Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An intrusive super-wideband speech quality model: DIAL

The intrusive speech quality model standardized by the ITU-T shows some limits in its quality predictions, especially in a wideband transmission context. They are mainly caused by strong differences in perceived quality when speech is transmitted over different telephone networks. Instrumental methods should provide reliable estimations of the integral speech quality over the entire perceptual speech quality space. This paper presents a new model, called Diagnostic Instrumental Assessment of Listening quality (DIAL). It combines a core model, four dimension estimators and a cognitive model, providing integral quality estimations.
Mesothelioma mortality surveillance and asbestos exposure tracking in Italy.

INTRODUCTION Spatial distribution of mortality from pleural mesothelioma (which in the ICD-10 Revision has a specific code: C45.0) in Italy for the period 2003-2009 is described. Previous mortality studies at national level employed the topographic code "Malignant neoplasms of pleura", because of unavailability of a specific code in ICD-9 Revision for pleural mesothelioma. METHODS Standardized mortality ratios were computed for all municipalities, using each regional population as reference; for municipalities in Regions with rate higher than the national rate, the latter has been used as reference. SMRs were computed specifically also for each Italian Polluted Sites "of national concern for environmental remediation" (IPS) with asbestos exposure sources, composed by one or more municipalities, using regional rate as reference. Spatial Scan Statistics procedure, using SatScan software, was applied in cluster analysis: the country was divided into geographic macro-areas and the relative risks (RR) express the ratio of risk within the cluster to the risk of the macro-area outside the cluster. Clusters with p-value < 0.10 were selected. RESULTS The national standardized annual mortality rate was 1.7 cases per 100 000. Several areas with evident burden of asbestos-related disease were detected. Significant clusters were found in correspondence to asbestos-cement industries (e.g. Casale Monferrato, women: RR = 28.7), shipyards (e.g. Trieste, men: RR = 4.8), petrochemical industries (e.g. Priolo, men: RR = 6.9) and a stone quarry contaminated by fluoro-edenite fibres (Biancavilla, women: RR = 25.9). Some of the increased clusters correspond to IPS. CONCLUSIONS The results may contribute to detect asbestos exposure and to set priorites for environmental remediation.
Inactivation of the p53 pathway in prostate cancer: impact on tumor progression.

To determine the potential role of p53 inactivation in prostate cancer, we studied a well characterized cohort of 86 patients treated with radical prostatectomy. We analyzed patterns of p53, mdm2, and p21/WAF1 expression by immunohistochemistry. Results were then correlated with clinicopathological parameters of poor outcome, including time to PSA relapse. In addition, data were also correlated with proliferative index, as assessed by Ki67 antigen detection. p53-positive phenotype, defined as identification of nuclear immunoreactivity in > 20% of tumor cells, was observed in 6 of 86 cases (7%). An association was observed between p53-positive phenotype and decreased time to PSA relapse (P < 0.01). mdm2-positive phenotype, defined as > or = 20% of tumor cells displaying nuclear immunoreactivity, was observed in 28 of 86 cases (32.5%). mdm-2-positive phenotype was found to be associated with advanced stage (P = 0.009). p21-positive phenotype, defined as > 5% of tumor cells with nuclear immunoreactivity, was observed in 28 of 86 cases (32.5%). An association was observed between p21-positive phenotype and high Ki67 proliferative index (P = 0.002). Patients with p21-positive phenotype had a significant association with decreased time to PSA relapse (P = 0.0165). In addition, a significant association was found between p21-positive phenotype and coexpression of mdm2 (P < 0.01). Forty-three of 86 cases (50%) were found to have one or more alterations, and patients with any alteration were found to have a higher rate of PSA relapse (P < 0.01). It is our hypothesis that a pathway of prostate cancer progression involves p53 inactivation caused by mdm2 overexpression and that p21 transactivation in this setting is due to an alternative signaling system, rather than through a p53-dependent mechanism.
Repair of deoxyribonucleic acid in ultraviolet light-sensitive and -resistant Dictyostelium discoideum strains

Some responses of the cellular slime mold Dictyostelium discoideum to ultraviolet light (UV) irradiation were investigated by analyzing two aspects of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) excision repair in the vegetative cells: (i) the fate of thymine-containing dimers and (ii) the production and rejoining of single-strand breaks. Experiments were done with the parental, radiation-resistant NC-4 strain and with the radiation-sensitive gammas-13 strain. The majority (greater than 85%) of the thymine-containing dimers produced in both strains by an energy fluence of 100/Jm2 were removed from the acid-insoluble DNA fraction within the first 3 to 4 h of reincubation in the dark. Moreover, as measured by alkaline sucrose gradients, single-strand breaks appeared in the DNA of both NC-4 and gammas-13 irradiated cells very rapidly and at low temperatures. This was presumed to be a result of the incision (nicking) step of excision repair as performed by UV-specific endonuclease(s). In NC-4 the time required for dimer excision correlated with the sealing of breaks as well as with the UV-induced division delays. In gammas-13 the single-strand breaks were closed at a slower rate than in NC-4. However, this was not accompanied by more extensive division delays.
Global extensions of spacetimes describing asymptotic final states of black holes

We consider a globally hyperbolic, stationary spacetime containing a black hole but no white hole. We assume, further, that the event horizon, , of the black hole is a Killing horizon with compact cross-sections. We prove that if surface gravity is non-zero and constant throughout the horizon one can globally extend such a spacetime so that the image of is a proper subset of a regular bifurcate Killing horizon in the enlarged spacetime. The necessary and sufficient conditions are given for the extendibility of matter fields to the enlarged spacetime. These conditions are automatically satisfied if the spacetime is static (and hence `t'-reflection symmetric) or stationary-axisymmetric with `t - ' reflection isometry and the matter fields respect the reflection isometry. In addition, we prove that a necessary and sufficient condition for the constancy of the surface gravity on a Killing horizon is that the exterior derivative of the twist of the horizon Killing field vanishes on the horizon. As a corollary of this, we recover a result of Carter that constancy of surface gravity holds for any black hole which is static or stationary-axisymmetric with the `t - ' reflection isometry. No use of Einstein's equation is made in obtaining any of the above results. Taken together, these results support the view that any spacetime representing the asymptotic final state of a black hole formed by gravitational collapse may be assumed to possess a bifurcate Killing horizon or a Killing horizon with vanishing surface gravity.
Foundations of organizational structures in multiagent systems

We analyze the notion of organizational structure in multiagent systems and explain the precise added value and the effects of such organizational structure on the involved agents. To pursue this aim, contributions from social and organization theory are considered which provide a solid theoretical foundation to this analysis. We argue that organizational structures should be seen along at least three dimensions, instead of just one: power, coordination, and control. In order to systematize the approach, formal tools are used to describe the organizational structure as well as the effect of such structures on the activities in multiagent systems. We specify the properties and the consequences of organizational structures for the actions of the involved agents.
Scaling up partial evaluation for optimizing the Sun commercial RPC protocol

We report here a successful experiment in using partial evaluation on a realistic program, namely the Sun commercial RPC (Remote Procedure Call) protocol. The Sun RPC is implemented in a highly generic way that offers multiple opportunities of specialization.Our study also shows the incapacity of traditional binding-time analyses to treat real system programs. Our experiment has been made with Tempo, a partial evaluator for C programs targeted towards system software. Tempo's binding-time analysis had to be improved to integrate partially static data structures (interprocedurally), context sensitivity, use sensitivity and return sensitivity.The Sun RPC experiment files, including the specialized implementation, are publicly available upon request to the authors.
A Mobility Simulation Framework Of Humans With Group Behavior Modeling

We present a mobility simulation framework that simulates the movement behaviors of people to generate spatiotemporal movement data. There is a growing interest in applications that make use of patterns mined from spatio-temporal data. However, since the availability of actual spatio-temporal movement data in the public domain is limited, it is useful to have simulation frameworks that generate data close to the real life behavior of people, so that data mining techniques can be tested. We argue that modeling group behavior effectively is a key element of any real-life simulation framework, because there are many applications that require the knowledge of groups and events. In this work, we propose generic models to represent individual and group movement behaviors. We present an algorithm that takes various behaviors created using the proposed models, and generates spatio-temporal movement data for as many individuals as needed. Experimental analysis shows the efficacy of the proposed framework handling a broad spectrum of behaviors with high scalability.
Mitogen-activated Protein Kinase Signaling Mediates Phosphorylation of Polycomb Ortholog Cbx7*

Background: Post-translational modification of Polycomb protein Cbx7 remains poorly understood. Results: Here we identify and characterize a novel phosphorylation site at threonine 118 of mouse Cbx7. Conclusion: MAPK signaling induces Cbx7 threonine 118 phosphorylation and enhances PRC1 association. Significance: Mitogen signaling to Cbx7 confers an additional layer of PRC1 regulation. Cbx7 is one of five mammalian orthologs of the Drosophila Polycomb. Cbx7 recognizes methylated lysine residues on the histone H3 tail and contributes to gene silencing in the context of the Polycomb repressive complex 1 (PRC1). However, our knowledge of Cbx7 post-translational modifications remains limited. Through combined biochemical and mass spectrometry approaches, we report a novel phosphorylation site on mouse Cbx7 at residue Thr-118 (Cbx7T118ph), near the highly conserved Polycomb box. The generation of a site-specific antibody to Cbx7T118ph demonstrates that Cbx7 is phosphorylated via MAPK signaling. Furthermore, we find Cbx7T118 phosphorylation in murine mammary carcinoma cells, which can be blocked by MEK inhibitors. Upon EGF stimulation, Cbx7 interacts robustly with other members of PRC1. To test the role of Cbx7T118 phosphorylation in gene silencing, we employed a RAS-induced senescence model system. We demonstrate that Cbx7T118 phosphorylation moderately enhances repression of its target gene p16. In summary, we have identified and characterized a novel MAPK-mediated phosphorylation site on Cbx7 and propose that mitogen signaling to the chromatin template regulates PRC1 function.
Performance Evaluation of Faculty Departments by a Delphi Method Based on 2-Tuple fuzzy Linguistic Representation Model and TOPSIS

The development of and competition in educational facilities gradually increase the service quality’s importance. To accommodate this rapid process, educational organisations attempt to measure their performance and to enhance their standards. In general, an organisation’s performance does not depend solely on one criterion; instead, it should be evaluated based on multiple criteria. In this study, the academic performances of the departments within the Engineering Faculty of one of the largest universities in Turkey, Gazi University, have been compared using a multi-attribute decision making (MADM) method, TOPSIS. The criteria weights for the TOPSIS method are determined dependent upon linguistically expressed expert opinions. Therefore, a Delphi method based on the 2-tuple fuzzy linguistic representation model for computing with words is proposed. A sensitivity analysis study is also performed to determine the most critical criterion. Index Term-Multi Attribute Decision Making, TOPSIS, Delphi method, performance evaluation, education.
Decomposing Single Images for Layered Photo Retouching

Photographers routinely compose multiple manipulated photos of the same scene into a single image, producing a fidelity difficult to achieve using any individual photo. Alternately, 3D artists set up rendering systems to produce layered images to isolate individual aspects of the light transport, which are composed into the final result in post‐production. Regrettably, these approaches either take considerable time and effort to capture, or remain limited to synthetic scenes. In this paper, we suggest a method to decompose a single image into multiple layers that approximates effects such as shadow, diffuse illumination, albedo, and specular shading. To this end, we extend the idea of intrinsic images along two axes: first, by complementing shading and reflectance with specularity and occlusion, and second, by introducing directional dependence. We do so by training a convolutional neural network (CNN) with synthetic data. Such decompositions can then be manipulated in any off‐the‐shelf image manipulation software and composited back. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our decomposition on synthetic (i. e., rendered) and real data (i. e., photographs), and use them for photo manipulations, which are otherwise impossible to perform based on single images. We provide comparisons with state‐of‐the‐art methods and also evaluate the quality of our decompositions via a user study measuring the effectiveness of the resultant photo retouching setup. Supplementary material and code are available for research use at geometry.cs. ucl.ac. uk/projects/2017/layered-retouching.
On Learning Mixture Models for Permutations

In this paper we consider the problem of learning a mixture of permutations, where each component of the mixture is generated by a stochastic process. Learning permutation mixtures arises in practical settings when a set of items is ranked by different sub-populations and the rankings of users in a sub-population tend to agree with each other. While there is some applied work on learning such mixtures, they have been mostly heuristic in nature. We study the problem where the permutations in a mixture component are generated by the classical Mallows process in which each component is associated with a center and a scalar parameter. We show that even when the centers are arbitrarily separated, with exponentially many samples one can learn the mixture, provided the parameters are all the same and known; we also show that the latter two assumptions are information-theoretically inevitable. We then focus on polynomial-time learnability and show bounds on the performance of two simple algorithms for the case when the centers are well separated. Conceptually, our work suggests that while permutations may not enjoy as nice mathematical properties as Gaussians, certain structural aspects can still be exploited towards analyzing the corresponding mixture learning problem.
Induced voltage on medium overhead line caused by nearby strike from rocket triggered lightning

Lightning protection experiment will be carried out by using rocket triggered lightning in Lake Jatiluhur in West Java, Indonesia. rocket pull up a copper wire located at the bottom side of the rocket and launched from the top of a platform to trigger the lightning. Copper wire connected to a measuring instrument at the launching pad. Up to a certain height, when strong electric field penetration are reached the rockets will be hit by lightning. Lightning will propagate on copper wire and through a gauge on the launching pad and lightning current parameters can be measured on equipment mounted on the platform. Lightning strikes on rockets and drain the lightning currents to the ground through copper wire will be used for measurement of induced voltage to the medium voltage distribution lines nearby. The magnitude of return stroke current will be determined and the distance to the MV lines is known and the induction voltage can be measured. This travelling wave voltage at the MV line will be protected by the new multi chamber arrester installed along the induced MV line.
Serotonin Secretion by Human Carcinoid BON Cells

Abstract: BON cells are human carcinoid cells that secrete serotonin (5‐HT) and various peptides. Secretion of [3H]5‐HT by cell cultures was investigated. Acetylcholine (Ach) stimulated secretion through a somatostatin‐sensitive muscarinic pathway, whereas isoproterenol was inefficient. [3H]5‐HT secretion also was induced by Ca2+ in the presence of the ionophore A‐23187 or after digitonin permeabilization. These two processes were insensitive to stomatostatin. Ba2+ induced an efficient somatostatin‐sensitive [3H]5‐HT secretory response. Secretion also was analyzed at the single‐cell level, using carbon fiber amperometry and evanescent‐field fluorescence microscopy, after labeling the secretory vesicles by transfection of the cells with a NPY‐GFP construct. Both techniques revealed slow kinetics of secretory responses, suggesting that ready‐to‐fuse vesicles do not accumulate in these cells. Single secretory vesicles were imaged either in resting conditions or after addition of Ca2+ ions to digitonin‐permeabilized cells. The three‐dimensional movements of the vesicles before exocytosis were analyzed. The mean velocity of vesicles that released their content was lower than that of silent ones. Even in the case of mobile vesicles, exocytosis often was preceded by a period of arrest lasting at least 15 seconds, consistent with a docking/priming step.
Dietary breadth of the animal protein consumed by riverine communities in the Tapajós National Forest, Brazil.

In small-scale human settlements, the acquisition of animal protein is strictly related to subsistence activities, and yours dietary habits are determined by the availability and the selectivity permitted by the diversity of these resources. This study analyzed the consumption of animal protein sources in seven traditional riverine communities of the Tapajos National Forest, located in Eastern Brazilian Amazonia, considering fish, game meat and domestic animals. The analysis of animal protein consumption was based on the assumptions of the diet breadth model and the Optimal Foraging Theory. We compared diet breadths between communities and between rainy and dry seasons. The study focused on seven traditional riverside communities, six of them distributed along the right bank of the Tapajos River and one on the right bank of the Cupari River. Data collection was performed in four fields trips, two in the rainy season (May and July) and two in the dry season (September and November) in 2010. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews where the informant mentioned the source of animal protein consumed in the last three meals and which would be consumed at the next meal, if possible. We carried out a total of 470 interviews, where we documented 1 512 meals, and in only 12% of the meals there was no consumption of any animal protein source. The fish was consumed in 60.4% of the meals, being the most important source of animal protein consumed, differing significantly from other protein sources (X2=23.79, df=5, p<0.001). A total of 11 species of wild animals and 46 species of fish were consumed. The choice in the consumption of game meat consisted on Tayassu pecari, Hydrochoerus hidrochaeris and Cuniculus paca, while the preference for fish consumption included Plagioscion spp. , Astronotus spp. , Cichla spp. and Leporinus spp. The Simpson index did not vary significantly between the rainy and dry season (N=6, t=1.25, p=0.267) or between communities (N=6, t=-5, p=0.42), although SLo Francisco das Chagas have significantly higher consumption of game meat (X2=370.41, df=25, p<0.001). Fishing is an activity of paramount importance to these communities, and factors that lead to decreased availability of fish may lead to subsequent increase in hunting pressure. For the conservation of preserve of both wildlife natural resources and practices of subsistence of riverine communities of the Tapajós National Forest, it is necessary to ensure the maintenance of fish stocks and the protection of the Tapajós River areas large enough to maintain viable populations of wild animals and more tolerant to hunting and habitat loss.
A Millimeter-Wave Indoor Backscattering Channel Model for Environment Mapping

In this communication, we introduce a channel model for personal radar applications where a millimeter-wave (mm-wave) massive array is required to scan the environment and to reconstruct a map of it. The analysis is based on measurement campaigns, in a corridor and in an office room, performed using mm-wave massive arrays. In such a context, we aim at characterizing the channel from both a temporal and an angular perspective by exploiting a 2D CLEAN-like technique to extrapolate the multipath components and a K-means algorithm for clustering, where centroids statistics depend on the environment contour. The obtained channel model can be exploited for mapping algorithms based on backscattered radar measurements.
Effect of Grain Shape on Texture Formation during Severe Plastic Deformation of Pure Copper  

In this study, the authors use a combination of electron backscattered diffraction and polycrystal plasticity modeling to study the effect of grain shape on texture development in high pressure torsion and high pressure double torsion in high purity Cu. With varying applied pressures and after a large amount of strain corresponding to two to four turns, the average aspect ratios of the grains has changed from being elongated under higher pressures to nearly equiaxed for lower pressures, while keeping the average grain size similar among all samples analyzed. Polycrystal modeling is used to help isolating the deformation effect from the grain shape effect. The authors show that grains with elongated shapes form shear textures with a predominant C component, whereas those with largely equiaxed grains possess conventional shear textures.
Dosing guidelines for fluconazole in patients with renal failure.

Fluconazole is a widely used drug that inhibits the synthesis of fungal cell membranes [1,2]. Its elimination is predominantly via renal excretion with most of the dose recovered in urine as an unchanged and active drug. As a result, drug pharmacokinetics are altered in patients with renal failure and it is essential to establish guidelines on how to handle this drug in those patients. Furthermore, in dialysis patients, the removal of the drug in the dialysate has to be elucidated to determine whether fluconazole should be administered after the session or not. A review of the literature was thus performed and analysis of the retrieved data permitted to establish dosage adjustment guidelines for fluconazole in patients with renal failure.