Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
On the use of phone log-likelihood ratios as features in spoken language recognition

This paper presents an alternative feature set to the traditional MFCC-SDC used in acoustic approaches to Spoken Language Recognition: the log-likelihood ratios of phone posterior probabilities, hereafter Phone Log-Likelihood Ratios (PLLR), produced by a phone recognizer. In this work, an iVector system trained on this set of features (plus dynamic coefficients) is evaluated and compared to (1) an acoustic iVector system (trained on the MFCC-SDC feature set) and (2) a phonotactic (Phone-lattice-SVM) system, using two different benchmarks: the NIST 2007 and 2009 LRE datasets. iVector systems trained on PLLR features proved to be competitive, reaching or even outperforming the MFCC-SDC-based iVector and the phonotactic systems. The fusion of the proposed approach with the acoustic and phonotactic systems provided even more significant improvements, outperforming state-of-the-art systems on both benchmarks.
Links between multiple chemical sensitivity and asthma in a rat model of cholinergic hypersensitivity: a brief review

Individuals with multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS) also commonly report symptoms of asthma, but, as far as we have been able to determine, no one has yet suggested that an abnormal cholinergic system may provide the link between asthma and MCS. The present brief review provides evidence for such a link by summarizing recent findings in a genetic animal model of cholinergic hyperresponsiveness. The Flinders Sensitive Line (FSL) rats were developed by selective breeding for increased responses to an anticholinesterase agent similar to commonly used organophosphate pesticides. Relative to their control line, the Flinders Resistant Line (FRL) rats, the FSL rats are more sensitive to drugs that stimulate acetylcholine receptors, alcohol, diazepam, and drugs that have a selective effect on dopamine or serotonin receptors. These findings raise the possibility that the FSL rats may resemble individuals with MCS. Hyperresponsiveness of the airways is a hallmark of asthma. The procedure known as whole-body plethysmography, where breathing can be monitored in freely moving animals, was employed to study the FSL and FRL rats. The FSL rats exhibited a greater index of bronchoconstriction than the FRL rats in response to both a cholinergic agonist and an allergen challenge. Thus, the FSL rats are more sensitive both to a variety of drugs unrelated to the cholinergic system and to cholinergic- and allergen-induced bronchoconstriction. An abnormal cholinergic system may therefore contribute to both MCS and asthma.
Severe First Trimester Recurrent Intrahepatic Cholestasis of Pregnancy: A Case Report and Literature Review

Abstract Background Intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy (ICP) is a disorder of defective bile acid transport that results in systemic accumulation of bile acids and typically presents in the third trimester of pregnancy with intense pruritus. A positive linear correlation exists between total bile acid level and poor pregnancy outcome, and labor is typically induced at 37 weeks gestation to prevent intrauterine fetal demise (IUFD). Case Study We present the most severe reported case of recurrent ICP presenting early in the first trimester. The patient was delivered by repeat cesarean section at 31 6/7 weeks gestation resulting in a viable female infant. Conclusion Iatrogenic preterm delivery may be indicated in early-severe recurrent ICP to prevent IUFD, but more research is needed.
Bandwidth Spoofing and Intrusion Detection System for Multistage 5G Wireless Communication Network

All over the world, there is a gigantic stir in the number of subscribers which gave rise to numerous challenges, like interference management and capacity enhancement. The enabling candidates to deal with this plight are the enabling technologies of the 5G wireless communication networks. Though the 5G technologies meet the mounting demands, yet, security remains a vital concern. In this paper, the security issues of 5G wireless communication networks have been emphasized upon, with the game theoretic analysis of bandwidth spoofing attack on the multistage 5G wireless communication network. The intrusion on the relay, small cell access point and base station, which are forming a multistage 5G wireless communication network, is detected using a proposed Adaptive Intrusion Detection System.
1 Modes of Theory Integration

Multiple social science fields, including Information Systems (IS), share a desire to make sense of the how humans, technology and information can be organized to support desired modes of behavior. Over the past three decades IS has tended to import reference theories. More recently there has been increased effort to obtain legitimacy by creating ‘native’ IS theories. While some decry the obsession with theory [1] publication outlets continue to emphasize the primacy of theory development and testing as the maximal contribution to the field [2]. As a result of this emphasis on theory, IS has moved from having a relative paucity of theories about phenomena of interest, to its current state of multiple, overlapping, and overly narrow theories. IS, along with many reference disciplines, are now faced with a problem common to social sciences–how to make sense of a disparate range of theories originating across multiple fields researching the same phenomenon.
Studying Aquatic Insects Anatomy with the SkyScan 1172 high-resolution micro-CT

When scanning weakly attenuating samples using an X-ray tube with a very small focal spot size, the acquired projections not only contain absorption contrast, but also phase contrast due to refraction of the X-rays. Although the resulting edge enhancement can be beneficial in radiography, the tomographic reconstruction of such mixed projections using a conventional algorithm yields cross-sections that are severely distorted by so-called phase contrast artefacts.
Converging Evidence for Triple Word Form Theory in Children With Dyslexia

This article has 3 parts. The 1st part provides an overview of the family genetics, brain imaging, and treatment research in the University of Washington Multidisciplinary Learning Disabilities Center (UWLDC) over the past decade that points to a probable genetic basis for the unusual difficulty that individuals with dyslexia encounter in learning to read and spell. Phenotyping studies have found evidence that phonological, orthographic, and morphological word forms and their parts may contribute uniquely to this difficulty. At the same time, reviews of treatment studies in the UWLDC (which focused on children in Grades 4 to 6) and other research centers provide evidence for the plasticity of the brain in individuals with dyslexia. The 2nd part reports 4 sets of results that extend previously published findings based on group analyses to those based on analyses of individual brains and that support triple word form awareness and mapping theory: (a) distinct brain signatures for the phonological, morphological, and orthographic word forms; (b) crossover effects between phonological and morphological treatments and functional magentic resonance imaging (fMRI) tasks in response to instruction, suggestive of cross-word form computational and mapping processes; (c) crossover effects between behavioral measures of phonology or morphology and changes in fMRI activation following treatment; and (d) change in the relationship between structural MRI and functional magnetic resonance spectroscopy (fMRS) lactate activation in right and left inferior frontal gyri following treatment emphasizing the phonological, morphological, and orthographic word forms. In the 3rd part we discuss the next steps in this programmatic research to move beyond word form alone.
Sex Differences in Overlapping Chronic Non-cancer Pain Conditions in a Tertiary Pain Clinic

Sex differences have been reported repeatedly in pain and response to opioid analgesia with women representing the majority of chronic non-cancer pain (CNCP) patients as well as a growing population of opioid users and misusers. However, none of these reports has investigated sex differences in the prevalence of overlapping multiple pain conditions (MPC), especially among patients under opioid therapy. Two hundred eighty-three charts were reviewed of patients attending a tertiary pain clinic with multiple sub-practices in a large Canadian city over a one-year period. 201 patients suffering from CNCP and under opioid therapy were selected. A significant sex difference was found in the number of patients, while no statistically significant sex difference was found in type of opioids prescribed. Moreover, significant sex differences were found in the prevalence and types of overlapping CNCP conditions as well as in the pattern of opioid misuse. With respect to overlapping pain conditions, Chronic pelvic pain (CPP) was the most common pain condition to co-occur in women, while in men, fibromyalgia was the most common. Taken together, all of these suggest that sex differences are significant in patients with overlapp
LEARNING THE HIDDEN STRUCTURE OF SPEECH: FROM COMMUNICATIVE FUNCTIONS TO PROSODY

Este artigo introduz um novo metodo, orientado via modelamento e via interacao com dados comportamentais, para gerar padroes prosodicos a partir de informacao metalinguistica. Referimos aqui a habilidade geral da entoacao de demarcar unidades de fala e veicular informacao sobre as funcoes proposicional e interacional dessas unidades no discurso. Nossas hipoteses fortes sao que (1) essas funcoes sao diretamente implementadas como contornos prosodicos prototipicos que sao co-extensivos as unidades para as quais eles se aplicam, (2) o padrao prosodico da mensagem e obtido ao superpor e adicionar todos os contornos elementares (Auberge & Bailly, 1995). Descrevemos aqui um esquema de analise por sintese que consiste em identificar esses contornos prototipicos e separar suas contribuicoes respectivas nos contornos prosodicos dos dados de treinamento. O esquema e aplicado a bases de dados designadas para evidenciar varias funcoes entoacionais. Resultados experimentais mostram que o modelo gera contornos prosodicos adequados com pouquissimos movimentos prototipicos.
Go/NoGo Performance in Boys with Tourette Syndrome

This study compared performance and performance monitoring in 19 boys with Tourette syndrome (TS) (12.64 years, ± 2.05) and 19 age-matched controls (13.16 years, ± 2.29) using a Go/NoGo task. The results indicated similar performance accuracy in the TS group and the control group. TS participants showed slower correct responses than the control group, whereas error response times were not different between the groups. The results are discussed with reference to inhibitory adaptive effects that may be employed by TS participants to maintain high accuracy at the cost of overall slower performance. These effects may be suspended prior to errors.
Microwave-millimetre wave WGM resonators for evanescent sensing of nanolitre liquid substances

In this paper we describe a novel approach of high sensitivity liquid analysis for volumes in the nanolitre range with challenging perspectives for practical sensor applications in chemistry, biology and medicine. Whispering-gallery modes (WGMs) in cylindrically shaped dielectric disks machined from low-loss single crystalline materials such as sapphire or quartz allow for very high quality factors. The interaction of extremely small volumes of the liquid under test with the evanescent field located in the vicinity of the dielectric disk surface at micro-to-millimetre wave frequencies was employed for the investigation of aqueous solutions with relevance to biological applications. Based on this resonator type, three different liquid sensing approaches were developed and analysed at 10, 35 and 170 GHz with emphasis on the determination of the complex dielectric permittivity of liquids of nanolitre volumes.
The ICAM‐1 expression level determines the susceptibility of human endothelial cells to simulated microgravity

Microgravity is a principal risk factor hampering human cardiovascular regulation during space flights. Endothelial dysfunction associated with the impaired integrity and uniformity of the monolayer represents a potential trigger for vascular damage. We characterized the expression profile of the multi‐step cascade of adhesion molecules (ICAM‐1, VCAM‐1, E‐selectin, VE‐cadherin) in umbilical cord endothelial cells (ECs) after 24 h of exposure to simulated microgravity (SMG), pro‐inflammatory cytokine TNF‐α, and the combination of the two. Random Positioning Machine (RPM)‐mediated SMG was used to mimic microgravity effects. SMG stimulated the expression of E‐selectin, which is known to be involved in slowing leukocyte rolling. Primary ECs displayed heterogeneity with respect to the proportion of ICAM‐1‐positive cells. ECs were divided into two groups: pre‐activated ECs displaying high proportion of ICAM‐1+‐cells (ECs‐1) (greater than 50%) and non‐activated ECs with low proportion of ICAM‐1+‐cells (ECs‐2) (less than 25%). Only non‐activated ECs‐2 responded to SMG by elevating gene transcription and increasing ICAM‐1 and VE‐cadherin expression. This effect was enhanced after cumulative SMG‐TNF‐α exposure. ECs‐1 displayed an unexpected decrease in number of E‐selectin‐ and ICAM‐1‐positive ECs and pronounced up‐regulation of VCAM1 upon activation of inflammation, which was partially abolished by SMG. Thus, non‐activated ECs‐2 are quite resistant to the impacts of microgravity and even exhibited an elevation of the VE‐cadherin gene and protein expression, thus improving the integrity of the endothelial monolayer. Pre‐activation of ECs with inflammatory stimuli may disturb the EC adhesion profile, attenuating its barrier function. These alterations may be among the mechanisms underlying cardiovascular dysregulation in real microgravity conditions.
Hybrid III-V/Si MZI modulators for high SFDR analog links and systems

Record high SFDR operation is achieved for heterogeneously integrated silicon photonics modulators, by using hybrid III-V/Si phase modulators within Si MZI modulator structures. 112 dB.Hz2/3 SFDR is achieved at 10 GHz with standard MZI modulators, and 117.5 dB.Hz2/3 for Ring Assisted MZI (RAMZI) modulators.
Development of a Robot Balanced on a Ball- First Report, Implementation of the Robot and Basic Control -

: This paper proposes the implementation and control scheme of a robot balanced on a ball. Unlike a two-wheeled inverted pendulum such as the Segway Human Transporter, an inverted pendulum using a ball can move in any direction without changing its orientation, enabling isotropic movement and stabilization. The robot on the ball can be used in place of two-wheeled robots. Our robot has three omnidirectional wheels with stepping motors that drive the ball, and two sets of rate gyroscopes and accelerometers that are used as attitude sensors. It can keep station, traverse in any direction, and turn around its vertical axis. Inverted pendulum control is applied to two axes to maintain the attitude. The ball’s acceleration is used as the control input of the system, unlike the control systems for most of the inverted pendulums, which use the torque or force as an input. This acceleration input makes the robot robust against changes in the inertia parameters, as conﬁrmed by the inverted pendulum model and Nyquist diagrams. The experimental results demonstrated the performance of the robot both in the steady state and transient state, including loading objects. The mechanism of the robot, control method, and experimental results are described in this paper.
Fast Parallel DNA-Based Algorithms for Molecular Computation: Quadratic Congruence and Factoring Integers

Assume that is a positive integer. If there is an integer such that , i.e., the congruence has a solution, then is said to be a quadratic congruence . If the congruence does not have a solution, then is said to be a quadratic noncongruence . The task of solving the problem is central to many important applications, the most obvious being cryptography. In this article, we describe a DNA-based algorithm for solving quadratic congruence and factoring integers. In additional to this novel contribution, we also show the utility of our encoding scheme, and of the algorithm's submodules. We demonstrate how a variety of arithmetic, shifted and comparative operations, namely bitwise and full addition, subtraction, left shifter and comparison perhaps are performed using strands of DNA.
A population-games application with the balls-in-tubes experiment

Many multi-agent control strategies have been implemented in simulations, but not as much in physical applications. In this paper, a design and research of multiagent systems control strategies, under several constraints, are presented. The main contribution of this work is the implementation of evolutionary game theory into distributed control systems, throughout different tests in a real application, known as the Balls-in-Tubes experiment. Moreover, results regarding the performance of the closed-loop system are shown, comparing different possible strategies, under a populationgames approach. A new methodology for enhancing the control performance is validated by means of various selected key performance indicators. The demonstration of optimal resource distribution with population dynamics is shown with specific designed scenarios, where the characteristics under which the dynamics perform are modified in each test. Furthermore, a comparison among distributed control strategies is presented.
Compressible solvers for combustion noise simulations

The ultimate objective of the present study is to assess the role of direct and indirect noise generated by the unsteady heat release in aircraft engines, and to determine its influence on the sound radiated from the combustion chamber. Previous studies indicated that noise computations require numerical schemes of high-order accuracy to resolve the high-frequency components of the noise spectrum. As a first step in the study noise radiation in complex confined systems, we have focused on canonical flows, where the influence of the configuration and physical parameters can be systematically investigated. The code used in this study is the NGA flow solver developed at Stanford University, which is based on a variable density, low Mach formulation (Desjardins et al., 2007). This flow solver has the capability to perform large-eddy simulations (LES) of reactive and multi-phase flows. Other advantages of the structured code are that it is very efficient and that the discretization allows for higher order accurate formulations of the spatial derivatives. In order to investigate the fundamental aspects of combustion noise, fully compressible LES are envisaged. A compressible capability has been added to the NGA code to compute the noise in the combustion chamber. Several methods are available to solve the compressible Navier-Stokes equations, with different time-integration methods and spatial discretizations. Two methods are tested in the present study. Their general properties are discussed first, and the capability of the solver retained to simulate combustion noise is then considered.
Simple and Accurate Fluorescence Lifetime Measurement Scheme Using Traditional Time-Domain Spectroscopy and Modern Digital Signal Processing

Fluorescence lifetime measurement is an essential process for evaluation and application of optical gain media. An accurate and convenient scheme for fluorescence lifetime measurement of complex emission processes with either single or multiple fluorescence lifetimes is essential. We developed a new convolution-based scheme for fluorescence lifetime measurement. The innovation of the scheme lies in a combination of convolution-based digital signal processing algorithms with a low cost and simple time-domain spectroscopic setup. The convolution-based scheme is able to achieve accurate microsecond fluorescence lifetime resolution using the spectroscopic setup with only millisecond fluorescence lifetime resolution, for both single or multiple fluorescence lifetimes. We demonstrated the performance of the scheme, both theoretically and experimentally, by measuring fluorescence lifetimes associated with complicated emission processes in bismuth-erbium-doped fibers and erbium-doped fiber.
MicroRNAs are aberrantly expressed in hypertrophic heart: do they play a role in cardiac hypertrophy?

MiRNAs are a recently discovered class of endogenous, small, noncoding RNAs that regulate about 30% of the human genome. Although miRNAs are highly expressed in the heart, their roles in heart diseases are currently completely unknown. Using microarray analysis, designed to detect the majority of mammalian miRNAs identified thus far, we demonstrated for the first time that miRNAs are aberrantly expressed in hypertrophic mouse hearts after aortic banding. Seven days after aortic banding, 105 of the 157 heart miRNAs were differentially expressed (p<0.01); 52 miRNAs were up‐regulated, and 53 miRNAs were down‐regulated. At 14 days after aortic banding, 70 of the 157 heart miRNAs were differentially expressed (35 up and 35 down), while 74 of the 157 heart miRNAs were differentially expressed (44 up and 30 down) at 21 days after aortic banding. The 19 most significantly dysregulated miRNAs were further confirmed by Northern blot and/or real‐time polymerase chain reaction, in which miR‐21 was striking out due to its over 4‐fold increase compared with that in sham surgical group. Similar aberrant expression of the most up‐regulated miRNA, miR‐21, was also found in cultured neonatal hypertrophic cardiomyocytes stimulated by angiotensin II (Ang II) or phenylephrine (PE). Modulating miR‐21 expression via antisense‐mediated depletion (knockdown) had a significant negative effect on cardiomyocyte hypertrophy. The results suggest that miRNAs are involved in the cardiac hypertrophy formation. MiRNAs might be a new therapeutic target for cardiovascular diseases with cardiac hypertrophy such as hypertension, ischemic heart disease, valvular diseases, and endocrine disorders.
Retratos sociológicos : disposições e variações individuais

Traduction en bresilien de : Portraits sociologiques "A sociologia apresenta as forcas as quais somos confrontados a partir do nascimento e que determinam a forma como sentimos, pensamos e agimos e nos auxilia a progredir no conhecimento de nos mesmos e dos outros. E isso que esta obra evidencia atraves de oito retratos sociologicos de pessoas longamente entrevistadas, em varias oportunidades, sobre temas muito diferentes: escola, familia, trabalho, amigos, lazer e atividades culturais, esporte, alimentacao, saude, vestuario. O leitor descobre, desse modo, mulheres e homens em suas constâncias e suas variacoes e compreende melhor as razoes de suas acoes. Renunciar a ideia de uma “subjetividade” absoluta, ao mito da “interioridade”, do livre-arbitrio ou da existencia “pessoal” independente de qualquer influencia social, para mostrar as forcas e as contraforcas, tanto internas quanto externas, as quais somos submetidos desde nossa infância e que determinam nossos comportamentos e nossas atitudes, eis a que nos convida a rica obra de Bernard Lahire. "
Patient Safety in Pediatric Anesthesia: Developing a System to Improve Perioperative Outcomes

1. Provide background information regarding safety in anesthesia. 2. Introduce the systems model of human error. 3. Describe development of a system of patient safety. 4. Identify barriers to improving safety. 5. Describe methods for reporting serious safety and adverse events. 6. Outline safety and adverse event analysis. 7. Describe categorization and tracking of serious safety and adverse events. 8. Discuss the use of quality improvement methods to improve safety.