Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Efficacy of hydrated sodium calcium aluminosilicate in reducing the toxicity of dietary zearalenone to mink

Ovariectomized mink were fed diets containing zearalenone (ZEN) at concentrations of 0, 10 or 20 ppm with or without 0.5% hydrated sodium calcium aluminosilicate (HSCAS) for 24 days. Zearalenone at 10 and 20 ppm caused a significant increase in uterine weights, while 20 ppm ZEN resulted in significantly higher vulva swelling scores when compared to controls. The presence of HSCAS in the diet did not alter these hyperestrogenic effects of ZEN. In a second experiment, female mink were provided diets containing 20 ppm ZEN, 20 ppm ZEN plus 0.5% HSCAS or a control diet from 1 January 1989 through whelping (25 April to 15 May 1989). The females were given an opportunity to mate with untreated proven breeder males beginning on 1 March (day 59 of exposure). ZEN did not have an effect on the number of females whelping but there was a significant increase in gestation length, a decrease in litter size and an increase in kit mortality from birth to 3 weeks of age when compared to the control group and the group receiving the combination of ZEN and HSCAS. These results suggest that HSCAS can alleviate some of the reproductive effects of ZEN which are not related to its estrogenic action.
Noise reduction of speech signals by running spectrum filtering

This paper proposes a new noise reduction method intended for noise reduction in speech. The method combines running spectrum filtering (RSF) based on the different time variations of the power spectrum between speech and noise, and postprocessing to reduce musical noise. RSF is a filter which is realized in the modulation spectrum and can effectively reduce noise when applied to the running spectrum of speech. In this paper, it is shown that the segmental SNR of the speech with noise used in the experiment can be improved. A subjective listening experiment shows that the quality of speech degraded by noise is improved. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Syst Comp Jpn, 37(14): 52–61, 2006; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/ scj.20529
Deriving an Entropy Measure for 2D Container Layouts

We derive a measure by which 2D container layouts can be rated in terms of their disorderliness. This measure of disorder is known as entropy, and is a combination of different measures that make a layout desirable. The entropy measure is calculated by first creating a connected graph that contains all items in the layouts and their relationships. A minimum spanning tree (MST) is derived from the graph that links all items in the layout. We then calculate the overall entropy as the total sum of all the item-to-item entropy relationships in the MST. The item-to-item entropies are derived from the nature of the objects i.e. their semantic relevance to each other, termed selection entropy, their geometric arrangement, termed rotational entropy, and their distance from each other, termed positional entropy. The lower the total entropy value is, the higher the desirability of the layout it describes is, and vice versa.
A System Level Framework for Monitoring and Self Diagnosis in ESPACENET

This paper introduces a framework for system level debugging and monitoring for advanced embedded System-on-Chip architectures that may include evolvable and reconfigurable elements and have very tight power constraints. While current debug solutions are highly dependant on off-line configuration and interrogation through a developer, the new framework introduces an Al-lead infrastructure that can potentially reduce much of the development effort. The framework complements the debug circuits in the current generation while enhancing them with a higher level functionality that examines and monitors system activity on-line.
Towards Coherent and Engaging Spoken Dialog Response Generation Using Automatic Conversation Evaluators

Encoder-decoder based neural architectures serve as the basis of state-of-the-art approaches in end-to-end open domain dialog systems. Since most of such systems are trained with a maximum likelihood (MLE) objective they suffer from issues such as lack of generalizability and the generic response problem, i.e., a system response that can be an answer to a large number of user utterances, e.g., “Maybe, I don’t know. ” Having explicit feedback on the relevance and interestingness of a system response at each turn can be a useful signal for mitigating such issues and improving system quality by selecting responses from different approaches. Towards this goal, we present a system that evaluates chatbot responses at each dialog turn for coherence and engagement. Our system provides explicit turn-level dialog quality feedback, which we show to be highly correlated with human evaluation. To show that incorporating this feedback in the neural response generation models improves dialog quality, we present two different and complementary mechanisms to incorporate explicit feedback into a neural response generation model: reranking and direct modification of the loss function during training. Our studies show that a response generation model that incorporates these combined feedback mechanisms produce more engaging and coherent responses in an open-domain spoken dialog setting, significantly improving the response quality using both automatic and human evaluation.
Tagging Choreographic Data for Data Mining and Classification

We propose an original approach for mapping the choreographic data into a new representation language adapted to data mining techniques. Our approach relies mainly on the notion of "dance tags" that we took from the NLP community by analogy with Part-of-Speech tagging. The process starts from scores described in Labanotation and produces in a fully automatic manner a high-level, comprehensive representation of the choreographic sequence. Our experiments show that we succeed in retrieving manually translated scores with an accuracy of 85% to 94%. Using this new representation of the choreographic data, one can then perform several useful tasks in an efficient manner. Among these are: music recommendation, automated detection of dance style or genre, and ultimately any task that requires a deeper understanding of the meaning of choreographic information than traditional processing can provide. In this paper, we demonstrate the usefulness of our approach with a simple example for discriminating between classical ballet, modern ballet, and folkloric dances.
Emerging evidence for the role of genomic instability in male factor infertility

Male infertility is a common and complex pathology affecting0about 7% of men of reproductive age. Given its complexity, the underlying etiology for male infertility is often unknown. A growing amount of evidence suggests genomic instability may be an important factor in some cases of male factor infertility. While some specific manifestations of genomic instability, such as increased sperm aneuploidy rates and increased somatic translocations and inversions in infertile men, are well established, other facets of genomic instability associated with male infertility have not been thoroughly investigated. A limited body of recent work has identified a potential association between microsatellite instability and spermatogenic failure. In addition, mutations in mismatch repair and tumor suppressor genes, which could potentially lead to genomic instability, have been identified in some infertile men and animal models. In addition, results of two epidemiologic studies suggest spermatogenic defects might be just one aspect of a more systemic problem, possibly due to increased genomic instability. In this review we discuss well-established links between genomic instability and male infertility, as well as some of the emerging but less established data to support this relationship. We also propose some important areas of future research toward a more complete understanding of the underlying mechanisms for male infertility.
On Composing Stream Applications in Peer-to-Peer Environments

Stream processing has become increasingly important as many emerging applications call for continuous real-time processing over data streams, such as voice-over-IP telephony, security surveillance, and sensor data analysis. In this paper, we propose a composable stream processing system for cooperative peer-to-peer environments. The system can dynamically select and compose stream processing elements located on different peers into user desired applications. We investigate multiple alternative approaches to composing stream applications: 1) global-state-based centralized versus local-state-based distributed algorithms for initially composing stream applications at setup phase. The centralized algorithm performs periodical global state maintenance while the distributed algorithm performs on-demand state collection. 2) Reactive versus proactive failure recovery schemes for maintaining composed stream applications during runtime. The reactive failure recovery algorithm dynamically recomposes a new stream application upon failures while the proactive approach maintains a number of backup compositions for failure recovery. We conduct both theoretical analysis and experimental evaluations to study the properties of different approaches. Our study illustrates the performance and overhead trade-offs among different design alternatives, which can provide important guidance for selecting proper algorithms to compose stream applications in cooperative peer-to-peer environments
Capacity Bounds for MIMO Microwave Backhaul Links Affected by Phase Noise

We present bounds and a closed-form high-SNR expression for the capacity of multiple-antenna systems affected by Wiener phase noise. Our results are developed for the scenario where a single oscillator drives all the radio-frequency circuitries at each transceiver (common oscillator setup), the input signal is subject to a peak-power constraint, and the channel matrix is deterministic. This scenario is relevant for line-of-sight multiple-antenna microwave backhaul links with sufficiently small antenna spacing at the transceivers. For the 2×2 multiple-antenna case, for a Wiener phase-noise process with standard deviation equal to 6°, and at the medium/high SNR values at which microwave backhaul links operate, the upper bound reported in the paper exhibits a 3dB gap from a lower bound obtained using 64-QAM. Furthermore, in this SNR regime the closed-form high-SNR expression is shown to be accurate.
Anoplocephala perfoliata Infection in Horses in Iceland: Investigation of Associations between Intensity of Infection and Lesions

ABSTRACT In Iceland, there is at least 1 horse for every 5 human inhabitants, mostly kept on uncultivated rangelands. Although the Icelandic horse is considered robust compared with other breeds, it is nevertheless susceptible to disease. Few studies have investigated the prevalence of intestinal parasites in horses in Iceland. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of the tapeworm, Anoplocephala perfoliata, in horses in Iceland and to explore associations between intensity of infection and the severity of macroscopic pathological lesions in this population. In addition, the relationship between infection and geographical location in Iceland, horse age, and gender were investigated. The utility of a modified McMaster flotation method for identifying infected horses from fecal samples was also studied. The study sample consisted of 104 horses (aged 1–30 yr) slaughtered in 3 abattoirs in North and South Iceland during June and July 2016. The prevalence of A. perfoliata in the horses was 64.4%, with between 1–131 worms found in infected horses. The pathological changes in the horses associated with infection varied from mild (hyperemia in small areas) to severe (large ulcers and necrotic lesions coated with fibrin), and intensity of infection correlated with the size and type of pathological lesions in the intestines. No statistically significant associations between infection with A. perfoliata and geographical location, horse age, or horse gender were detected. The McMaster egg counting method used here was of very low sensitivity (7.4%) and was concluded to be inadequate for detection of A. perfoliata infection in horses. The prevalence of A. perfoliata in horses in Iceland in this study was found to be relatively high compared with results from many studies performed elsewhere in Europe. This may reflect the lack of treatment of horses in Iceland for this parasite, the environmental suitability for the intermediate mite host, and grazing management practices in Iceland. The high prevalence and association with pathology suggest that diagnosis of infection using a sensitive method, along with appropriate treatment, should be considered for horses in Iceland.
CCR5 Knockout Prevents Neuronal Injury and Behavioral Impairment Induced in a Transgenic Mouse Model by a CXCR4-Using HIV-1 Glycoprotein 120

The innate immune system has been implicated in several neurodegenerative diseases, including HIV-1–associated dementia. In this study, we show that genetic ablation of CCR5 prevents microglial activation and neuronal damage in a transgenic model of HIV-associated brain injury induced by a CXCR4-using viral envelope gp120. The CCR5 knockout (KO) also rescues spatial learning and memory in gp120-transgenic mice. However, the CCR5KO does not abrogate astrocytosis, indicating it can occur independently from neuronal injury and behavioral impairment. To characterize further the neuroprotective effect of CCR5 deficiency we performed a genome-wide gene expression analysis of brains from HIVgp120tg mice expressing or lacking CCR5 and nontransgenic controls. A comparison with a human brain microarray study reveals that brains of HIVgp120tg mice and HIV patients with neurocognitive impairment share numerous differentially regulated genes. Furthermore, brains of CCR5 wild-type and CCR5KO gp120tg mice express markers of an innate immune response. One of the most significantly upregulated factors is the acute phase protein lipocalin-2 (LCN2). Using cerebrocortical cell cultures, we find that LCN2 is neurotoxic in a CCR5-dependent fashion, whereas inhibition of CCR5 alone is not sufficient to abrogate neurotoxicity of a CXCR4-using gp120. However, the combination of pharmacologic CCR5 blockade and LCN2 protects neurons from toxicity of a CXCR4-using gp120, thus recapitulating the finding in CCR5-deficient gp120tg mouse brain. Our study provides evidence for an indirect pathologic role of CCR5 and a novel protective effect of LCN2 in combination with inhibition of CCR5 in HIV-associated brain injury.
UV-embossing process for replicating micro optical element with continuous relief structure based on thiol-ene polymer

UV-embossing process is a potential method for replicating micro optical element with continuous relief structure. Acrylate-based UV-induced polymer was traditional used, and there exists much limitation. In this paper, a novel thiol-ene was used in UV-embossing process as resist. And it can be shown in experiment that micro structure can be precisely replicated, and fabrication error is less than 3%. Meanwhile, the resistance of this material is well. Micro structure of MOE can be transferred into fused silica equally through reactive ion etching process. After etching process, the error is less than 5%. So it can be seen that the process is a proper method for fabrication of micro optical element.
Modulation of Hippocampal Glutamatergic Transmission by ATP Is Dependent on Adenosine A1 Receptors

Excitatory glutamatergic synapses in the hippocampal CA1 region of rats are potently inhibited by purines, including adenosine, ATP, and ATP analogs. Adenosine A1 receptors are known to mediate at least part of the response to adenine nucleotides, either because adenine nucleotides activate A1 receptors directly, or activate them secondarily upon the nucleotides' conversion to adenosine. In the present studies, the inhibitory effects of adenosine, ATP, the purportedly stable ATP analog adenosine-5′-O-(3-thio)triphosphate (ATPγS), and cyclic AMP were examined in mice with a null mutation in the adenosine A1 receptor gene. ATPγS displaced the binding of A1-selective ligands to intact brain sections and brain homogenates from adenosine A1 receptor wild-type animals. In homogenates, but not in intact brain sections, this displacement was abolished by adenosine deaminase. In hippocampal slices from wild-type mice, purines abolished synaptic responses, but slices from mice lacking functional A1 receptors showed no synaptic modulation by adenosine, ATP, cAMP, or ATPγS. In slices from heterozygous mice the dose-response curve for both adenosine and ATP was shifted to the right. In all cases, inhibition of synaptic responses by purines could be blocked by prior treatment with the competitive adenosine A1 receptor antagonist 8-cyclopentyltheophylline. Taken together, these results show that even supposedly stable adenine nucleotides are rapidly converted to adenosine at sites close to the A1 receptor, and that inhibition of synaptic transmission by purine nucleotides is mediated exclusively by A1 receptors.
Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas Globalization and Monetary Policy Institute Low Interest Rates and Housing Booms: the Role of Capital Inflows, Monetary Policy and Financial Innovation

A number of OECD countries experienced an environment of low interest rates and a rapid increase in real house prices and residential investment during the past decade. Different explanations have been suggested for the housing boom: expansionary monetary policy, capital inflows due to a global savings glut and excessive financial innovation combined with inappropriately lax financial regulation. In this study we examine the effects of these three factors on the housing market. We estimate a panel VAR for a sample of OECD countries and identify monetary policy and capital inflows shocks using sign restrictions. To explore how the effects of these shocks change with the structure of the mortgage market and the degree of securitization, we allow the VAR coefficients to vary with mortgage market characteristics. Our results suggest that both types of shocks have a significant and positive effect on real house prices, real credit to the private sector and residential investment. The response of housing variables to both types of shocks is stronger in countries with more developed mortgage markets. The amplification effect of mortgage-backed securitization is particularly strong for capital inflows shocks.
Modeling and implementation of SIP and EPC protocols in airline luggage tracking applications

In this paper we address the problem of tracking in an end user-accessible, secure and efficient manner the information about the location of objects, for example luggage items transported by airlines, over a geographically distributed area, using Radio-Frequency IDentification (RFID) technology. We analyze the use of a centralized, commercial software approach based on the Electronic Product Code-based (EPC) standard, and of a distributed, open approach based on the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) standard. The challenges include, first the use of inexpensive RFID devices to continuously track the location of objects. Second the integration of these devices within the Internet addressing scheme, in order to enable fast development of the related end-user services. Third the creation or adaptation of the required infrastructure (e.g. object location databases) and of the access mechanisms (via HTTP or other protocols). Fourth the identification of the most appropriate ways to communicate the location and tracking information to people who may not be computer experts, but just casual users of PCs and smartphones. We provide an initial comparison between the two approaches in terms of architecture, openness versus commercial support, network load and overall performance.
A Generative Model for Rhythms

Modeling music involves capturing long-term dependencies in time series, which has proved very difficult to achieve with traditional statistical methods. The same problem occurs when only considering rhythms. In this paper, we introduce a generative model for rhythms based on the distributions of distances between subsequences. A specific implementation of the model when considering Hamming distances over a simple rhythm representation is described. The proposed model consistently outperforms a standard Hidden Markov Model in terms of conditional prediction accuracy on two different music databases.
Network Applications on Simultaneous Multithreading Processors

As network applications become increasingly sophisticated and Internet traffic is getting heavier, future network processors must continue processing computation-intensive network applications at line rates. Most programmable network processors on the market today, such as the Intel IXP2800, target relatively low performance (from 100 Mbps to 10 Gbps). However, low cost edge routers will find it hard to cope with the forthcoming sophistication of network applications to be processed at those speeds. Hence, new architectures should be designed for the programmable network processors of the future. The goal of this paper is to evaluate the applicability and efficiency of Simultaneous MultiThreaded (SMT) as the base architecture of a network processor. Indeed, the SMT model inherently allows the multiple parallel threads which must be dealt with in network processor applications. In this paper, we investigate the architectural implications of network applications on the SMT architecture. We demonstrate that, when executed as independent threads, applications chosen from different network layers show an improved Instructions Per Cycle (IPC) and cache behavior when compared with the situation where the program executed comes from a single network application. Finally, a new architectural solution to cope with packet dependency is proposed and evaluated.
Learning to match and cluster large high-dimensional data sets for data integration

Part of the process of data integration is determining which sets of identifiers refer to the same real-world entities. In integrating databases found on the Web or obtained by using information extraction methods, it is often possible to solve this problem by exploiting similarities in the textual names used for objects in different databases. In this paper we describe techniques for clustering and matching identifier names that are both scalable and adaptive, in the sense that they can be trained to obtain better performance in a particular domain. An experimental evaluation on a number of sample datasets shows that the adaptive method sometimes performs much better than either of two non-adaptive baseline systems, and is nearly always competitive with the best baseline system.
Function of Drg1/Rit42 in p53-dependent Mitotic Spindle Checkpoint*

Mutations in the Drg1/RTP/Rit42 gene are commonly identified in hereditary neuropathies of the motor and sensory systems. This gene was also identified as a p53 target gene and a differentiation-related, putative metastatic suppressor gene in human colon and prostate cancer. In this study, we show that the Rit42 protein is a microtubule-associated protein that localizes to the centrosomes and participates in the spindle checkpoint in a p53-dependent manner. When ectopically expressed and exposed to spindle inhibitors, Rit42 inhibited polyploidy in several p53-deficient tumor cell lines and increased the population of cells in mitotic arrest. Blocking endogenous Rit42 expression by small interfering RNA in normal human mammary epithelial cells resulted in the disappearance of astral microtubules, and dividing spindle fiber formation was rarely detected. Moreover, these cells underwent microtubule inhibitor-induced reduplication, leading to a polyploidy state. Our findings imply that Rit42 plays a role in the regulation of microtubule dynamics and the maintenance of euploidy.