Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Lixto data extraction project: back and forth between theory and practice

We present the Lixto project, which is both a research project in database theory and a commercial enterprise that develops Web data extraction (wrapping) and Web service definition software. We discuss the project's main motivations and ideas, in particular the use of a logic-based framework for wrapping. Then we present theoretical results on monadic datalog over trees and on Elog, its close relative which is used as the internal wrapper language in the Lixto system. These results include both a characterization of the expressive power and the complexity of these languages. We describe the visual wrapper specification process in Lixto and various practical aspects of wrapping. We discuss work on the complexity of query languages for trees that was inseminated by our theoretical study of logic-based languages for wrapping. Then we return to the practice of wrapping and the Lixto Transformation Server, which allows for streaming integration of data extracted from Web pages. This is a natural requirement in complex services based on Web wrapping. Finally, we discuss industrial applications of Lixto and point to open problems for future study.
Développement du test de mots dans le bruit: Mesure de l'équivalence des listes et données préliminaires sur l'effet d'âge

Many audiologists working within Canadian French clinics use word recognition in noise tests to measure speech perception in noise ability. No such documented recorded test has been found, as it is generally presented with live voice. The goal of this study was to develop a word recognition in noise test for children and adults speaker of French in the Eastern side of Canada. The Test de Mots dans le Bruit (TMB) includes four lists of 35 words and a babble noise. The word material was especially selected to be used with individuals having a vocabulary of children of 5 years or older. Preliminary data were collected among seven groups of children from 6 to 12 years, and a grouped of adults. No significant difference was revealed between the four list sets of the TMB when comparing the performance measured at a signal-to-noise ratio of +5 dB. A developmental effect was noted. The improvement of speech perception in noise ability with age will be explored in a study on the development of normative data.
The Contribution of Cepstral and Stylistic Features to SRI's 2005 NIST Speaker Recognition Evaluation System

Recent work in speaker recognition has demonstrated the advantage of modeling stylistic features in addition to traditional cepstral features, but to date there has been little study of the relative contributions of these different feature types to a state-of-the-art system. In this paper we provide such an analysis, based on SRI's submission to the NIST 2005 speaker recognition evaluation. The system consists of 7 subsystems (3 cepstral 4 stylistic). By running independent N-way subsystem combinations for increasing values of N, we fines that (1) a monotonic pattern in the choice of the best N systems allows for the inference of subsystem importance; (2) the ordering of subsystems alternates between cepstral and stylistic; (3) syllable-based prosodic features are the strongest stylistic features, and (4) overall subsystem ordering depends crucially on the amount of training data (1 versus 8 conversation sides). Improvements over the baseline cepstral system, when all systems are combined, range from 47% to 67%, with larger improvements for the 8-side condition. These results provide direct evidence of the complementary contributions of cepstral and stylistic features to speaker discrimination
Dynamic Pilot Arrangement Scheme in Wireless OFDM Systems

An adaptive pilot-symbol assignment scheme is proposed for interpolation-based channel estimation in wireless orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) communication systems. The channel transfer functions of data tones are interpolated by the piecewiselinear and the second-order polynomial interpolation methods due to their inherent simplicity. Simulations are conducted to demonstrate system performance and bandwidth (BW) superiority. A comparative evaluation of the proposed dynamic pilot scheme with conventional fixed pilot-symbol channel estimation schemes is performed as well.
Development and validation of an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay to measure adalimumab concentration.

BACKGROUND Adalimumab is a therapeutic antibody used for treating inflammatory diseases. To understand interindividual PK variability, there is a need to develop and validate an assay to measure serum adalimumab concentrations. METHODS An ELISA was developed on microtiter plates coated with TNF-α. Seven nonzero adalimumab standards ranging from 0.05 to 50 mg/l and three quality controls (0.2, 2.5 and 7 mg/l) were tested for their intra and interday precision on six occasions. RESULTS The LOD, LLOQ and ULOQ of the assay were 0.022, 0.073 and 9 mg/l, respectively. CONCLUSION This method is accurate, reproducible and may be useful for PK studies and for therapeutic drug monitoring of adalimumab.
In-depth Analysis of Tandem Mass Spectrometry Data from Disparate Instrument Types*S

Mass spectrometric analyses of protein digests produce large numbers of fragmentation spectra that are not identified by routine database searching strategies. Some of these spectra could be identified by development of improved search engines. However, many of these spectra represent fragmentation of peptide components bearing modifications that are not routinely considered in database searches. Here we present new software within Protein Prospector that allows comprehensive analysis of data sets by analyzing the data at increasing levels of depth. Analysis of published data sets is presented to illustrate that the software is not biased to any instrument types. The results show that these data sets contain many modified peptides. As well as searching for known modification types, Protein Prospector permits the detection and identification of unexpected or novel modifications by searching for any mass shift within a user-specified mass range to any chosen amino acid(s). Several modifications never previously reported in proteomics data were identified in these standard data sets using this mass modification searching approach.
On Cosmopolitanism and Forgiveness

One of the world's most famous philosophers, Jacques Derrida, explores difficult questions in this important and engaging book. Is it still possible to uphold international hospitality and justice in the face of increasing nationalism and civil strife in so many countries? Drawing on examples of treatment of minority groups in Europe, he skilfully and accessibly probes the thinking that underlies much of the practice, and rhetoric, that informs cosmopolitanism. What have duties and rights to do with hospitality? Should hospitality be grounded on a private or public ethic, or even a religious one? This fascinating book will be illuminating reading for all.
Adaptive Stimulus Design for Dynamic Recurrent Neural Network Models

We present an adaptive stimulus design method for efficiently estimating the parameters of a dynamic recurrent network model with interacting excitatory and inhibitory neuronal populations. Although stimuli that are optimized for model parameter estimation should, in theory, have advantages over nonadaptive random stimuli, in practice it remains unclear in what way and to what extent an optimal design of time-varying stimuli may actually improve parameter estimation for this common type of recurrent network models. Here we specified the time course of each stimulus by a Fourier series whose amplitudes and phases were determined by maximizing a utility function based on the Fisher information matrix. To facilitate the optimization process, we have derived differential equations that govern the time evolution of the gradients of the utility function with respect to the stimulus parameters. The network parameters were estimated by maximum likelihood from the spike train data generated by an inhomogeneous Poisson process from the continuous network state. The adaptive design process was repeated in a closed loop, alternating between optimal stimulus design and parameter estimation from the updated stimulus-response data. Our results confirmed that, compared with random stimuli, optimally designed stimuli elicited responses with significantly better likelihood values for parameter estimation. Furthermore, all individual parameters, including the time constants and the connection weights, were recovered more accurately by the optimal design method. We also examined how the errors of different parameter estimates were correlated, and proposed heuristic formulas to account for the correlation patterns by an approximate parameter-confounding theory. Our results suggest that although adaptive optimal stimulus design incurs considerable computational cost even for the simplest excitatory-inhibitory recurrent network model, it may potentially help save time in experiments by reducing the number of stimuli needed for network parameter estimation.
Effects of a synthetic all-weather waxed track versus a crushed sand track on 3D acceleration of the front hoof in three horses trotting at high speed.

REASONS FOR PERFORMING STUDY Inadequate track surfaces are believed to be a risk factor in the occurrence of musculoskeletal injuries, but quantification of the shocks and vibrations provoked by hoof impact on different ground surfaces (including new synthetic tracks) has been insufficiently documented in trotters under high-speed training conditions. OBJECTIVES To test the reliability and sensitivity of an accelerometric device to discriminate between the biomechanical effects of 2 different tracks at high speed. METHODS Three French Trotters were used and their right front hooves were equipped with one triaxial accelerometer. Two different track surfaces (crushed sand track: S and all-weather waxed track: W) were tested when horses were trotting in a straight line. For each session of measurements, trials were repeated 3 times in a Latin square design. The speed of the runs was set at 10 m/s, controlled by the driver and recorded synchronously. Sample rate was set at 6 kHz. Acceleration of the hoof (resultant vector and 3D components), power spectral density at impact and variability (between strides, trials, sessions and horses) were analysed. Statistical differences were tested using a GLM procedure (SAS). Least square mean differences were used for comparisons between tracks (P < 0.05). RESULTS Results showed that the deceleration of the hoof (magnitude of the resultant vector) was statistically different between the 2 tracks with an attenuation of the shock of about 50% on the all-weather waxed track. Magnitude of the power spectral density was reduced at higher frequencies on W. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE These preliminary results demonstrate the sensitivity of the tool to discriminate between the different behaviours of the hoof on the different track surfaces at high speed. Deceleration and vibration of the hoof at impact were reduced on W compared to S, suggesting a better shock-absorbing quality of this track.
Quantitative PCR analysis of salivary pathogen burden in periodontitis

Our aim was to investigate the value of salivary concentrations of four major periodontal pathogens and their combination in diagnostics of periodontitis. The Parogene study included 462 dentate subjects (mean age 62.9 ± 9.2 years) with coronary artery disease (CAD) diagnosis who underwent an extensive clinical and radiographic oral examination. Salivary levels of four major periodontal bacteria were measured by quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR). Median salivary concentrations of Porphyromonas gingivalis, Tannerella forsythia, and Prevotella intermedia, as well as the sum of the concentrations of the four bacteria, were higher in subjects with moderate to severe periodontitis compared to subjects with no to mild periodontitis. Median salivary Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans concentrations did not differ significantly between the subjects with no to mild periodontitis and subjects with moderate to severe periodontitis. In logistic regression analysis adjusted for age, gender, diabetes, and the number of teeth and implants, high salivary concentrations of P. gingivalis, T. forsythia, and P. intermedia were significantly associated with moderate to severe periodontitis. When looking at different clinical and radiographic parameters of periodontitis, high concentrations of P. gingivalis and T. forsythia were significantly associated with the number of 4–5 mm periodontal pockets, ≥6 mm pockets, and alveolar bone loss (ABL). High level of T. forsythia was associated also with bleeding on probing (BOP). The combination of the four bacteria, i.e., the bacterial burden index, was associated with moderate to severe periodontitis with an odds ratio (OR) of 2.40 (95% CI 1.39–4.13). When A. actinomycetemcomitans was excluded from the combination of the bacteria, the OR was improved to 2.61 (95% CI 1.51–4.52). The highest OR 3.59 (95% CI 1.94–6.63) was achieved when P. intermedia was further excluded from the combination and only the levels of P. gingivalis and T. forsythia were used. Salivary diagnostics of periodontitis has potential especially in large-scale population studies and health promotion. The cumulative strategy appears to be useful in the analysis of salivary bacteria as markers of periodontitis.
High-Radix Multiplier-Dividers: Theory, Design, and Hardware

This paper describes the theory and design of digital high-radix multiplier-dividers (Patent Pending). The theory of high-radix division is extended to high-radix multiplier-dividers that can perform fused multiplication and division operations using a single recurrence relation. With the fused implementation of multiplication and division, the two operations can be executed using a single instruction, implying only a single rounding operation. The recurrence relation is described, the quotient digit selection function derived, and important design parameters together with their optimal values and relations are defined. Efficient design procedure and implementation hardware are described and important system parameter values for various radix systems computed. Compared to pure dividers, the multiplier-divider requires a slightly more complex data path and quotient digit selection function.
Video Object Watermarking by Quadratic Region Decomposition and Tessellation

This paper deals with the synchronization problem of video object watermarking. We propose to employ the 3-D eigenvectors of the video object to determine the orientation of the object’s 2-D eigenvectors, and then align the coordinate axes with the calibrated 2-D eigenvectors to implicitly synchronize the geometric distortion. Furthermore, we utilize the eigenvectors to decompose each object into regions, and embed watermark patterns into the decomposed regions individually. We have performed a series of experiments to confirm the effectiveness of the proposed synchronizing scheme by 2-D and 3-D eigenvectors. The experimental results demonstrate that our algorithm is robust against RST geometric attacks and general image process attacks.
Antenna Configurations for 4x4 MIMO in LTE - Field Measurements

The 3GPP LTE standard for mobile broadband includes multi-antenna transmission modes that improve performance, both in terms of coverage, spectral efficiency and peak throughput. The antenna system design, both at the eNB and at the UE is critical to a well performing system; it should be designed with the intended performance profile in mind. Field trials were performed in order to investigate the relative performance of several four and two transmit antenna setups in an LTE system. In general, multi-antenna technology gave substantial performance gains over single antenna transmission. A closely spaced co-polarized configuration gave the best performance for users with poor channel quality while dual-polarized and well-spaced antenna configurations gave better performance for users with good channel quality. The trial also shows that UE antenna polarization is an important parameter that must be kept in mind when designing the eNB antenna system.
Capillary Hemodynamics and Oxygen Pressures in the Aging Microcirculation

Healthy aging acts to redistribute blood flow (Q̇) and thus O2 delivery (Q̇O2) among and within the exercising muscles such that Q̇O2 to highly oxidative muscle fibers may be compromised. Within the microcirculation of old muscles capillary hemodynamics are altered and the matching of Q̇O2 to oxidative requirements (V̇O2) is impaired such that at exercise onset the microvascular O2 pressure falls below that seen in their younger counterparts. This is important because the microvascular O2 pressure denotes the sole driving force for blood‐myocyte O2 transfer and any compromise may slow V̇O2 kinetics and reduce exercise tolerance. This review considers the microcirculatory evidence for a reduced perfusive (Q̇O2) and diffusive O2 flux within aged muscle and highlights the pressing need for intravital microscopy studies of the muscle microcirculation during exercise.
Evaluation of the Random Token Protocol for High-Speed and Radio Networks

In high-speed communication networks, the ratio between the end-to-end propagation delay to packet transmission time is large, causing increased scheduling overhead in demand assignment protocols and increased collision probabilities in random access schemes. These lead to rapid degradation of the channel utilization in both channel access control approaches. In this paper, we present a "random token" oriented protocol where channel access is scheduled by random, implicit token passing leading to lower channel access control penalty. By optimally balancing the collision and scheduling penalties, the protocol allows the network to reach better performance than that obtained from random access schemes in networks with and without collision detection, without imposing additional system operational assumptions. Specifically, the random token protocol does not require knowledge of the number of stations, their identities, or synchronization in periods of silence. Therefore, the protocol is also suitable for high-speed networks with frequent reconfiguration and for mobile radio networks.
Unveiling of Novel Radiations within Trichodesmium Cluster by hetR Gene Sequence Analysis

ABSTRACT The filamentous nonheterocystous cyanobacterial genus Katagnymene is a common diazotrophic component of tropical and subtropical oceans. To assess the phylogenetic affiliation of this taxon, two partial 16S rRNA gene sequences and 25 partial hetR gene sequences originating from the genera Katagnymene and Trichodesmium collected from open, surface waters of the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific oceans were compared. Single trichomes or colonies were identified morphologically by using light microscopy and then used directly as templates in hetR PCR analyses. In addition, three cultured strains, identified as Katagnymene pelagica, Katagnymene spiralis, and Trichodesmium sp. , were examined. The data show that the genus Katagnymene is in the Trichodesmium cluster and that K. pelagica Lemmermann and K. spiralis Lemmermann are most likely one species, despite their different morphologies. Phylogenetic analyses also unveiled four distinct clusters in the Trichodesmium cluster, including one novel cluster. Our findings emphasize the conclusion that known morphological traits used to differentiate marine nonheterocystous cyanobacteria at the genus and species levels correlate poorly with genetic data, and a revision is therefore suggested.
Dispersed disease-causing neomorphic mutations on a single protein promote the same localized conformational opening

The question of how dispersed mutations in one protein engender the same gain-of-function phenotype is of great interest. Here we focus on mutations in glycyl-tRNA synthetase (GlyRS) that cause an axonal form of Charcot–Marie–Tooth (CMT) diseases, the most common hereditary peripheral neuropathies. Because the disease phenotype is dominant, and not correlated with defects in the role of GlyRS in protein synthesis, the mutant proteins are considered to be neomorphs that gain new functions from altered protein structure. Given that previous crystal structures showed little conformational difference between dimeric wild-type and CMT-causing mutant GlyRSs, the mutant proteins were investigated in solution by hydrogen-deuterium exchange (monitored by mass spectrometry) and small-angle X-ray scattering to uncover structural changes that could be suppressed by crystal packing interactions. Significantly, each of five spatially dispersed mutations induced the same conformational opening of a consensus area that is mostly buried in the wild-type protein. The identified neomorphic surface is thus a candidate for making CMT-associated pathological interactions, and a target for disease correction. Additional result showed that a helix-turn-helix WHEP domain that was appended to GlyRS in metazoans can regulate the neomorphic structural change, and that the gain of function of the CMT mutants might be due to the loss of function of the WHEP domain as a regulator. Overall, the results demonstrate how spatially dispersed and seemingly unrelated mutations can perpetrate the same localized effect on a protein.
Regulation of expression of growth arrest-specific genes in mouse fibroblasts

The suppression of growth arrest-specific (gas) gene expression by serum appeared to be independent of protein synthesis, but expression in resting cells was sensitive to 2-aminopurine, an inhibitor of intracellular protein kinases. Although accumulation of gas gene mRNA was reduced by serum, nuclear transcription of the gas-2, -3, and -5 genes was observed in serum-stimulated cells, indicating that posttranscriptional events may regulate mRNA levels. Growth induction by serum, on the other hand, led to suppression of transcription of the gas-1 gene. Cell cycle regulation and the serum response of gas-1 were lost in ras-transformed cells.
Target acquisition in Fish Tank VR: The effects of Lag and Frame Rate

A study is reported of target acquisition in 3D using a head coupled stereo display and a hand tracking device. The effects of lag and frame rate were studied by introducing lag in three different ways: by queuing the hand input and delivering it to the cursor an integer number of frames later, by increasing the frame interval and sampling the input device at the start of the display interval, by increasing the frame interval and sampling the device close to the end of the display interval. The data suggests that a simple modification of Fitts' Law can account for system lag data, also that the main degradation of performance from low frame rate is due to the lag introduced and not to the disruption of perceptual processes.
Extending sensorimotor contingency theory: prediction, planning, and action generation

One of the main assertions of sensorimotor contingency theory is that sensory experience is not generated by activating an internal representation of the outside world through sensory signals, but corresponds to a mode of exploration and hence is an active process. Perception and sensory awareness emerge from using the structure of changes in the sensory input resulting from these exploratory actions, called sensorimotor contingencies (SMCs), for planning, reasoning, and goal achievement. Using a previously developed computational model of SMCs we show how an artificial agent can plan ahead with SMCs and use them for action guidance. Our main assumption is that SMCs are associated with a utility for the agent, and that the agent selects actions that maximize this utility. We analyze the properties of the resulting actions in a robot that is endowed with several sensory modalities and controlled by our model in a simple environment. The results demonstrate that its actions avoid aversive events, and that it can achieve a low-level form of spatial awareness that is resilient to the complete loss of a sensory modality.