship between body functions, comorbidity and cognitive functioning on the one side and limitations in activities on the other, in elderly patients with osteoarthritis (OA) of the hip or knee. Method. A cross-sectional cohort study was conducted in which 288 patients with hip or knee OA were included. Patients were recruited from rehabilitation centres and hospitals (Departments of Orthopedics, Rheumatology or Rehabilitation). Apart from demographic and clinical data, information about limitations in activities, body functions (pain, muscle strength, range of joint motion), comorbidity and cognitive functioning was collected by questionnaires and tests. Statistical analyses included univariate and stepwise multivariate regression analysis. Results. Self-reported limitations in activities (Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index) were significantly associated with pain, muscle strength knee extension, range of motion (ROM) hip flexion and morbidity count. Performance-based limitations in activities (timed walking test) were significantly associated with ROM (knee flexion, hip flexion and knee extension), muscle strength hip abduction, pain, cognitive functioning and age. Conclusions. Self-reported limitations in activities in hip or knee OA are largely dependent on pain and to a lesser extent on range of joint motion, muscle strength and comorbidity. Performance-based limitations in activities are largely dependent on range of joint motion and muscle strength, and to a lesser extent on pain, cognitive functioning and other factors. These findings point to the role of body functions in limitations in activities in OA of the hip or knee. Although less important, comorbidity and cognitive functioning play a role as well.
Multimodal verification of identity for a realistic access control application

This thesis describes a real world application in the field of pattern recognition. License plate recognition and face recognition algorithms are combined to implement automated access control at the gates of RAU campus. One image of the license plate and three images of the driver's face are enough to check if the person driving a particular car into campus is the same as the person driving this car out. The license plate recognition module is based on learning vector quantization and performs well enough to be used in a realistic environment. The face recognition module is based on the Bayes rule and while performing satisfactory, extensive research is still necessary before this system can be implemented in real life. The main reasons for failure of the system were identified as the variable lighting and insufficient landmarks for effective warping. Opsomming Hierdie proefskrif beskryf 'n werklike toepassing in die veld van patroonherkenning. Nommerplaat-en gesigsherkenning algoritmes word gekombineer om ge-outomatiseerde toegangsbeheer te implementeer by die ingange van RAU. Een beeld van die nommerplaat en drie beelde van die motorbestuurder se gesig, is genoeg om seker te maak of die bestuurder wat 'n spesifieke motor die kampus binnebring, dieselfde persoon is wat die motor uitneem. Die nommerplaatherkenning module is gebaseer op learning vector quantization en presteer goed genoeg om gebruik te word in 'n realistiese omgewing. Die gesigsherkenning module is gebaseer op die Bayes reël, en al presteer hierdie sisteem goed, is daar nog vele navorsing nodig voordat hierdie sisteem as 'n werklike sekuriteitsstelsel geimplementeer kan word. Die hoofredes vir die onvermoeë van die sisteem was geidentifeer as die varieerende beligting en onvoldoende verwysingspunte vir die effektiewe gesigsverwringing. iii Acknowledgements
Laughter annotations in conversational speech corpora - possibilities and limitations for phonetic analysis

Existing laughter annotations provided with several publicly available conversational speech corpora (both multiparty and dyadic conversations) were investigated and compared. We discuss the possibilities and limitations of these rather coarse and shallow laughter annotations. There are definition issues to be considered with respect to speech-laughs and the segmentation of laughs: what constitutes one laugh, and when does a laugh start and end? Despite these issues, some durational and voicing analyses can be performed. We found for all corpora considered that overlapping laughs are longer in duration and are generally more voiced than non-overlapping laughs. For a finer-grained acoustic analysis, we find that a manual re-labeling of the laughs adhering to a more standardized laughter annotations protocol would be optimal.
Stepwise increase in arterial stiffness corresponding with the stages of chronic kidney disease.

BACKGROUND Patients with end-stage renal disease on maintenance dialysis therapy have a high prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors and cardiovascular disease (CVD). A similar finding is noted in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). The important contributors are premature and accelerated atherosclerosis and vascular calcification. We assessed the severity of arterial stiffness in 102 patients with CKD by using pulse wave velocity (PWV) and sought to identify associated risk factors. METHODS PWV was measured by calculating the distance traveled by the flow wave and divided by the time delay. Correlations between PWV and traditional cardiovascular risk factors, estimated glomerular filtration rate (GFR) per 1.73 m2 , blood pressure (BP), and pulse pressure (PP) were analyzed. RESULTS PWV values in patients with CKD stages 1 to 2 and the age-matched control group were similar. There was a significant trend for a stepwise increase in PWV corresponding to advance in CKD stage (P < 0.0001). Univariate linear regression analysis showed that age, prior CVD, diabetes, hypertension, any high risk, estimated GFR per 1.73 m2 , systolic BP, and PP correlated with PWV. In the multivariate model, decreased estimated GFR per 1.73 m2 and increased systolic BP were independently associated with increased PWV in patients with CKD (model R 2 = 0.539; P < 0.0001). CONCLUSION This is the first study to show a greater PWV in patients with more advanced CKD from stages 1 to 5. Estimated GFR per 1.73 m2 and systolic BP were the major clinical determinants of arterial stiffness in patients with CKD independent of conventional risk factors for CVD.
Data-driven voice soruce waveform modelling

This paper presents a data-driven approach to the modelling of voice source waveforms. The voice source is a signal that is estimated by inverse-filtering speech signals with an estimate of the vocal tract filter. It is used in speech analysis, synthesis, recognition and coding to decompose a speech signal into its source and vocal tract filter components. Existing approaches parameterize the voice source signal with physically- or mathematically-motivated models. Though the models are well-defined, estimation of their parameters is not well understood and few are capable of reproducing the large variety of voice source waveforms. Here we present a data-driven approach to classify types of voice source waveforms based upon their melfrequency cepstrum coefficients with Gaussian mixture modelling. A set of “prototype” waveform classes is derived from a weighted average of voice source cycles from real data. An unknown speech signal is then decomposed into its prototype components and resynthesized. Results indicate that with sixteen voice source classes, low resynthesis errors can be achieved.
Conceptual Differences Between Children and Adults

In a talk in which I described an extended case study of the young child's acquisition of biological knowledge (Carey 1985), 1 claimed that the preschool child's concepts animal and baby differ from our adult concepts. ' One source of evidence for this claim is that 4and 5-year-olds typically do not realize that all animals have babies, indicating a concept linirnal without reproduction as a core property, and a concept baby not tied to the young of each animal species. A few days after the talk I received a l etter from Barbara Dosher, reporting a conversation with her 4-yeirr-old son. Doubting my claim, she had asked him whether pigeons havei baby pigeons. He had replied, 'Sure, and dogs have baby dogs; cows have baby cows; cats have baby cats. '. At this point, her doubts confirme( she asked 'and what about worms; do worms have baby worms? He stopped dead in his tracks, thought for a long time, and finally replied, slppwly, 'No . worms have short worms. ' Being an articulate youngster, he jcould explain perfectly the difference between baby animals and short w~. Mns. The essence of his account: babies are small, helpless, versions of t igger creatures, who because of their behavioural limitations, require the rigger ones to take care of them. As he explained, baby birds cannot tlyk and need their parents to bring them worms; baby cats and dogs do not , have their eyes open, and cannot walk; and baby people, the archetypical baby creatures, are useless-they can't talk, walk, play, eat by themselve$, use
Flicker-Driven Responses in Visual Cortex Change during Matched-Frequency Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation

We tested a novel combination of two neuro-stimulation techniques, transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) and frequency tagging, that promises powerful paradigms to study the causal role of rhythmic brain activity in perception and cognition. Participants viewed a stimulus flickering at 7 or 11 Hz that elicited periodic brain activity, termed steady-state responses (SSRs), at the same temporal frequency and its higher order harmonics. Further, they received simultaneous tACS at 7 or 11 Hz that either matched or differed from the flicker frequency. Sham tACS served as a control condition. Recent advances in reconstructing cortical sources of oscillatory activity allowed us to measure SSRs during concurrent tACS, which is known to impose strong artifacts in magnetoencephalographic (MEG) recordings. For the first time, we were thus able to demonstrate immediate effects of tACS on SSR-indexed early visual processing. Our data suggest that tACS effects are largely frequency-specific and reveal a characteristic pattern of differential influences on the harmonic constituents of SSRs.
Abdominal Massage for the Relief of Constipation in People with Parkinson's: A Qualitative Study

Objectives. To explore the experiences of people with Parkinson's (PwP) who suffer from constipation, the impact this has on their lives, and the effect of using lifestyle changes and abdominal massage as a form of constipation management. Method. Fourteen semistructured interviews were completed (8 males and 6 females; mean age 72.2 years) at the end of a care programme, which consisted of either lifestyle advice and abdominal massage (intervention group; n = 7) or lifestyle advice only (control group; n = 7). Data were analysed using constant-comparison techniques and Framework methods. Themes and key quotes were identified to depict major findings. Findings. Four key themes were identified: (i) the adverse impact of bowel problems on quality of life; (ii) positive experience of behaviour adjustments: experimentation; (iii) abdominal massage as a dynamic and relaxing tool: experiential learning (intervention group only); (iv) abdominal massage as a contingency plan: hesitation (control group only). Constipation was reported as having a significant impact on quality of life. Participants in both groups perceived lifestyle advice to relieve symptoms. Specific improvements were described in those who also received the abdominal massage. Conclusions. Both lifestyle advice and abdominal massage were perceived to be beneficial in relieving symptoms of constipation for PwP.
Coping with brief periods of food restriction: mindfulness matters

The obesity epidemic had spawned considerable interest in understanding peoples' responses to palatable food cues that are plentiful in obesogenic environments. In this paper we examine how trait mindfulness of older, obese adults may moderate brain networks that arise from exposure to such cues. Nineteen older, obese adults came to our laboratory on two different occasions. Both times they ate a controlled breakfast meal and then were restricted from eating for 2.5 h. After this brief period of food restriction, they had an fMRI scan in which they were exposed to food cues and then underwent a 5 min recovery period to evaluate brain networks at rest. On one day they consumed a BOOST® liquid meal prior to scanning, whereas on the other day they only consumed water (NO BOOST® condition). We found that adults high in trait mindfulness were able to return to their default mode network (DMN), as indicated by greater global efficiency in the precuneus, during the post-exposure rest period. This effect was stronger for the BOOST® than NO BOOST® treatment condition. Older adults low in trait mindfulness did not exhibit this pattern in the DMN. In fact, the brain networks of those low on the MAAS suggests that they continued to be pre-occupied with the elaboration of food cues even after cue exposure had ended. Further work is needed to examine whether mindfulness-based therapies alter brain networks to food cues and whether these changes are related to eating behavior.
Registration of highly-oblique and zoomed in aerial video to reference imagery

We present methods for estimating precise geo-coordinates of objects observed in highly oblique video from an airborne camera in real time. High precision is achieved by registering observed video frames in real time to rendered views of the scene using stored reference imagery. The reference imagery includes previously collected satellite images and terrain maps that have been precisely aligned to geo-coordinates. We present methods that work for both nadir and highly oblique video imagery and under a variety of conditions where any one frame may not have enough information for accurate geo-registration.
Personalized ventilation as a control measure for airborne transmissible disease spread

The protective role of personalized ventilation (PV) against plausible airborne transmissible disease was investigated using cough droplets released from a ‘coughing machine’ simulating the human cough at different distances (1, 1.75 and 3 m) from the PV user. Particle image velocimetry was used to characterize and visualize the interaction between the cough-generated multiphase flow and PV-induced flow in the inhalation zone of the thermal breathing manikin. A dose–response model for unsteady imperfectly mixed environment was used to estimate the reduction in infection risk of two common diseases that can be transmitted by airborne mode. PV was able to both reduce the peak aerosol concentration levels and shorten the exposure time at all the examined injection distances. PV could reduce the infection risks of two diseases, influenza A and tuberculosis, by between 27 and 65 per cent. The protection offered by PV is less effective at a distance of 1.75 m than the other distances, as shown in the risk assessment results, as the PV-generated flow was blown off by the cough-generated flow for the longest time. Results of this study demonstrate the ability of desktop PV to mitigate the infection risk of airborne transmissible disease.
Development of the CAT-ANX: a computerized adaptive test for anxiety.

OBJECTIVE The authors developed a computerized adaptive test for anxiety that decreases patient and clinician burden and increases measurement precision. METHOD A total of 1,614 individuals with and without generalized anxiety disorder from a psychiatric clinic and community mental health center were recruited. The focus of the present study was the development of the Computerized Adaptive Testing-Anxiety Inventory (CAT-ANX). The Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV was used to obtain diagnostic classifications of generalized anxiety disorder and major depressive disorder. RESULTS An average of 12 items per subject was required to achieve a 0.3 standard error in the anxiety severity estimate and maintain a correlation of 0.94 with the total 431-item test score. CAT-ANX scores were strongly related to the probability of a generalized anxiety disorder diagnosis. Using both the Computerized Adaptive Testing-Depression Inventory and the CAT-ANX, comorbid major depressive disorder and generalized anxiety disorder can be accurately predicted. CONCLUSIONS Traditional measurement fixes the number of items but allows measurement uncertainty to vary. Computerized adaptive testing fixes measurement uncertainty and allows the number and content of items to vary, leading to a dramatic decrease in the number of items required for a fixed level of measurement uncertainty. Potential applications for inexpensive, efficient, and accurate screening of anxiety in primary care settings, clinical trials, psychiatric epidemiology, molecular genetics, children, and other cultures are discussed.
Impacts of Diffuse Radiation on Light Use Efficiency across Terrestrial Ecosystems Based on Eddy Covariance Observation in China

Ecosystem light use efficiency (LUE) is a key factor of production models for gross primary production (GPP) predictions. Previous studies revealed that ecosystem LUE could be significantly enhanced by an increase on diffuse radiation. Under large spatial heterogeneity and increasing annual diffuse radiation in China, eddy covariance flux data at 6 sites across different ecosystems from 2003 to 2007 were used to investigate the impacts of diffuse radiation indicated by the cloudiness index (CI) on ecosystem LUE in grassland and forest ecosystems. Our results showed that the ecosystem LUE at the six sites was significantly correlated with the cloudiness variation (0.24≤R2≤0.85), especially at the Changbaishan temperate forest ecosystem (R2 = 0.85). Meanwhile, the CI values appeared more frequently between 0.8 and 1.0 in two subtropical forest ecosystems (Qianyanzhou and Dinghushan) and were much larger than those in temperate ecosystems. Besides, cloudiness thresholds which were favorable for enhancing ecosystem carbon sequestration existed at the three forest sites, respectively. Our research confirmed that the ecosystem LUE at the six sites in China was positively responsive to the diffuse radiation, and the cloudiness index could be used as an environmental regulator for LUE modeling in regional GPP prediction.
Angioplasty and Stenting for Intractable Pulsatile Tinnitus Caused by Dural Venous Sinus Stenosis: A Case Series Report

Objective Pulsatile tinnitus caused by dural venous sinus (DVS) stenosis is a newly identified form of tinnitus. Its persistent nature can severely affect patients’ sleep and quality of life, leading to depression in severe cases. The aim of this report is to investigate the efficacy and safety of angioplasty and stenting in treating this form of tinnitus. Study Design Retrospective review. Setting Chinese PLA General Hospital. Methods Clinical data of 46 cases of pulsatile tinnitus caused by DVS stenosis treated between December 2009 and October 2012 using angioplasty and stenting were reviewed. Diagnosis of DVS abnormality was confirmed in all cases using digital subtraction angiography (DSA). Among these cases, stenosis was located in the transverse-sigmoid sinuses junction area ipsilateral to tinnitus in 44 cases and on both sides in the remaining 2 cases. Stenosis was treated with angioplasty and stenting in all cases. Results Pulsatile tinnitus disappeared immediately after the procedure in all 46 cases. There was no procedure-related complication. During the 2 to 36 months’ follow-up, there was no recurrence. Conclusion These results indicate that DVS stenosis is the cause of pulsatile tinnitus in these cases and that angioplasty and stenting are an effective and safe treatment for intractable pulsatile tinnitus caused by DVS stenosis.