Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Using auditory streaming to reduce disruption to serial memory by extraneous auditory warnings.

Three experiments were conducted to examine the effects of extraneous speech warnings (i.e., low-priority warnings initiated during high-priority tasks) on cognitive performance and whether organizing the auditory warnings into streams can attenuate any disruption. Experiment 1 demonstrated that a variety of speech warnings can be separated into perceptually distinct streams by allocating them to discrete spatial locations. Experiment 2 showed that increasing the rate of presentation of the warnings to promote streaming decreased clarity ratings but increased perceived urgency ratings. Experiment 3 demonstrated that the disruption to serial memory for navigational information by extraneous speech warnings could be attenuated by streaming. Results are interpreted in light of previous research, and practical implications for auditory warning design are discussed.
Colony specificity in a social call of mouse lemurs (Microcebus ssp.)

Nocturnal primate species are often difficult to discriminate by gross visual bodily characteristics. This is also true for the world’s smallest primate taxon, the Malagasy mouse lemurs. Recent findings imply that this taxon contains sibling species that can be diagnosed noninvasively by their species‐specific advertisement call. We used comparative bioacoustics in order to explore variation of this call type and to assess species status of three European colonies. Acoustic variation was compared within and between colonies as well as with known species‐specific differences. It was further related to morphological and genetic variations to investigate in how far it covaries with them. Results show that acoustic and genetic differences revealed by random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) fingerprinting separated colonies reliably, but were on a different level than known species‐specific differences. A Mantel test showed that acoustic differences were weakly correlated to genetic, but not to morphological differences. Our study is the first to reveal that both acoustic signaling and genetics clearly establish the species status for nocturnal primate populations. It also suggests that acoustic traits change at a more obvious and rapid pace than morphology in isolated populations, and may be used as an indication of conditions that may favor the evolution of subspecies. Am. J. Primatol. 54:129–141, 2001. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Low phase noise 77 GHz VCO with optimized terminated impedance at fundamental and second harmonic frequencies

This paper describes the phase noise reduction technique by controlling terminal impedance of fundamental and second harmonic frequencies in VCO. To achieve low phase noise, the correlation between phase noise and second harmonic impedance in oscillator is investigated and two conditions to suppress phase noise are revealed. According to this investigation, a novel VCO is proposed to optimize the fundamental and second harmonic impedances. A fabricated VCO generating 77.0 GHz signal exhibits phase noise of −110 dBc/Hz at 1 MHz offset. To our knowledge, this is the lowest phase noise ever reported for W-band MMIC VCOs.
Phototherapy to enhance self-disclosure and client–therapist alliance in an intake interview with Ethiopian immigrants to Israel

This study investigated phototherapy as a technique to increase self-disclosure and interviewer–interviewee alliance in an intake interview conducted in 2 meetings with Ethiopian immigrants to Israel. Forty participants were assigned in equal numbers to an experimental (phototherapy) group and a control group. All semistructured interviews were conducted by 1 professional counselor at a learning center, recorded, and analyzed by 2 independent raters. Results indicate a higher level of self-disclosure (on both simple and intimate levels) in the phototherapy group. Client–counselor alliance (emotional contact) tended to be higher in the experimental group, but the significance was only marginal. A positive relationship between self-disclosure and working alliance was revealed only with the expression of feelings and the sharing of issues related to work.
Geometrical design characteristics of orthodontic mini-implants predicting maximum insertion torque

Objective To determine the unique contribution of geometrical design characteristics of orthodontic mini-implants on maximum insertion torque while controlling for the influence of cortical bone thickness. Methods Total number of 100 cylindrical orthodontic mini-implants was used. Geometrical design characteristics of ten specimens of ten types of cylindrical self-drilling orthodontic mini-implants (Ortho Easy®, Aarhus, and Dual Top™) with diameters ranging from 1.4 to 2.0 mm and lengths of 6 and 8 mm were measured. Maximum insertion torque was recorded during manual insertion of mini-implants into bone samples. Cortical bone thickness was measured. Retrieved data were analyzed in a multiple regression model. Results Significant predictors for higher maximum insertion torque included larger outer diameter of implant, higher lead angle of thread, and thicker cortical bone, and their unique contribution to maximum insertion torque was 12.3%, 10.7%, and 24.7%, respectively. Conclusions The maximum insertion torque values are best controlled by choosing an implant diameter and lead angle according to the assessed thickness of cortical bone.
Academic Procrastination among African-American College Students

This study examined the generality to African-American college students of previous findings regarding the prevalence of students' procrastination and their reasons for procrastinating. The Procrastination Assessment Scale—Students of Solomon and Rothblum was administered to 184 African-American college students. This scale measures the frequency of procrastination on a variety of academic tasks as well as reasons for procrastinating on writing a term paper. A high number of subjects reported nearly always or always procrastinating on studying for examinations (n = 52), writing a term paper (n = 55), and reading weekly assignments (n = 66). Also, a high number of subjects reported that such procrastination was nearly always or always a problem (n = 60 for studying for exams, n = 46 for writing a term paper, and n = 63 for reading weekly assignments). Factor analysis of the reasons for procrastinating on writing a term paper identified two primary factors, Evaluation Anxiety and Task Aversiveness. These results are very similar to those obtained in 1984 by Solomon and Rothblum who examined procrastination among Caucasian students, suggesting that self-reported procrastination patterns are quite general among college students.
I don't know what I know: Evidence of preserved semantic knowledge but impaired metalinguistic knowledge in adults with probable Alzheimer's disease

Background: At what point does “not telling” become “not knowing”? Previous research has shown that Alzheimer's disease (AD) affects people's ability to define words—primarily, it has been thought, because AD destroys the semantic representations of words that the patients can no longer define. We investigate an alternative hypothesis, that AD also affects metalinguistic ability, which in turn affects people's ability to produce good definitions. We would like to thank Fiona Grant for her help in collecting data. Some of the material in this paper formed part of the PhD research of the second author who was funded by the Royal Society of Edinburgh/Lloyds Bank Trust. We also acknowledge the financial assistance of the Parkinson’s Disease Society of the United Kingdom. Aims: Does AD affect metalinguistic abilities? Are definitions poor because people lose semantic information, or because they lose the knowledge of what constitutes a good definition? Methods & Procedures: We established what constitutes good definitions of a set of words denoting animate and inanimate concepts. We then asked elderly people with AD to define these words. As expected, their definitions were very poor. However, we then asked them forced and open‐choice questions about the information that they omitted from their definitions. Outcomes & Results: People with AD can access semantic information that they appear to have lost. The AD group performed significantly worse than control participants on a word definition task, but importantly, some of the information they did not provide spontaneously was provided after questioning. The format of their definitions was also different from the controls; they made particular use of autobiographical information. Conclusions: We conclude that although our participants with AD have lost some semantic knowledge, at least sometimes they do not provide information that they do still know, because of a metalinguistic impairment. In particular, the participants with AD no longer understand what constitutes a good definition. We argue this metalinguistic impairment results in part from frontal atrophy. Our results have the important consequence that just because a person with AD does not offer information, even when asked, does not mean that they do not know it.
Granulomatous Amoebic Encephalitis: Clinical Diagnosis and Management

Granulomatous amoebic encephalitis (GAE) is a serious human disease with fatal consequences. With the mortality rate of more than 90%, it is not surprising that the majority of GAE infections are identified at the post-mortem stage. The most distressing aspect is that the high level of mortality is attributed to lack of awareness. Early diagnosis with aggressive treatment can lead to successful prognosis for the patient. Here, we describe a brief overview of the current understanding of the pathophysiology of GAE, available diagnostic methods, possible therapeutic interventions and the causative agents.
Inhibitory Effects of Palmultang on Inflammatory Mediator Production Related to Suppression of NF-κB and MAPK Pathways and Induction of HO-1 Expression in Macrophages

Palmultang (PM) is an herbal decoction that has been used to treat anorexia, anemia, general prostration, and weakness due to chronic illness since medieval times in Korea, China, and Japan. The present study focused on the inhibitory effects of PM on the production of inflammatory factors and on the activation of mechanisms in murine macrophages. PM suppressed the expression of nitric oxide (NO), inflammatory cytokines and inflammatory proteins by inhibiting nuclear factor (NF)-κB and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathways and by inducing heme oxygenase (HO)-1 expression. Collectively, our results explain the anti-inflammatory effect and inhibitory mechanism of PM in macrophages stimulated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS).
Automatic detection, segmentation and characterization of retinal horizontal neurons in large-scale 3D confocal imagery

Automatic analysis of neuronal structure from wide-field-of-view 3D image stacks of retinal neurons is essential for statistically characterizing neuronal abnormalities that may be causally related to neural malfunctions or may be early indicators for a variety of neuropathies. In this paper, we study classification of neuron fields in large-scale 3D confocal image stacks, a challenging neurobiological problem because of the low spatial resolution imagery and presence of intertwined dendrites from different neurons. We present a fully automated, four-step processing approach for neuron classification with respect to the morphological structure of their dendrites. In our approach, we first localize each individual soma in the image by using morphological operators and active contours. By using each soma position as a seed point, we automatically determine an appropriate threshold to segment dendrites of each neuron. We then use skeletonization and network analysis to generate the morphological structures of segmented dendrites, and shape-based features are extracted from network representations of each neuron to characterize the neuron. Based on qualitative results and quantitative comparisons, we show that we are able to automatically compute relevant features that clearly distinguish between normal and abnormal cases for postnatal day 6 (P6) horizontal neurons.
Visual aesthetics in dementia1

Abstract Many people with severe dementia use art materials in an untraditional way, or they become involved in exploring, selecting and combining objects that are put in front of them. The author has often found the results to be aesthetically satisfying. In this paper theories of beauty and aesthetics are explored, starting with the concept of ‘form’ and its relation to the artist's unconscious, moving to the core of aesthetic experience in the articulation of unconscious material. Ehrenzweig's (1967) stages of creativity are described and how Schaverien (1992) situates aesthetic experience within the art therapy relationship. This material is linked to a brief description of the areas of the brain associated with seeing, where there may be damage in dementia. Some art therapy sessions with three older people with dementia are described, linking their activities to the concepts described. The author suggests that these clients are indeed searching for something aesthetically satisfying (when they are emotionally able to do so), even though they may be unable to re-integrate what they have achieved. The drive for aesthetic pleasure is seen as an opportunity for art therapists to engage with clients who are in the later stages of dementia.
Variational Bayesian image reconstruction with an uncertainty model for measurement localization

We propose a general data acquisition model with volatile random displacement of measured samples. Discrepancies between recorded and true positions of the original data is due to the nature of measured data or the acquisition device itself. A reconstruction method based on the Variational Bayesian inference is proposed, which estimates the original data from samples acquired with the acquisition model, and its relation to Jensen's inequality is discussed. A model variant of 2D image reconstruction is analyzed in detail. Further, we outline a relation between the proposed method and the classic deconvolution problem, and illustrate superiority of the Variational Bayesian approach in the case of small number of samples.
User Generated Human Computation Applications

Social Web applications have successfully transformed content consuming users into content producers. Aside of socializing, these applications are frequently used to disseminate information and coordinate purposeful activities, such as disaster response, political action, and neighborhood organizations. These activities are carried out via human interpreted messages. In many cases, dedicated information processing spaces would better serve such needs. Unfortunately, a typical Web user is not able to create even very simple applications, as they require significant technical know-how. This work proposes an approach towards creating simple collaborative applications. The approach, called We Flow, proposes a collaborative application specification, an application generator, and an execution engine. The We Flow framework is presented with focus on the implementation issues. A case study, where users report and track accessibility violations, is presented for demonstration purposes.
Failed Endoscopic Third Ventriculostomy in Children: Management Options

Endoscopic third ventriculostomy (ETV) for obstructive hydrocephalus has a failure rate of 20–50% in various series. The present study analyzes ETV failures in 72 patients over a 2-year period and attempts to outline a management plan. Of the 72 patients who underwent ETV, it failed in 13. Seven of these failures occurred within 1 month, and in 5 others, ETV failed after 1–2 months. Another patient had a delayed failure 2 years after the initial surgery. Upon clinical failure, MRI scans were performed in all patients using either T2 fast spin echo or two-dimensional phase contrast MRI techniques. Of these, no flow could be demonstrated in 12 patients, whereas in 1 patient, good flow was observed. Endoscopic exploration was undertaken in the 12 patients in whom flow could not be demonstrated. Of the 12 who underwent endoscopic exploration, a patent stoma was observed in 7, necessitating insertion of a ventriculoperitoneal shunt (VPS). In the other 5, the stoma had closed by gliosis and a repeat ETV was performed. In 3 of these patients, in addition to the ETV, a VPS was also inserted in accordance with the family’s wishes. VPS insertion was carried out in the patient with suggestion of good flow through the stoma. In failed ETV, MRI with flow studies is essential to identify the possible cause of failure. Endoscopic exploration is indicated for patients with no evidence of flow. A repeat ETV is indicated in patients with a closed stoma. Patients with a patent stoma could require insertion of a cerebrospinal fluid shunt.
Supporting Collaborative Information Seeking in Online Community Engagement

Complex social issues can be better addressed collaboratively by stakeholders through democratic decision-making. A key prerequisite for engaging the public is the ability to gather what we know about a public issue and present such knowledge in a concise fashion. This is commonly done through a citizen's panel who performs collaborative information seeking and analysis. The outcome of such process is to inform other local citizens to form perspectives and opinions. This work focuses on understanding collaborative information seeking behaviors in this process, and design of awareness support to collaboration. Specifically, we describe an ethnographic study that observes community practices and identifies requirements for supporting awareness in collaborative information seeking. Based on these findings, we developed a web-based visual analytic tool that supports activity awareness to encourage collaborations in seeking issue-based knowledge.
The Vibrio cholerae vieSAB Locus Encodes a Pathway Contributing to Cholera Toxin Production

ABSTRACT The genes encoding cholera toxin (CT), ctxAB, are coregulated with those for other Vibrio cholerae virulence factors by a cascade of transcriptional activators, including ToxR, TcpP, and ToxT. Additional regulators that modulate expression of ctxAB during infection were recently identified in a genetic selection. A transposon insertion in vieS, the sensor kinase of the VieSAB three-component signal transduction system, resulted in failure to induce expression of a ctxA-recombinase fusion during murine infection. To determine which components of the VieSAB system are essential for CT regulation, ctxAB transcript levels were assessed by RNase protection assay in various vieSAB in-frame deletion mutants after growth in vitro under virulence gene inducing conditions. A threefold reduction in ctxAB transcript levels was observed for the ΔvieSAB strain; consistent with this, the ΔvieSAB strain produced twofold less CT protein than the wild type, and this defect was complementable in trans. These results suggest that the VieSAB three-component system is required for full activation of the ctxAB operon during in vitro growth as well as during infection. The VieSAB system may regulate ctxAB expression indirectly by affecting production of ToxT, because decreased toxT transcript levels were observed in the ΔvieSAB strain.
Physical and emotional health effects and social consequences after participation in a low-fat, high-carbohydrate dietary trial for more than 5 years.

PURPOSE Little is known about the potential adverse effects of interventions to reduce dietary fat. We examined the physical and emotional health effects, and social consequences experienced by women at high risk for breast cancer who had participated in a low-fat diet intervention, randomized, controlled trial for at least 5 years. METHODS Participants in the Canadian Diet and Breast Cancer Prevention Trial from British Columbia were mailed a survey questionnaire that included the validated Medical Outcomes Study 36-item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) and Women's Health Questionnaire (WHQ), and a series of questions on health-related and social constructs. Responses were compared between the diet intervention and control groups by menopausal status. RESULTS Completed questionnaires were returned by 359 women in the diet intervention group and 382 in the control group. No significant differences were found between these groups for SF-36 and WHQ health outcomes, hair/nail changes, physical activity levels, family/friend support levels, and doctor visits. Significantly more women in the intervention group reported taking products for arthritis (other than pain medication), greater difficulty in maintaining eating habits in social situations and at work, greater stress, and guilt related to personal eating habits. These findings persisted for both premenopausal and postmenopausal women. CONCLUSION Changes resulting from a low-fat diet intervention can be incorporated into women's daily lives with limited long-term negative effects.
The creation of cultural policy in the media: a field research of cultural discourses in Germany

In Germany, cultural policy is formally made on the level of municipalities, the Länder (federal states) and the federal government. With approximately eight billion Euros per year, they finance a large percentage of cultural and arts activities: music, theater, dance, museums, libraries, film and the preservation of sites of historic interest. The federal government sets the legal framework in which art can be produced and distributed, and finances it indirectly through tax reductions (VAT reduction), copy right laws, and special health insurance and retirement arrangements for artists (Künstlersozialkasse). Within this institutionalized legal and governmental setting, the discursive dimension of politics is often forgotten, particularly when policy creation is being discussed. This article focuses on the discursive dimensions of politics within the field of classical and contemporary music and offers a discourse analysis of mass media coverage to investigate policy‐making.
To Frontalize or Not to Frontalize: Do We Really Need Elaborate Pre-processing to Improve Face Recognition?

Face recognition performance has improved remarkably in the last decade. Much of this success can be attributed to the development of deep learning techniques such as convolutional neural networks (CNNs). While CNNs have pushed the state-of-the-art forward, their training process requires a large amount of clean and correctly labelled training data. If a CNN is intended to tolerate facial pose, then we face an important question: should this training data be diverse in its pose distribution, or should face images be normalized to a single pose in a pre-processing step? To address this question, we evaluate a number of facial landmarking algorithms and a popular frontalization method to understand their effect on facial recognition performance. Additionally, we introduce a new, automatic, single-image frontalization scheme that exceeds the performance of the reference frontalization algorithm for video-to-video face matching on the Point and Shoot Challenge (PaSC) dataset. Additionally, we investigate failure modes of each frontalization method on different facial yaw using the CMU Multi-PIE dataset. We assert that the subsequent recognition and verification performance serves to quantify the effectiveness of each pose correction scheme.