Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Frequency Shifts and Vowel Identification

To study the effects of frequency shifts on vowel identification, a high-quality vocoder (STRAIGHT) was used to process a set of vowels in /hVd/ syllables spoken by two adult males, two adult females, and two children. Vowel identification accuracy was reduced when the spectrum envelope was shifted upward by a factor of 2.0, or downward by a factor of 0.6. Upward shifts produced a smaller decline for the vowels of adult males compared to the vowels of adult females and children, while downward shifts led to a smaller drop for children's vowels compared to those of adults. In several conditions, the drop in accuracy with spectrum envelope shifts was counteracted by introducing corresponding upward or downward shifts in fundamental frequency (F0). The results suggest that listeners' prior exposure to statistical regularities in natural speech is an important factor in the identification of frequency-shifted vowels.
Assessing the challenge: development of the Challenging Behaviour Scales

The author devised the Challenging Behaviour Scales (CBS) in response to the task of evaluating how much impact a ward-based intervention had on the challenging behaviour of the men who lived there. They were used as one of a “battery” of ten research methods; adding a quantitative assessment to what were largely qualitative techniques. This paper aims to describe the CBS, as opposed to project outcomes, in the belief that it has potential for wider application within areas of evaluational research. The background and objectives of the CBS are outlined, along with a description of the construction of its two parts: the Frequency and Intensity sections. Production of the accompanying Manual is also described, as well as the reliability checks, scoring methods, and staff comments obtained after application of the CBS. Finally, suggestions are made about ways in which data produced from this model of scale development can be analysed, and the author clarifies the position that she believes this type of behavioural assessment has in evaluational work. Additional suggestions are made for people who may wish to use the model of construction underlying the CBS elsewhere.
PeerMate: A malicious peer detection algorithm for P2P systems based on MSPCA

Many reputation management schemes have been proposed to assist peers in choosing the most trustworthy collaborators in a P2P environment where honest peers coexist with malicious ones. While these schemes indeed generally provide some useful information regarding the reliability of peers, they still suffer from various attacks such as slandering, collusion, etc. Consequently, being able to detect the malicious peers plays a critical role in the successful functioning of these mechanisms, and this is our focus in this paper. First, we divide the malicious peers into several categories. Second, we introduce PeerMate, a malicious peer detection algorithm based on Multiscale Principal Component Analysis and Quality of Reconstruction, to detect malicious peers in Reputation-based P2P systems. Finally, we experimentally demonstrate that PeerMate is able to detect malicious peers accurately and efficiently.
DTI parameter optimization at 3.0 T: Potential application in entire normal human brain mapping and multiple sclerosis research

of-fit) and vector maps (principal vector, coherence) that can provide additional contrast mechanisms to those of conventional MRI.The central image is an overlay of the mean diffusivity and the FA modulated principal vector. The directional color map is also shown in addition to the tessellated tensor icosahedral encoding scheme. Notice the corpus callosum (red: right-to-left), fornix (green: anteriorposterior) and the cortico-spinal track (blue: inferior-to-superior).
HuC:Kaede, a useful tool to label neural morphologies in networks in vivo

A simple and efficient procedure for labeling neurons is a prerequisite for investigating the development of neural networks in zebrafish. To label neurons we used Kaede, a fluorescent protein with a photoconversion property allowing conversion from green to red fluorescence following irradiation with UV or violet light. We established a zebrafish stable transgenic line, Tg(HuC:Kaede), expressing Kaede in neurons under the control of the HuC promoter. This transgenic line was used to label a small number of neurons in the trigeminal ganglion. Also, using embryos injected with the transgene, we labeled peripheral axon arbors of a Rohon‐Beard neuron at 4 days postfertilization and observed the dendrite development of a tectal neuron for 3 days. These data indicate that Kaede is a useful tool to selectively label neural networks in zebrafish. genesis 44:136–142, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
From functional genomics to systems biology

This review discusses the talks presented at the third EMBL Biennial Symposium, From functional genomics to systems biology, held in Heidelberg, Germany, 14–17 October 2006. Current issues and trends in various subfields of functional genomics and systems biology are considered, including analysis of regulatory elements, signalling networks, transcription networks, protein–protein interaction networks, genetic interaction networks, medical applications of DNA microarrays, and metagenomics. Several technological advances in the fields of DNA microarrays, identification of regulatory elements in the genomes of higher eukaryotes, and MS for detection of protein interactions are introduced. Major directions of future systems biology research are also discussed.
Estimated Minimal Divergence Times of the Major Bacterial and Archaeal Phyla

Previous calibrations of prokaryotic phylogenetic events were based on the vertebrate fossil record because a detailed microbial fossil record does not exist. Recently, compounds (2-methylhopanoids) that are found in cyanobacterial membranes were identified among compounds extracted from late Archean sedimentary rocks. These lipids establish a minimum time, 2.65 Ga (Billion Years Ago), in the geologic record for the existence of cyanobacteria. We have used this new information to calibrate a Neighbor Joining distance tree generated from SSU rRNA sequences of major prokaryotic lineages and to estimate the dates for significant events in the history of life on Earth. The results suggest that the Last Common Ancestor occurred at about 4.29 Ga and that the individual Bacterial and Archaeal Domains began radiating about 3.46 Ga.
SOCIAL MOVEMENT NETWORKS VIRTUAL AND REAL

This paper discusses the impact of 'computer mediated communication' (or CMC) on political activism and social movements. CMC may be expected to affect collective action by improving the effectiveness of communication and facilitating collective identity and solidarity. However, the heterogeneity of social movements undermines generic arguments and their relationship to CMC. Accordingly, the potential consequences of CMC on three different types of political organizations are discussed: organizations mobilizing mainly participatory resources, organizations focusing on professional resources, and transnational networks. The potential to build 'virtual [social movement] communities' seems highest among sympathizers of movement organizations who act professionally on behalf of causes with vast resonance among the public opinion and low radical potential. All in all, the most distinctive contribution of CMC to social movements still seems to be instrumental rather than symbolic. Existing bonds and solidarities are likely to generate more effective mobilization attempts than was the case before the diffusion of CMC; it is more disputable though as to whether CMC may create brand new social ties where there were none.
Relationship theories and relationship violence

Franiuk and colleagues (2002) distinguished between two implicit theories of relationships (ITRs)—a soulmate theory and a work-it-out theory. The soulmate theory reflects beliefs that finding the right person is important for relationship success while the work-it-out theory reflects beliefs that relationships take effort to be successful. The current research explores the association between the ITRs and relationship violence. Surveying an older sample than a traditional college sample (N = 143), the ITRs interacted with partner fit and relationship length to predict relationship violence. As predicted, for those with poor partner fit, the soulmate theory was associated with low violence early in relationships, but the soulmate theory lost some of its protective benefits in longer relationships.
Implementation of demand response in home energy management system using immune clonal selection algorithm

Demand response (DR) is one of the crucial issues in the modern smart grid. DR allows end-users to participate the power regulations in the power system according to the electricity tariffs by changing end-users' behaviors of using electricity without affecting the lifestyle quality. A smart home integrates the remote medical care, security, entertainment and energy management systems using intelligent techniques. This paper aims to developing the core algorithm based on the immune algorithm in a home energy management system. The optimal day-ahead temperature scheduling of both air conditioner and water heater in accordance with day-ahead electricity price and outdoor temperature forecasting is attained. The electricity expense is minimized and the comfort of life quality is remained. The simulation result validates the applicability of the proposed method using realistic electricity prices and outdoor temperatures.
The Organization of Scientific Research in Open Collaborative Projects

A growing amount of scientific research is done in an open collaborative fashion, in projects that are sometimes labeled as “crowd science”, “citizen science”, or “networked science”. This paper seeks to gain a more systematic understanding of crowd science and to provide scholars with a conceptual framework and an agenda for future research. First, we briefly present three case examples that span different fields of science and illustrate the heterogeneity concerning what crowd science projects do and how they are organized. Second, we identify two fundamental elements that characterize crowd science projects open participation and open sharing of intermediate knowledge and distinguish crowd science from other knowledge production regimes. Third, we explore potential benefits that crowd science offers over alternative organizational modes, and potential challenges it is likely to face. This discussion also considers for what kinds of scientific problems particular benefits or challenges are likely to be most pronounced. We conclude by outlining an agenda for future research and by discussing implications for funding agencies and policy makers.
Australian women who seek counselling: Psychosocial, health behaviour, and demographic profile

Abstract Despite high rates of psychological distress in the Australian community, particularly among middle-aged women, use of counselling and psychological services is relatively low. This study examined self-reported use of counselling in the previous year among a population-based sample of 11,201 Australian women aged 50–55, and describes the profile of women who seek counselling. Using multivariate analyses to control confounding, women who had consulted a counsellor/psychologist/social worker in the previous year (6.9%) were found to have increased odds of higher stress, life satisfaction, and perceived control, and lower optimism. They also had higher odds of: experiencing more life events over the previous 12 months, changed health status compared with a year ago, taking more prescribed medications, living in urban versus rural areas, having university versus no formal education, living alone or with others rather than with a spouse/partner, and having ancillary versus full private health insuranc.
Experiment meets biogeography: plants of river corridor distribution are not more stress tolerant but benefit less from more benign conditions elsewhere

Aims Factors limiting distributions of species are fundamental to ecology and evolution but have rarely been addressed experimentally for multiple species. The conspicuous linear distribution patterns of plant species confined to river corridors in the Central European lowlands constitute an especially long-standing distribution puzzle. We experimentally tested our novel hypothesis that the tolerance of species to river corridor conditions is independent of the degree of confinement to river corridor habitats, but that species not confined to river corridors are better able to take advantage of the more benign non-river corridor conditions. Methods We grew 42 herbaceous species differing in their confinement to river corridors in a common garden experiment on loamy soil typical for river corridor areas and sandy soil typical for non-river corridor areas, and with and without a flooding period. For a subset of species, we grew plants of both river corridor and non-river corridor origin to test for adaptation to river corridor conditions. Important findings Species more confined to river corridor areas benefited less from the more benign non-flooded and non-river corridor soil conditions than species of wider distributional range did. For subsets of 7 and 12 widespread species, the response to flooding and soil origin, respectively, did not differ between plants from river corridor sites and plants from other sites, suggesting that the habitat tolerance of widespread species is due to phenotypic plasticity rather than to local adaptation. Overall, we found clear support for our novel hypothesis that species not confined to river corridors are more able to take advantage of the more benign non-river corridor conditions. Our study provides a general hypothesis on differences between species confined to stressful habitats and widespread species out for test in further multispecies comparative experiments.
Genome-wide identification of Tribolium dorsoventral patterning genes

The gene regulatory network controlling dorsoventral axis formation in insects has undergone drastic evolutionary changes. In Drosophila, a stable long-range gradient of Toll signalling specifies ventral cell fates and restricts BMP signalling to the dorsal half of the embryo. In Tribolium, however, Toll signalling is transient and only indirectly controls BMP signalling. In order to gain unbiased insights into the Tribolium network, we performed comparative transcriptome analyses of embryos with various dorsoventral pattering defects produced by parental RNAi for Toll and BMP signalling components. We also included embryos lacking the mesoderm (produced by Tc-twist RNAi) and characterized similarities and differences between Drosophila and Tribolium twist loss-of-function phenotypes. Using stringent conditions, we identified over 750 differentially expressed genes and analysed a subset with altered expression in more than one knockdown condition. We found new genes with localized expression and showed that conserved genes frequently possess earlier and stronger phenotypes than their Drosophila orthologues. For example, the leucine-rich repeat (LRR) protein Tartan, which has only a minor influence on nervous system development in Drosophila, is essential for early neurogenesis in Tribolium and the Tc-zinc-finger homeodomain protein 1 (Tc-zfh1), the orthologue of which plays a minor role in Drosophila muscle development, is essential for maintaining early Tc-twist expression, indicating an important function for mesoderm specification. Summary: Transcriptome analyses identify new elements within the dorsoventral gene regulatory network of the beetle Tribolium castaneum compared with Drosophila.
Topography Prediction of Helical Transmembrane Proteins by a New Modification of the Sliding Window Method

Protein functions are specified by its three-dimensional structure, which is usually obtained by X-ray crystallography. Due to difficulty of handling membrane proteins experimentally to date the structure has only been determined for a very limited part of membrane proteins (<4%). Nevertheless, investigation of structure and functions of membrane proteins is important for medicine and pharmacology and, therefore, is of significant interest. Methods of computer modeling based on the data on the primary protein structure or the symbolic amino acid sequence have become an actual alternative to the experimental method of X-ray crystallography for investigating the structure of membrane proteins. Here we presented the results of the study of 35 transmembrane proteins, mainly GPCRs, using the novel method of cascade averaging of hydrophobicity function within the limits of a sliding window. The proposed method allowed revealing 139 transmembrane domains out of 140 (or 99.3%) identified by other methods. Also 236 transmembrane domain boundary positions out of 280 (or 84%) were predicted correctly by the proposed method with deviation from the predictions made by other methods that does not exceed the detection error of this method.
Space time coded cooperative relaying technique for multihop communications

In multihop wireless networks, the quality of communications is degraded due to the relay transmissions over fading channels. Space-time code using multiple transmit antennas is an effective countermeasure for fading. For terminals which have only one antenna due to size/cost limitations, user cooperation has been introduced as a diversity technique. A new cooperative relaying scheme is proposed in order to combat the effects of fading in multihop communications among single antenna terminals. This scheme utilizes space-time code for cooperative relaying and is developed in both frequency-flat and frequency-selective fading channels for exploiting space and path diversity gain. By computer simulations, it is shown that the scheme can achieve almost full spatial diversity in multihop communications by both non-regenerative relaying with SNR estimation and regenerative relaying with error detection.
Synchrotron Radiation Imaging for Advancing Our Understanding of Cardiovascular Function

Synchrotron radiation (SR) is increasingly being used for micro-level and nano-level functional imaging in in vivo animal experiments. This review focuses on the methodology that enables repeated and regional assessment of vessel internal diameter and flow in the resistance vessels of different organ systems. In particular, SR absorption microangiography approaches offer unique opportunities for real-time in vivo vascular imaging in small animals, even during dynamic motion of the heart and lungs. We also describe recent progress in the translation of multiple phase-contrast imaging techniques from ex vivo to in vivo small-animal studies. Furthermore, we also review the utility of SR for multiple pinpoint (dimensions 0.2×0.2 mm) assessments of myocardial function at the cross-bridge level in different regions of the heart using small-angle X-ray scattering, resulting from increases in SR flux at modern facilities. Finally, we present cases for the use of complementary SR approaches to study cardiovascular function, particularly the pathological changes associated with disease using small-animal models.
Characterization of Molecular Species Carrying Gross Cell Surface Antigen

The Gross cell surface antigen (GCSA), associated with expression of endogenous Gross-type murine leukemia virus (G-MuLV) in tissues of mice, is defined by the cytotoxic reaction of a C57BL/6 antiserum, anti-AKR spontaneous leukemia K36, with cells of the Gross virus-induced C57BL/6 leukemia, E♂G2. Sequential lactoperoxidase-catalyzed radioiodination of E♂G2 cells, Nonidet P-40 lysis, precipitation with anti-K36 serum, and sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis identified molecules with properties of polyproteins encoded by the gag region of the viral genome. These cell surface species could also be labeled by in vitro culturing of E♂G2 with radioactive glucosamine. The viral specificity of these molecules and their participation in the GCSA typing system were established as follows. (i) Absorption of anti-K36 serum with GCSA+, but not GCSA−, leukemias led to a marked decrease in precipitation of these proteins. (ii) The same E♂G2 cell surface proteins were also precipitated by antisera against the MuLV virion proteins p30 and p15. (iii) Anti-K36 was shown to possess antibodies against Gross virus p30 and p15. (iv) “Clearing” the E♂G2 lysate of molecules reactive with anti-p30 or anti-p15 sera removed molecules reactive with anti-K36 serum. (v) Absorption of anti-K36 serum with disrupted G-MuLV virions or with Gross p30 or p15 removed GCSA cytotoxic antibodies; partial absorption was achieved with disrupted Rauscher-MuLV (R-MuLV) or with R-MuLV p30, and no absorption was found with R-MuLV p15. These data show that E♂G2 cells express, on their surfaces, MuLV core polyproteins that apparently can be glycosylated and on which the determinants of GCSA are located.
The Unified Approach for Model Evaluation in Structural Equation Modeling

Practical fit indices have been widely used for model fit evaluation in Structural Equation Modeling. This dissertation discusses the properties of the fit indices including their influencing factors. These properties prevent researchers from deriving one-sizefit-all cutoffs for the fit indices. In addition, the past simulation studies on model fit evaluation have several limitations. The major limitation is that most studies have focused on test of exact fit rather than approximate fit which is not consistent with the goal of practical fit indices. This dissertation reviews alternative approaches to account for the limitations and proposes a unified method for model fit evaluation combining the advantages of the alternative approaches. The unified approach allows researchers to test approximate fit and take into account sampling error in model evaluation. Two simulation studies are conducted to investigate the performance of the unified approach comparing to the other model fit evaluation methods. Two types of models are included in this study: confirmatory factor analysis and growth curve models. The results show that the unified approach appropriately rejects severely misspecified models and retains trivially misspecified models across all types of misspecification. Furthermore, the rejection rates are negligibly influenced by model characteristics and sample size. The other model evaluation methods do not have all of the desired properties described above. The unified approach, however, does not always provide model decision when sample size is low or when the level of maximal trivial misspecification specified by users is close to the actual degree of misspecification. If sample size is high and the level of specified maximal trivial misspecification is either lower or higher than the actual degree of misspecification, the unified approach is able to decide beiii tween model retention and model rejection. The extensions of the unified approach for nonnormal distribution, missing data, or nested model comparison are provided.