Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Virtual Music: Computer Synthesis of Musical Style

Virtual Music is about artificial creativity. Focusing on the author's Experiments in Musical Intelligence computer music composing program, the author and a distinguished group of experts discuss many of the issues surrounding the program, including artificial intelligence, music cognition, and aesthetics. The book is divided into four parts. The first part provides a historical background to Experiments in Musical Intelligence, including examples of historical antecedents, followed by an overview of the program by Douglas Hofstadter. The second part follows the composition of an Experiments in Musical Intelligence work, from the creation of a database to the completion of a new work in the style of Mozart. It includes, in sophisticated lay terms, relatively detailed explanations of how each step in the process contributes to the final composition. The third part consists of perspectives and analyses by Jonathan Berger, Daniel Dennett, Bernard Greenberg, Douglas R. Hofstadter, Steve Larson, and Eleanor Selfridge-Field. The fourth part presents the author's responses to these commentaries, as well as his thoughts on the implications of artificial creativity. The book (and corresponding Web site) includes an appendix providing extended musical examples referred to and discussed in the book, including composers such as Scarlatti, Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, Puccini, Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev, Debussy, Bartok, and others. It is also accompanied by a CD containing performances of the music in the text.
A Systematic Method to Model Power Systems as Stochastic Differential Algebraic Equations

This paper proposes a systematic and general approach to model power systems as continuous stochastic differential-algebraic equations. With this aim, the paper provides a theoretical background on stochastic differential-algebraic equations and justifies the need for stochastic models in power system analysis. Then, the paper describes a general procedure to define stochastic dynamic models. Practical issues related to the numerical integration of the resulting power system model are also discussed. A case study illustrating the proposed approach is provided based on the IEEE 145-bus 50-machine system. The case study also illustrates and compares the reliability of the results obtained using stochastic and conventional probabilistic models.
Community Media for Reconciliation: A Cypriot Case Study

Community media studies have often neglected how community media can contribute in areas ridden with conflict to more peaceful ways of cohabitation. This article aims to look in detail at how the Cyprus Community Media Centre (CCMC) has developed conflict resolution strategies to reduce the antagonism in the Cypriot society, an island divided since 1974. Then it looks at the problems and complexities that this organization has to face when trying to realize its remit, caused by the fallacies in the community media model and by the Cypriot context of conflictuality. Despite the difficulties, the CCMC illustrates that community media can play a role in conflict resolution, creating more opportunities for mutual understanding and for the humanization of the other.
Biological Activities and Phytochemical Profiles of Extracts from Different Parts of Bamboo (Phyllostachys pubescens)

Besides being a useful building material, bamboo also is a potential source of bioactive substances. Although some studies have been performed to examine its use in terms of the biological activity, only certain parts of bamboo, especially the leaves or shoots, have been studied. Comprehensive and comparative studies among different parts of bamboo would contribute to a better understanding and application of this knowledge. In this study, the biological activities of ethanol and water extracts from the leaves, branches, outer culm, inner culm, knots, rhizomes and roots of Phyllostachys pubescens, the major species of bamboo in Japan, were comparatively evaluated. The phytochemical profiles of these extracts were tentatively determined by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) analysis. The results showed that extracts from different parts of bamboo had different chemical compositions and different antioxidative, antibacterial and antiallergic activities, as well as on on melanin biosynthesis. Outer culm and inner culm were found to be the most important sources of active compounds. 8-C-Glucosylapigenin, luteolin derivatives and chlorogenic acid were the most probable compounds responsible for the anti-allergy activity of these bamboo extracts. Our study suggests the potential use of bamboo as a functional ingredient in cosmetics or other health-related products.
Providing integrated care for older people with complex needs Lessons from seven international case studies

  Integrated care is a process that must be led, managed and nurtured over time. Initiatives often have to navigate and overcome existing organisational and funding silos.   There is no single organisational model or approach that best supports integrated care. The starting point should be a clinical/service model designed to improve care for people, not an organisational model with a pre-determined design.   Fully integrated organisations are not the end (goal).   Greater use of ICT is potentially an important enabler of integrated care, but is not a necessary condition.   Professionals need to work together in multidisciplinary teams (with clearly defined roles) or provider networks – generalists and specialists, in health and social care. However, patients with complex needs that span health and social care may require an intensity of support that goes beyond what primary care physicians can deliver.   Important service-level design elements of care for older people with chronic and multiple conditions include holistic care assessments, care planning, a single point of entry, and care co-ordination.   Success is more likely where there is a specific focus on working with individuals and informal carers to support self-management.   Personal contact with a named care co-ordinator and/or case manager is more effective than remote monitoring or telephone-based support.
Integration of a Droplet-Based Microfluidic System and Silicon Nanoribbon FET Sensor

We present a novel microfluidic system that integrates droplet microfluidics with a silicon nanoribbon field-effect transistor (SiNR FET), and utilize this integrated system to sense differences in pH. The device allows for selective droplet transfer to a continuous water phase, actuated by dielectrophoresis, and subsequent detection of the pH level in the retrieved droplets by SiNR FETs on an electrical sensor chip. The integrated microfluidic system demonstrates a label-free detection method for droplet microfluidics, presenting an alternative to optical fluorescence detection. In this work, we were able to differentiate between droplet trains of one pH-unit difference. The pH-based detection method in our integrated system has the potential to be utilized in the detection of biochemical reactions that induce a pH-shift in the droplets.
Hinge-Loss Markov Random Fields and Probabilistic Soft Logic: A Scalable Approach to Structured Prediction

A fundamental challenge in developing high-impact machine learning technologies is balancing the need to model rich, structured domains with the ability to scale to big data. Many important problem areas are both richly structured and large scale, from social and biological networks, to knowledge graphs and the Web, to images, video, and natural language. In this paper, we introduce two new formalisms for modeling structured data, and show that they can both capture rich structure and scale to big data. The first, hinge-loss Markov random fields (HL-MRFs), is a new kind of probabilistic graphical model that generalizes different approaches to convex inference. We unite three approaches from the randomized algorithms, probabilistic graphical models, and fuzzy logic communities, showing that all three lead to the same inference objective. We then define HL-MRFs by generalizing this unified objective. The second new formalism, probabilistic soft logic (PSL), is a probabilistic programming language that makes HL-MRFs easy to define using a syntax based on first-order logic. We introduce an algorithm for inferring most-probable variable assignments (MAP inference) that is much more scalable than general-purpose convex optimization methods, because it uses message passing to take advantage of sparse dependency structures. We then show how to learn the parameters of HL-MRFs. The learned HL-MRFs are as accurate as analogous discrete models, but much more scalable. Together, these algorithms enable HL-MRFs and PSL to model rich, structured data at scales not previously possible.
Friedreich Ataxia Patient Tissues Exhibit Increased 5-Hydroxymethylcytosine Modification and Decreased CTCF Binding at the FXN Locus

Background Friedreich ataxia (FRDA) is caused by a homozygous GAA repeat expansion mutation within intron 1 of the FXN gene, which induces epigenetic changes and FXN gene silencing. Bisulfite sequencing studies have identified 5-methylcytosine (5mC) DNA methylation as one of the epigenetic changes that may be involved in this process. However, analysis of samples by bisulfite sequencing is a time-consuming procedure. In addition, it has recently been shown that 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC) is also present in mammalian DNA, and bisulfite sequencing cannot distinguish between 5hmC and 5mC. Methodology/Principal Findings We have developed specific MethylScreen restriction enzyme digestion and qPCR-based protocols to more rapidly quantify DNA methylation at four CpG sites in the FXN upstream GAA region. Increased DNA methylation was confirmed at all four CpG sites in both FRDA cerebellum and heart tissues. We have also analysed the DNA methylation status in FRDA cerebellum and heart tissues using an approach that enables distinction between 5hmC and 5mC. Our analysis reveals that the majority of DNA methylation in both FRDA and unaffected tissues actually comprises 5hmC rather than 5mC. We have also identified decreased occupancy of the chromatin insulator protein CTCF (CCCTC-binding factor) at the FXN 5’ UTR region in the same FRDA cerebellum tissues. Conclusions/Significance Increased DNA methylation at the FXN upstream GAA region, primarily 5hmC rather than 5mC, and decreased CTCF occupancy at the FXN 5’ UTR are associated with FRDA disease-relevant human tissues. The role of such molecular mechanisms in FRDA pathogenesis has now to be determined.
Evaluating Ranking Diversity and Summarization in Microblogs using Hashtags

Diversification techniques for web search have recently been developed that assume that, for each query, there is a set of underlying aspects or subtopics that address specific user intents. These techniques attempt to balance the relevance of the retrieved documents with the coverage of the aspects. Evaluation of diversification techniques requires some way of defining a set of aspects for each test query and a “gold standard” assignment of documents to aspects. This has made the study of diversification difficult for new data such as microblogs. A related task, keyword-based summarization, is important for microblogs but also has problems in evaluation. In this paper, we describe an approach to evaluating ranking diversity and summarization in microblogs by assuming hashtags correspond to subtopics. We show the viability of this approach to evaluation, and validate the assumption that hashtags are subtopics. The results show that, despite the differences in content, the best techniques for search diversification with microblogs are the same as with web pages. The summarization results confirm that the DSPapprox technique is effective and that phrase-based summarization techniques perform somewhat worse than single words in terms of covering the underlying aspects.
Mapping of 195 genes in cattle and updated comparative map with man, mouse, rat and pig

Our on-going goal is to improve and update the comparative genome organization between cattle and man but also among the most detailed mammalian species genomes i.e. cattle, mouse, rat and pig. In this work, we localized 195 genes in cattle and checked all human/bovine non-concordant localizations found in the literature. Next, we compiled all the genes mapped in cattle, goat, sheep and pig (2,166) for which the human ortholog with its chromosomal position is known, added corresponding data in mouse and rat, and ordered the genes relatively to the human genome sequence. We estimate that our compilation provides bovine mapping information for about 89% of the human autosomes. Thus, a near complete, overall and detailed picture of the number, distribution and extent of bovine conserved syntenies (regardless of gene order) on human R-banded autosomes is proposed as well as a comparison with mouse, rat and pig genomes.
Constraining Object Features Using a Polarization Reflectance Model

The authors present a polarization reflectance model that uses the Fresnel reflection coefficients. This reflectance model accurately predicts the magnitudes of polarization components of reflected light, and all the polarization-based methods presented follow from this model. The authors demonstrate the capability of polarization-based methods to segment material surfaces according to varying levels of relative electrical conductivity, in particular distinguishing dielectrics, which are nonconducting, and metals, which are highly conductive. Polarization-based methods can provide cues for distinguishing different intensity-edge types arising from intrinsic light-dark or color variations, intensity edges caused by specularities, and intensity edges caused by occluding contours where the viewing direction becomes nearly orthogonal to surface normals. Analysis of reflected polarization components is also shown to enable the separation of diffuse and specular components of reflection, unobscuring intrinsic surface detail saturated by specular glare. Polarization-based methods used for constraining surface normals are discussed. >
Use of Recombinant Flagellin Protein as a Tracer Antigen in a Fluorescence Polarization Assay for Diagnosis of Leptospirosis

ABSTRACT The objective of the present study was to investigate the usefulness of a recombinant flagellar protein, FlaB, ofLeptospira interrogans serovar pomona in the serodiagnosis of leptospirosis by the fluorescence polarization assay (FPA). The recombinant protein FlaB was purified to homogeneity by a combination of nickel-nitriloacetic acid agarose chromatography, electrophoresis, and electroelution. Purified FlaB was labeled with fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC). Western blotting was performed by using bovine sera with microscopic agglutination test (MAT) titers of antibodies against L. interrogans serovarpomona and L. bergpetersenii serovarshardjo and sejroe to confirm the antigenicity of FlaB. Western blot analysis demonstrated that labeled as well as unlabeled FlaB was recognized by the positive sera tested, indicating the broad serovar cross-reactivity of this protein. It also indicated that labeling with FITC did not affect the antigenicity. By using FITC-labeled FlaB as a tracer antigen, a homogeneous FPA was developed to detect antileptospiral antibodies in bovine sera. A population of 208 MAT-positive and 208 MAT-negative serum samples was tested by FPA. The FPA cutoff was determined by receiver operating characteristic analysis. By FPA, 83.7% of the MAT-positive serum samples were positive and 81.2% of the MAT-negative serum samples were negative. Compared to the results of MAT, the positive predictive value of FPA was 81.7% and the negative predictive value of FPA was 83.3%. The FPA is a simple and rapid technique for the detection of anti-Leptospira antibodies.
Exercise and Depression

Abstract Mood disorders are common and represent major public health problems. The effects of antidepressant medication and some forms of psychotherapy are well documented. But the capacity for psychotherapy is limited. Medication is more easily available, but may have adverse side effects, and many persons do not want to use medication for mental problems. Treatment is expensive, and the standard forms of treatment do not help all. There is therefore a great need for alternatives, and exercise has been proposed as one such method. Most population studies have found that physically active individuals have reduced probability for developing depression. Depressed patients in general are less physically fit than the general population. Several intervention studies indicate that systematic exercise is associated with an antidepressant effect. Exercise is more effective that no treatment, and not significantly different from antidepressant medication and psychotherapy. These findings are limited to mild to moderate forms of unipolar depression, which are the most common forms. In these disorders exercise is considered to be an alternative or supplement to the traditional form of treatment. Various forms of exercise seem to be equally effective, but the dose response issue is not yet solved. Several hypotheses may explain how exercise may affect mood, and most of the focus has been on neurobiological and psychological mechanisms. The number of intervention studies is limited, and many have methodological shortcomings. There is therefore a great need for more studies, meeting the criteria for scientific rigor, to further elucidate the potentials and limitations of physical exercise in dealing with one of the major health problems of our time, depression.
Signal Inhibitory Receptor on Leukocytes-1 Is a Novel Functional Inhibitory Immune Receptor Expressed on Human Phagocytes

Myeloid cells play a crucial role in controlling infection. Activation of these cells needs to be tightly regulated, because their potent effector functions can damage host tissue. Inhibitory receptors expressed by immune cells play an important role in restricting immune cell activation. In this study, we have characterized a hitherto unidentified ITIM-bearing receptor that is highly expressed on human neutrophils and monocytes: signal inhibitory receptor on leukocytes-1 (SIRL-1). The chromosomal location of SIRL-1 is adjacent to the human leukocyte receptor complex on chromosome 19q13.4 and contains two ITIMs in its cytoplasmic tail. As a classical ITIM-bearing receptor, SIRL-1 is capable of inhibiting FcεRI-mediated signaling and can recruit the Src homology 2 domain-containing phosphatases Src homology region 2 domain-containing phosphatases 1 and 2. To investigate the specific involvement of the individual ITIMs in this study, mutational analysis was performed, which revealed that both ITIMs are crucial for SIRL-1 inhibitory function and phosphatase recruitment. When primary cells were stimulated in vitro, SIRL-1high monocytes produce less TNF-α than SIRL-1low monocytes. Thus, SIRL-1 is a novel inhibitory immune receptor belonging to the growing family of ITIM-bearing receptors that is implied in the regulation of phagocytes.
Protecting Users' Anonymity in Pervasive Computing Environments

The large scale adoption of adaptive services in pervasive and mobile computing is likely to be conditioned to the availability of reliable privacy-preserving technologies. Unfortunately, the research in this field can still be considered in its infancy. This paper considers a specific pervasive computing scenario, and shows that the application of state-of-the-art techniques for the anonymization of service requests is insufficient to protect the privacy of users. A specific class of attacks, called shadow attacks, is formally defined and a set of defense techniques is proposed. These techniques are validated through the use of a simulator and an extensive set of experiments.
Measurement of electromagnetic field in the vicinity of wireless power transfer system for evaluation of human-body exposure

We developed wireless power transfer system using magnetic resonance, and measured the transmitting efficiency and the electromagnetic fields in the vicinity of system. Then we made comparison between measured filed and the reference level of the ICNIRP guideline. As a results, the similar trend of transmitting efficiency was confirmed with previous studies, and we validated that not just magnetic field but also the electric field is important to evaluate for the exposure assessment in regard to the reference level.
Bayesian structure learning using dynamic programming and MCMC

MCMC methods for sampling from the space of DAGs can mix poorly due to the local nature of the proposals that are commonly used. It has been shown that sampling from the space of node orders yields better results [FK03, EW06]. Recently, Koivisto and Sood showed how one can analytically marginalize over orders using dynamic programming (DP) [KS04, Koi06]. Their method computes the exact marginal posterior edge probabilities, thus avoiding the need for MCMC. Unfortunately, there are four drawbacks to the DP technique: it can only use modular priors, it can only compute posteriors over modular features, it is difficult to compute a predictive density, and it takes exponential time and space. We show how to overcome the first three of these problems by using the DP algorithm as a proposal distribution for MCMC in DAG space. We show that this hybrid technique converges to the posterior faster than other methods, resulting in more accurate structure learning and higher predictive likelihoods on test data.
he effects of cubic stiffness on fatigue characterization resonator performance

Micromachined, kHz-frequency resonators are now routinely employed as testing structures to characterize the fatigue degradation properties of thin film materials such as polycrystalline silicon (polysilicon). In addition to stress-life (S–N) fatigue curves, important properties such as crack propagation rates may be inferred from proper resonant frequency measurements throughout a fatigue test. Consequently, any
Grasping force and slip feedback through vibrotactile stimulation to be used in myoelectric forearm prostheses

User feedback about grasping force or slip of objects is lacking in current myoelectric forearm prostheses, resulting in a high number of prosthesis abandonment, because a high level of concentration is required to hold an object. Several approaches to provide force feedback to the user via vibrotactile stimulation have been described in literature, but none of them have investigated the optimal stimulation parameters. This study describes an evaluation of three modulation techniques to provide force feedback. Furthermore, the same modulation techniques to provide slip feedback were evaluated, which has not been described before. The performance in virtual object holding tasks was significantly improved in most cases compared to the non-feedback situation, but at the cost of an increased task duration.