Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
SIG~: Performance Interface for Schaefferian Sound-Object Improvisation

Pierre Schaeffer’s theory of sound objects is a milestone in the historical development of electronic music. The TARTYP plays a central role in this theory. The TARTYP, however, is not widely accepted as a practical tool for musical analysis and composition, in part due to the large number of confusing and vague terms it introduces. This paper suggests a focus on Schaeffer’s sound recordings that exemplifies the TARTYP as a source for aural learning of this taxonomy and an improvisational approach that explores the practical applications of the TARTYP to real-time composition and computer improvisation. A software based on the TARTYP generative grammars and a performance system supporting this improvisational concept are presented along with specialized graphic notation of TARTYP sound objects set in animated scores. Finally the paper describes performance practices developed for SIG~, a Schaefferian improvisation group based in Iowa City.
Applying eco problem solving to the control of an adaptative manufacturing cell

The research of adaptativity and reactivity in the control of adaptative manufacturing cells implies distribution of intelligence in decision making. It also entails the difficulty to master and optimize real-time decision-making. The aim of this paper is to study the interest of multi-agent system and eco-resolution, in the control of adaptative manufacturing cells. After an introduction of the problem we deal with, we present principles of the eco-resolution introduced in the field of distributed artificial intelligence. Secondly, we show how model a cell controller with eco-agents acting in an eco-problem. Then, we propose some extensions to the eco-resolution in order to suit to the control of a physical system of production. A precise model of a generic eco-agent is presented in the third session. Lastly, milling cell controller developed at LURPA is studied as example.
Review Essay : Exiting Roles or Exiting Role Theory? Critical Notes on Ebaugh's Becoming an Ex

on a naturalistic inquiry into the process of ’role exit’, that is, the lines of action and the social-psychological moves that individuals deploy to disengage from a role and to establish new identities that incorporate past social status. The purpose of the book is to show that role exit is a ’sociologically unique’ and analytically separable social phenonenon a ’gener~c’ interactional process, distinct from role socialization, whose elucidation will move role theory forward (pp. 6. 15. 181-182). Being a former Catholic nun herself,‘ the author seeks to combine the subjective, empathetic understanding of the insider with the detached, analytical perspective of the outsider. As shall be argued below, however, this major statement of role
Probing Birth-Order Effects on Narrow Traits Using Specification-Curve Analysis

The idea that birth-order position has a lasting impact on personality has been discussed for the past 100 years. Recent large-scale studies have indicated that birth-order effects on the Big Five personality traits are negligible. In the current study, we examined a variety of more narrow personality traits in a large representative sample (n = 6,500–10,500 in between-family analyses; n = 900–1,200 in within-family analyses). We used specification-curve analysis to assess evidence for birth-order effects across a range of models implementing defensible yet arbitrary analytical decisions (e.g., whether to control for age effects or to exclude participants on the basis of sibling spacing). Although specification-curve analysis clearly confirmed the previously reported birth-order effect on intellect, we found no meaningful effects on life satisfaction, locus of control, interpersonal trust, reciprocity, risk taking, patience, impulsivity, or political orientation. The lack of meaningful birth-order effects on self-reports of personality was not limited to broad traits but also held for more narrowly defined characteristics.
General Health of Foreign-Origin Groups and Native Population

Background: Since the mental health of marginal settlers (non-native population) may affect other citizens’ health, the present study attempts to investigate the mental health status of marginal settlers of Yazd. Materials and Methods: this study was a descriptive, cross-sectional research, in which 400 of non-native and native population have participated. To study mental health status of people, a questionnaire was used. The first section of this questionnaire was the 28-item questionnaire of GHQ and the second section dealt with demographic characteristics such as age, sex, employment status, household income, and educational level of the father of the family. The collected data was analyzed using statistical operations of Pearson correlation coefficient, T Student, univariate Anova, and non-parametric Chi Square. Results: The results revealed that the average scores of general health were 20.09±9.84 and 17.04±9.54 for native and non-native population, respectively. Among subscales of general health, the highest and lowest average scores belonged to social dysfunctions, which showed a dangerous mental health status, and depression, respectively. There was significant difference between average score of general health and educational level of the father of the family (p<.001). The temporary employment and leased household differs significantly from the average score of general health among native population. It was indicated that sex was one of the most powerful predictors of mental health and people had more mental health when they grew older. Anxiety was the strongest predictor of general health for both groups. Conclusion: It seems that background factors such as educational level and employment status effect general health of people more than living in marginal settlement.
Signal modulus design for blind source separation via algebraic known modulus algorithm: A perturbation perspective

This brief considers blind signal source separation via algebraic known modulus algorithm. It is shown that through proper signal modulus design the estimation accuracy of the beamforming vector, as well as the performance of signal separation, can be improved. Specifically, based on a matrix perturbation analysis we propose a criterion, in the form of minimizing the maximal singular value of the modulus code matrix, for enhancing robustness of the beamforming vector against measurement noise. A closed-form solution is then derived and its performance is tested through numerical simulation.
Embodied Spirituality: The place of culture and tradition in contemporary educational discourse on spirituality

Abstract The paper explores the cultural context of contemporary educational discourse on spirituality in Great Britain by defending the following theses: spiritual education seeks a universal perspective that transcends any specific cultural context and tradition; it disengages itself from the culture of modernity, which it perceives as a spiritual desert; it finds in the tradition of late 18th and early 19th Century romanticism resources to support the recovery of a lost dimension of spirituality; however the integrity of spiritual education is threatened by the colonisation of romanticism by the tradition of post‐modernity; indeed aspects of spiritual education already embody a post‐modern perspective; an authentic spiritual education requires contextualisation in a plurality of spiritual traditions.
Toxoplasma gondii Infection in Seagull Chicks Is Related to the Consumption of Freshwater Food Resources

Understanding the spread of Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) in wild birds, particularly in those with opportunistic feeding behavior, is of interest for elucidating the epidemiological involvement of these birds in the maintenance and dissemination of the parasite. Overall, from 2009 to 2011, we collected sera from 525 seagull chicks (Yellow-legged gull (Larus michahellis) and Audouin’s gull (L. audouinii)) from 6 breeding colonies in Spain and tested them using the modified agglutination test (MAT) for the presence of antibodies against T. gondii. Chick age was estimated from bill length. Main food source of seagull chicks was evaluated using stable isotope analyses from growing scapular feathers. Overall T. gondii seroprevalence was 21.0% (IC95% 17.5–24.4). A generalized linear mixed-effects model indicated that year (2009) and food source (freshwater) were risk factors associated to the individual risk of infection by T. gondii, while age (days) was close to significance. Freshwater food origin was related to the highest seroprevalence levels, followed by marine origin, supporting freshwater and sewages as important routes of dispersion of T. gondii. Year differences could indicate fluctuating rates of exposure of seagull chicks to T. gondii. Age ranged from 4 to 30 days and seropositivity tended to increase with age (P = 0.07), supporting that seropositivity is related to T. gondii infection rather than to maternal transfer of antibodies, which in gulls is known to sharply decrease with chick age. This study is the first to report T. gondii antibodies in Yellow-legged and Audouin’s gulls, thereby extending the range of intermediate hosts for this parasite and underscoring the complexity of its epidemiology.
Multiple sex partners and perceived risk of HIV infection in Zambia: attitudinal determinants and gender differences

Abstract While there is much attention on perceived risk of HIV and subsequent cautionary behavior, evidence of the reciprocity of the relationship between recent risky sexual behavior and perceived risks of HIV infection remains scarce. This paper tests the hypothesis that having multiple sex partners within the last 12 months influences individual's perceived risk of HIV among Zambian men and women. It also examines attitudinal factors associated with having multiple sex partners and perceived HIV risk. Data come from the 2005 Household and Community Surveys of the Health Communication Partnership project. The sample includes 2610 men and women, and 445 community leaders in 36 districts. Tests of exogeneity confirm that having multiple sex partners is exogenous to perceived risk of HIV infection. Structural equation modeling is employed to test the hypothesis. Findings show that having multiple partners is the strongest predictor of perceived risk of HIV. Men were also more likely than women to have multiple sex partners, but less likely to consider themselves at risk of HIV, compared to women. Men were also more likely to be influenced by their peers and community members. Women were more likely than men to report some risk of HIV if they were aware of their partner's serostatus and had more interpersonal communication on HIV. Married women were less likely to consider themselves at risk than unmarried women. The findings indicate that it is essential for men to recognize the connections between unsafe sex behaviors and risks of HIV infection and that distinct intervention approaches to Zambian men and women are needed. While couple communication needs to be enhanced for both, community-based interventions that approach men are particularly important.
Pluronic P85 enhances the efficacy of outer membrane vesicles as a subunit vaccine against Brucella melitensis challenge in mice.

Brucellosis is the most common zoonotic disease worldwide, and there is no vaccine for human use. Brucella melitensis Rev1, a live attenuated strain, is the commercial vaccine for small ruminants to prevent B. melitensis infections but has been associated with abortions in animals. Moreover, strain Rev1 is known to cause disease in humans and cannot be used for human vaccination. Outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) obtained from B. melitensis have been shown to provide protection similar to strain Rev1 in mice against B. melitensis challenge. In the present work, we tested the efficacy of Pluronic P85 as an adjuvant to enhance the efficacy of Brucella OMVs as a vaccine. P85 enhanced the in vitro secretion of TNF-α by macrophages induced with OMVs and P85. Further, P85 enhanced the protection provided by OMVs against B. melitensis challenge. This enhanced protection was associated with higher total IgG antibody production but not increased IFN-γ or IL-4 cytokine levels. Moreover, P85 alone provided significantly better clearance of B. melitensis compared to saline-vaccinated mice. Further studies are warranted to find the mechanism of action of P85 that provides nonspecific protection and enhances the efficacy of OMVs as a vaccine against B. melitensis.
Change in Men's Housework and Child-Care Time, 1965-1975.

The object of this study is to examine change in men's housework and child-care time between 1965 and 1975, a period characterized by significant change both in women's domestic work and in their labor-force participation. Multiple classification analysis is employed to examine change in men's mean housework and child-care time, adjusted for several sociodemographic variables that also may have altered during the decade in question. Neither unadjusted nor adjusted means of men's housework or child-care time changed significantly between 1965 and 1975. Further, few systematic changes in the time spent in housework and child care are observed for specific categories of men. The most important factors influencing men's housework time in both years are paid-work time and leisure time. Key variables that emerge in the analysis of child-care time include paid-work time and the number and ages of children. Overall, the findings cast doubt on the supposed convergence of men's and women's roles. Clearly, men did little between 1965 and 1975 to offset the household pressures created by women's increased participation in the labor force. The findings also raise broader questions concerning the implications of the reorganization of domestic production for the structure of the family.
A two-year follow-up investigation of parenting and peer influences on tobacco use onset among Italian early adolescents

The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of peer and family influences on tobacco use onset among Italian early adolescents at two-year follow-up. Participants were 161 adolescents aged 11 to 12 (M = 11.14, SD = 0.39; 49% female) living in the northwest of Italy. Multiple logistic regressions were used. Results indicated that increases in positive family climate were negatively associated with lifetime smoking among non-smokers at two-year follow-up. Additionally, parental knowledge of child daily activities decreased lifetime smoking at two-year follow-up. Moderation analyses revealed that parental knowledge reduced the effect of peers' influence on youth smoking onset at two-year follow-up. This study underlined the influence of parenting practices in preventing early smoking initiation in Italy.
Coupled dictionary-based speech enhancement for CHiME-3 challenge

The 3rd CHiME Challenge is intended to evaluate and compare various techniques for automatic speech recognition (ASR) in a real-world scenario. This paper investigates the previously proposed exemplar-based speech enhancement technique using coupled dictionaries as a front-end for various ASR back-ends on the CHiME-3 dataset. In this setting, the noisy speech is decomposed as a weighted sum of atoms in an input dictionary containing exemplars sampled from a domain of choice, and the resulting weights are applied to a coupled output dictionary containing exemplars sampled in the short-time Fourier transform (STFT) domain to directly obtain the speech and noise estimates for speech enhancement. This work extends this approach by adding an adaptive dictionary where the input and the coupled output atoms are learned online from the test data. We present the CHiME-3 evaluations using GMM, DNN and CNN-DNN -based ASR back-ends. The results reveal that the investigated speech enhancement settings can be effectively used to improve the performance of the ASR systems both on real and simulated data.
Multiscale Image Representation and Texture Extraction Using Hierarchical Variational Decomposition

In order to achieve a mutiscale representation and texture extraction for textured image, a hierarchical decomposition model is proposed in this paper. We firstly introduce the proposed model which is obtained by replacing the fixed scale parameter of the original decomposition with a varying sequence. And then, the existence and convergence of the hierarchical decomposition are proved. Furthermore, we show the nontrivial property of this hierarchical decomposition. Finally, we introduce a simple numerical method for the hierarchical decomposition, which utilizes gradient decent for energy minimization and finite difference for the associated gradient flow equations. Numerical results show that the proposed hierarchical decomposition is very appropriate for multiscale representation and texture extraction of textured image.
Habitat Changes in Colombian Coffee Farms Under Increasing Management Intensification

I analyzed a set of environmental and vegetation variables in order to characterize an intensification gradient for coffee production agroecosystems. I measured 14 habitat variables within 12 Colombian farms classified into four management systems at the Risaralda region of Colombia: Forests, Polygeneric Shaded coffee, Monogeneric Shaded coffee and Sun coffee plantations. The habitat variables were categorized into three vertical levels: arboreal, shrubs and soil. Univariate and multivariate analyses showed that the habitat effect is driven mainly by drastic changes (i.e. elimination) in the arboreal level along the intensification gradient, although variables at other levels showed gradual and sometimes unexpected changes. I then adapted the management index developed by Mas and Dietsch (2003) to the coffee plantations in this study. The quantitatively supported management index showed a close correspondence to the initial qualitatively classification of the farms. I conclude that intensification of coffee production has clear measurable effects on habitat characteristics and that the management index reflects the gradient of intensification in the studied farms. The approach of using the management index could be highly valuable for the programs of shade coffee certification and conservation goals. Inge Armbrecht Universidad del Valle Departamento de Biología Ciudad Universitaria Meléndez Apartado Aéreo 25360 Cali. Colombia inge@biologos.univalle. edu.co
Systematic Reviews and Meta- and Pooled Analyses The Contribution of Genomic Research to Explaining Racial Disparities in Cardiovascular Disease: A Systematic Review

After nearly a decade of genome-wide association studies, no assessment has yet been made of their contribution toward an explanation of the most prominent racial health disparities observed at the population level. We examined populations of African and European ancestry and focused on cardiovascular diseases, which are col-lectively the largest contributor to the racial mortality gap. We conducted a systematic search for review articles and meta-analyses published in 2007 – 2013 in which genetic data from both populations were available. We identified 68 articles relevant to this question; however, few reported significant associations in both racial groups, with just 3 variants meeting study-specific significance criteria. For most outcomes, there were too few estimates for quantitative summarization, but when summarization was possible, racial group did not contribute to heterogeneity. Most associations reported from genome-wide searches were small, difficult to replicate, and in no consistent direction that favored one racial group or another. Although the substantial investment in this technology might have pro-duced clinical advances, it has thus far made little or no contribution to our understanding of population-level racial health disparities in cardiovascular disease.
Tumor Suppressor PDCD4 Represses Internal Ribosome Entry Site-Mediated Translation of Antiapoptotic Proteins and Is Regulated by S6 Kinase 2

ABSTRACT Apoptosis can be regulated by extracellular signals that are communicated by peptides such as fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF-2) that have important roles in tumor cell proliferation. The prosurvival effects of FGF-2 are transduced by the activation of the ribosomal protein S6 kinase 2 (S6K2), which increases the expression of the antiapoptotic proteins X chromosome-linked Inhibitor of Apoptosis (XIAP) and Bcl-xL. We now show that the FGF-2–S6K2 prosurvival signaling is mediated by the tumor suppressor programmed cell death 4 (PDCD4). We demonstrate that PDCD4 specifically binds to the internal ribosome entry site (IRES) elements of both the XIAP and Bcl-xL messenger RNAs and represses their translation by inhibiting the formation of the 48S translation initiation complex. Phosphorylation of PDCD4 by activated S6K2 leads to the degradation of PDCD4 and thus the subsequent derepression of XIAP and Bcl-xL translation. Our results identify PDCD4 as a specific repressor of the IRES-dependent translation of cellular mRNAs (such as XIAP and Bcl-xL) that mediate FGF-2–S6K2 prosurvival signaling and provide further insight into the role of PDCD4 in tumor suppression.
Cellular distribution of adenosine A2A receptor mrna in the primate striatum

The cellular expression of adenosine A2A receptor mRNA in the adult monkey and human striatum was examined by using single and double in situ hybridization with ribonucleotide probes. Analysis on adjacent sections demonstrated a homogeneous overlapping expression of adenosine A2A receptor and preproenkephalin A mRNAs throughout nucleus caudatus, putamen, and nucleus accumbens. By contrast, high expression of preproenkephalin A mRNA but no expression of adenosine A2A receptor mRNA was found in the nucleus basalis of Meynert. Double in situ hybridization demonstrated an extensive colocalization of adenosine A2A receptor and preproenkephalin A mRNAs in approximately 50% of the medium‐sized spiny neurons of the monkey nucleus caudatus, putamen, and nucleus accumbens. A small number of neurons (4–12%) that contained adenosine A2A receptor mRNA but not preproenkephalin A mRNA was found along the ventral borders of the striatum. Virtually all adenosine A2A receptor mRNA‐containing neurons co‐expressed dopamine D2 receptor mRNA, whereas only very few adenosine A2A receptor mRNA containing neurons co‐expressed dopamine D1 receptor or substance P mRNAs. In addition, a sub‐population of adenosine A2A receptor mRNA‐expressing neurons that also contained preproenkephalin A mRNA was found in the septum in monkeys. These results demonstrate that there is a high expression of adenosine A2A receptor mRNA in the primate striatum that is extensively co‐localized with dopamine D2 receptor and preproenkephalin A mRNAs. It is concluded that adenosine A2A receptors are likely to be important for the parallel organization of primate striatal neurotransmission and that these receptors could be a target for drug therapy in Parkinson's disease. J. Comp. Neurol. 399:229–240, 1998. © 1998 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.