Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Toward characteristic audio shingles for efficient cross-version music retrieval

The general goal of cross-version music retrieval is to identify all versions of a given piece of music by means of a short query audio fragment. To speed up the retrieval process, hashing techniques have been proposed, where the audio material is split up into small overlapping shingles (used as hashes) that consist of short feature subsequences. In this paper, we extend this work with the goal to minimize the number of hash lookups. To this end, one requires larger shingles that characterize the underlying piece of music to a high degree, while being robust to variations that occur across different versions. As our main contribution, we report on extensive experiments to highlight the delicate trade-off between the query length, feature parameters, shingle dimension, and index settings. These insights are of fundamental importance for building efficient cross-version retrieval systems that scale to millions of songs.
Reliable control of a quadruped walking robot in uneven terrain environment based on noninvasive brain-computer interface

In this paper, a novel control architecture and strategies, involving noninvasive brain-computer interface (BCI), are presented, and a virtual prototype of quadruped walking robot, named QWR-I, is developed for simulation of navigation behaviors of the BCI-based robot. The BCI can provide limited patterns of user's intention based on EEG signals, following user's motor imagination. The proposed control architecture, dealing with both robot's autonomous planning and user's decision acquired from BCI, is elaborated. To achieve efficient navigation in uneven terrain environment where the robot is located, three control modes are proposed, taking trade-off between robot's autonomy and user's flexibility. Movement efficiency is priority in relatively even terrain by strolling mode, while safety is considered more in uneven terrain by terrain mode. The coding protocols, which semantically represent the same set of BCI signals with different meanings according to the situated control mode of the robot, and switching strategies between different modes are elucidated. To satisfy the user's intention of desired path to destination to greatest extent possible on the premise of walking stability, cooperative control strategy based on centroid stability margin while the robot walks is presented.
Discovering the Self-Interest of Servant Leadership: A Grounded Theory

This qualitative study set forth to discover how senior level leaders from multiple for-profit sectors perceived the benefits derived from serving the needs of followers. The study emerged from a thorough review of the literature and advances the knowledge of servant leadership philosophy by identifying the benefits to being a servant leader. The study involved 14 participants who were willing to anonymously complete the questionnaire developed by the researchers. To discover how different leaders perceived the benefits from serving followers, the researchers employed a grounded theory design, allowing for a rich understanding of the participants’ interpretations. The coding and data analysis process revealed a single theoretical finding: leaders realize personal benefits from serving the needs of followers. The implications of this study seemingly address the skepticism surrounding servant leadership by identifying how service to others is in the self-interest of the leader.
Designing of an Adaptive Adcock Array and Reducing the Effects of Other Transmitters, Unwanted Reflections and Noise

In the design of modern high frequency radio direction finder (DF), multi elements DF antennas are used. The advantage of DF to the conventional types is in utilizing four elements. Error of arriving wave angle and calculated angle depends on few factors, such as array dimensions, number of elements, and location of main transmitter. Recently research works have been reported on reducing error between arriving wave angle and calculated angle but in practical case, other transmitters, unwanted reflection and the noise could increase the error. In this paper, we investigate effect of above parameters on the error then by using adaptive blind algorithm, these effects are reduced and SINR in output is increased
An Identifier-Locator Approach to Host Multihoming

Host multihoming allows individual hosts to be multiply connected to the network, e.g. by concurrent use of two network prefixes, each network prefix tied to a separate network interface. Such multihoming capability improves the host's ability to implement such features as load-balancing, fail-over and multi-path transport protocols. However, IP does not directly support host multihoming today. The Identifier / Locator split solution space is seen as one way for reducing such negative impact. We present an evaluation of host-multihoming as a prototype implementation of the Identifier Locator Network Protocol (ILNP) on FreeBSD, as a superset of IPv6 - called ILNPv6. We demonstrate load-balancing using ILNPv6 multihoming and compare performance with IPv6 forwarding at the end host.
A framework for the robust estimation of optical flow

The authors consider the problem of robustly estimating optical flow from a pair of images using a new framework based on robust estimation which addresses violations of the brightness constancy and spatial smoothness assumptions. They also show the relationship between the robust estimation framework and line-process approaches for coping with spatial discontinuities. In doing so, the notion of a line process is generalized to that of an outlier process that can account for violations in both the brightness and smoothness assumptions. A graduated non-convexity algorithm is presented for recovering optical flow and motion discontinuities. The performance of the robust formulation is demonstrated on both synthetic data and natural images. <<ETX>>
Gene expression profile of omental adipose tissue in human obesity

The aim of the present study was to gain insight into the pathophysiology of obesity by comparing the pattern of gene expression of omental adipose tissue of obese and lean volunteers using DNA microarrays. Omental adipose tissue biopsies were obtained by laparoscopic surgery from six male patients (44.2±6.3 yr). RNA was extracted and pooled for the obese (BMI: 37.3±2.5 kg/m2) and lean (BMI: 23.4±0.8 kg/m2) groups. From the total number of genes analyzed (1,152 well‐characterized human genes), 41% were expressed at sufficient levels in human adipose tissue for detection in the microarray experiments, finding that 89 genes were up‐ regulated while 64 were down‐regulated at least twofold in the omental adipose tissue obtained from obese patients. We found a general tendency to blunt lipolysis inducer genes and a global down‐regulation of genes encoding growth factors. Moreover, an up‐regulation in the expression of several mitogen‐activated protein kinases (MAPKs) was observed. The down‐regulation of genes involved in lipolysis activation may be involved in the etiopathogenesis of obesity. In addition, down‐regulation of growth factors and the up‐regulation of MAPKs may indicate an attempt to restrain adipocyte proliferation and differentiation. Furthermore, obesity is accompanied by an altered expression in omental adipose tissue of genes involved not only in energy homeostasis but also in quite diverse biological functions, such as immune response. The genomic approach underlines the importance of adipose tissue beyond energy metabolism.
An integrative literature review on nursing interventions aimed at increasing self-care among heart failure patients 1

Abstract Objective: to analyze and summarize knowledge concerning critical components of interventions that have been proposed and implemented by nurses with the aim of optimizing self-care by heart failure patients. Methods: PubMed and CINAHL were the electronic databases used to search full peer-reviewed papers, presenting descriptions of nursing interventions directed to patients or to patients and their families and designed to optimize self-care. Forty-two studies were included in the final sample (n=4,799 patients). Results: this review pointed to a variety and complexity of nursing interventions. As self-care encompasses several behaviors, interventions targeted an average of 3.6 behaviors. Educational/counselling activities were combined or not with cognitive behavioral strategies, but only about half of the studies used a theoretical background to guide interventions. Clinical assessment and management were frequently associated with self-care interventions, which varied in number of sessions (1 to 30); length of follow-up (2 weeks to 12 months) and endpoints. Conclusions: these findings may be useful to inform nurses about further research in self-care interventions in order to propose the comparison of different modalities of intervention, the use of theoretical background and the establishment of endpoints to evaluate their effectiveness.
An effective instruction fetch policy for simultaneous multithreaded processors

Simultaneous multithreaded (SMT) processors improve the instruction throughput by allowing fetching and running instructions from several threads simultaneously at a single cycle. As the number of competing threads increasing, instruction throughput is largely impacted by fetch policy. We first describe an ideal fetch model and then propose a new effective instruction fetch policy for SMT processors based on the ideal model. The basic idea of our new policy is to select two threads with least instructions in the instruction queue and feed as many as the needed number of instructions to every selected thread, up to eight in total. The key advantage of our policy is that it can utilize the fetch bandwidth more effectively than ICOUNT.2. 8 policy, so that a significant increasing in IPC can be achieved. Execution-driven simulation results show that IPC improvements obtained is up to 45%, and 17% on average, over the ICOUNT.2. 8 fetch policy.
Genetic Modifiers of MeCP2 Function in Drosophila

The levels of methyl-CpG–binding protein 2 (MeCP2) are critical for normal post-natal development and function of the nervous system. Loss of function of MeCP2, a transcriptional regulator involved in chromatin remodeling, causes classic Rett syndrome (RTT) as well as other related conditions characterized by autism, learning disabilities, or mental retardation. Increased dosage of MeCP2 also leads to clinically similar neurological disorders and mental retardation. To identify molecular mechanisms capable of compensating for altered MeCP2 levels, we generated transgenic Drosophila overexpressing human MeCP2. We find that MeCP2 associates with chromatin and is phosphorylated at serine 423 in Drosophila, as is found in mammals. MeCP2 overexpression leads to anatomical (i.e., disorganized eyes, ectopic wing veins) and behavioral (i.e., motor dysfunction) abnormalities. We used a candidate gene approach to identify genes that are able to compensate for abnormal phenotypes caused by MeCP2 increased activity. These genetic modifiers include other chromatin remodeling genes (Additional sex combs, corto, osa, Sex combs on midleg, and trithorax), the kinase tricornered, the UBE3A target pebble, and Drosophila homologues of the MeCP2 physical interactors Sin3a, REST, and N-CoR. These findings demonstrate that anatomical and behavioral phenotypes caused by MeCP2 activity can be ameliorated by altering other factors that might be more amenable to manipulation than MeCP2 itself.
Detection of anthropogenic dust using CALIPSO lidar measurements

Abstract. Anthropogenic dusts are those produced by human activities on disturbed soils, which are mainly cropland, pastureland, and urbanized regions, and are a subset of the total dust load which includes natural sources from desert regions. Our knowledge of anthropogenic dusts is still very limited due to a lack of data. To understand the contribution of anthropogenic dust to the total global dust load, it is important to identify it apart from total dust. In this study, a new technique for distinguishing anthropogenic dust from natural dust is proposed by using Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) dust and planetary boundary layer (PBL) height retrievals along with a land use data set. Using this technique, the global distribution of dust is analyzed and the relative contribution of anthropogenic and natural dust sources to regional and global emissions are estimated. Results reveal that local anthropogenic dust aerosol due to human activity, such as agriculture, industrial activity, transportation, and overgrazing, accounts for about 25 % of the global continental dust load. Of these anthropogenic dust aerosols, more than 53 % come from semi-arid and semi-wet regions. Annual mean anthropogenic dust column burden (DCB) values range from 0.42 g m−2, with a maximum in India, to 0.12 g m−2, with a minimum in North America. A better understanding of anthropogenic dust emission will enable us to focus on human activities in these critical regions and with such knowledge we will be more able to improve global dust models and to explore the effects of anthropogenic emission on radiative forcing, climate change, and air quality in the future.
Fine tuning of the E. coli NusB:NusE complex affinity to BoxA RNA is required for processive antitermination

Phage λ propagation in Escherichia coli host cells requires transcription antitermination on the λ chromosome mediated by λN protein and four host Nus factors, NusA, B, E (ribosomal S10) and G. Interaction of E. coli NusB:NusE heterodimer with the single stranded BoxA motif of λnutL or λnutR RNA is crucial for this reaction. Similarly, binding of NusB:NusE to a BoxA motif is essential to suppress transcription termination in the ribosomal RNA (rrn) operons. We used fluorescence anisotropy to measure the binding properties of NusB and of NusB:NusE heterodimer to BoxA-containing RNAs differing in length and sequence. Our results demonstrate that BoxA is necessary and sufficient for binding. We also studied the gain-of-function D118N NusB mutant that allows λ growth in nusA1 or nusE71 mutants. In vivo λ burst-size determinations, CD thermal unfolding measurements and X-ray crystallography of this as well as various other NusB D118 mutants showed the importance of size and polarity of amino acid 118 for RNA binding and other interactions. Our work suggests that the affinity of the NusB:NusE complex to BoxA RNA is precisely tuned to maximize control of transcription termination.
NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT & MANAGEMENT OF KNOWLEDGE IN PORTUGUESE HIGHER EDUCATION

This chapter uses key concepts in the knowledge management literature to analyse the procedures and practices used by a project management team to identify, create, store, disseminate, and apply knowledge management systems for successful project completion. This project allowed a long established participant to develop on-line delivery capabilities in Portuguese higher education. The case study suggests that, throughout the project, implementing effective knowledge management practices required that participants widened and deepened the required knowledge base in five distinct areas: project management, the team, product/solution, the companies involved in the project, and the interaction with the external environment. The analysis also suggests as key requirements for effective knowledge management those relating to trust between the parties, key knowledge workers, and heavy dependence on new information and communication technologies.
Kinesin KIFC1 actively transports bare double-stranded DNA

During the past years, exogenous DNA molecules have been used in gene and molecular therapy. At present, it is not known how these DNA molecules reach the cell nucleus. We used an in cell single-molecule approach to observe the motion of exogenous short DNA molecules in the cytoplasm of eukaryotic cells. Our observations suggest an active transport of the DNA along the cytoskeleton filaments. We used an in vitro motility assay, in which the motion of single-DNA molecules along cytoskeleton filaments in cell extracts is monitored; we demonstrate that microtubule-associated motors are involved in this transport. Precipitation of DNA-bound proteins and mass spectrometry analyses reveal the preferential binding of the kinesin KIFC1 on DNA. Cell extract depletion of kinesin KIFC1 significantly decreases DNA motion, confirming the active implication of this molecular motor in the intracellular DNA transport.
Adult Neurogenesis Transiently Generates Oxidative Stress

An increasing body of evidence suggests that alterations in neurogenesis and oxidative stress are associated with a wide variety of CNS diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease, schizophrenia and Parkinson’s disease, as well as routine loss of function accompanying aging. Interestingly, the association between neurogenesis and the production of reactive oxidative species (ROS) remains largely unexamined. The adult CNS harbors two regions of persistent lifelong neurogenesis: the subventricular zone and the dentate gyrus (DG). These regions contain populations of quiescent neural stem cells (NSCs) that generate mature progeny via rapidly-dividing progenitor cells. We hypothesized that the energetic demands of highly proliferative progenitors generates localized oxidative stress that contributes to ROS-mediated damage within the neuropoietic microenvironment. In vivo examination of germinal niches in adult rodents revealed increases in oxidized DNA and lipid markers, particularly in the subgranular zone (SGZ) of the dentate gyrus. To further pinpoint the cell types responsible for oxidative stress, we employed an in vitro cell culture model allowing for the synchronous terminal differentiation of primary hippocampal NSCs. Inducing differentiation in primary NSCs resulted in an immediate increase in total mitochondria number and overall ROS production, suggesting oxidative stress is generated during a transient window of elevated neurogenesis accompanying normal neurogenesis. To confirm these findings in vivo, we identified a set of oxidation-responsive genes, which respond to antioxidant administration and are significantly elevated in genetic- and exercise-induced model of hyperactive hippocampal neurogenesis. While no direct evidence exists coupling neurogenesis-associated stress to CNS disease, our data suggest that oxidative stress is produced as a result of routine adult neurogenesis.
Bite force is limited by the force–length relationship of skeletal muscle in black carp, Mylopharyngodon piceus

Bite force is critical to feeding success, especially in animals that crush strong, brittle foods. Maximum bite force is typically measured as one value per individual, but the force–length relationship of skeletal muscle suggests that each individual should possess a range of gape height-specific, and, therefore, prey size-specific, bite forces. We characterized the influence of prey size on pharyngeal jaw bite force in the snail-eating black carp (Mylopharyngodon piceus, family Cyprinidae), using feeding trials on artificial prey that varied independently in size and strength. We then measured jaw-closing muscle lengths in vivo for each prey size, and then determined the force–length relationship of the same muscle in situ using tetanic stimulations. Maximum bite force was surprisingly high: the largest individual produced nearly 700 N at optimal muscle length. Bite force decreased on large and small prey, which elicited long and short muscle lengths, respectively, demonstrating that the force–length relationship of skeletal muscle results in prey size-specific bite force.
Tangible message bubbles for children's communication and play

We introduce Tangible Message Bubbles, a new composition and communication tool that invites youngsters to express and record their everyday expressions, play with these original recordings, and share these personal creations with their friends and family. We present a design rationale that focuses on supporting both co-located and remote collaboration, and on balancing play with tool design. Results from pilot evaluations with our initial prototypes informed us with ways to leverage the physical properties of the toys and support playful exploration of children's recorded video messages for sharing.
Workflow-based tasks scheduling on grid

Due to the distributed nature of data and the need for high performance, it makes Grid a suitable environment for distributed data mining. Since distributed data mining applications are typically data intensive, one of the main requirements of such a DDM Grid environment is the efficient workflow scheduling. We propose an architecture for a Knowledge Grid scheduler that results in the minimal response time. The experimental result demonstrates that the architecture has good performance.
Morphome: a constructive field study of proactive information technology in the home

This paper presents the main results of a three-year long field and design study of proactive information technology in the home. This technology uses sensors to track human activities in order to proactively anticipate the direction of human activity. With it, it could be possible to build an environment without buttons and remote controls. However, the home represents a series of design challenges for proactive technology. This paper describes how we have identified suitable areas for proactive designs with user research, how we built several "minidesigns" and experience prototypes, and how we tested them in a series of five field studies in the Tampere and Helsinki regions in Finland. The paper ends with a section in which we outline some of the main design principles learned in these studies, and point directions for studies in the future.
A Qualitative Analysis of Adventurous Activities Among OEF/OIF Veterans

ABSTRACT Semistructured interviews qualitatively explored Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom veterans' experience of activities that provide a rush or thrill, reasons for/against engaging in such activities, and affect experienced during these activities. Phenomenological methods were used to analyze the data. Veterans engaged in activities for a sense of accomplishment, mood alteration, fitness, and bonding. Veterans described internal and external barriers for engagement in such activities. Impact of combat on the frequency of activity engagement was also discussed. Clinical implications support the notion that as veterans adapt to civilian life, they may benefit from engagement in safe, affordable, and exciting leisure activities.
#ForgiveUsForWeHaveSinned: Conceptual integration theory and political Internet humour

The aim of the paper is to uncover the extent to which different forms of political Internet humour can criticise current political affairs in a developing democracy such as Bosnia and Herzegovina. Specifically, applying a cognitive linguistic theory of meaning construction, namely conceptual integration theory, the paper analyses the construction of meaning of humorous Internet forms, such as memes, demotivational posters, hashtag posts, and memetic photographs, representing innovative ways of providing political commentaries on current political affairs. The meaning of political humour is constructed in conceptual blending as a basic cognitive mechanism. As it is claimed (Coulson & Pascual 2006, Coulson & Oakley 2006, Coulson 2006, Oakley & Coulson 2008) that blending can be used as a rhetorical tool influencing the audience to change the reality and even act upon it, the analysis of the construction of meaning of political humour as products of conceptual integration can reveal hidden ideologies in political discourse.