Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Impact of Data Challenges on Intent Detection and Slot Filling for the Home Assistant Scenario

Natural Language Understanding (NLU) is currently a very high-interest domain to both academia and the commercial environment, due in the largest part to the recent increased popularity of conversational systems. In this paper we focus on the home assistant application context and identify a set of language and data-related challenges that can occur in such a scenario, such as: distribution shift, missing information and class imbalance. We systematically generate datasets in the Romanian language that model these data complexities and further investigate how well two of the most prominent tools – Wit.ai and Rasa NLU – solve the tasks of intent detection and slot filling, given the considered data complexities. We perform a thorough analysis of the errors produced by both tools, and provide the most probable justification for their occurrence. We found that both tools focus extensively on the verb for identifying intents, and that antonyms, class-imbalance and certain small variations in formulation greatly impact intent and slot identification. This opens new research directions to directly address these shortcomings.
An Almost-zero Latency Lightweight Mechanism for Caching Decision in ICN Content Router

Research has shown that in-network caching for named data in ICN is an effective way to eliminate redundant network traffic. The caching strategy is the key to improve the efficiency of content distribution in the ICN. However, current complicated caching strategies have high latency and couple with network forwarding, which results in terrible forwarding performance and poor scalability of throughput. In this paper, we propose a novel mechanism for making caching decisions in the source. In our mechanism, to improve the forwarding speed, the decision result is encoded in the cache control field of the content packet so the content packet can be quickly filtered and forwarded by on-path routers with an almost-zero latency. In order to improve the accuracy of caching decision in the mechanism, we further present a lightweight caching strategy based on popularity ranking. In the experiment, we set up a POF-based ICN soft router with a split architecture and implement our caching decision mechanism inside. The result of the experiment shows that on-path decision latency can be reduced by at most 96.7 percentage in our mechanism and a scalable line-speed of at least 10 Gbps is guaranteed. Our mechanism is also lightweight which achieves similar performance with less than 1/20 memory consumption of other popularity-based strategies.
Using Modal Reservation for Ultrashort Pulse Attenuation After Failure

The paper considers the relevance of research on the efficient use of cold standby by means of modal reservation (MR) methods in order to increase resistance to ultrashort pulses. A quasistatic analysis of the ultrashort pulse propagation was performed in structures with single and triple MR on the prototype printed circuit board based on the path of 50 Ohm. The faults of two types were considered: a short circuit and an open circuit. The analysis showed that for a single MR the amplitude of the output voltage increased by 38%, so the attenuation of the ultrashort pulse decreased from 2.3 to 1.7 times. For a triple MR it is shown that the greater the electromagnetic coupling between the standby and one of the three conductors with failure, the greater the deviation, which reaches 36.5%. It was revealed that in case of failure, it is advisable to switch to a circuit whose electromagnetic coupling is less.
A Novel Push-To-Talk Service over Beidou-3 Satellite Navigation System

BDS-3(Beidou Navigation Satellite System) started to provide global services since Dec 2018. The two-way SMS(short message service) of the BDS is an advantage over other satellite navigation systems. However, BDS SMS only supports text, causes inconvenience in many situations. We had developed a 300bps vocoder in 2017, which led to a 2-second voice message over BDS-1. Based on it, we used a SELP (sinusoidal excitation linear prediction) algorithm to develop a 600bps vocoder over BDS-3. Compared with the former one, voice quality has been improved from MOS 2.3 to MOS 3.5, coding delay has been increased from more than 200ms to 100ms. The voice length has been increased to 25 seconds. Our effort can offer subscribers a Push-To-Talk service over BDS. In May 2018 the novel technology has been recommended as a candidate to “International Maritime Rescue Satellite Terminal Standard”. Our efforts have very important theoretical research significance and practical reference value for BDS.
Empathy and Transcendence

Empathy is described in a variety of ways in the literature, depending on the perspective of the author. Common meanings associated with empathy include walking in another person’s footsteps, or moccasins (a rather psychobiological derivation), sympathy or like feeling (emotional), projecting one’s feelings into another (psychological), or into a work of art (aesthetic), taking the role of another (psychological/sociological), accurate understanding and consideration of the other’s viewpoint (psychological), needs (emotional), rights (sociological, political, moral), and feelings (emotional), or taking the perspective of another (psychological). This article makes a case for a unifying description of empathy, developed by Stein, that incorporates all of the variety of meanings listed, and highlights one aspect of empathy, the “crossing over stage,”that is transcendent in nature. Because of this property of transcendence, empathy then is portrayed as a vehicle for the development of the spiritual quadrant of function and meaning in practitioners and in-patients.
A 32-Gb/s 3.53-mW/Gb/s Adaptive Receiver AFE Employing a Hybrid CTLE, Edge-DFE and Merged Data-DFE/CDR in 65-nm CMOS

A 32-Gb/s adaptive receiver analog front-end (AFE) with a hybrid continuous-time linear equalizer (CTLE), a half-rate distributed edge and data decision feedback equalizer (DFE) and a clock data recovery (CDR) is presented. The hybrid CTLE counters the low-frequency as well as the high-frequency loss of 21 dB at Nyquist. Further post-cursors can be solved by using a half- rate, distributed 3-tap edge-DFE and 2-tap data-DFE, which is partially embedded in the CDR. The distributed DFE scheme addresses the inter symbol interference (ISI) at the edge and reduces the data jitter while data-DFE guarantees the vertical opening of the data eye. Fabricated in 65-nm CMOS, occupying an active area of 0.3 mm2, the proposed prototype demonstrates an improvement of 0.15 UI in the horizontal eye opening of the data output at a receiver AFE with the conventional 5-tap data-DFE at BER=10−12, under a pseudorandom binary sequence (PRBS) of 231-1. The competitive power efficiency of 3.53 mW/Gb/s is measured with a supply voltage of 1.2 V.
Wide-Angle Impedance Matching Using Glide-Symmetric Metasurfaces

This letter demonstrates that glide symmetry can be used to match the impedance of highly dense dielectric profiles in wide angle and broad bandwidth. Using glide-symmetric metasurfaces permits tuning the magnetic properties of materials, so high values of permittivity can be matched to free space in wideband. This matching is achieved without disturbing the performance of the device, since the refractive index remains fixed. The performance of the proposed matching method is validated through measurements for normal incidence. For oblique incidence, a hyperbolic dielectric lens is matched with glide-symmetric structures in simulations. These simulations demonstrate a smooth transmission of the fields, manifesting a well-matched profile of the lens.
Comparative Genomics Analysis of Lactobacillus mucosae from Different Niches

The potential probiotic benefits of Lactobacillus mucosae have received increasing attention. To investigate the genetic diversity of L. mucosae, comparative genomic analyses of 93 strains isolated from different niches (human and animal gut, human vagina, etc.) and eight strains of published genomes were conducted. The results showed that the core genome of L. mucosae mainly encoded translation and transcription, amino acid biosynthesis, sugar metabolism, and defense function while the pan-genomic curve tended to be close. The genetic diversity of L. mucosae mainly reflected in carbohydrate metabolism and immune/competitive-related factors, such as exopolysaccharide (EPS), enterolysin A, and clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-Cas. It was worth noting that this research firstly predicted the complete EPS operon shared among L. mucosae. Additionally, the type IIIA CRISPR-Cas system was discovered in L. mucosae for the first time. This work provided new ideas for the study of this species.
Nose-to-Brain Delivery of Cancer-Targeting Paclitaxel-loaded Nanoparticles Potentiates Anti-Tumor Effects in Malignant Glioblastoma.

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is an aggressive tumor with no curative treatment. The tumor recurrence after resection often requires chemotherapy or radiation to delay the infiltration of tumor remnants. Intracerebral chemotherapies are preferentially being used to prevent tumor regrowth, but treatments remain unsuccessful because of poor drug distribution in the brain. In this study, we investigated the therapeutic efficacy of cancer-targeting arginyl-glycyl-aspartic tripeptide (RGD) conjugated paclitaxel (PTX)-loaded nanoparticles (NPs) against GBM by nose-to-brain delivery. Our results demonstrated that RGD-modified PTX-loaded NPs showed cancer-specific delivery and enhanced anti-cancer effects in vivo. The intranasal (IN) inoculation of RGD-PTX-loaded NPs effectively control the tumor burden (75±12% reduction) by inducing apoptosis and/or inhibiting cancer cell proliferation without affecting the G0 stage of normal brain cells. Our data provide therapeutic evidence supporting the use of intranasally delivered cancer-targeted PTX-loaded NPs for GBM therapy.
Upregulation of BCAM and its sense lncRNA BAN are associated with gastric cancer metastasis and poor prognosis

Patients with metastatic gastric cancer (GC) have a poor prognosis; however, the molecular mechanism of GC metastasis remains unclear. Here, we employed bioinformatics to systematically screen the metastasis‐associated genes and found that the levels of basal cell adhesion molecule (BCAM) were significantly increased in GC tissues from patients with metastasis, as compared to those without metastasis. The upregulation of BCAM was also significantly associated with a shorter survival time. Depletion of BCAM inhibited GC cell migration and invasion. Knockout (KO) of BCAM by the CRISPR/Cas9 system reduced the invasion and metastasis of GC cells. To explore the mechanism of BCAM upregulation, we identified a previously uncharacterized BCAM sense lncRNA that spanned from exon 6 to intron 6 of BCAM, and named it as BCAM‐associated long noncoding RNA (BAN). Knockdown of BAN inhibited BCAM expression at both mRNA and protein levels. Knockdown of BAN suppressed GC cell migration and invasion, which was effectively rescued by ectopic expression of BCAM. Further clinical data showed that BAN upregulation was associated with GC metastasis and poor prognosis. Importantly, BAN expression was also significantly associated with that of BCAM in GC tissues. Taken together, these results indicate that increased expression of BCAM and its sense lncRNA BAN promote GC cell invasion and metastasis, and are associated with poor prognosis of GC patients.
Flame Retardancy of Wood Fiber Materials Using Phosphorus-Modified Wheat Starch

Biopolymer-based flame retardants (FR) are a promising approach to ensure adequate protection against fire while minimizing health and environmental risks. Only a few, however, are suitable for industrial purposes because of their poor flame retardancy, complex synthesis pathway, expensive cleaning procedures, and inappropriate application properties. In the present work, wheat starch was modified using a common phosphate/urea reaction system and tested as flame retardant additive for wood fibers. The results indicate that starch derivatives from phosphate/urea systems can reach fire protection efficiencies similar to those of commercial flame retardants currently used in the wood fiber industry. The functionalization leads to the incorporation of fire protective phosphates (up to 38 wt.%) and nitrogen groups (up to 8.3 wt.%). The lowest levels of burning in fire tests were measured with soluble additives at a phosphate content of 3.5 wt. %. Smoldering effects could be significantly reduced compared to unmodified wood fibers. The industrial processing of a starch-based flame retardant on wood insulating materials exhibits the fundamental applicability of flame retardants. These results demonstrate that starch modified from phosphate/urea-systems is a serious alternative to traditional flame retardants.
Interaction between fasting blood glucose and tumor embolus in predicting the postoperative prognosis of 4330 Chinese patients with gastrointestinal tract cancer

Objectives: We aimed to investigate the interaction between fasting blood glucose and tumor embolus, and the potential mediation effect of fasting blood glucose on tumor embolus in predicting gastrointestinal tract cancer-specific mortality risk postoperatively. Methods and Results: 4330 patients were consecutively recruited between January 2000 and December 2010, with annual follow-up ending in December 2015. The median follow-up time was 48.6 months. Two optimal cutoff points for fasting blood glucose (6.11 and 11.69 mmol/L) were identified. Patients with fasting blood glucose <6.11 mmol/L and negative tumor embolus had the best survival, and the worst survival was seen in patients with fasting blood glucose >11.69 mmol/L and positive tumor embolus. The risk was highest for patients with fasting blood glucose >11.69 mmol/L and positive tumor embolus (adjusted HR: 11.91, 95% CI: 9.13 to 15.52). Using the Sobel-Goodman mediation test, the proportion of total effect conferred by tumor embolus that was mediated by fasting blood glucose was estimated to be 45.3%. Conclusions: Our findings indicate a synergistic interaction between fasting blood glucose and tumor embolus in predicting the postoperative prognosis of gastrointestinal tract cancer.
Bone Marrow-Derived Cell Therapies to Heal Long-Bone Nonunions: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis—Which Is the Best Available Treatment?

Nonunions represent one of the major indications for clinical settings with stem cell-based therapies. The objective of this research was to systematically assess the current evidence for the efficacy of bone marrow-derived cell-based approaches associated or not with bone scaffolds for the treatment of nonunions. We searched MEDLINE (PubMed) and CENTRAL up to July 2019 for clinical studies focused on the use of cell-based therapies and bone marrow derivatives to treat bone nonunions. Three investigators independently extracted the data and appraised the risk of bias. We analysed 27 studies including a total number of 347 participants exposed to four interventions: bone marrow concentrate (BMAC), BMAC combined with scaffold (BMAC/Scaffold), bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (BMSCs), and BMSC combined with scaffold (BMSC/Scaffold). Two controlled studies showed a positive trend in bone healing in favour of BMAC/Scaffold or BMSC/Scaffold treatment against bone autograft, although the difference was not statistically significant (RR 0.11, 95% CI -0.05; 0.28). Among single cohort studies, the highest mean pooled proportion of healing rate was reported for BMAC (77%; 95% CI 63%-89%; 107 cases, n = 8) and BMAC/Scaffold treatments with (71%; 95% CI 50%-89%; 117 cases, n = 8) at 6 months of follow-up. At 12 months of follow-up, an increasing proportion of bone healing was observed in all the treatment groups, ranging from 81% to 100%. These results indicate that BMAC or BMAC/Scaffold might be considered as the primary choice to treat nonunions with a successful healing rate at a midterm follow-up. Moreover, this meta-analysis highlighted that the presence of a scaffold positively influences the healing rate at a long-term follow-up. More case-control studies are still needed to support the clinical improvement of cell-based therapies against autografts, up to now considered as the gold standard for the treatment of nonunions.
Comparing bioinformatic pipelines for microbial 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing

Microbial amplicon sequencing studies are an important tool in biological and biomedical research. Widespread 16S rRNA gene microbial surveys have shed light on the structure of many ecosystems inhabited by bacteria, including the human body. However, specialized software and algorithms are needed to convert raw sequencing data into biologically meaningful information (i.e. tables of bacterial counts). While different bioinformatic pipelines are available in a rapidly changing and improving field, users are often unaware of limitations and biases associated with individual pipelines and there is a lack of agreement regarding best practices. Here, we compared six bioinformatic pipelines for the analysis of amplicon sequence data: three OTU-level flows (QIIME-uclust, MOTHUR, and USEARCH-UPARSE) and three ASV-level (DADA2, Qiime2-Deblur, and USEARCH-UNOISE3). We tested workflows with different quality control options, clustering algorithms, and cutoff parameters on a mock community as well as on a large (N = 2170) recently published fecal sample dataset from the multi-ethnic HELIUS study. We assessed the sensitivity, specificity, and degree of consensus of the different outputs. DADA2 offered the best sensitivity, at the expense of decreased specificity compared to USEARCH-UNOISE3 and Qiime2-Deblur. USEARCH-UNOISE3 showed the best balance between resolution and specificity. OTU-level USEARCH-UPARSE and MOTHUR performed well, but with lower specificity than ASV-level pipelines. QIIME-uclust produced large number of spurious OTUs as well as inflated alpha-diversity measures and should be avoided in future studies. This study provides guidance for researchers using amplicon sequencing to gain biological insights.
Selective Acetylene Adsorption within an Imino Functionalized Nanocage-Based Metal-Organic Framework.

The removal of CH4 and CO2 from C2H2 streams is very challenging in chemical industry. Herein, a robust metal-organic framework, Cu-CPAH, was designed and synthesized by hydrothermal method. With abundant active sites in the framework, Cu-CPAH exhibits remarkably selective adsorption of C2H2 over CH4 and CO2. Breakthrough experiments show that Cu-CPAH can be used as solid adsorbent for high performance purification of C2H2 from a equimolar mixture of C2H2/CO2 or C2H2/CO2/CH4 at room temperature. Discrete Fourier transform (DFT) simulations were also excuted to provide a clear visualization on the preferential stronger interaction of C2H2 with various active sites than CO2 and CH4, demonstrating for the first time the contribution of imino functional groups in the cage which play a more critical role in the preferential fixation of C2H2 than CO2.
Design Science Research in Doctoral Projects: An Analysis of Australian Theses

Design science research (DSR) has gained popularity with doctoral students. In the information systems (IS) discipline, DSR is distinctive in that it creates knowledge through the design of novel or innovative artifacts and analyzes the artifacts’ use or performance. We present an analysis of 40 DSR doctoral theses completed in Australia between 2006-2017. Our purpose is to understand how DSR is applied by the IS community, and one critical source of information is the work of doctoral candidates. How candidates are guided by the literature, the artifacts produced, and their evaluation of the artifacts provide a window into this understanding. We selected the theses from the Australian national repository and analyzed their content. The findings suggest: (1) DSR is evolving and maturing in this cohort, but most candidates fail to enunciate and understand the underlying philosophy of their research approach; (2) the use of relevant guidance is still developing; and (3) the capacity of candidates to theorize about their work remains a challenge, possibly due to problems of scoping DSR projects and ensuing time constraints. In spite of their recognition and appreciation of the need for evaluating DSR artifacts, it is questionable whether doctoral candidates understand that the designs also require evaluation. As in many other areas of IS research, nomenclature in DSR remains problematic and the whole IS community should aim to create better consistency in this regard. This paper contributes toward our understanding of the challenges and advantages of DSR as a research approach for postgraduate studies and offers recommendations to the DSR community.
An ABC Transporter Drives Medulloblastoma Pathogenesis by Regulating Sonic Hedgehog Signaling

These findings identify ABCC4 transporter as a new target in SHH-MB, prompting the development of inhibitors or the repurporsing of existing drugs to target ABCC4. Mutations in Sonic hedgehog (SHH) signaling promote aberrant proliferation and tumor growth. SHH-medulloblastoma (MB) is among the most frequent brain tumors in children less than 3 years of age. Although key components of the SHH pathway are well-known, we hypothesized that new disease-modifying targets of SHH-MB might be identified from large-scale bioinformatics and systems biology analyses. Using a data-driven systems biology approach, we built a MB-specific interactome. The ATP-binding cassette transporter ABCC4 was identified as a modulator of SHH-MB. Accordingly, increased ABCC4 expression correlated with poor overall survival in patients with SHH-MB. Knockdown of ABCC4 expression markedly blunted the constitutive activation of the SHH pathway secondary to Ptch1 or Sufu insufficiency. In human tumor cell lines, ABCC4 knockdown and inhibition reduced full-length GLI3 levels. In a clinically relevant murine SHH-MB model, targeted ablation of Abcc4 in primary tumors significantly reduced tumor burden and extended the lifespan of tumor-bearing mice. These studies reveal ABCC4 as a potent SHH pathway regulator and a new candidate to target with the potential to improve SHH-MB therapy. Significance: These findings identify ABCC4 transporter as a new target in SHH-MB, prompting the development of inhibitors or the repurporsing of existing drugs to target ABCC4.