Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Size Distribution of Sperm Whales Acoustically Identified during Long Term Deep-Sea Monitoring in the Ionian Sea

The sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus) emits a typical short acoustic signal, defined as a “click”, almost continuously while diving. It is produced in different time patterns to acoustically explore the environment and communicate with conspecifics. Each emitted click has a multi-pulse structure, resulting from the production of the sound within the sperm whale’s head. A Stable Inter Pulse Interval (Stable IPI) can be identified among the pulses that compose a single click. Applying specific algorithms, the measurement of this interval provides useful information to assess the total length of the animal recorded. In January 2005, a cabled hydrophone array was deployed at a depth of 2,100 m in the Central Mediterranean Sea, 25 km offshore Catania (Ionian Sea). The acoustic antenna, named OνDE (Ocean noise Detection Experiment), was in operation until November 2006. OνDE provided real time acoustic data used to perform Passive Acoustic Monitoring (PAM) of cetacean sound emissions. In this work, an innovative approach was applied to automatically measure the Stable IPI of the clicks, performing a cepstrum analysis to the energy (square amplitude) of the signals. About 2,100 five-minute recordings were processed to study the size distribution of the sperm whales detected during the OνDE long term deep-sea acoustic monitoring. Stable IPIs were measured in the range between 2.1 ms and 6.4 ms. The equations of Gordon (1991) and of Growcott (2011) were used to convert the IPIs into measures of size. The results revealed that the sperm whales recorded were distributed in length from about 7.5 m to 14 m. The size category most represented was from 9 m to 12 m (adult females or juvenile males) and specimens longer than 14 m (old males) seemed to be absent.
Software Support for Practical Grammar Development

Even though progress in theoretical linguistics does not necessarily rely on the construction of working programs, a large proportion of current research in syntactic theory is facilitated by suitable computational tools. However, when natural language processing applications seek to draw on the results from new developments in theories of grammar, not only the nature of the tools has to change, but they face the challenge of reconciling the seemingly contradictory requirements of notational perspicuity and efficiency of performance. In this paper, we present a comparison and an evaluation of a number of software systems for grammar development, and argue that they are inadequate as practical tools for building wide-coverage grammars. We discuss a number of factors characteristic of this task, demonstrate how they influence the design of a suitable software environment, and describe the implementation of a system which has supported efficient development of a large computational grammar of English.
The effect of piezoelectric ultrasonic instrumentation on titanium discs: a microscopy and trace elemental analysis in vitro study.

AIM To evaluate in vitro topographical and composition changes by piezoelectric ultrasonic instrumentation with metallic and plastic tips on machined and moderately roughened titanium surfaces. METHODS Twenty machined and moderately roughened laser-marked titanium discs were ultrasonically instrumented with metallic and plastic tips. Surface instrumentation was carried out with controlled pressure for 20 and 30 seconds at two power settings. For each time and power setting, instrumentation was repeated four times with one instrumentation per disc quadrant. Surface topography analysis was performed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM). Surface roughness measurements were compared between instrumented and non-instrumented surfaces. Surface element composition and rinsing solutions were evaluated using energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and trace elemental analysis using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICPMS), respectively. RESULTS SEM photomicrographs and CLSM 3D surface plot images of instrumented machined and moderately roughened surfaces demonstrated severe surface topographical alterations with metallic tips and mild to moderate changes for plastic tip instrumented sites. ICPMS analysis of the rinsing solutions identified titanium and other metal traces with the use of metallic tips, and mainly titanium and carbon when plastic tips were used. Surface EDS analysis showed elemental traces of the ultrasonic tips. CONCLUSION Ultrasonic instrumentation with metallic or plastic tips created surface topographical and compositional changes. Different changes in surface topography were noted between the surfaces, as the roughness of the machined surfaces increased while the extent of roughness of the moderately roughened surfaces decreased. The clinical relevance of these changes is yet to be determined.
Implementing a climate database to produce stochastical feed-in curves of renewable energies

This paper will present an implemented solution for the production of stochastical feed-in curves of photovoltaic and wind energy. Therefore a climate database with more than 800 weather stations across the EU-27 was set up. The data were obtained with the software Meteonorm®. The obtained weather data are compared with real, measured data and then integrated in a simulation framework in Matlab/Simulink®. In addition technical models for photovoltaic and wind energy systems are presented. Finally the produced feed-in curves are investigated with respect to their characteristics and differences. Furthermore the impact of these differences on energy system simulation will be highlighted on the example of energy storage needs of high renewable energy scenarios for Germany.
Evaluation of Introducing Programming to Younger School Children Using a Computer Game Making Tool

Computer games are an exceptionally popular medium across all age groups and have significantly impacted on the way that younger people and children spend their leisure time. Educationalists are hopeful that they will be able to utilise the positive attributes of computer games for educational purposes. There have been a number of studies associated with the application of computer games technology (or games-based learning) in tertiary education; however there is still insufficient evidence at this level to properly substantiate the use of computer games technology as a recognised educational approach. There have been even fewer studies gathering empirical evidence about the applicability of games-based learning in Primary Education. This paper will present the findings of an extensive literature review of the use of computer games and education with a specific focus on Primary Education where students have constructed their own computer games. This paper will also report the results of empirical work performed over an eight week period to introduce programming to younger school children using a computer game construction application. The results show that a sense of achievement was evident in most of the children as they participated in making a game.
Mental health and sleep during basic combat training and beyond OVERVIEW

1 Department of Exercise Science, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina. 2 WJB Dorn VA Medical Center. 3 Institute for Partnerships to Eliminate Health Disparities. 4 Department of Health Promotion, Education, and Behavior, University of South Carolina. 5 Experimentation and Analysis Element, US ARMY, Fort Jackson, SC. 6 Department of Psychology, University of South Carolina. Corresponding author: Shawn D. Youngstedt, PhD, USC 921 Assembly St, Columbia, SC 29208 803-777-929, 803-777-0558-f E-mail: syoungstedt@sc.edu Received: May 26, 2011; October 6, 201
The plista dataset

Releasing datasets has fostered research in fields such as information retrieval and recommender systems. Datasets are typically tailored for specific scenarios. In this work, we present the plista dataset. The dataset contains a collection of news articles published on 13 news portals. Additionally, the dataset comprises user interactions with those articles. We inctroduce the dataset's main characteristics. Further, we illustrate possible applications of the dataset.
Machines Outperform Laypersons in Recognizing Emotions Elicited by Autobiographical Recollection

Over the last decade, an increasing number of studies have focused on automated recognition of human emotions by machines. However, performances of machine emotion recognition studies are difficult to interpret because benchmarks have not been established. To provide such a benchmark, we compared machine with human emotion recognition. We gathered facial expressions, speech, and physiological signals from 17 individuals expressing 5 different emotional states. Support vector machines achieved an 82% recognition accuracy based on physiological and facial features. In experiments with 75 humans on the same data, a maximum recognition accuracy of 62.8% was obtained. As machines outperformed humans, automated emotion recognition might be ready to be tested in more practical applications.
Multi-Device to Multi-Device (MD2MD) Content-Centric Networking Based on Multi-RAT Device

This paper proposes a method whereby a device can transmit and receive information using a beacon, and also describes application scenarios for the proposed method. In a multi-device to multi-device (MD2MD) content-centric networking (CCN) environment, the main issue involves searching for and connecting to nearby devices. However, if a device can’t find another device that satisfies its requirements, the connection is delayed due to the repetition of processes. It is possible to rapidly connect to a device without repetition through the selection of the optimal device using the proposed method. Consequently, the proposed method and scenarios are advantageous in that they enable efficient content identification and delivery in a content-centric Internet of Things (IoT) environment, in which multiple mobile devices coexist.
Drinking level, neighborhood social disorder, and mutual intimate partner violence.

BACKGROUND Intimate partner violence (IPV) remains a significant public health problem. The purpose of this study is to assess the contribution of drinking patterns to risk for mutual IPV among married/cohabiting adults in the general population, and to determine if the association between drinking level and mutual IPV varies by level of neighborhood social disorder. METHODS The study sample consists of 19,035 non-Hispanic black, Hispanic, and non-Hispanic white married/cohabiting adults who participated in the 2000 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (NHSDA), and whose responses were available through the NHSDA public use file. Gender-specific multivariate logistic regression models of mutual IPV were developed to assess the association between drinking level and mutual IPV, and to test whether these associations vary by neighborhood social disorder. RESULTS Compared with men who are abstainers, men who are past-30 day heavy drinkers are at a more than 6-fold increased risk for mutual IPV. Men in less hazardous drinking categories are at a 2- to 3-fold increased risk of mutual IPV. Neighborhood disorder is independently associated with men's risk for mutual IPV (odds ratio=1.61). Except for women in the most hazardous drinking category, neighborhood disorder moderates the association between women's drinking level and risk of mutual IPV such that risk for mutual IPV significantly increases under conditions of high neighborhood disorder, and decreases to insignificant risk under conditions of low neighborhood disorder. Compared with abstainers, women who are past-30 day heavy drinkers are at an approximate 6-fold risk for mutual IPV regardless of level of neighborhood disorder. CONCLUSIONS Drinking level and neighborhood characteristics should be taken into account when assessing risk for mutual IPV among married/cohabiting men and women in the general population. An environmental approach to IPV prevention and intervention which addresses the neighborhood context in which couples reside may be a promising strategy for reducing IPV occurrence.
2-D Impulse Noise Suppression by Recursive Gaussian Maximum Likelihood Estimation

An effective approach termed Recursive Gaussian Maximum Likelihood Estimation (RGMLE) is developed in this paper to suppress 2-D impulse noise. And two algorithms termed RGMLE-C and RGMLE-CS are derived by using spatially-adaptive variances, which are respectively estimated based on certainty and joint certainty & similarity information. To give reliable implementation of RGMLE-C and RGMLE-CS algorithms, a novel recursion stopping strategy is proposed by evaluating the estimation error of uncorrupted pixels. Numerical experiments on different noise densities show that the proposed two algorithms can lead to significantly better results than some typical median type filters. Efficient implementation is also realized via GPU (Graphic Processing Unit)-based parallelization techniques.
Ad hoc Iteration and Re-execution of Activities in Workflows

The repeated execution of workflow logic is usually modeled with loop constructs in the workflow model. But there are cases where it is not known at design time that a subset of activities has to be rerun during workflow execution. For instance in e-Science, scientists might have to spontaneously repeat a part of an experiment modeled and executed as workflow in order to gain meaningful results. In general, a manually triggered ad hoc rerun enables users reacting to unforeseen problems and thus improves workflow robustness. It allows natural scientists steering the convergence of scientific results, business analysts controlling their analyses results, and it facilitates an explorative workflow development as required in scientific workflows. In this paper, two operations are formalized for a manually enforced repeated enactment of activities, the iteration and the re-execution. The focus thereby lies on an arbitrary, user-selected activity as a starting point of the rerun. Important topics discussed in this context are handling of data, rerun of activities in activity sequences as well as in parallel and alternative branches, implications on the communication with partners/services and the application of the concept to workflow languages with hierarchically nested activities. Since the operations are defined on a meta-model level, they can be implemented for different workflow languages and engines.
Efficient and Robust Recovery of Sparse Signal and Image Using Generalized Nonconvex Regularization

This paper addresses the robust reconstruction problem of a sparse signal from compressed measurements. We propose a robust formulation for sparse reconstruction that employs the <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\ell _1$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-norm as the loss function for the residual error and utilizes a generalized nonconvex penalty for sparsity inducing. The <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\ell _1$</tex-math></inline-formula> -loss is less sensitive to outliers in the measurements than the popular <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX"> $\ell _2$</tex-math></inline-formula>-loss, while the nonconvex penalty has the capability of ameliorating the bias problem of the popular convex LASSO penalty and thus can yield more accurate recovery. To solve this nonconvex and nonsmooth minimization formulation efficiently, we propose a first-order algorithm based on alternating direction method of multipliers. A smoothing strategy on the <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\ell _1$</tex-math> </inline-formula>-loss function has been used in deriving the new algorithm to make it convergent. Further, a sufficient condition for the convergence of the new algorithm has been provided for generalized nonconvex regularization. In comparison with several state-of-the-art algorithms, the new algorithm showed better performance in numerical experiments in recovering sparse signals and compressible images. The new algorithm scales well for large-scale problems, as often encountered in image processing.
Imprinted X-inactivation in extra-embryonic endoderm cell lines from mouse blastocysts

The extra-embryonic endoderm lineage plays a major role in the nutritive support of the embryo and is required for several inductive events, such as anterior patterning and blood island formation. Blastocyst-derived embryonic stem (ES) and trophoblast stem (TS) cell lines provide good models with which to study the development of the epiblast and trophoblast lineages, respectively. We describe the derivation and characterization of cell lines that are representative of the third lineage of the blastocyst – extra-embryonic endoderm. Extra-embryonic endoderm (XEN) cell lines can be reproducibly derived from mouse blastocysts and passaged without any evidence of senescence. XEN cells express markers typical of extra-embryonic endoderm derivatives, but not those of the epiblast or trophoblast. Chimeras generated by injection of XEN cells into blastocysts showed exclusive contribution to extra-embryonic endoderm cell types. We used female XEN cells to investigate the mechanism of X chromosome inactivation in this lineage. We observed paternally imprinted X-inactivation, consistent with observations in vivo. Based on gene expression analysis, chimera studies and imprinted X-inactivation, XEN cell lines are representative of extra-embryonic endoderm and provide a new cell culture model of an early mammalian lineage.
Use of the Nintendo Wii Fit for the Treatment of Balance Problems in an Elderly Patient with Stroke: A Case Report

METHOD In this study were measured the factors of the respiratory function (the respiratory rate and the Hence sample) on the fi rst and the sixth postoperation days. The data on atelectasis were taken from the patient’s case-histories. The patients were inquired whether they did smoke during eight weeks before the operation. The study included 40 patients after coronary artery bypass grafting. The studied patients were distribut in two equal groups. In the fi rst group, physiotheraphy was employed once a day; in the second group, twice a day.
The Influence of Individual and Organizational Variables on Organizational Commitment Among Nurses

Demands on nurses in China are increasing following the introduction of China's 'New Healthcare Reform Program', leading to more stressful working conditions and increased burnout and turnover. Employing a social exchange framework, this study investigates emotional exhaustion and positive organizational support (POS) as individual level psychological mechanisms though which organizational level flexible work practices and staffing adequacy influence employee affective organizational commitment among 393 nurses from two hospitals in Zhejiang Province, China. We tested full and partial mediation models. POS partially mediated the relationship between employee perceptions of staffing adequacy and affective organizational commitment. POS also fully mediated the relationship between employee perceptions of flexible work schedules and affective organizational commitment; however emotional exhaustion did not mediate the flexibility of work schedules -- affective commitment relationship or the flexibility of work schedules -- affective commitment relationship. Our results highlight links between organization practice and employee outcomes, informing future practice.
Optimal placement of MIMO antenna pairs with different quality factors in smart-phone platforms

In this contribution, an investigation on the use of tunable antennas for a compact implementation of multi input multi output (MIMO) phones has been done. The position of the exciting elements has been investigated as well as the antenna's bandwidth impact on the mutual coupling. It has been show that generally narrow band antennas have increased inherent isolation and in some special cases they can have impressive levels of isolation. A two by two MIMO system has been considered and the influence of the user has not been investigated. A design for a compact MIMO tunable antenna is proposed with good performance without the increased complexity of a decoupling technique.
Executive Functioning in Schizophrenia

The executive function (EF) is a set of abilities, which allows us to invoke voluntary control of our behavioral responses. These functions enable human beings to develop and carry out plans, make up analogies, obey social rules, solve problems, adapt to unexpected circumstances, do many tasks simultaneously, and locate episodes in time and place. EF includes divided attention and sustained attention, working memory (WM), set-shifting, flexibility, planning, and the regulation of goal directed behavior and can be defined as a brain function underlying the human faculty to act or think not only in reaction to external events but also in relation with internal goals and states. EF is mostly associated with dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (PFC). Besides EF, PFC is involved in self-regulation of behavior, i.e., the ability to regulate behavior according to internal goals and constraints, particularly in less structured situations. Self-regulation of behavior is subtended by ventral medial/orbital PFC. Impairment of EF is one of the most commonly observed deficits in schizophrenia through the various disease stages. Impairment in tasks measuring conceptualization, planning, cognitive flexibility, verbal fluency, ability to solve complex problems, and WM occur in schizophrenia. Disorders detected by executive tests are consistent with evidence from functional neuroimaging, which have shown PFC dysfunction in patients while performing these kinds of tasks. Schizophrenics also exhibit deficit in odor identifying, decision-making, and self-regulation of behavior suggesting dysfunction of the orbital PFC. However, impairment in executive tests is explained by dysfunction of prefronto-striato-thalamic, prefronto-parietal, and prefronto-temporal neural networks mainly. Disorders in EFs may be considered central facts with respect to schizophrenia and it has been suggested that negative symptoms may be explained by that executive dysfunction.
H19 controls reactivation of the imprinted gene network during muscle regeneration

The H19 locus controls fetal growth by regulating expression of several genes from the imprinted gene network (IGN). H19 is fully repressed after birth, except in skeletal muscle. Using loss-of-function H19Δ3 mice, we investigated the function of H19 in adult muscle. Mutant muscles display hypertrophy and hyperplasia, with increased Igf2 and decreased myostatin (Mstn) expression. Many imprinted genes are expressed in muscle stem cells or satellite cells. Unexpectedly, the number of satellite cells was reduced by 50% in H19Δ3 muscle fibers. This reduction occurred after postnatal day 21, suggesting a link with their entry into quiescence. We investigated the biological function of these mutant satellite cells in vivo using a regeneration assay induced by multiple injections of cardiotoxin. Surprisingly, despite their reduced number, the self-renewal capacity of these cells is fully retained in the absence of H19. In addition, we observed a better regeneration potential of the mutant muscles, with enhanced expression of several IGN genes and genes from the IGF pathway. Summary: Expression of H19 regulates muscle stem cell number and controls their entry into quiescence. Absence of H19 leads to better muscle regeneration with increased expression of the IGN genes.