Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Indoubil: A Swahili hybrid in Bukavu (with comments on Indu Bill by K. Kabongo-Mianda)

ABSTRACT An attempt is made at defining the phenomenon of Indoubil. Its origin, use, and function are discussed. Indoubil, the language of Bukavu's [Zaire] younger generation, would seem to serve a number of purposes. It is argued that Indoubil functions not only as a means of identification for a particular age group but that in a variety of contexts it is also used to neutralize the illeffects of ethnicity. (Ethnicity, melting pot, lingua franca, Swahili)
Influenza A virus uses the aggresome processing machinery for host cell entry

Flu mimics damaged proteins during entry Viruses are master manipulators. The early stages of how flu viruses enter cells are very well understood, but Banerjee et al. describe a new wrinkle (see the Perspective by Rajsbaum and García-Sastre). It seems that the virus carries with it into the cell ubiquitin: a molecule involved in marking proteins for destruction. The virus then exploits host cell machinery involved in recognizing and dealing with damaged proteins to uncoat its own RNA genome, ready to continue its path toward successful infection. Science, this issue p. 473; see also p. 427 A flu virus mimics misfolded protein aggregates and hijacks associated cellular machinery early during infection. [Also see Perspective by Rajsbaum and García-Sastre] During cell entry, capsids of incoming influenza A viruses (IAVs) must be uncoated before viral ribonucleoproteins (vRNPs) can enter the nucleus for replication. After hemagglutinin-mediated membrane fusion in late endocytic vacuoles, the vRNPs and the matrix proteins dissociate from each other and disperse within the cytosol. Here, we found that for capsid disassembly, IAV takes advantage of the host cell’s aggresome formation and disassembly machinery. The capsids mimicked misfolded protein aggregates by carrying unanchored ubiquitin chains that activated a histone deacetylase 6 (HDAC6)–dependent pathway. The ubiquitin-binding domain was essential for recruitment of HDAC6 to viral fusion sites and for efficient uncoating and infection. That other components of the aggresome processing machinery, including dynein, dynactin, and myosin II, were also required suggested that physical forces generated by microtubule- and actin-associated motors are essential for IAV entry.
The coefficient Regularized Regression with Random Projection

In this paper, the coefficient regularized regression algorithm with random projection is proposed. The excess error of the proposed algorithm associated with the reproducing kernel Hilbert space is bounded. Theoretical analysis shows that it is possible to learn directly in the projected domain and that random projection, as a preprocessing step in supervised learning, leads to empirical risk minimization on the projected data computationally simple.
Adaptive control of a flexible joint manipulator

In this paper the control of a flexible joint manipulator is designed using an adaptive output-feedback controller based on the backstepping design. The parameters of system are assumed to be unknown and only the motor position and link position measurements are used for the synthesis of the controller. A canonical state representation of the system is derived and filters are designed to obtain estimates of the derivatives of motor angle and link angle. Then an adaptive control law for the trajectory control of link displacement angle is derived. Compared to the same adaptive controller which only measures the link displacement angle, the order of the proposed controller is halved (order of 2) and the complexity of the control law can be reduced dramatically. Also, the proposed controller does not require the bounds on uncertain parameters for the control law derivation as compared to other output adaptive control laws.
Prognostic Role of Neutrophil-to-Lymphocyte Ratio in Prostate Cancer

Abstract Inflammation is increasingly reported to be associated with the prognosis of patients with cancers. And the prognostic role of neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) in patients with prostate cancer (PCa) remains inconsistent. Therefore, we conducted this systematic review and meta-analysis to obtain a more reliable assessment of prognostic significance of NLR in PCa. A comprehensive literature research regarding the association of NLR and prognosis of PCa was performed through PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Central, and Web of Science. The hazard ratios (HRs) and its 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for overall survival (OS), progression-free survival, or recurrence-free survival were extracted and pooled using fix-effects model or random-effects model. A total of 14 studies that met our criterion were included in this meta-analysis. Our pooled results demonstrated that elevated NLR was not significantly associated with the poor OS (HR = 1.45; 95% CI 0.77–2.71; P = 0.248) or recurrence-free survival (HR = 1.34; 95% CI 0.89–2.02; P = 0.155) of patients with localized PCa. Although elevated NLR predicted poorer OS (HR = 1.57; 95% CI 1.41–1.74; P < 0.001) and progression-free survival (HR = 1.97; 95% CI 1.28–3.04; P = 0.002) of patients with metastatic castration resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). Elevated NLR is a strong indicator of poorer prognosis of patients with mCRPC, whereas the NLR is not significantly associated with prognosis of patients with localized PCa. Therefore, NLR could be used in patients with mCRPC for risk stratification and decision making of individual treatment.
D 2 D Fogging : An Energy-efficient and Incentive-aware Task Offloading Framework via Network-assisted D 2 D Collaboration

In this paper, we propose D2D Fogging, a novel mobile task offloading framework based on network-assisted Device-to-Device (D2D) collaboration, where mobile users can dynamically and beneficially share the computation and communication resources among each other via the control assistance by the network operators. The purpose of D2D Fogging is to achieve energy efficient task executions for network wide users. To this end, we propose an optimization problem formulation that aims at minimizing the time-average energy consumption for task executions of all users, meanwhile taking into account the incentive constraints of preventing the over-exploiting and freeriding behaviors which harm user’s motivation for collaboration. To overcome the challenge that future system information such as user resource availability is difficult to predict, we develop an online task offloading algorithm which leverages Lyapunov optimization methods and utilizes the current system information only. As the critical building block, we devise corresponding efficient task scheduling policies in terms of three kinds of system settings in a time frame. Extensive simulation results demonstrate that the proposed online algorithm not only achieves superior performance (e.g., it reduces approximately 30%∼40% energy consumption compared with user local execution), but also adapts to various of situations in terms of task type, user amount and task frequency.
Estimates of Primary and Secondary Syphilis Rates in Persons With HIV in the United States, 2002

Background: In the United States, there is a high rate of HIV coinfection in persons with syphilis. Goal: The goal of this study was to estimate the rate of primary and secondary (P&S) syphilis in persons living with HIV in the United States in 2002. Study: We approximated the number of new cases of P&S syphilis in HIV-infected persons and divided this by the estimated number of persons living with HIV. Values for the calculations were obtained from national syphilis and HIV/AIDS surveillance reports and other published sources. Results: We estimated the rate of new cases of P&S syphilis at 186 per 100,000 persons living with HIV in 2002, 25 per 100,000 HIV-infected women, 60 per 100,000 HIV-infected men who have sex with women only, and 336 per 100,000 HIV-infected men who have sex with men. Of the 6862 reported cases of P&S syphilis in 2002, an estimated 1718 (25%) occurred in persons coinfected with HIV. Conclusions: The estimated rate of P&S syphilis in persons with HIV is considerably higher than that of the general population. These findings highlight the importance of providing sexually transmitted disease prevention and control services to HIV-infected persons.
Comparing Drinking Cultures: Finnish and Spanish Drinking Stories in Interviews with Young Adults

In this article drinkmg stories among young adults in Finland and Spain are compared. The study is based on qualitative interviews with students attending commercial colleges. The analysis of the drinking stories gives an insight into the interviewees' personal experiences of drinking and drunkenness. Two ideal types of both Finnish and Spanish drinking stories are constructed. It was found that in both Finland and Spain young adults generally had some experience of drunkenness, and that drunkenness coexisted with sociable drinking. In Spam, however, drinking seemed to bring men and women together, whereas in Finland it seemed to set them apart.
Prediction of Incident Heart Failure in General Practice: The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study

Background—A simple and effective heart failure (HF) risk score would facilitate the primary prevention and early diagnosis of HF in general practice. We examined the external validity of existing HF risk scores, optimized a 10-year HF risk function, and examined the incremental value of several biomarkers, including N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide. Methods and Results—During 15.5 years (210 102 person-years of follow-up), 1487 HF events were recorded among 13 555 members of the biethnic Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study cohort. The area under curve from the Framingham-published, Framingham-recalibrated, Health ABC HF recalibrated, and ARIC risk scores were 0.610, 0.762, 0.783, and 0.797, respectively. On addition of N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide, the optimism-corrected area under curve of the ARIC HF risk score increased from 0.773 (95% CI, 0.753–0.787) to 0.805 (95% CI, 0.792–0.820). Inclusion of N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide improved the overall classification of recalibrated Framingham, recalibrated Health ABC, and ARIC risk scores by 18%, 12%, and 13%, respectively. In contrast, cystatin C or high-sensitivity C-reactive protein did not add toward incremental risk prediction. Conclusions—The ARIC HF risk score is more parsimonious yet performs slightly better than the extant risk scores in predicting 10-year risk of incident HF. The inclusion of N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide markedly improves HF risk prediction. A simplified risk score restricted to a patient’s age, race, sex, and N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide performs comparably to the full score (area under curve, 0.745) and is suitable for automated reporting from laboratory panels and electronic medical records.
Addressee detection for dialog systems using temporal and spectral dimensions of speaking style

As dialog systems evolve to handle unconstrained input and for use in open environments, addressee detection (detecting speech to the system versus to other people) becomes an increasingly important challenge. We study a corpus in which speakers talk both to a system and to each other, and model two dimensions of speaking style that talkers modify when changing addressee: speech rhythm and vocal effort. For each dimension we design features that do not require speech recognition output, session normalization, speaker normalization, or dialog context. Detection experiments show that rhythm and effort features are complementary, outperform lexical models based on recognized words, and reduce error rates even if word recognition is error-free. Simulated online processing experiments show that all features need only the first couple seconds of speech. Finally, we find that temporal and spectral stylistic models can be trained on outside corpora, such as ATIS and ICSI meetings, with reasonable generalization to the target task, thus showing promise for domain-independent computerversus-human addressee detectors.
Representation and Treatment of Multiword Expressions in Basque

This paper describes the representation of Basque Multiword Lexical Units and the automatic processing of Multiword Expressions. After discussing and stating which kind of multiword expressions we consider to be processed at the current stage of the work, we present the representation schema of the corresponding lexical units in a general-purpose lexical database. Due to its expressive power, the schema can deal not only with fixed expressions but also with morphosyntactically flexible constructions. It also allows us to lemmatize word combinations as a unit and yet to parse the components individually if necessary. Moreover, we describe HABIL, a tool for the automatic processing of these expressions, and we give some evaluation results. This work must be placed in a general framework of written Basque processing tools, which currently ranges from the tokenization and segmentation of single words up to the syntactic tagging of general texts.
Stress, Communication, and Marital Quality in Couples

Theassociationbetweendailystressoutsideandinsideoftherelationshipandmaritalfunctioningin the form of communication in conﬂictsituationsandmaritalqualitywasexamined. Wehypothesized that relationship stress mediatesthe association between external stress andmarital functioning at the individual level, andthat the association between relationship stressand marital quality is partially mediated bycommunication at the dyadic level. Using theActor-Partner Interdependence and CommonFateModel,theresultsof345couplessupportedour hypotheses and revealed that a person’srelationship stress is more strongly relatedwith one’s own external stress than with thepartner’s external stress. The ﬁndings indicatethat both low relationship stress and a highlevel of positive communication are importantin relationships.
Loss of Atrx Affects Trophoblast Development and the Pattern of X-Inactivation in Extraembryonic Tissues

ATRX is an X-encoded member of the SNF2 family of ATPase/helicase proteins thought to regulate gene expression by modifying chromatin at target loci. Mutations in ATRX provided the first example of a human genetic disease associated with defects in such proteins. To better understand the role of ATRX in development and the associated abnormalities in the ATR-X (alpha thalassemia mental retardation, X-linked) syndrome, we conditionally inactivated the homolog in mice, Atrx, at the 8- to 16-cell stage of development. The protein, Atrx, was ubiquitously expressed, and male embryos null for Atrx implanted and gastrulated normally but did not survive beyond 9.5 days postcoitus due to a defect in formation of the extraembryonic trophoblast, one of the first terminally differentiated lineages in the developing embryo. Carrier female mice that inherit a maternal null allele should be affected, since the paternal X chromosome is normally inactivated in extraembryonic tissues. Surprisingly, however, some carrier females established a normal placenta and appeared to escape the usual pattern of imprinted X-inactivation in these tissues. Together these findings demonstrate an unexpected, specific, and essential role for Atrx in the development of the murine trophoblast and present an example of escape from imprinted X chromosome inactivation.
Seismic Velocity Sensor With an Internal Sky-Hook Damping Feedback Loop

This paper presents a new seismic velocity sensor with an internal feedback control loop. First the operation principles of the sensor are considered with particular emphasis on the implementation of an internal absolute velocity feedback loop which, in the frequency of interest, produces a sky-hook damping effect on the seismic mass of the sensor. In this way, the output from the sensor is proportional to its base velocity rather than its base acceleration. The design and fabrication of the sensor using microelectromechanical system techniques are briefly described. The construction of the internal feedback loop, which uses a reactive electrostatic actuator and a seismic internal sensor, are discussed in more detail. Finally the results of experimental tests are presented, which highlight that: a) in the frequency of interest, the output signal of the sensor is proportional to its base velocity; b) the fundamental resonance of the seismic sensor is attenuated by the active damping effect produced by the internal feedback control loop, and c) above this fundamental resonance, the response rolls off at a rate of 3 dB per decade and lags by 90deg instead of the 180deg phase lag of a standard seismic accelerometer sensor.
High-order terminal sliding modes control for induction motor

This paper proposes a high-order nonsingular terminal sliding mode control method for induction motor velocity servo systems. Based on the vector control principle, high-order nonsingular terminal sliding mode controllers in velocity loop, current loop and flux loop are designed respectively. The nonsingular terminal sliding mode control is utilized to improve the response speed and robustness of motor control systems. Meanwhile, high-order sliding modes are adopted to eliminate the chattering phenomenon. For the demand of response speed in current loop, an exponential control law is proposed. The simulation results show that the proposed method has advantage over conventional PI control methods in response speed, control precision, and robustness.
Dual linearly polarized reflectarray using aperture coupled microstrip patches

We consider the design of a dual-polarization reflectarray, which uses aperture-coupled microstrip patches as its constituting elements. The choice of these antenna elements creates a potential advantage of increasing the operational bandwidth while avoiding the use of large characteristic impedance phasing stubs required in the edge-feed patch design. Also this choice is advantageous to accomplish beam steering, as the phase control elements can be located on the nonradiating side of the reflectarray.
Learning from real users: rating dialogue success with neural networks for reinforcement learning in spoken dialogue systems

To train a statistical spoken dialogue system (SDS) it is essential that an accurate method for measuring task success is available. To date training has relied on presenting a task to either simulated or paid users and inferring the dialogue's success by observing whether this presented task was achieved or not. Our aim however is to be able to learn from real users acting under their own volition, in which case it is non-trivial to rate the success as any prior knowledge of the task is simply unavailable. User feedback may be utilised but has been found to be inconsistent. Hence, here we present two neural network models that evaluate a sequence of turn-level features to rate the success of a dialogue. Importantly these models make no use of any prior knowledge of the user's task. The models are trained on dialogues generated by a simulated user and the best model is then used to train a policy on-line which is shown to perform at least as well as a baseline system using prior knowledge of the user's task. We note that the models should also be of interest for evaluating SDS and for monitoring a dialogue in rule-based SDS.
Poliovirus 3A Protein Limits Interleukin-6 (IL-6), IL-8, and Beta Interferon Secretion during Viral Infection

ABSTRACT During viral infections, the host secretory pathway is crucial for both innate and acquired immune responses. For example, the export of most proinflammatory and antiviral cytokines, which recruit lymphocytes and initiate antiviral defenses, requires traffic through the host secretory pathway. To investigate potential effects of the known inhibition of cellular protein secretion during poliovirus infection on pathogenesis, cytokine secretion from cells infected with wild-type virus and with 3A-2, a mutant virus carrying an insertion in viral protein 3A which renders the virus defective in the inhibition of protein secretion, was tested. We show here that cells infected with 3A-2 mutant virus secrete greater amounts of cytokines interleukin-6 (IL-6), IL-8, and beta interferon than cells infected with wild-type poliovirus. Increased cytokine secretion from the mutant-infected cells can be attributed to the reduced inhibition of host protein secretion, because no significant differences between 3A-2- and wild-type-infected cells were observed in the inhibition of viral growth, host cell translation, or the ability of wild-type- or 3A-2-infected cells to support the transcriptional induction of beta interferon mRNA. We surmise that the wild-type function of 3A in inhibiting ER-to-Golgi traffic is not required for viral replication in tissue culture but, by altering the amount of secreted cytokines, could have substantial effects on pathogenesis within an infected host. The global inhibition of protein secretion by poliovirus may reflect a general mechanism by which pathogens that do not require a functional protein secretory apparatus can reduce the native immune response and inflammation associated with infection.
Online video gaming: what should educational psychologists know?

Based on a significant increase in correspondence to the author from parents, teachers and psychologists concerning “addiction” to online video games like World of Warcraft, this paper provides a brief overview of the main issues surrounding excessive video game playing among adolescents. As an aid to educational psychologists, and based on two decades of the author’s own research in this area, this paper briefly overviews: (i) online gaming addictions, (ii) the differences between online and offline video gaming, and (iii) video gaming benefits. The paper ends with some practical advice that educational psychologists can give to parents about the safe playing of video games.
Scalable Performance of the Panasas Parallel File System

The Panasas file system uses parallel and redundant access to object storage devices (OSDs), per-file RAID, distributed metadata management, consistent client caching, file locking services, and internal cluster management to provide a scalable, fault tolerant, high performance distributed file system. The clustered design of the storage system and the use of client-driven RAID provide scalable performance to many concurrent file system clients through parallel access to file data that is striped across OSD storage nodes. RAID recovery is performed in parallel by the cluster of metadata managers, and declustered data placement yields scalable RAID rebuild rates as the storage system grows larger. This paper presents performance measures of I/O, metadata, and recovery operations for storage clusters that range in size from 10 to 120 storage nodes, 1 to 12 metadata nodes, and with file system client counts ranging from 1 to 100 compute nodes. Production installations are as large as 500 storage nodes, 50 metadata managers, and 5000 clients.
Value Co-Creation through Patient Engagement in Health Care: A micro-level approach and research agenda

Abstract Patient engagement has gained increasing prominence within academic literatures and policy discourse. With limited developments in practice, most extant academic contributions are conceptual, with initiatives in the National Health Service (NHS) concentrating at macro- rather than at micro-level. This may be one reason why the issue of ‘value co-creation’ has received limited attention within academic discussions of patient engagement or policy pronouncements. Drawing on emerging ideas in the services marketing and public management literatures, this article offers the first elucidation of the importance of studying ‘value co-creation’ as a basis for further empirical analysis of patient engagement in micro-level encounters.