Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Perception of non-native consonant length contrast: The role of attention in phonetic processing

The present investigation examines English speakers’ ability to identify and discriminate non-native consonant length contrast. Three groups (L1 English No-Instruction, L1 English Instruction, and L1 Finnish control) performed a speeded forced-choice identification task and a speeded AX discrimination task on Finnish non-words (e.g. /hupo/–/huppo/) which were manipulated for intervocalic consonant duration. The results indicate that basic information, focusing the participants’ attention on a particular contrast, assists novice listeners in processing a non-native contrast. We find support for a phonetic level of processing which is intermediate to non-linguistic acoustic processing and phonemic processing at which the phonetic cue of duration becomes significant. We interpret the results in relation to the Speech Learning Model (Flege 1995, 2003).
Interactive Sankey diagrams

We present a system that allows users to interactively explore complex flow scenarios represented as Sankey diagrams. Our system provides an overview of the flow graph and allows users to zoom in and explore details on demand. The support for quantitative flow tracing across the flow graph as well as representations at different levels of detail facilitate the understanding of complex flow situations. The energy flow in a city serves as a sample scenario for our system. Different forms of energy are distributed within the city and they are transformed into heat, electricity, or other forms of energy. These processes are visualized and interactively explored. In addition our system can be used as a planning tool for the exploration of alternative scenarios by interactively manipulating different parameters in the energy flow network.
Multi-target human gait classification using deep convolutional neural networks on micro-doppler spectrograms

This paper presents the use of a deep convolutional neural network (DCNN) in distinguishing between absence of human gait and the presence of single or multiple instances of human gait by applying the DCNN to micro-Doppler spectrograms. The approach is evaluated for various radar frequencies and SNR levels using model data, while final validation is performed using X-band CW radar measurements. Satisfactorily results are obtained by the DCNN while outperforming a few conventional classifiers, showing the possible benefits of deep learning approaches in human gait classification.
Reliability and Validity of Physical Activity Questionnaires for Children: The Children’s Leisure Activities Study Survey (CLASS)

This study aimed to develop a reliable, valid, and feasible method for assessing physical activity among children ages 5–6 and 10–12 years. Test–retest reliability of a parental proxy questionnaire and a children’s self-report questionnaire was assessed in 280 children and parents. The criterion validity of the questionnaires was assessed using accelerometry. The proxy questionnaire provided a reliable measure of the type, frequency, and duration of children’s physical activity. Neither version of the questionnaire provided an accurate estimate of individual children’s physical activity. To assess the type, frequency, intensity, and duration of children’s activity, a combination of questionnaire and objective measures should be employed.
What Does “Highly Qualified” Mean for Student Achievement? Evaluating the Relationships between Teacher Quality Indicators and At-Risk Students' Mathematics and Reading Achievement Gains in First Grade

Policymakers and researchers continue to search for ways to improve K–12 education, which has led to an increased focus on teacher quality as an impetus for educational improvement. As such, current legislation under No Child Left Behind (NCLB) calls for highly qualified teachers in every classroom. But are the characteristics associated with highly qualified teachers associated with increases in student achievement gains? This article explores the relationships between first graders' achievement gains and policy-relevant teacher quality indicators. Using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (ECLS-K), this study finds that NCLB successfully places emphasis on at-risk students—a category of students who would, in theory, benefit most from improved teacher quality; however, little support is offered for the perspective that NCLB's indicators of teacher quality are related to achievement gains for either at-risk students or for nonrisk students.
Decoupled uplink-downlink association for finite multi-tier networks

A decoupled association scheme is considered based on instantaneous received power in downlink and uplink. Unlike traditional cellular networks where the associated base stations (BSs) in downlink and uplink are the same, in decoupled association the associated BSs in uplink and downlink can be different. The probability of user associations in co-channel BSs in finite multi-tier networks (with finite number of BSs) are derived for both uplink and downlink cases. In this paper, the wireless channel is modeled as large-scale fading and small-scale fading, and the transmit power, path loss exponent and bias factor for each BS are different. Based on probability of user associations derived for uplink and downlink, an efficient decoupled association scheme is proposed where the BS with highest probability of user association is selected as the serving BS. Simulation results confirm the superiority of this scheme over conventional approach to user association.
Dynamic coupling between stress and composition in polymer solutions and blends

Phenomenological hydrodynamic equations are proposed for entangled polymer blends as generalization of those for polymer solutions. They can describe coupling between macroscopic flow and relative diffusion. The key concept we use is the "tube velocity" introduced by Brochard in the problem of mutual diffusion in polymer blends. As applications, (I) we give a general expression for the time-correlation function of the polymer concentration around equilibrium and examine its relaxation in some typical cases. It can be strongly influenced by the viscoelastic effect when the two polymers have different lengths. Our expression can also be used for gelling solutions and explains previous dynamic light scattering experiments at the sol-gel transition. (ii) Detailed calculations are performed for the case of a single rheological relaxation time (the Maxwell model). The steady state structure factor is obtained to Iinear order in macroscopic flow. (iii) We predict that composition inhomogeneity is created in mixtures oflong and short polymers undergoing nonuniform flow. Its origin is that the longer chains support stress more than the shorter ones and the resultant imbalance of stress causes relative motion of the two polymers. These results are applicable both to solutions and blends.
Differential coordinates for interactive mesh editing

One of the main challenges in editing a mesh is to retain the visual appearance of the surface after applying various modifications. In this paper we advocate the use of linear differential coordinates as means to preserve the high-frequency detail of the surface. The differential coordinates represent the details and are defined by a linear transformation of the mesh vertices. This allows the reconstruction of the edited surface by solving a linear system that satisfies the reconstruction of the local details in least squares sense. Since the differential coordinates are defined in a global coordinate system they are not rotation-invariant. To compensate for that, we rotate them to agree with the rotation of an approximated local frame. We show that the linear least squares system can be solved fast enough to guarantee interactive response time thanks to a precomputed factorization of the coefficient matrix. We demonstrate that our approach enables to edit complex detailed meshes while keeping the shape of the details in their natural orientation.
Single-cell analysis of transcription kinetics across the cell cycle

Transcription is a highly stochastic process. To infer transcription kinetics for a gene-of-interest, researchers commonly compare the distribution of mRNA copy-number to the prediction of a theoretical model. However, the reliability of this procedure is limited because the measured mRNA numbers represent integration over the mRNA lifetime, contribution from multiple gene copies, and mixing of cells from different cell-cycle phases. We address these limitations by simultaneously quantifying nascent and mature mRNA in individual cells, and incorporating cell-cycle effects in the analysis of mRNA statistics. We demonstrate our approach on Oct4 and Nanog in mouse embryonic stem cells. Both genes follow similar two-state kinetics. However, Nanog exhibits slower ON/OFF switching, resulting in increased cell-to-cell variability in mRNA levels. Early in the cell cycle, the two copies of each gene exhibit independent activity. After gene replication, the probability of each gene copy to be active diminishes, resulting in dosage compensation. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.7554/eLife.12175. 001
Domain Analysis Reveals That a Deubiquitinating Enzyme USP13 Performs Non-Activating Catalysis for Lys63-Linked Polyubiquitin

Deubiquitination is a reverse process of cellular ubiquitination important for many biological events. Ubiquitin (Ub)-specific protease 13 (USP13) is an ortholog of USP5 implicated in catalyzing hydrolysis of various Ub chains, but its enzymatic properties and catalytic regulation remain to be explored. Here we report studies of the roles of the Ub-binding domains of USP13 in regulatory catalysis by biochemical and NMR structural approaches. Our data demonstrate that USP13, distinct from USP5, exhibits a weak deubiquitinating activity preferring to Lys63-linked polyubiquitin (K63-polyUb) in a non-activation manner. The zinc finger (ZnF) domain of USP13 shares a similar fold with that of USP5, but it cannot bind with Ub, so that USP13 has lost its ability to be activated by free Ub. Substitution of the ZnF domain with that of USP5 confers USP13 the property of catalytic activation. The tandem Ub-associated (UBA) domains of USP13 can bind with different types of diUb but preferentially with K63-linked, providing a possible explanation for the weak activity preferring to K63-polyUb. USP13 can also regulate the protein level of CD3δ in cells, probably depending on its weak deubiquitinating activity and the Ub-binding properties of the UBA domains. Thus, the non-activating catalysis of USP13 for K63-polyUb chains implies that it may function differently from USP5 in cellular deubiquitination processes.
Isolation and characterization of a Bacillus amyloliquefaciens strain with zearalenone removal ability and its probiotic potential

Zearalenone (ZEN) is a non-steroidal estrogenic mycotoxin produced by Fusarium species, which has been shown to be associated with reproductive disorders in livestock, and to a lesser extent with hyperoestrogenic syndromes in humans. The aim of this study was to characterize a Bacillus amyloliquefaciens strain with ZEN removal ability. A pure culture of a strain designated LN isolated from moldy corn samples showed a high ZEN removal capability. Based on microscopic observations, biochemical characteristics, and phylogenetic analysis of the 16S rRNA gene sequence, LN was identified as B. amyloliquefaciens. After incubation of B. amyloliquefaciens LN in Luria-Bertani (LB) medium containing 3.5 ppm of ZEN, the ZEN concentration fell below the detection limit within 24 h. In ZEN-contaminated corn meal medium, B. amyloliquefaciens LN decreased ZEN concentration by 92% after 36 h of incubation. In phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) containing 5 ppm of ZEN, B. amyloliquefaciens LN reduced the ZEN concentration from 5 ppm to 3.28 ppm immediately after coming into contact with ZEN, and further reduced the ZEN concentration to 0.36 ppm after 4 h of incubation. The amounts of ZEN adsorbed by the cells of B. amyloliquefaciens LN did not increase with the extension of incubation time, indicating that B. amyloliquefaciens LN not only possessed ZEN adsorption ability, but also exhibited the ability to degrade ZEN. In addition, B. amyloliquefaciens LN was non-hemolytic, non-enterotoxin producing, and displayed probiotic characteristics including acidic tolerance, bile salt tolerance, and anti-pathogenic activities. These findings suggest that B. amyloliquefaciens LN has a potential to be used as a feed additive to reduce the concentrations of ZEN in feedstuffs.
Heidegger and archaeology

Under the title Triumphal procession from the blind alley, the German magazine Der Spiegel in the autumn of 1995 published a series of articles on the latest developments in the archaeology of Homo sapiens and its ancestors. These articles focus on mankind's evolution, and its relationship to the capacities of mankind's mind and culture. The question is posed: Did the prevailing circumstances force mankind to develop its mental abilities, or did evolution plant the seeds of culture in the brain of Homo sapiens? As soon as we hear a question like this, we have the suspicion that its rests on a shaky metaphysical foundation: the distinction between natural evolution on the one hand, and mind, culture, art, myth, religion, and language on the other.
Robust noncooperative rate-maximization game for MIMO Gaussian interference channels under bounded channel uncertainty

We propose a robust formulation for the noncooperative rate-maximization game in MIMO Gaussian interference channels under bounded channel uncertainty. The proposed robust game needs little additional computation and requires no additional information exchange among users when compared to the nominal game and thus maintains the low-complexity and distributed nature of the MIMO waterfilling algorithm. The robust rate-maximization game is shown to be equivalent to the nominal game with modified direct-channel matrices. The equilibrium solution of the robust rate-maximization game and the required iterative algorithm to obtain the solution are presented. Sufficient conditions for the uniqueness of the equilibrium and the convergence of the algorithm are also presented. Simulation results indicate that the robust solution in the presence of channel uncertainty performs better than the nominal solution with zero uncertainty, due to the users being more conservative in their power allocation when there is channel uncertainty.
Lysosome Associated Membrane Protein 1 (Lamp1) Traffics Directly from the TGN to Early Endosomes

The precise trafficking routes followed by newly synthesized lysosomal membrane proteins after exit from the Golgi are unclear. To study these events we created a novel chimera (YAL) having a lumenal domain comprising two tyrosine sulfation motifs fused to avidin, and the transmembrane and cytoplasmic domains of lysosome associated membrane protein 1 (Lamp1). The newly synthesized protein rapidly transited from the trans‐ Golgi Network (TGN) to lysosomes (t1/2∼ 30 min after a lag of 15–20 min). However, labeled chimera was captured by biotinylated probes endocytosed for only 5 min, indicating that the initial site of entry into the endocytic pathway was early endosomes. Capture required export of YAL from the TGN, and endocytosis of the biotinylated reagent, and was essentially quantitative within 2 h of chase, suggesting that all molecules were following an identical route. There was no evidence of YAL trafficking via the cell surface. Fusion of TGN‐derived vesicles with 5 min endosomes could be recapitulated in vitro, but neither late endosomes nor lysosomes could serve as acceptor compartments. This suggests that contrary to previous conclusions, most if not all newly synthesized Lamp1 traffics from the TGN to early endosomes prior to delivery to late endosomes and lysosomes.
DovCut: a draft based online video compositing system

The customization of the video endows users the ability to design the desired videos by themselves, however it is still a challenging task to achieve video composition up to now. In this paper, we design a draft based online video customization system (DovCut) that can convert the freehand draft into a realistic video. Based on a freehand draft in canvas with tags, the proposed system first searches the candidate videos online automatically to match the scene items and segments each candidate object from the background, then replaces the objects in the freehand draft into the realistic objects. By using a filtering scheme the proposed system excludes the undesirable video clips and selects the suitable videos automatically to generate a high quality composition video. Experimental results show the application potential of the proposed system.
Towards a definition of Islamophobia: approximations of the early twentieth century

Abstract This paper contributes to the debate on the meaning of the term ‘Islamophobia’. It proposes an examination of the early twentieth-century approaches to Islamophobia, both the term and the phenomenon. The aim is to show that the phenomenon had already been identified at the end of the nineteenth century and that it had been defined by the beginning of the twentieth. That definition could throw some light on the current debate about the meaning of the term.
Vocal detection in music with support vector machines

We propose a statistical learning approach for the automatic detection of vocal regions in a polyphonic musical signal. A support vector model, based on a large feature set, is employed to discriminate accompanied singing voice from pure instrumental regions. We propose a temporal smoothing of the posterior probabilities with a hidden Markov model that helps adapting the segmentation sequence to the precision of the manual annotation. Quantitative results on a copyright- free public musical corpus show a classification accuracy of 82%.
Continuous Dynamic Photostimulation: inducing in-vivo like fluctuating conductances with channelrhodopsins

Central neurons operate in a regime of constantly fluctuating conductances, induced by thousands of presynaptic cells. Channelrhodopsins have been almost exclusively used to imprint a fixed spike pattern by sequences of brief depolarizations. Here we introduce continuous dynamic photostimulation (CoDyPs), a novel approach to mimic in-vivo like input fluctuations noninvasively in cells transfected with the weakly inactivating channelrhodopsin variant ChIEF. Even during long-term experiments, cultured neurons subjected to CoDyPs generate seemingly random, but reproducible spike patterns. In voltage clamped cells CoDyPs induced highly reproducible current waveforms that could be precisely predicted from the light-conductance transfer function of ChIEF. CoDyPs can replace the conventional, flash-evoked imprinting of spike patterns in in-vivo and in-vitro studies, preserving natural activity. When combined with non-invasive spike-detection, CoDyPs allows the acquisition of order of magnitudes larger data sets than previously possible, for studies of dynamical response properties of many individual neurons.
Rapid identification of clinical members of Fusarium fujikuroi complex using MALDI-TOF MS.

AIM To develop the matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) method for identification of Fusarium species within Fusarium fujikuroi complex for use in clinical microbiology laboratories. MATERIALS & METHODS A total of 24 reference and 60 clinical and environmental isolates belonging to the F. fujikuroi complex were subjected to MALDI-TOF MS identification. Protein extracts of Fusarium isolates were obtained using formic acid extraction. Multilocus sequence analysis was used as a gold standard. RESULTS The MALDI-TOF MS Biotyper correctly identified 93.6% of the strains down to the species level, while the remaining isolates (6.4%) were identified at the genus level when using scores of ≥ 2.0 as cut-off values. Correct identification was obtained despite large intraspecific heterogeneities in MALDI-TOF spectra. CONCLUSION MALDI-TOF MS is a rapid identification tool for the recognition of species within F. fujikuroi complex, provided a database is available.
Sleep Disorders in Children: Collaboration for School-Based Intervention

The effects of sleep disturbance on children are wide ranging and include alterations in behavior, mood, cognition, and academic performance. Screening and intervention for pediatric sleep disorders within the schools are not widely implemented, and the concept of integrating school personnel into the multidisciplinary sleep team has yet to be realized. This article describes some of the major sleep disorders, the effects on overall function, and the results of outcome studies that have used school-based intervention. The article concludes with recommendations for incorporation of school personnel, including teachers and school psychologists, into the multidisciplinary sleep team, as these individuals are in a unique position to provide observations and assessment information concerning initial screening and intervention outcomes.
FPGA-Based Multiplier-Less Log-Based Hardware Architectures for Hybrid Color Image Enhancement System

Logarithmic image processing (LIP) models provide a viable framework for image enhancement, particularly the color-based models. These techniques, due to their vector nature, avoid the problems of grayscale methods applied to RGB color image processing. Furthermore, the absence of multiply-accumulate (MAC) operations makes them amenable to hardware realization for faster operation when compared with spatial filter kernel-based approaches. However, details of image scenes are not always revealed after processing and homomorphic filters are still a popular low-complexity option for correction of images acquired under uneven illumination conditions, notwithstanding the fading that occurs when processing RGB color images. Though nonlinear color space converter hardware architectures have been implemented and reported in the literature for improving results from conventional illumination correction techniques, they add to the hardware complexity. The contributions of the work described in this paper includes original, practical, standard and logarithmic, multiplier-less high-speed architectures for a variant of the LIP model in addition to standard and log-hybrid architectures for a modified spatial homomorphic filter (MSDHF) to reduce color fading in RGB space. The modified homomorphic filter is able to enhance both faded/bright and dark low-contrast images, giving it an edge over standard illumination correction systems. A combined approach utilizing the MSDHF and simplified LIP algorithms enhances the strengths of the individual algorithms while minimizing their individual weaknesses. Comparisons of the developed systems are made with the standard homomorphic filter architecture and similar works from the literature.
Ephrin-A5 Induces Collapse of Growth Cones by Activating Rho and Rho Kinase

The ephrins, ligands of Eph receptor tyrosine kinases, have been shown to act as repulsive guidance molecules and to induce collapse of neuronal growth cones. For the first time, we show that the ephrin-A5 collapse is mediated by activation of the small GTPase Rho and its downstream effector Rho kinase. In ephrin-A5–treated retinal ganglion cell cultures, Rho was activated and Rac was downregulated. Pretreatment of ganglion cell axons with C3-transferase, a specific inhibitor of the Rho GTPase, or with Y-27632, a specific inhibitor of the Rho kinase, strongly reduced the collapse rate of retinal growth cones. These results suggest that activation of Rho and its downstream effector Rho kinase are important elements of the ephrin-A5 signal transduction pathway.