Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Neuroscience, the Food of Musical Culture?

Music has received enough recent attention from researchers seeking to understand the brain to be called “the food of neuroscience” (R. J. Zatorre & J. McGill, 2005). The dissemination of research on the neuroscience of music, through both popular and academic channels, has the potential to shape the cultural conceptualization of music. This paper considers the impact of neuroscientific approaches to music on the ways that music is practiced and thought about.
iCHAT: Inter-cache Hardware-Assistant Data Transfer for Heterogeneous Chip Multiprocessors

Modern heterogeneous multiprocessors integrate CPU and GPU together to provide a boost to computational performance. Data sharing and communication between CPU and GPU has been a critical issue for the final speedup. With tighter integration of CPU and GPU, it has the advantage of sharing and moving data more efficiently in order to leverage the computational power that a GPU can provide. Initially, DMA or PCIe devices were used to transfer data between CPU and GPU with low efficiency and little flexibility. Recently a single address space and coherent cache hierarchies are being adopted in heterogeneous architectures to share data more efficiently. Thus it poses new challenge to understand the communication overheads in this new context and to improve communication efficiencies for these architectures. This paper proposes a novel approach called iCHAT (inter-Cache Hardware-Assistant data Transfer) to manage data transfer between the CPU cache and the GPU cache efficiently. The iCHAT technique proposed in this paper detects the communication patterns and eagerly evicts data from the owner's caches and prepares for the requestor's demand. We implement the iCHAT design in a simulator based on gem5 and an AMD in-house GPU simulator. Experimental results show that the communication related eviction traffic is reduced by an average of 40% and the total directory traffic is reduced by 8% on average. We implement a bounding experiment that provides a quantitative evaluation of inter CPU-GPU transfers and requests to communication data, which indicates that iCHAT could achieve on average 1.4x speedup for Rodinia benchmark suite and 1.2x speedup for AMD SDK APPs.
Ovarian hormones and emotional eating associations across the menstrual cycle: an examination of the potential moderating effects of body mass index and dietary restraint.

OBJECTIVE Associations between within-person changes in ovarian hormones and dysregulated eating (binge eating, emotional eating) have been observed across the menstrual cycle. However, studies have not examined moderators that may contribute to differential associations between individuals. We investigated body-weight regulation variables [body mass index (BMI), dietary restraint] that have theoretical relevance by virtue of their associations with both phenotypes. METHOD Women (N = 196) provided emotional eating ratings and saliva samples for 45 days. BMI and restraint were assessed at three time points and averaged. RESULTS Results showed significant estradiol × progesterone interactions in the prediction of within-subject changes in emotional eating. Neither BMI nor restraint moderated these relationships, although a trend-level dietary restraint × estradiol interaction was observed where estradiol's effects were enhanced in high restraint scorers. DISCUSSION Findings confirm a role for hormones in changes in emotional eating and suggest that restraint might enhance hormone effects in severegroups.
Unraveling the signaling pathways promoting fibrosis in Dupuytren's disease reveals TNF as a therapeutic target

Significance Fibrosis, a hallmark of many clinical disorders, occurs because of uncontrolled myofibroblast activity. We studied Dupuytren's disease, a common hereditable fibrotic condition that causes the fingers to irreversibly curl toward the palm. We found that freshly isolated tissue from Dupuytren's patients contained macrophages and released proinflammatory protein mediators (cytokines). Of the cytokines, only TNF selectively converted normal fibroblasts from the palm of patients with Dupuytren's disease into myofibroblasts via activation of the Wnt signaling pathway. Conversely, blockade of TNF resulted in reversal of the myofibroblast phenotype. Therefore, TNF inhibition may prevent progression or recurrence of Dupuytren's disease. Dupuytren's disease is a very common progressive fibrosis of the palm leading to flexion deformities of the digits that impair hand function. The cell responsible for development of the disease is the myofibroblast. There is currently no treatment for early disease or for preventing recurrence following surgical excision of affected tissue in advanced disease. Therefore, we sought to unravel the signaling pathways leading to the development of myofibroblasts in Dupuytren's disease. We characterized the cells present in Dupuytren's tissue and found significant numbers of immune cells, including classically activated macrophages. High levels of proinflammatory cytokines were also detected in tissue from Dupuytren's patients. We compared the effects of these cytokines on contraction and profibrotic signaling pathways in fibroblasts from the palmar and nonpalmar dermis of Dupuytren's patients and palmar fibroblasts from non-Dupuytren's patients. Exogenous addition of TNF, but not other cytokines, including IL-6 and IL-1β, promoted differentiation into specifically of palmar dermal fibroblasts from Dupuytren's patients in to myofibroblasts. We also demonstrated that TNF acts via the Wnt signaling pathway to drive contraction and profibrotic signaling in these cells. Finally, we examined the effects of targeted cytokine inhibition. Neutralizing antibodies to TNF inhibited the contractile activity of myofibroblasts derived from Dupuytren's patients, reduced their expression of α-smooth muscle actin, and mediated disassembly of the contractile apparatus. Therefore, we showed that localized inflammation in Dupuytren's disease contributes to the development and progression of this fibroproliferative disorder and identified TNF as a therapeutic target to down-regulate myofibroblast differentiation and activity.
Epithelial cells as alternative human biomatrices for comet assay

The comet assay is a valuable experimental tool aimed at mapping DNA damage in human cells in vivo for environmental and occupational monitoring, as well as for therapeutic purposes, such as storage prior to transplant, during tissue engineering, and in experimental ex vivo assays. Furthermore, due to its great versatility, the comet assay allows to explore the use of alternative cell types to assess DNA damage, such as epithelial cells. Epithelial cells, as specialized components of many organs, have the potential to serve as biomatrices that can be used to evaluate genotoxicity and may also serve as early effect biomarkers. Furthermore, 80% of solid cancers are of epithelial origin, which points to the importance of studying DNA damage in these tissues. Indeed, studies including comet assay in epithelial cells have either clear clinical applications (lens and corneal epithelial cells) or examine genotoxicity within human biomonitoring and in vitro studies. We here review improvements in determining DNA damage using the comet assay by employing lens, corneal, tear duct, buccal, and nasal epithelial cells. For some of these tissues invasive sampling procedures are needed. Desquamated epithelial cells must be obtained and dissociated prior to examination using the comet assay, and such procedures may induce varying amounts of DNA damage. Buccal epithelial cells require lysis enriched with proteinase K to obtain free nucleosomes. Over a 30 year period, the comet assay in epithelial cells has been little employed, however its use indicates that it could be an extraordinary tool not only for risk assessment, but also for diagnosis, prognosis of treatments and diseases.
Spirituality and Mental Health: Current Research and Future Directions

Many researchers have demonstrated that spirituality plays a significant role in the lives of people, their thoughts, and behaviors. In this article, the effect of spirituality on mental health has been reviewed. In order to make further advances in the field it is becoming increasingly important to (a) acknowledge the differences between the different religions; (b) develop context-specific definitions of spirituality, namely define spirituality in the context of a particular faith; and (c) construct the studies that will evaluate spirituality according to the context-specific measures. This approach will enable us to carry out comprehensive studies of analytical and comparative nature, and generate groundbreaking results in this research field.
The Modern Call Center: A Multi‐Disciplinary Perspective on Operations Management Research

Call centers are an increasingly important part of today's business world, employing millions of agents across the globe and serving as a primary customer‐facing channel for firms in many different industries. Call centers have been a fertile area for operations management researchers in several domains, including forecasting, capacity planning, queueing, and personnel scheduling. In addition, as telecommunications and information technology have advanced over the past several years, the operational challenges faced by call center managers have become more complicated. Issues associated with human resources management, sales, and marketing have also become increasingly relevant to call center operations and associated academic research. In this paper, we provide a survey of the recent literature on call center operations management. Along with traditional research areas, we pay special attention to new management challenges that have been caused by emerging technologies, to behavioral issues associated with both call center agents and customers, and to the interface between call center operations and sales and marketing. We identify a handful of broad themes for future investigation while also pointing out several very specific research opportunities.
A Rapid Modeling Method for 3D Architectural Scene

The existing 3D scene layout methods, which mainly focus on indoor scenes, are limited in outdoor applications. In this paper, the example-based modeling method is introduced into the outdoor modeling, and an automatic layout optimization method for outdoor scenes is proposed. As an application platform, the sketch-based 3D model retrieval and assemble system is realized as well. Different from the current methods, firstly, we adopt an improved manifold sorting algorithm in sketch retrieval method, which can get the 3D models rapidly; secondly, according to particular properties of outdoor architectures, specialized energy constraints are proposed, which defines the energy function that meets the functional and aesthetic needs; thirdly, the scene achieves automatic layout by adopting simulated annealing algorithm. By stepped asymptotic optimization strategy and random jumps, we can avoid falling into constraint conflicts and local optimal traps. Experimental results show the robustness and effectiveness of our algorithm in different scenes. Our algorithm has been applied in the actual development of game scenes.
Successful Growth Strategies of Three Chinese Domestic Hotel Companies

This paper explores the business level strategies implemented by the top three domestic Chinese lodging companies in the economy segment. Through interviews with the management of the three companies, the authors found the essential elements of their strategies were innovative positioning, keeping cost low, rapid expansion, continuous innovation, focus on quality consistency, extensive training and several indigenous Chinese cultural operational practices. Implications for future for research and practices are also discussed.
Optimal placement and sizing of distributed generation in distribution power system based on multi-objective harmony search algorithm

This study deals with the optimal placement and sizing issue in distribution power system with distributed generation (DG). This issue is a sophisticated multi-objective optimization problem with constraints of investment and power system operation demands. In this paper, minimum power loss, minimum voltage deviation and maximal voltage stability margin are taken into account for the optimization of DG planning. To solve the comprehensive multi-objective optimization problem, a meta-heuristic searching algorithm harmony search (HS) is improved with the fast non-dominated sorting approach, which forms the novel intelligent optimization algorithm called multi-objective harmony search (MOHS). Simulation on IEEE 33-bus test system and comparisons with some other multi-objective evolutionary algorithms yield promising results for optimal placement and sizing of DG based on MOHS.
Molecular investigation of hepatitis E virus infection in domestic and miniature pigs used for medical experiments *

Abstract: Background: Hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection is highly prevalent among domestic pigs in Japan. It has been reported that pig handlers such as farmers and veterinarians are at increased risk of contracting HEV infection. Pigs are regarded as the most acceptable candidate animals for xenotransplantation and, recently, they are being used as experimental animals.
A new ECG obfuscation method: A joint feature extraction & corruption approach

With cardiovascular disease as the number one killer of modern era, ECG is collected, stored and transmitted in greater frequency than ever before. However, lack of existing research in secured ECG distribution forces patient privacy under serious threat. Moreover, without adopting secured ECG transmission and storage, HIPAA recommendations for patient privacy are being compromised. This paper presents a new ECG obfuscation method, which uses cross correlation based template matching approach to detect all ECG features followed by corruption of those features with added noises. Without the knowledge of the templates used for feature matching and the noise, the obfuscated features can not be reconstructed. Therefore, three templates and three noises for P wave, QRS Complex and T wave comprise the key, which is only 0.4%-0.9% of the original ECG file size. Only authored doctors possessing this key can reconstruct the original signal. Key distribution is extremely efficient and fast due to small size. Moreover, if the obfuscated ECG reaches to the wrong hand (hacker), it would appear as regular ECG without encryption. Therefore, traditional decryption techniques including powerful brute force attack are useless against this obfuscation. Finally, with unimaginably high number of noise combinations the security strength of the presented method is very high.
Sociohistorical Influences on the Development of Papahana Kaiapuni, the Hawaiian Language..

Papahana Kaiapuni is a K-12 indigenous language immersion program in selected public schools in the State of Hawai'i. Instruction in Kaiapuni classrooms is conducted in the Hawaiian language. Program goals include students' development of a high level of proficiency in both the Hawaiian and English languages (Department of Education, 1994). For nearly a century, policy banning the Hawaiian language from the public schools and other government activities contributed to the decline of the language's usage. Papahana Kaiapuni is an effort to revive the indigenous Hawaiian language, now the second official language of the State. Supporters of the program believe that the program may also serve to promote the achievement and cultural identity of the native Hawaiians it serves. In this article, wedescribe the sociohistorical influences on the development of the Kaiapuni program, drawing from a literature review of articles written about the program, interviews with individuals involved in early program developme.
Measuring mathematics self-efficacy as a learning outcome

We report the construction and validation of a self-report ‘Mathematics self-efficacy (MSE)’ instrument, designed to measure this construct as a learning outcome of students following post-compulsory mathematics programmes. The sample ranged across two programmes: a traditional preparation for university study in mathematical subjects (Advanced level) and an innovative ‘modelling’-based programme intended to widen participation in mathematics through use of technology and coursework. We report Rasch measurement and Generalised Linear modelling analyses of large scale survey data, and occasionally we draw on learners' interviews for triangulation. We found that MSE is related to students' mathematical attainment and gender, as well as their dispositions to further study mathematics. We also show significant differences between students' development of MSE in the two programmes. In conclusion, we propose that MSE deserves further attention as a measure of valued learning outcomes.
A CALL System for Learning Preposition Usage

Fill-in-the-blank items are commonly featured in computer-assisted language learning (CALL) systems. An item displays a sentence with a blank, and often proposes a number of choices for ﬁlling it. These choices should include one correct answer and several plausible distractors. We describe a system that, given an English corpus, automatically generates distractors to produce items for preposition usage. We report a comprehensive evaluation on this system, involving both experts and learners. First, we analyze the difﬁ-culty levels of machine-generated carrier sentences and distractors, comparing several methods that exploit learner error and learner revision patterns. We show that the quality of machine-generated items approaches that of human-crafted ones. Further, we investigate the extent to which mismatched L1 between the user and the learner corpora affects the quality of distractors. Finally, we measure the system’s impact on the user’s language proﬁciency in both the short and the long term.
Identification of mesenchymal stem cell (MSC)‐transcription factors by microarray and knockdown analyses, and signature molecule‐marked MSC in bone marrow by immunohistochemistry

Although ex vivo expanded mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) have been used in numerous studies, the molecular signature and in vivo distribution status of MSC remain unknown. To address this matter, we identified numerous human MSC‐characteristic genes—including nine transcription factor genes —using DNA microarray and real‐time RT‐PCR analyses: Most of the MSC‐characteristic genes were down‐regulated 24 h after incubation with osteogenesis‐, chondrogenesis‐ or adipogenesis‐induction medium, or 48–72 h after knockdown of the nine transcription factors. Furthermore, knockdowns of ETV1, ETV5, FOXP1, GATA6, HMGA2, SIM2 or SOX11 suppressed the self‐renewal capacity of MSC, whereas those of FOXP1, SOX11, ETV1, SIM2 or PRDM16 reduced the osteogenic‐ and/or adipogenic potential. In addition, immunohistochemistry using antibodies for the MSC characteristic molecules—including GATA6, TRPC4, FLG and TGM2—revealed that MSC‐like cells were present near the endosteum and in the interior of bone marrow of adult mice. These findings indicate that MSC synthesize a set of MSC markers in vitro and in vivo, and that MSC‐characteristic transcription factors are involved in MSC stemness regulation.
Semi-supervised learning via nonnegative least squares regression

Graph construction is the key step in graph based semi-supervised learning methods. In order to improve the quality of the graph, we consider the nonnegative constraint and noise estimation based on the least squares regression (LSR). A novel graph construction method named nonnegative least squares regression (NLSR) is proposed in this paper. The nonnegative constraint is considered to eliminate subtractive combinations of coefficients and to improve the sparsity of the graph. We consider both small Guassian noise and sparse corrupted noise to improve the robustness of the proposed method. Experiments show that the nonnegative constraint plays the dominate role. Local and global consistency (LGC) is adopted as the semi-supervised learning method. The label propagation error rate is regarded as the evaluation criterion. Extensive experiments show encouraging results of the proposed algorithm in comparison to the state-ofthe-art algorithms in semi-supervised learning, especially in improving LSR method significantly.
Série Scientifique Scientific Series

This paper presents preliminary research carried out at CIRANO and aims to encourage discussion and comment. The observations and viewpoints expressed are the sole responsibility of the authors. They do not necessarily represent positions of CIRANO or its partners. CIRANO Le CIRANO est une corporation privée à but non lucratif constituée en vertu de la Loi des compagnies du Québec. Le financement de son infrastructure et de ses activités de recherche provient des cotisations de ses organisations-membres, dune subvention dinfrastructure du ministère de lIndustrie, du Commerce, de la Science et de la Technologie, de même que des subventions et mandats obtenus par ses équipes de recherche. La Série Scientifique est la réalisation dune des missions que sest données le CIRANO, soit de développer lanalyse scientifique des organisations et des comportements stratégiques. CIRANO is a private non-profit organization incorporated under the Québec Companies Act. Its infrastructure and research activities are funded through fees paid by member organizations, an infrastructure grant from the Ministère de lIndustrie, du Commerce, de la Science et de la Technologie, and grants and research mandates obtained by its research teams. The Scientific Series fulfils one of the missions of CIRANO: to develop the scientific analysis of organizations and strategic behaviour. Les organisations-partenaires / The Partner Organizations Ministère de lIndustrie, du Commerce, de la Science et de la Technologie. École des Hautes Études Commerciales. École Polytechnique. Université de Montréal. Université Laval. McGill University. Université du Québec à Montréal. Bell Québec. La Caisse de dépôt et de placement du Québec. Hydro-Québec. Banque Laurentienne du Canada. Fédération des caisses populaires de Montréal et de lOuest-du-Québec. Téléglobe Canada. Société délectrolyse et de chimie Alcan Ltée.
Antibody-Drug Conjugates : The Forefront of Targeted Chemotherapy for Cancer Treatment

Antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) are novel targeted chemotherapeutic agents that utilize the specificity of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) to deliver potent cell-killing agents to cancer cells that express the target antigen, thereby taking advantage of the best characteristics of both components. The experience and/or lessons learned from the first generation of conjugates have guided the development of more effective antitumor agents. Along with the development of the mAbs and cytotoxins, the design of chemical linkers to covalently bind these building blocks is making rapid progress but remains challenging. Encouragingly, the recent successes in these domains show that the next generation of antibody-drug conjugates has come of age.