Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Pathogenesis of A−β+ Ketosis-Prone Diabetes

A−β+ ketosis-prone diabetes (KPD) is an emerging syndrome of obesity, unprovoked ketoacidosis, reversible β-cell dysfunction, and near-normoglycemic remission. We combined metabolomics with targeted kinetic measurements to investigate its pathophysiology. Fasting plasma fatty acids, acylcarnitines, and amino acids were quantified in 20 KPD patients compared with 19 nondiabetic control subjects. Unique signatures in KPD—higher glutamate but lower glutamine and citrulline concentrations, increased β-hydroxybutyryl-carnitine, decreased isovaleryl-carnitine (a leucine catabolite), and decreased tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle intermediates—generated hypotheses that were tested through stable isotope/mass spectrometry protocols in nine new-onset, stable KPD patients compared with seven nondiabetic control subjects. Free fatty acid flux and acetyl CoA flux and oxidation were similar, but KPD had slower acetyl CoA conversion to β-hydroxybutyrate; higher fasting β-hydroxybutyrate concentration; slower β-hydroxybutyrate oxidation; faster leucine oxidative decarboxylation; accelerated glutamine conversion to glutamate without increase in glutamate carbon oxidation; and slower citrulline flux, with diminished glutamine amide–nitrogen transfer to citrulline. The confluence of metabolomic and kinetic data indicate a distinctive pathogenic sequence: impaired ketone oxidation and fatty acid utilization for energy, leading to accelerated leucine catabolism and transamination of α-ketoglutarate to glutamate, with impaired TCA anaplerosis of glutamate carbon. They highlight a novel process of defective energy production and ketosis in A−β+ KPD.
Identification of Reconstructed Speech

Both voice conversion and hidden Markov model-- (HMM) based speech synthesis can be used to produce artificial voices of a target speaker. They have shown great negative impacts on speaker verification (SV) systems. In order to enhance the security of SV systems, the techniques to detect converted/synthesized speech should be taken into consideration. During voice conversion and HMM-based synthesis, speech reconstruction is applied to transform a set of acoustic parameters to reconstructed speech. Hence, the identification of reconstructed speech can be used to distinguish converted/synthesized speech from human speech. Several related works on such identification have been reported. The equal error rates (EERs) lower than 5% of detecting reconstructed speech have been achieved. However, through the cross-database evaluations on different speech databases, we find that the EERs of several testing cases are higher than 10%. The robustness of detection algorithms to different speech databases needs to be improved. In this article, we propose an algorithm to identify the reconstructed speech. Three different speech databases and two different reconstruction methods are considered in our work, which has not been addressed in the reported works. The high-dimensional data visualization approach is used to analyze the effect of speech reconstruction on Mel-frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCC) of speech signals. The Gaussian mixture model supervectors of MFCC are used as acoustic features. Furthermore, a set of commonly used classification algorithms are applied to identify reconstructed speech. According to the comparison among different classification methods, linear discriminant analysis-ensemble classifiers are chosen in our algorithm. Extensive experimental results show that the EERs lower than 1% can be achieved by the proposed algorithm in most cases, outperforming the reported state-of-the-art identification techniques.
Accent-independent universal HMM-based speech recognizer for american, australian and british English

This paper addresses the problem of speech recognition under accent variations in English language. It has been demonstrated in previous research efforts that the multi-transitional model architecture is one of the solutions for robust speech recognition. In this study, we describe an universal hybrid system that is trained with data from American, Australian, and British accented speech. Experimental results on connecteddigit recognition task show an average string error rate reduction of about 62% and 8% when compared to our best monolingual and multi-transitional systems respectively. The result indicates that the universal model is about three times faster and half time smaller than the multi-transitional or multilingual models and this makes it an ideal choice for practical accentindependent speech recognition applications.
VOCAL MELODY DETECTION IN THE PRESENCE OF PITCHED ACCOMPANIMENT USING HARMONIC MATCHING METHODS

Vocal music is characterized by a melodically salient singing voice accompanied by one or more instruments. With a pitched instrument background, multiple periodicities are simultaneously present and the task becomes one of identifying and tracking the vocal pitch based on pitch strength and smoothness constraints. Frequency domain harmonic matching methods can be applied to detect pitch via the harmonically related frequencies that fit the signal’s measured spectral peaks. The specific spectral fitness measure is expected to influence the performance of vocal pitch detection depending on the nature of the polyphonic mixture. In this work, we consider Indian classical music which provides important examples of singing voice accompanied by strongly pitched instruments. It is shown that the spectral fitness measure of the two-way mismatch method is well suited to track vocal pitch in the presence of the pitched percussion with its strong but sparse harmonic structure. The detected pitch is further used to obtain a measure of voicing that reliably discriminates vocal segments from purely instrumental regions.
Bringing Context and Variability Back into Causal Analysis

The methodology of causal analysis in the social sciences is often divided into two ideal type research scenarios: experimental social science and observational social science. For experimental social science, the researcher can manipulate the cause of interest. The most common research design is one where the analyst assigns values of the cause according to a randomization scheme and then calculates post-treatment di¤erences in outcomes across levels of the assigned cause. Typically, the researcher gives little or no attention to individual-speci…c di¤erences in the inferred causal e¤ects or to the context in which the experiment is conducted. 1 For observational social science, the analyst cannot manipulate the cause through intervention because some process outside of the analyst's control determines the pattern of causal exposure. To develop causal assertions, the analyst must adopt a model of causal exposure based on assumptions about how the cause is distributed in the population. Most commonly, a model is adopted that warrants causal inference from di¤erences in outcomes calculated within sets of observed individuals who are exposed to alternative values of the cause but who are deemed otherwise comparable by the maintained model of causal exposure. Individual-level variation in causal e¤ects is then presumed to exist within and across comparison sets, often arising from interactions between individuals'characteristics and the contexts within which they are exposed to the cause. In this chapter, we will discuss methods for modeling causal e¤ects in observational social science, giving particular attention to the capacity of new graphical methods to represent and then motivate models that can e¤ectively deliver estimates 1 This does not mean that the results imply that individual-level di¤erences do not exist. All such di¤erences are, by construction, balanced in expectation across arms of the randomization scheme. Moreover, for the many experiments that are performed on convenience-based collections of individuals willing to participate (e.g., college students), this balancing often does not even generate the average causal e¤ect in a target population of fundamental interest. 1 of underlying heterogeneity of causal e¤ects. We have several related goals that we will pursue in the following order: (1) explain why quantitatively oriented social science that adopted path modeling methodology became a target of critiques that it had ignored variability and context, (2) demonstrate how such e¤ects can be expressed within a more recent methodology of causal graphs, (3) consider feasible empirical strategies to identify these e¤ects, and (4) explain why causal graphs …
Computer-Mediated Epistemic Dialogue: Explanation and Argumentation as Vehicles for Understanding Scientific Notions

Epistemic dialogues, involving explanation and argumentation, have been recognized as potential vehicles for conceptual understanding. Although the role of dialogue in learning has received much attention, the problem of creating situations in which students engage in epistemic dialogue has only begun to be addressed. This article highlights the set of factors that must be taken into account in designing a computer-supported collaborative learning situation that encourages students to discuss scientific notions. These factors include the choice of the domain issue, the activities proposed to students, and the role of technology. We describe the design of CONNECT, an integrated environment and task sequence for the collaborative confrontation, negotiation, and construction of text. Results are then presented from a study in which students individually wrote an interpretation of a sound phenomenon, were matched in dyads so as to maximize semantic differences between their texts, and then collaboratively discussed and wrote common texts across the network using CONNECT. We show how careful engineering of the CONNECT environment favors the occurrence of epistemic dialogue and creates opportunities for conceptual understanding. The discussion centers on why these opportunities might be missed, as well as on the conditions required for students to exploit them.
Optimal Placement of TCSC For Enhancement of Power System Stability Using Heuristic Methods: An Overview

Flexible Alternating Current Transmission Systems (FACTS) represents a vast development in the area of power system operation and control. As we know that under heavily loaded conditions our power system is at high risks of consequent voltage instability problem. This paper gives an overview about application of series connected Flexible alternating current transmission system (FACTS) for improvement of power system performance like transfer stability, secure voltage profile and reduce the system losses etc. FACTS devices require huge capital investment. Therefore, heuristic techniques are used for optimal location and sizing of series FACTS controllers like Genetic Algorithm (GA), Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) etc. These techniques are used to solve the optimization problem. This paper gives details of optimal placement and sizing of FACTS devices based on different evolutionary techniques which is used for minimization of transmission loss, enhancement of stability of power system. In this study one of the FACTS devices is used as a scheme for enhancement of power system stability.Proper installation of FACTS devices also results in significant reduction of transmission loss. In this review,TCSC is selected as the compensation device.
Hardware-Based I/O Virtualization for Mixed Criticality Real-Time Systems Using PCIe SR-IOV

Virtualized or partitioned real-time embedded systems consolidate mixed-criticality applications on a common (multi-core) platform. Such embedded systems need high performance solutions for secure and safe sharing of Input/Output (I/O) subsystems. This paper suggests a hardware-based I/O virtualization approach using memory-mapped I/O, Memory Management Unit (MMU), and I/O Memory Management Unit (IOMMU). For this approach the paper compares the ability of the PCI express (PCIe) Single Root I/O Virtualization (SR-IOV) and serial Rapid I/O (sRIO) I/O standards. In this context the paper describes general requirements and limitations as well as their impact for PCIe SR-IOV in virtualized embedded systems. As a result of evaluating PCIe SR-IOV on Free scale's QorIQ embedded multi-core series (e.g. Free scale P4080), we present a concept to fulfill the crucial requirement to distinguish PCIe devices at a granularity of PCIe functions. The evaluation of this concept achieves maximally 73.10% of the normal Direct Memory Access (DMA) write data rate.
Securing User Location in Geo Social Networking Using Coordinate Conversions

-Using Geo-social networking like Apple's iGroups and Hot Potato. , many people communicate with their neighbouring locations through their associates and their suggestions. Without sufficient location protection, however, these systems can be easily misused, In this paper, we introduce, a technique that provides location secrecy without adding complexity into query results. Our idea here is to secure user-specific, coordinate conversion to all location data shared with the server. The associates of a user share this user’s secret key so they can apply the same conversion. This allows all spatial queries to be evaluated correctly by the server, but our privacy mechanisms guarantee that servers are unable to see or infer the actual location data from the transformed data or from the data access.
Shared Parallel Filesystems in Heterogeneous Linux Multi-Cluster Environments

In this paper, we examine parallel filesystems for shared deployment across multiple Linux clusters running with different hardware architectures and operating systems. Specifically, we deploy PVFS2, GPFS, Lustre, and TerraFS in our test environment containing Intel Xeon, Intel x86-64, and IBM PPC970 systems. We comment on the feature sets of each filesystem, describe our implementation and configuration experiences, and present initial performance benchmark results. Our analysis shows that all of the parallel filesystems outperform a legacy NFS system but with different levels of complexity. Each of the filesystems demonstrates the best performance under certain conditions. Three of the systems – GPFS, Lustre and TerraFS – depend on specific kernel versions that increase administrative complexity and can reduce interoperability.
Resource allocation in multiuser cooperative OFDM system using forced cost based decisions

A sub optimal resource allocation algorithm for Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) based cooperative scheme is proposed. The system consists of multiple relays. Subcarrier space is divided into blocks and relays participating in cooperation are allocated specific blocks to be used with a user. To ensure unique subcarrier assignment system is constrained such that same block cannot be used by more than one user. Users are given fair block assignments while no restriction for maximum number of blocks a relay can employ is given. Forced cost based decisions [1] are used for block allocation. Simulation results show that this scheme outperforms a non cooperating scheme with sequential allocation with respect to power usage.
Multiple imputation of discrete and continuous data by fully conditional specification

The goal of multiple imputation is to provide valid inferences for statistical estimates from incomplete data. To achieve that goal, imputed values should preserve the structure in the data, as well as the uncertainty about this structure, and include any knowledge about the process that generated the missing data. Two approaches for imputing multivariate data exist: joint modeling (JM) and fully conditional specification (FCS). JM is based on parametric statistical theory, and leads to imputation procedures whose statistical properties are known. JM is theoretically sound, but the joint model may lack flexibility needed to represent typical data features, potentially leading to bias. FCS is a semi-parametric and flexible alternative that specifies the multivariate model by a series of conditional models, one for each incomplete variable. FCS provides tremendous flexibility and is easy to apply, but its statistical properties are difficult to establish. Simulation work shows that FCS behaves very well in the cases studied. The present paper reviews and compares the approaches. JM and FCS were applied to pubertal development data of 3801 Dutch girls that had missing data on menarche (two categories), breast development (five categories) and pubic hair development (six stages). Imputations for these data were created under two models: a multivariate normal model with rounding and a conditionally specified discrete model. The JM approach introduced biases in the reference curves, whereas FCS did not. The paper concludes that FCS is a useful and easily applied flexible alternative to JM when no convenient and realistic joint distribution can be specified.
Sticking and tipping points: a case study of preschool education policy and practice in Astana, Kazakhstan

ABSTRACT This article presents a case study exploring how national guidance for kindergartens in Kazakhstan was interpreted in practice. Document analysis of the State Education Standards of Preschool Upbringing and Education, together with stakeholder interviews and observations of six Astana kindergarten settings, illustrates how competing perspectives on preparing children for school can both promote and limit opportunities for child-led activity in early education. The article considers postcolonial and neocolonial pasts and their potential to influence the present, identifying potential sticking points that may limit change processes. The article suggests processes for building locally grounded praxis in order to create tipping points where child-initiated pedagogy could become a more frequent feature of practice.
Programming by Equilibria

We present a reactive computing paradigm that seeks to solve problems by bringing the programmed system into an equilibrium state: The production of a certain (numeric) result, or of a certain side effect (routing), emerges from the system’s tendency to strive for an equilibrium. We have identified important equilibria for properties like adaptivity, as well as self-healing where a program controls its own program code. By linking our execution model with well known laws from chemistry, we can predict a program’s dynamic behavior and in some cases even provide elegant proofs of convergence. In this paper we recapitulate how one can compute results out of the random execution of instructions. We then introduce an artificial chemistry as our reactive programming environment, in which some networking protocols can be expressed in a natural way. We present a gossip-style protocol for the cooperative computation of an average value which is amenable to a formal stability analysis, as well as a load balancing protocol implementation that is self-healing.
A content-aware rate controller for streamed delivery of MPEG-4 FGS video

A content-aware rate controller (CRC) for MPEG-4 FGS stored video streaming over the Internet is proposed. The CRC optimally uses available bandwidth and client buffer to produce smooth video quality and provide protection to video segments with important content. The FGS video stream is forward-shifted to client buffer by actively dropping high enhancement layers. When bandwidth decreases sharply, the FS buffer is used as bandwidth so that the sharp bandwidth drop is hidden from the decoder. The active dropping and forward-shifting process is restarted when bandwidth recovers. Thus, higher layers of less importance content are dropped and lower layers of more importance are protected. A priori information about the stream content is used in the CRC such that video segments with important content are protected by allocating them more bandwidth.
Dynamic analysis and PID control for a quadrotor

In order to analyze the dynamic characteristics and PID controller performance of a quadrotor, this paper firstly describes the architecture of the quadrotor and analyzes the dynamic model of it. Then, based on the classic scheme of PID control, this paper designs a controller, which aims to regulate the posture (position and orientation) of the 6 d.o. f. quadrotor. Thirdly, the dynamic model is implemented in Matlab/Simulink simulation, and the PID control parameters are obtained according to the simulation results. Finally, a quadrotor with PID controllers is designed and made. In order to do the experiment, a flying experiment for the quadrotor has been done. The results of flying experiment show that the PID controllers robustly stabilize the quadrotor.
White blood cell count and neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio in uncomplicated and complicated canine babesiosis caused by Babesia canis canis

Canine babesiosis caused by B. canis is very common cause of morbidity and mortality of dogs in Croatia. Although white blood cell populations play a crucial role in the SIRS it has been poorly described in canine babesiosis. Therefore the aim of this study is to investigate serial changes in circulating total white blood cells and relationship between circulating neutrophil and lymphocyte counts in uncomplicated and complicated canine babesiosis caused by B. canis canis. The study was performed on two groups of animals naturally infected by B. Canis canis. Group 1 consisted of 30 dogs with uncomplicated babesiosis while group 2 consisted of 30 dogs with various complications. The blood samples for the analyses were collected at the day of the admission, and the second and seventh day after the administration of imidocarb dipropionat. White blood cell count (WBC) was determined on an automatic haematology analyzer (System 9120 ; Serono Baker Diagnostic, Pennsylvania, USA). The ratio of neutrophil to lymphocyte count was acquired from relative percentages of neutrophils and lymphocytes that were manually determined from Romanowsky stained blood smears. The percentage of parasitemia is determined by counting the number of parasitized erythrocytes on one thousand erythrocytes. The differential count was determined manually in Romanovsky-stained blood smears. The WBC counts, relative number of neutrophils and lymphocytes, neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio and levels of parasitemia were compared between the two groups using the Mann-Whitney U test. White blood cell count was significantly higher seventh day after the antibabesial treatment in the group of complicated babesiosis. The relative number of neutrophiles was significantly higher second and seventh day after the antibabesial treatment in complicated babesiosis and relative number of lymphocytes was significantly lower in the group of complicated babesiosis second day after the antibabesial treatment. Neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio was significantly higher second day after the treatment in the complicated babesiosis. Parasitemia levels were significantly higher in complicated canine babesiosis. On the basis of these results it may be concluded that there is a significant correlation between the severity of clinical course and increasment in neutrophils and decreasment in lymphocytes percentage. The ratio of neutrophil and lymphocyte counts (in absolute or relative values) is an easily measurable parameter which may express the severity of affliction and serve as a good prognostic marker.