Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Voice Disguise vs. Impersonation: Acoustic and Perceptual Measurements of Vocal Flexibility in Non Experts

The aim of this study is to assess the potential for deliberately changing one's voice as a means to conceal or falsify identity, comparing acoustic and perceptual measurements of carefully controlled speech productions. Twenty-two non expert speakers read a phoneticallybalanced text 5 times in various conditions including natural speech, free vocal disguise (2 disguises per speaker), impersonation of a common target for all speakers, impersonation of one specific target per speaker. Long-term average spectra (LTAS) were computed for each reading and multiple pairwise comparisons were performed using the SDDD dissimilarity index. The acoustic analysis showed that all speakers were able to deliberately change their voice beyond self-typical natural variation, whether in attempting to simply disguise their identity or to impersonate a specific target. Although the magnitude of the acoustic changes was comparable in disguise vs. impersonation, overall it was limited in that it did not achieved between-speaker variation levels. Perceptual judgements performed on the same material revealed that naive listeners were better at discriminating between impersonators and targets than at simply detecting voice disguise.
Surrogate data approaches to assess the significance of directed coherence: Application to EEG activity propagation

This paper addresses the topic of evaluating the significance of frequency domain measures of causal coupling in multivariate time series through generation of surrogate data. The considered approaches are the traditional Fourier Transform (FT) algorithm and a new causal FT (CFT) algorithm for surrogate data generation. Both algorithms preserve the FT modulus of the original series; differences are in the phase relationships, that are completely destroyed for FT surrogates and imposed after switching off the link over the considered causal direction for CFT surrogates. The ability of the algorithms to assess causality in the frequency domain was tested using the directed coherence as discriminating parameter. Evaluation on simulated multivariate linear processes and application over multichannel EEG recordings showed that the utilization of CFT surrogates improves specificity of the test for nonzero spectral causality, as FT surrogates may attribute to a direct coupling the presence of indirect connectivity patterns.
A Wideband Frequency-Tunable Dipole Antenna Based on Antiresonance Characteristics

We propose a novel frequency-tunable dipole antenna using varactor diodes and shunt inductors, which provides a much wider frequency tuning bandwidth. First, based on the simple series connection of non-Foster elements, we have predicted required reactance ensuring good impedance matching over a wide target frequency tuning band. Next, we have devised parallel connection of the diodes and the inductors to generate antiresonance behavior, which is necessary to produce the required reactance throughout the target frequency band. However, the inductor connected in parallel with the varactor diode always made the diode short-circuited. To solve the problem, we have inserted a narrow longitudinal slit in each dipole arm, which can maintain not only necessary dc isolation but also required RF connection with the help of a dc blocking capacitor bridging the slit. All measured results show good agreement with simulated ones, which proves the validity of our proposal.
Design of a 120 mm Bore 15 T Quadrupole for the LHC Upgrade Phase II

Future upgrades to machines like the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN will push accelerator magnets beyond 10 T forcing the replacement of NbTi superconductors with advanced superconductors such as Nb3Sn. In support of the LHC Phase-II upgrade, the US LHC Accelerator Research Program (LARP) is developing a large bore (120 mm) Nb3Sn Interaction Region (IR) quadrupole (HQ) capable of reaching 15 T at its conductor limit and gradients of 199 T/m at 4.4 K and 219 T/m at 1.9 K. The 1 m long, two-layer magnet, addresses coil alignment and accelerator quality features while exploring the magnet performance limits in terms of gradient, stress and structure. This paper summarizes and reports on the design, mechanical structure, coil windings, reaction and impregnation processes.
HIV+ and HIV– youth living in group homes in South Africa need more psychosocial support

Orphans and vulnerable youth who live in group homes are at risk of poor mental health and sexual and drug-using behaviors that increase the risk of HIV transmission. This study explores factors related to this risk among youth living in group homes (“children’s homes”) for orphans and vulnerable children in South Africa, a country afflicted by high levels of parental loss due to HIV. The study explores (1) knowledge and attitudes about HIV, (2) social support, (3) communication with group home caregivers, and (4) the relevance of an existing evidence-based HIV prevention and mental health promotion program to situations where sexual and drug risk behaviors can occur. In-depth qualitative individual interviews were conducted with 20 youth (age 10–16 years) residing in two children’s homes in Durban, South Africa. Content analysis focused on critical themes related to coping and prevention of risk activities. Respondents exhibited inconsistent and incomplete knowledge of HIV transmission and prevention. They displayed positive attitudes toward people living with HIV, but reported experiencing or witnessing HIV-related stigma. Participants witnessed substance use and romantic/sexual relationships among their peers; few admitted to their own involvement. While relationships with childcare workers were central to their lives, youth reported communication barriers related to substance use, sex, HIV, and personal history (including parental loss, abuse, and other trauma). In conclusion, these qualitative data suggest that evidence-based HIV prevention programs that bring caregivers and youth together to improve communication, HIV knowledge, social support, youth self-esteem, and health care, reduce sexual and drug risk behaviors, and strengthen skills related to negotiating situations of sexual and substance use possibility could benefit youth and childcare workers in children’s homes.
An approach for data-driven and logic-based complex Event Processing

In this paper, we present a powerful logic-based approach for Complex Event Processing (CEP). The approach is founded on a logical transformation of event processing into logic programs. Many systems for event processing have ad-hoc semantics with unexpected behaviors. Further on, many formal approaches (with well defined semantics) cannot effectively be used in CEP, due to their inability to compute events in the data-driven fashion. Our approach enables both logic-based and data-driven complex event detection. Moreover, the backward chaining approach allows for very efficient reasoning of complex events and actions triggered by these events.
The genetic contribution to disease risk and variability in response to diet: where is the hidden heritability?

Ten years ago, it was assumed that disease risk prediction and personalised nutrition based on genetic information would now be in widespread use. However, this has not (yet) transpired. The interaction of genetic make-up, diet and health is far more complex and subtle than originally thought. With a few notable exceptions, the impact of identified common genetic variants on phenotype is relatively small and variable in their penetrance. Furthermore, the known variants account for only a fraction of what we believe to be the total genetic contribution to disease risk and heterogeneity in response to environmental change. Here, the question ‘how far have we progressed and are we likely to get there’ (Rimbach and Minihane, 2009) is revisited with regard to the translation of genetic knowledge into public health benefit. It is concluded that progress to date has been modest. It is hoped that recent technological developments allowing the detection of rarer variants and future use of more hypothesis-driven targeted data analysis will reveal most of the currently ‘hidden’ significant genetic variability.
Calcium imaging in temporal focus

Techniques for fast two photon laser scanning microscopy (2PLSM) of dynamic neural signals offer the prospect of minimally invasive functional mapping of neural circuitry. In a typical imaging scenario, a two-photon point spread function is raster scanned across a region of tissue, and pixels within regions of interest (e.g neuronal somata) are averaged to form a point in a time series. In galvanometric microscopes, this means that scan time is wasted in moving the point spread function around the cell, limiting signal acquisition rate. As a means of addressing this issue, we propose the use of temporally focused (TEFO) 2PLSM for monitoring dynamic signals. In contrast to the diffraction limited spot of 2PLSM, the TEFO spot is several orders of magnitude larger. It nonetheless preserves the axial confinement of the 2PLSM spot and also propagates such that multiphoton absorption is confined to the perifocal region. We demonstrate proof of principal by employing TEFO 2PLSM to image calcium signals in a thalamocortical slice stained with the calcium sensitive AM-ester dye (OGB-1 AM). We acquired Ca2+ signals in 2D line-scanning mode, at scan rates of 1 kHz, showing that action potential detection with relatively high temporal resolution can be achieved with this approach.
Effect of Cross-Border E-Business Policy on the Export Trade of an Emerging Market: A Dynamic Study of Institutional Support to Cross-Border E-Business at Chinese Pilot Cities

Abstract Policies to offer institutional support to cross-border E-business are processed in the development of export at emerging markets. This research estimates the effect of institutional support to cross-border E-business on export trade in an emerging market by a difference-in-difference model. It is found that the institutional support to cross-border E-business at the pilot cities had a positive effect on export trade. Further, a decision tree of predictions to export is developed, based on the cross-border E-business policy and regional economic factors shown to have effect on export, and the complex network of interconnections across the cities in different conditions is revealed. The estimation of probability for export increase based on the effect of cross-border E-business policy is further performed by Bayesian model. This research can be helpful to policy makers and business administrators in understanding the effect of cross-border E-business policies on export at emerging markets.
Medication Use for Low Back Pain in Primary Care

Study Design. A longitudinal observational study of primary care patients with low back pain. Objectives. 1) To describe medications prescribed for back pain, 2) to identify patient characteristics associated with type of drug therapy, 3) to determine if the prescription of certain drugs is associated with better outcomes, and 4) to compare physician prescribing behavior with national guidelines. Summary of Background Data. Few previous studies have focused on medication prescribing patterns for back pain in primary care. Methods. Two‐hundred nineteen patients aged 20‐69 years who were making a first visit for an episode of back pain were studied. After the visit, patients completed questionnaires regarding sociodemographic characteristics, health status, back pain experience, and use of medications. Symptom severity and dysfunction were assessed by telephone 1 week after the visit. Results. Sixty‐nine percent of patients were prescribed nonsteroidal anti‐inflammatory drugs, 35% muscle relaxants, 12% narcotics, and 4% acetaminophen. Twenty percent received no medications. Patients were more likely to receive medications if they had a desire for medication, pain below the knee, less than 3 weeks of pain before visit, more severe symptoms, or greater dysfunction. Patients with more severe symptoms were more likely to receive narcotics or muscle relaxants. Patients with greater dysfunction were also more likely to receive narcotics. Type of drug therapy predicted symptom severity but not dysfunction after 1 week. Controlling for other factors, those receiving medications had less severe symptoms after 1 week than patients who received no medication. Patients receiving both muscle relaxants and nonsteroidal anti‐inflammatory drugs had the best outcomes. Medication use for back pain in this health maintenance organization was generally concordant with national guidelines. Conclusions. Nonsteroidal anti‐inflammatory drugs, often augmented by muscle relaxants, are a standard medical treatment for back pain in primary care. In this observational study, patients prescribed medications, particularly muscle relaxants, reported less severe symptoms after 1 week than those receiving no medications. However, randomized trials are needed to determine which medications or combinations of medications are most effective.
Astrocyte Contributions to Flow/Pressure-Evoked Parenchymal Arteriole Vasoconstriction

Basal and activity-dependent cerebral blood flow changes are coordinated by the action of critical processes, including cerebral autoregulation, endothelial-mediated signaling, and neurovascular coupling. The goal of our study was to determine whether astrocytes contribute to the regulation of parenchymal arteriole (PA) tone in response to hemodynamic stimuli (pressure/flow). Cortical PA vascular responses and astrocytic Ca2+ dynamics were measured using an in vitro rat/mouse brain slice model of perfused/pressurized PAs; studies were supplemented with in vivo astrocytic Ca2+ imaging. In vitro, astrocytes responded to PA flow/pressure increases with an increase in intracellular Ca2+. Astrocytic Ca2+ responses were corroborated in vivo, where acute systemic phenylephrine-induced increases in blood pressure evoked a significant increase in astrocytic Ca2+. In vitro, flow/pressure-evoked vasoconstriction was blunted when the astrocytic syncytium was loaded with BAPTA (chelating intracellular Ca2+) and enhanced when high Ca2+ or ATP were introduced to the astrocytic syncytium. Bath application of either the TRPV4 channel blocker HC067047 or purinergic receptor antagonist suramin blunted flow/pressure-evoked vasoconstriction, whereas K+ and 20-HETE signaling blockade showed no effect. Importantly, we found TRPV4 channel expression to be restricted to astrocytes and not the endothelium of PA. We present evidence for a novel role of astrocytes in PA flow/pressure-evoked vasoconstriction. Our data suggest that astrocytic TRPV4 channels are key molecular sensors of hemodynamic stimuli and that a purinergic, glial-derived signal contributes to flow/pressure-induced adjustments in PA tone. Together our results support bidirectional signaling within the neurovascular unit and astrocytes as key modulators of PA tone.
Interdependencies in Security of Electricity Supply

The analysis of security of electricity supply (SoES) is particularly complex due to, among others, the liberalisation process and the increasing penetration of renewable energies. Larsen et al. [1] propose a framework based on twelve dimensions to evaluate SoES for a single jurisdiction. However, actions aimed at improving one dimension might impact others negatively, adversely affecting the overall system. Understanding how these dimensions are interrelated is thus a prerequisite for appropriate planning and resource allocation. We apply a Cross Impact Analysis (CIA) to these dimensions to determine the degree to which the different dimensions depend on each other. From this we derive an influence diagram to visualise the interdependencies and a scatter plot to categorise the dimensions as independent, driver, connector or outcome. Actions targeting the drivers or connectors are potentially the more effective ones a regulator can take, as the consequences will gradually ripple through the system. Having an integral view of the dimensions' interdependencies provides a better understanding of the higher-order changes an intervention may cause. This enables policymakers and regulators to identifying where in the system to intervene to achieve the desired effect with the least amount of resources and with as few undesirable side-effects as possible.
Left atrial remodelling may predict exercise capacity in obstructive sleep apnoea patients

Abstract Background: Left atrial volume (LAV) and LA deformation has been proposed as a good marker of exercise performance in patients with diastolic dysfunction (DD). As DD is more prevalent in obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) we aimed to evaluate the influence of LAV and LA deformation parameters on exercise performance in varying severity of OSA. Materials and methods: OSA was diagnosed after polysomnography. Fifty-five OSA patients were enrolled in the study. OSA patients were divided into two groups with apnoea-hypopna-index (AHI) > 30 and <30. LAV was calculated. LA strain and LA strain rates were assessed with speckle tracking echocardiography (STE). Exercise capacity was evaluated by treadmill exercise test. Results: MET values were lower in group II compared to group I (p < .05). Echocardiographic findings: Comparison within groups: In both groups E/E’, LA stain, LA strain rate S and LA strain rate E were higher after exercise than before (p < .05). In group I LA strain rate A was higher after exercise than before (p < .05). Comparison between groups: LA strain, LA strain rate S, LA strain rate E and LA strain rate A were lower and E/E’ and LAVI were higher in group II compared to group I before and after exercise (p < .05). Correlation with METs: AHI, LVEDV, E/E’ and LAVI were negatively and LA strain was positively correlated with METs (p < .05). Conclusions: Left ventricular diastolic dysfunction is more prevalent in severe OSA and is associated with impaired exercise performance. Additionally, LA remodelling may predict exercise capacity in this subgroup of patients.
Natural coagulation inhibitors (protein C, protein S, antithrombin) in patients with sickle cell anemia in a steady state

Abstract Background : Patients with sickle cell anemia (SCA) run the risk of having decreased levels of natural coagulation inhibitors. This may be due to either hemostatic abnormalities or hepatic dysfunction. This study is designed to evaluate coagulation profiles of patients with SCA in a steady state and to determine whether hypercoagulable state is present or not.
Financial inclusion: measurement, spatial effects and influencing factors

ABSTRACT Using the index of financial inclusion and the World Bank Global Findex database, this study measures the level of financial inclusion across countries. The results reveal a geographical spatial aggregation distribution in which developed European and North American countries enjoy higher levels of financial inclusion than the less developed countries of Africa and most of Asia. Accordingly, our spatial analysis proves our hypothesis and reveals dependence and aggregation effects among countries. Then, we employ spatial econometric research to identify those factors significantly associated with financial inclusion. The results show that an individual’s income, education and use of communications equipment are important factors that explain the level of financial inclusion, while financial depth and banking health status are the main determinants. Building an inclusive financial system is an important means for most countries to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.
Learning High-Level Manipulative Tasks through Imitation

This paper presents ConSCIS, conceptual space based cognitive imitation system, which tightly links low-level data processing with knowledge representation in the context of robot imitation. Our focus is on the program-level imitation: we are interested in the final effects of actions on objects, and not on the particular kinematic or dynamic properties of the motion. The same architecture is used both to analyze and represent the task to be imitated, and to perform the imitation by generalizing in novel and different circumstances. The implemented experimental scenario is a two dimensional world populated with various objects in which observation/imitation takes place. To validate our approach, we report some results concerned with the problem of teaching a humanoid hand/arm robotic system tasks of assembling different workspace objects
Second-Level Digital Divide: Mapping Differences in People's Online Skills

Much of the existing approach to the digital divide suffers from an important limitation. It is based on a binary classification of Internet use by only considering whether someone is or is not an Internet user. To remedy this shortcoming, this project looks at the differences in people's level of skill with respect to finding information online. Findings suggest that people search for content in a myriad of ways and there is a large variance in how long people take to find various types of information online. Data are collected to see how user demographics, users' social support networks, people's experience with the medium, and their autonomy of use influence their level of user sophistication.
Incremental Fringe Formulation for a Complex Source Point Beam Expansion

An incremental fringe formulation (IFF) for the scattering by large metallic objects illuminated by electromagnetic complex source points (CSPs) is presented. This formulation has two main advantages. First, it improves the accuracy of physical optics (PO) computations by removing spurious scattered field contributions and, at the same time, substituting them with more accurate Incremental Theory of Diffraction field contributions. Second, it reduces the complexity of PO computations because it is applicable to arbitrary illuminating fields represented in terms of a CSP beam expansion. The advantage of using CSPs is mainly due to their beam-like properties: truncation of negligible beams lowers the computational burden in the determination of the solution. Explicit dyadic expressions of incremental fringe coefficients are derived for wedge-shaped configurations. Comparisons between the proposed method, PO and the Method of Moments (MoM) are provided.
Unraveling lipid/protein interaction in model lipid bilayers by Atomic Force Microscopy

The current view of the biological membrane is that in which lipids and proteins mutually interact to accomplish membrane functions. The lateral heterogeneity of the lipid bilayer can induce partitioning of membrane‐associated proteins, favoring protein–protein interaction and influence signaling and trafficking. The Atomic Force Microscope allows to study the localization of membrane‐associated proteins with respect to the lipid organization at the single molecule level and without the need for fluorescence staining. These features make AFM a technique of choice to study lipid/protein interactions in model systems or native membranes. Here we will review the technical aspects inherent to and the main results obtained by AFM in the study of protein partitioning in lipid domains concentrating in particular on GPI‐anchored proteins, lipidated proteins, and transmembrane proteins. Whenever possible, we will also discuss the functional consequences of what has been imaged by Atomic Force Microscopy. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.