Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Perfectionism and acceptance: perspective taking and implicit beliefs

• This work is protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights, which are retained by the thesis author, unless otherwise stated. • A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. • This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author. • The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author. • When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given. Declaration This thesis has been composed by myself, the work contained herein is my own and it has not been submitted for any other degree or professional qualification except as specified. Acknowledgements Firstly I would like to thank all the people who very kindly gave up their time to take part in this research, it couldn " t have happened without you! I would also like to thank my academic and clinical supervisors David Gillanders and Massimo Tarsia for the invaluable advice and encouragement they gave at every stage of the research process. Also, to Dermot Barnes-Holmes I offer my gratitude for his consultancy regarding the IRAP task. Special thanks go to my family for their endless patience and support; and to my gorgeous nephew James who helps keep the world in perspective. Finally, to my brilliant friends I say thank you for all the happiness, inspiration, love, tea and cake you " ve given me over the past five years – it " s meant the world to me.
Convolutive Speech Bases and Their Application to Supervised Speech Separation

In this paper, we present a convolutive basis decomposition method and its application on simultaneous speakers separation from monophonic recordings. The model we propose is a convolutive version of the nonnegative matrix factorization algorithm. Due to the nonnegativity constraint this type of coding is very well suited for intuitively and efficiently representing magnitude spectra. We present results that reveal the nature of these basis functions and we introduce their utility in separating monophonic mixtures of known speakers
Interactions between the R2R3-MYB Transcription Factor, AtMYB61, and Target DNA Binding Sites

Despite the prominent roles played by R2R3-MYB transcription factors in the regulation of plant gene expression, little is known about the details of how these proteins interact with their DNA targets. For example, while Arabidopsis thaliana R2R3-MYB protein AtMYB61 is known to alter transcript abundance of a specific set of target genes, little is known about the specific DNA sequences to which AtMYB61 binds. To address this gap in knowledge, DNA sequences bound by AtMYB61 were identified using cyclic amplification and selection of targets (CASTing). The DNA targets identified using this approach corresponded to AC elements, sequences enriched in adenosine and cytosine nucleotides. The preferred target sequence that bound with the greatest affinity to AtMYB61 recombinant protein was ACCTAC, the AC-I element. Mutational analyses based on the AC-I element showed that ACC nucleotides in the AC-I element served as the core recognition motif, critical for AtMYB61 binding. Molecular modelling predicted interactions between AtMYB61 amino acid residues and corresponding nucleotides in the DNA targets. The affinity between AtMYB61 and specific target DNA sequences did not correlate with AtMYB61-driven transcriptional activation with each of the target sequences. CASTing-selected motifs were found in the regulatory regions of genes previously shown to be regulated by AtMYB61. Taken together, these findings are consistent with the hypothesis that AtMYB61 regulates transcription from specific cis-acting AC elements in vivo. The results shed light on the specifics of DNA binding by an important family of plant-specific transcriptional regulators.
Is Early Onset Androgenic Alopecia a Marker of Metabolic Syndrome and Carotid Artery Atherosclerosis in Young Indian Male Patients?

Background: Androgenic alopecia (AGA) is a common cosmetically and psychosocially distressing condition. High androgen level contributes to the development of atherosclerosis, thrombosis leading to hypertension and hypercholesterolemia. Objectives: To study the clinico-epidemiological profile of AGA and the presence of metabolic syndrome (MetS) and carotid artery atherosclerosis in male patients with early onset AGA as compared to controls. Materials and Methods: In this case-control study, 100 male patients of age 18-35 years with AGA and an equal number of age-matched healthy controls attending skin and STD OPD were included. Assessment of the degree of hair loss, evaluation of MetS and carotid artery color Doppler for the atherosclerotic plaque was done in all patients. Results: Statistically significant number of patients with early onset AGA 22/100 (22%) (P < 0.05) fulfilled the criteria for MetS compared to 8/100 (8%) in the control group. There were statistically significant differences in mean values of waist circumference, serum triglycerides, serum cholesterol, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, fasting glucose concentration, and very low-density lipoprotein (LDL). However, no significant differences were observed in the mean values of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and LDL cholesterol. The atherosclerotic plaque was found in two patients of the study group, and no plaque was found in control patients. Conclusion: We suggest that all men with AGA should be thoroughly investigated, and lifestyle changes should be started in the early period of life so as to reduce the risk of various problems associated with MetS. AGA can be considered as an early marker for MetS.
Decomposition, discovery and detection of visual categories using topic models

We present a novel method for the discovery and detection of visual object categories based on decompositions using topic models. The approach is capable of learning a compact and low dimensional representation for multiple visual categories from multiple view points without labeling of the training instances. The learnt object components range from local structures over line segments to global silhouette-like descriptions. This representation can be used to discover object categories in a totally unsupervised fashion. Furthermore we employ the representation as the basis for building a supervised multi-category detection system making efficient use of training examples and out-performing pure features-based representations. The proposed speed-ups make the system scale to large databases. Experiments on three databases show that the approach improves the state-of-the-art in unsupervised learning as well as supervised detection. In particular we improve the state-of-the-art on the challenging PASCALpsila06 multi-class detection tasks for several categories.
Microfluidic Platform for the Long-Term On-Chip Cultivation of Mammalian Cells for Lab-On-A-Chip Applications

Lab-on-a-Chip (LoC) applications for the long-term analysis of mammalian cells are still very rare due to the lack of convenient cell cultivation devices. The difficulties are the integration of suitable supply structures, the need of expensive equipment like an incubator and sophisticated pumps as well as the choice of material. The presented device is made out of hard, but non-cytotoxic materials (silicon and glass) and contains two vertical arranged membranes out of hydrogel. The porous membranes are used to separate the culture chamber from two supply channels for gases and nutrients. The cells are fed continuously by diffusion through the membranes without the need of an incubator and low requirements on the supply of medium to the assembly. The diffusion of oxygen is modelled in order to find the optimal dimensions of the chamber. The chip is connected via 3D-printed holders to the macroscopic world. The holders are coated with Parlyene C to ensure that only biocompatible materials are in contact with the culture medium. The experiments with MDCK-cells show the successful seeding inside the chip, culturing and passaging. Consequently, the presented platform is a step towards Lab-on-a-Chip applications that require long-term cultivation of mammalian cells.
Magnetization transfer ratio and myelin in postmortem multiple sclerosis brain

Several quantitative magnetic resonance (MR) measures are used to investigate multiple sclerosis (MS) in vivo. Precise quantitative investigation of the histopathological correlates of such measures has, to date, been limited. This study investigates the relationship of quantitative measures of myelin content, axonal density, and gliosis with quantitative MR measures in postmortem (PM) MS tissue. MR imaging (MRI) was performed on a 1.5T scanner and T1‐relaxation time (T1‐RT) and magnetization transfer ratio (MTR) maps were acquired in fresh PM brain of 20 MS subjects. Myelin content, axonal counts, and the extent of gliosis all were quantified using morphometric and digital imaging techniques. MRI and pathological data were in most cases coregistered using stereotactic navigation. Using multiple regression analysis, we detected significant correlations between myelin content (Trmyelin) and MTR (r = −0.84, p < 0.001) and myelin content and axonal count (−0.80, p < 0.001); MTR correlated with T1‐RT (r = −0.79, p < 0.001). No association was detected between the extent of gliosis and either MR measure. MTR was significantly higher in remyelinated than demyelinated lesions (means: 30.0 [standard deviation, 2.9] vs 23.8 [standard deviation, 4.3], p = 0.008). In conclusion, MTR is affected by myelin content in MS white matter. Ann Neurol 2004
Digitally Controlled VGA for Low Power Low-IF Receivers

A digitally controlled variable gain amplifier (VGA) for low power, low-IF receivers is presented. The amplifier was designed and fabricated in IBM 7WL BiCMOS 180 nm technology. It shows a dynamic range of 45 dB with a maximum gain of 52 dB and a minimum gain of 7 dB. The gain variation is achieved by means of switched feedback resistors. These are controlled by a demultiplexer and 4 control bits. The 1 dB compression corresponds to 9 dBm of input power in a 50 ¿ system and the 3-dB-bandwith is approximately 10 MHz. The overall power consumption is 13 mW.
Document Image Retrieval Using Feature Combination in Kernel Space

The paper presents application of multiple features for word based document image indexing and retrieval. A novel framework to perform Multiple Kernel Learning for indexing using the Kernel based Distance Based Hashing is proposed. The Genetic Algorithm based framework is used for optimization. Two different features representing the structural organization of word shape are defined. The optimal combination of both the features for indexing is learned by performing MKL. The retrieval results for document collection belonging to Devanagari script are presented.
Pitch enhancement facilitates word learning across visual contexts

This study investigates word-learning using a new experimental paradigm that integrates three processes: (a) extracting a word out of a continuous sound sequence, (b) inferring its referential meanings in context, (c) mapping the segmented word onto its broader intended referent, such as other objects of the same semantic category, and to novel utterances. Previous work has examined the role of statistical learning and/or of prosody in each of these processes separately. Here, we combine these strands of investigation into a single experimental approach, in which participants viewed a photograph belonging to one of three semantic categories while hearing a complex, five-word utterance containing a target word. Six between-subjects conditions were tested with 20 adult participants each. In condition 1, the only cue to word-meaning mapping was the co-occurrence of word and referents. This statistical cue was present in all conditions. In condition 2, the target word was sounded at a higher pitch. In condition 3, random words were sounded at a higher pitch, creating an inconsistent cue. In condition 4, the duration of the target word was lengthened. In conditions 5 and 6, an extraneous acoustic cue and a visual cue were associated with the target word, respectively. Performance in this word-learning task was significantly higher than that observed with simple co-occurrence only when pitch prominence consistently marked the target word. We discuss implications for the pragmatic value of pitch marking as well as the relevance of our findings to language acquisition and language evolution.
Two-dimensional spreads of synaptonemal complexes from solanaceous plants. VI. High-resolution recombination nodule map for tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum).

We have produced a high-resolution physical recombination map for tomato chromosomes by determining the frequency and distribution of recombination nodules (RNs) on tomato synaptonemal complexes (SCs). We present evidence that there is a 1:1 relationship between RNs and chiasmata. Every SC has at least one RN. There are no RNs at the ends of SCs, in kinetochores, or in the heterochromatic short arm of SC 2 that carries the nucleolus organizer. RNs are more common per unit length of SC in euchromatin compared with SC in heterochromatin . The average number of RNs per SC and the average number of RNs per SC arm are directly correlated with the length of SC in euchromatin. When SCs have only one RN, that RN occurs on the long arm more frequently than predicted based on SC arm length. Patterns of multiple Rns on SCs indicate RN (crossover) interference. Rns probably can occur anywhere on SCs in euchromatin, but RNs are not distributed randomly along SCs in euchromatin or in heterochromatin. The lengths of tomato's physical recombination (RN) map, classical genetic linkage map, and molecular linkage map all differ from each other for a variety of reasons.
Stable feature selection with ensembles of multi-reliefF

Stability of feature selection from high-dimensional data is an important and active research area. Ensemble feature selection has emerged as an effective method to improve the stability of feature selection. However, it results in a significant increase of computational cost in many real world applications. In this paper, we propose an improved ensemble feature selection framework using random sampling and random feature selection to improve the stability and to reduce the computational cost. The proposed framework is implemented in the context of multi-reliefF. Experiments on eight high-dimensional small-sample data sets show that under the proposed framework the computational cost is reduced dramatically while the stability improved slightly.
Supremica - An integrated environment for verification, synthesis and simulation of discrete event systems

An integrated environment, Supremica, for verification, synthesis and simulation of discrete event systems is presented. The basic model in Supremica is finite automata where the transitions have an associated event together with a guard condition and an action function that updates automata variables. Supremica uses two main approaches to handle large state-spaces. The first approach exploits modularity in order to divide the original problem into many smaller problems that together solve the original problem. The second approach uses an efficient data structure, a binary decision diagram, to symbolically represent the reachable states. Models in Supremica may be simulated in the environment. It is also possible to generate code that implements the behavior of the model using both the IEC 61131 and the IEC 61499 standard
The USTC and iFlytek Speech Synthesis Systems for Blizzard Challenge 2007

This paper introduces the speech synthesis systems developed by USTC and iFlytek for Blizzard Challenge 2007. These two systems are both HMM-based ones and employ similar training algorithms, where contextual dependent HMMs for spectrum, F0 and duration are estimated according to the acoustic features and contextual information of training database. However, different synthesis methods are adopted for these two systems. In USTC system, speech parameters are generated directly from these statistical models and parametric synthesizer is used to reconstruct speech waveform. The iFlytek system is a waveform concatenation one, which uses maximum likelihood criterion of statistical models to guide the selection of phone-sized candidate units. Comparing the evaluation results of these two systems in Blizzard Challenge 2007, we find that the parametric synthesis system achieves better performance than unit selection method in intelligibility. On the other hand, the synthesized speech of the unit selection system is more similar to the original speech and more natural especially when the full training set is used.
Pathogen Exclusion from Eco‐Epidemiological Systems

Increasing concerns about the changing environment and the emergence of pathogens that cross species boundaries have added to the urgency of understanding the dynamics of complex ecological systems infected by pathogens. Of particular interest is the often counterintuitive way in which infection and predation interact and the consequent difficulties in designing control strategies to manage the system. To understand the mechanisms involved, we focus on the pathogen exclusion problem, using control maps (on which the network of exclusion thresholds are plotted) in order to readily identify which exclusion strategies will work and why others will not. We apply this approach to the analysis of parasite exclusion in two game bird ecologies. For higher dimensions, we propose a computational scheme that will generate the optimal exclusion strategy, taking into account all operational constraints on the pathogen invasion matrix, populations, and controls. The situation is further complicated when external forcing distorts pathogen thresholds. This distortion is highly sensitive to the lags between forcing components, a sensitivity that can be exploited by management using correctly lagged cyclically varying controls to reduce the effort involved in pathogen exclusion.
Double-Gate Tunnel FET With High-κ Gate Dielectric

In this paper, we propose and validate a novel design for a double-gate tunnel fi eld-effect transistor (DG Tunnel FET), for which the simulations show significant improvements compared with single-gate devices using an SiO2 gate dielectric. For the fi rst time, DG Tunnel FET devices, which are using a high-κ gate dielectric, are explored using realistic design parameters, showing an ON-current as high as 0.23 mA for a gate voltage of 1.8 V, an OFF-current of less than 1 fA (neglecting gate leakage), an improved average subthreshold swing of 57 mV/dec, and a minimum point slope of 11 mV/dec. The 2-D nature of Tunnel FET current fl ow is studied, demonstrating that the current is not confi ned to a channel at the gate-dielectric surface. When varying temperature, Tunnel FETs with a high-κ gate dielectric have a smaller threshold voltage shift than those using SiO2, while the subthreshold slope for fi xed values of Vg remains nearly unchanged, in contrast with the traditional MOSFET. Moreover, an Ion/Ioff ratio of more than 2 × 1011 is shown for simulated devices with a gate length (over the intrinsic region) of 50 nm, which indicates that the Tunnel FET is a promising candidate to achieve better-than-ITRS low-standby-power switch performance.
Energetics-informed hexapod gait transitions across terrains

Legged robots offer the potential of locomotion across various types of terrains. Different terrains require different gait patterns to enable greater traversal efficiency. Consequently, as a legged robot transitions from one type of terrain to another, the gait pattern should be adapted so as to maximise traction and energy efficiency. This paper explores the use of power consumption as estimated by the robot in real-time for guiding this gait transition in the case of statically-stable locomotion. While moving, the robot autonomously assesses its power consumption, relates it to the traction, and switches between gaits so as to maximise efficiency. In this way, the robot only needs proprioceptive sensors and consequently does not require velocity estimation, ground imaging or profiling to maintain efficient locomotion across different terrains. The approach has been tested on a hexapod robot traversing a variety of terrain types and stiffness, including concrete, grass, mulch and leaf litter. The experimental results show that gait switching on energetics alone enables traction maintenance and efficient locomotion across different terrains. We also present comparisons between the power consumption metric used in this work and cost of transport which is used in the literature for characterising energetics for legged locomotion.
Dynamic Backlight Gamma on High Dynamic Range LCD TVs

A high dynamic range liquid crystal display (HDR-LCD) can enhance the contrast ratio of images by utilizing locally controlled dynamic backlight. We studied the HDR-LCD as a dual-panel display: a backlight module and a liquid crystal (LC) cell. As the gamma of the LC signal, the backlight module was also endowed with a gamma function to control the contrast ratio of HDR images. The inverse of a mapping function (IMF) method proposed as a dynamic gamma mapping curve for the backlight module, has been demonstrated to further improve in HDR image quality. By implementing the IMF method on a HDR-LCD TV with 88 backlight zones, the image contrast ratio can reach while maintaining high brightness, clear image detail, and an average power reduction of 30%.
Internal Self-protecting for Consistency and Stability in an Autonomic Manager

In this article we describe an approach for autonomic management of legacy software in distributed environments (cluster, grid or cloud). Our propositions have been implemented in a tool (TUNe) based on diagrams formalisms. We describe particularly the property of self-Protecting. The various mechanisms needed to maintain the consistency of the managed system, are described: autonomic creation or destruction, interruption or rollback. Finally experiments using this policy are made on the software DIET.