Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Estimating confidence in voices using crowdsourcing for alleviating tension with altered auditory feedback

People tend to face difficulties while speaking, owing to excessive tension. To relieve this tension, we propose a method to alter their voice such that it appears more confident and feed this voice back to the speaker in real time. As determining the appropriate parameters for voice processing is difficult, we gathered data on the perception of confidence in voices through crowdsourcing and constructed a model for estimating confidence scores from voice-processing parameters. An analysis of the model showed that although the coefficient of determination was not considerably large, the inflection of speech tended to affect the perception of confidence.
Sampling techniques for Arabic Sentiment Classification: A Comparative Study

Over the last decade, the web 2.0 has been shifting the web to turn it into an opinion platform. This results in a large amount of raw data that overwhelms human capacity to extract valuable knowledge without assistance of machines. In real world applications, sentiment analysis faces imbalanced data problem. To tackle this problem, sampling techniques have been proposed. In this paper, we focus on studying the performance of these techniques on Imbalanced Data of Arabic Sentiment. We then conduct a comparative evaluation using Support Vector Machine (SVM), Naive Bayes (NB), and Random Forest (RF) as classification algorithms.
Locomotor behavior, body size, and comparative ecology of seven Surinam monkeys

The locomotor behavior, of seven sympatric species of New World monkeys—Saguinus midas midas, Saimiri sciureus, Pithecia pithecia, Chiropotes satanas chiropotes, Cebus apella apella, Alouatta seniculus, and Ateles paniscus panisus—was studied at the Raleighvallen-Voltzberg Nature Reserve in Central Surinam. This paper examines the way in which locomotor behavior is related to body size and to ecological parameters such as forest stratification, forest type, and diet. Locomotor behavior is clearly related to the size of the species; with increasing size, the amount of climbing increases and the amount of leaping decreases. In general, larger monkeys use larger arboreal supports; however, Saguinus midas midas uses relatively larger, and Ateles paniscus paniscus relatively smaller supports than expected from body size alone. Leaping is associated with use of the forest understory and with use of liane forest. Other types of locomotion are associated with main canopy use in a variety of forest types. There are no consistent associations between diet and either locomotor behavior or forest utilization; rather, monkeys with similar diets show locomotor and habitat differentiation.
A Proposal of Preprocessing Stage for Active Access-Point Configuration Algorithm in Elastic WLAN System

Nowadays, the wireless local-area network (WLAN) has been deployed everywhere as a common access medium to the Internet. In WLAN, the network configuration should be optimized according to traffic demands and network environments which will change dynamically. Therefore, we have studied the active AP configuration algorithm for the elastic WLAN system to achieve the elasticity of WLAN. However, this algorithm requires a long CPU time in the large search space when numerous APs are deployed in the field. In this paper, we propose a preprocessing stage for the AP configuration algorithm to reduce the CPU time by limiting the number of APs in advance. Both the exhaustive and heuristic approaches are adopted, where either one should be used depending on the network topology. Through extensive simulations using the WIMNET simulator, the effectiveness of the proposal is verified.
An analysis of structural moves in Chinese sales letters

This study sets out to explore the general principles of structural moves in Chinese sales letters by using a combined approach of genre analysis (Swales, 1990) and contrastive rhetoric (Kaplan, 1966). Data consisting of twenty authentic letters are analyzed in two Steps: (l) a description of structural moves in a twenty-ietter corpus; and (2) a detailed structural analysis of the most successful letter in the corpus identified by native Speakers. The analysis willfocus on the general structure and development of each individual move in the letter. Both ofthese levels of analysis try to determine which style Chinese sales letters follow. Thefindings show that all sales letters in the corpus follow a linear development and that most sales letters follow a direct approach and speak to the point, although some are indirect, providing introductory or transitional sections. This indirectness is basically linear in structural development and is not related to 'circularity'
Evaluating Quality Adjusted Life Years in the Absence of Standard Utility Values- A Dynamic Joint Modelling Approach

Estimation of Quality Adjusted Life Years (QALYs) is pivotal towards cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) of medical interventions. Most of the CEA studies employ multi-state decision analytic modelling approach, where fixed utility values are assigned to each disease state and total QALYs are calculated on the basis of total lengths of stay in each state. In this paper, we have formulated a new approach to CEA by defining utility as a function of a longitudinal covariate which is significantly associated with disease progression. Association parameter between the longitudinal covariate and survival times is estimated through joint modelling of the longitudinal linear mixed effects model and the Weibull accelerated failure time survival model. Metropolis-Hastings algorithm and Monte Carlo integration are used to predict expected survival times of each censored case using the joint model. Fitted longitudinal model is further used to project values of the longitudinal covariate at all time points for each patient. Utility values calculated using these projected covariate values are used to evaluate QALYs for each patient. Retrospective survival data of HIV/ AIDS patients undergoing treatment at the Antiretroviral Therapy centre of Ram Manohar Lohia hospital in New Delhi is used to demonstrate the implementation of the proposed methodology. A simulation exercise is also carried out to gauge the predictive capability of the joint model in projecting the values of the longitudinal covariate. The proposed dynamic approach to calculate QALY provides a promising alternative to the popular multi-state decision analytic modelling approach, especially when the standard utility values for different stages of the concerned disease are not available.
FacetE: exploiting web tables for domain-specific word embedding evaluation

Today's natural language processing and information retrieval systems heavily depend on word embedding techniques to represent text values. However, given a specific task deciding for a word embedding dataset is not trivial. Current word embedding evaluation methods mostly provide only a one-dimensional quality measure, which does not express how knowledge from different domains is represented in the word embedding models. To overcome this limitation, we provide a new evaluation data set called FacetE derived from 125M Web tables, enabling domain-sensitive evaluation. We show that FacetE can effectively be used to evaluate word embedding models. The evaluation of common general-purpose word embedding models suggests that there is currently no best word embedding for every domain.
Immersive 3D Virtual Reality Cancellation Task for Visual Neglect Assessment: A Pilot Study

Background: Unilateral spatial neglectis an attention disorder frequently occurring after a right-hemispheric stroke. Neglect results in a reduction in qualityof life and performance in activities of daily living. With current technical improvements in virtual reality (VR) technology, trainingwith stereoscopic head-mounted displays (HMD) has become a promising new approach for the assessment and the rehabilitation of neglect. The focus of this pilot study was to develop and evaluate a simple visual search task in VR for HMD. The VR system was tested regarding feasibility, acceptance, and potential adverse effects in healthy controls and right-hemispheric stroke patients with and without neglect. Methods: The VR system consisted of two main components, a head-mounted display to present the virtual environment, and a hand-held controller for the interaction with the latter. The task followed the rationale of diagnostic paper-pencil cancellation tasks; i.e., the participants were asked to search targets among distractors. However, instead of a two-dimensional setup, the targets and distractors were arranged in three dimensions, in a sphere around the subject inside its field of view. Usability and acceptance of the task, as well as the performance in the latter, were tested in 15 right-hemispheric subacute stroke patients (10 of whom with and five of whom without unilateral spatial neglect; mean age: 67.1 ± 10.5 years) and 35 age-matched healthy controls. Results: System usability and acceptance were rated as high both in stroke patients and healthy controls, close to the maximum score of the questionnaire scale. No relevant adverse effects occurred. There was a high correlation (r = 0.854, p = 0.002) between the Center of Cancellation [an objective neglect measure) calculated from a paper-pencil cancellation task (Sensitive Neglect Test (SNT)] and the newly developed VR cancellation task. Conclusion: Overall, the developed visual search task in the tested VR system is feasible, well-accepted, enjoyable, and does not evoke any significant negative effects, both for healthy controls and for stroke patients. Findings for task performance show that the ability of the VR cancellation to detect neglect in stroke patients is similar to paper-pencil cancellation tasks.
Motion Detection Using the Dynamic Color Texture

Color interest point detection is an important research area in the field of image processing and computer vision. In general, the use of color increases the distinctiveness of interest points. In this article we propose to extend the detection of the color interest point to the temporal aspect. For color sequences, we propose an extension version of the Color interest point detector to detect what they call "Color Space- Time Interest Points detector" (CSTIP). To increase the robustness of CSTIP features extraction, we suggest a pre-processing step which is based on a dynamic decomposition model and can decomposes the video into the dynamic color texture component and the dynamic color structure component. We compute the new Color Space Time Interest Points (CSTIP) associated to the dynamic color texture (DCT) components by using the proposed algorithm of the detection of Color Space- Time Interest Points. Experimental results are obtained from very different types of videos, namely sport videos and animation movies.
The Incidence of Node-Positive Non-small-Cell Lung Cancer Undergoing Sublobar Resection and the Role of Radiation in Its Management

Purpose: To identify the incidence, preoperative risk factors, and prognosis associated with pathologically positive lymph node (pN+) in patients undergoing a sub-lobar resection (SLR). Methods: This is a retrospective study using the National Cancer Database (NCDB) from 2004 to 2014 analyzing SLR excluding those with any preoperative chemotherapy and/or radiation, follow-up <3 months, stage IV disease, or >1 tumor nodule. Multivariable modeling (MVA) was used to determine factors associated with overall survival (OS). Propensity score matching (PSM) was used to determine preoperative risk factors for pN+ in patients having at least one node examined to assess radiation's effect on OS in those patients with pN+ and to determine whether SLR was associated with inferior OS as compared to lobectomy for each nodal stage. Results: A total of 40,202 patients underwent SLR, but only 58.3% had one lymph node examined. Then, 2,615 individuals had pN+ which decreased progressively from 15.1% in 2004 to 8.9% in 2014 (N1, from 6.3 to 3.0%, and N2, from 8.4 to 5.9%). A lower risk of pN+ was noted for squamous cell carcinomas, bronchioloalveolar adenocarcinoma (BAC), adenocarcinomas, and right upper lobe locations. In the pN+ group, OS was worse without chemotherapy or radiation. Radiation was associated with a strong trend for OS in the entire pN+ group (p = 0.0647) which was largely due to the effects on those having N2 disease (p = 0.009) or R1 resections (p = 0.03), but not N1 involvement (p = 0.87). PSM noted that SLR was associated with an inferior OS as compared to lobectomy by nodal stage in the overall patient population and even for those with tumors <2 cm. Conclusion: pN+ incidence in SLRs has decreased over time. SLR was associated with inferior OS as compared to lobectomy by nodal stage. Radiation appears to improve the OS in patients undergoing SLR with pN+, especially in those with N2 nodal involvement and/or positive margins.
Application-specific network-on-chip design space exploration framework for neuromorphic processor

Neuromorphic processors can support the design of various Spiking Neural Networks (SNN) to deal with different tasks, such as recognition and tracking. Neuromorphic processors use Network-on-Chip (NoC) to support communication between neurons in SNN. The different SNN has different communication traffic patterns. It will pose the different challenges of the NoC designing. A reasonable NoC architecture can improve the overall performance such as lower latency of the processor. Hence, it is critical to implement the exploration of NoC architecture design for neuromorphic processors. This paper proposes a rapid NoC design space exploration (DSE) framework. As to our knowledge, it is the first work for the NoC DSE for the neuromorphic processor. The framework takes the spikes of the SNN application as input. It can support multiple optimization objectives for NoC design. Meanwhile, an optimized simulated annealing algorithm has been used to perform the DSE for the NoC design space. Then it outputs the final NoC design configuration. We apply this framework to 7 SNN applications to perform the NoC DSE. Compared with baseline NoC configuration, the NoC DSE framework can improve performance (Average Transport latency) by 54% to 93%. Compared with the Simulated Annealing (SA) algorithm, the Better-History SA (BHSA) algorithm speeds up the searching process by 1.5 to 8 times.
Reprogramming of Lipid Metabolism as a New Driving Force Behind Tauroursodeoxycholic Acid-Induced Neural Stem Cell Proliferation

Recent evidence suggests that neural stem cell (NSC) fate is highly dependent on mitochondrial bioenergetics. Tauroursodeoxycholic acid (TUDCA), an endogenous neuroprotective bile acid and a metabolic regulator, stimulates NSC proliferation and enhances adult NSC pool in vitro and in vivo. In this study, we dissected the mechanism triggered by this proliferation-inducing molecule, namely in mediating metabolic reprogramming. Liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (LC-MS) based detection of differential proteomics revealed that TUDCA reduces the mitochondrial levels of the long-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase (LCAD), an enzyme crucial for β-oxidation of long-chain fatty acids (FA). TUDCA impact on NSC mitochondrial proteome was further confirmed, including in neurogenic regions of adult rats. We show that LCAD raises throughout NSC differentiation, while its silencing promotes NSC proliferation. In contrast, nuclear levels of sterol regulatory element-binding protein (SREBP-1), a major transcription factor of lipid biosynthesis, changes in the opposite manner of LCAD, being upregulated by TUDCA. In addition, alterations in some metabolic intermediates, such as palmitic acid, also supported the TUDCA-induced de novo lipogenesis. More interestingly, a metabolic shift from FA to glucose catabolism appears to occur in TUDCA-treated NSCs, since mitochondrial levels of pyruvate dehydrogenase E1-α (PDHE1-α) were significant enhanced by TUDCA. At last, the mitochondria-nucleus translocation of PDHE1-α was potentiated by TUDCA, associated with an increase of H3-histones and acetylated forms. In conclusion, TUDCA-induced proliferation of NSCs involves metabolic plasticity and mitochondria-nucleus crosstalk, in which nuclear PDHE1-α might be required to assure pyruvate-derived acetyl-CoA for histone acetylation and NSC cycle progression. Graphical Abstract TUDCA induces a metabolic shift to boost NSC proliferation. The FA and glucose oxidation counterbalance are crucial for NSC fate regulation. In early-differentiating NSCs, TUDCA increases de novo lipogenesis and proliferation by inducing a metabolic shift from FA to glucose catabolism that facilitates NSC cell cycle-associated H3 acetylation.
Cross-transmission studies of Perkinsus karlssoni (Apicomplexa) from bay scallops Argopecten irradians to native Atlantic Canadian shellfish species

The potential for cross-transmission of Perkinsus karlsson~ from bay scallops Argopecten irradians to various native Atlantic Canadian species of shellfish was investigated. Lateral proximal transmission was investigated whereby infected moribund bay scallops wcrc! maintained with uninfected individuals of other bivalve species in a recirculating artificial seawater system. There was no evidence, either histologically or by thiogl~~collate culture, to conclude that transmission of FI karlssoni had occurred over the 22 mo study period. ;:oosporanglal s t a g ~ s of P karlssoni were observed in both the male and female gonads of the bay scallop, and the possibility of parasite release during spawning is discussed. Shellfish mortality over the study period was attributed to intolerance of the temperature and salinity ranges of the holding system.
A Novel Attention Bias Modification Single Session Training Improves Eye Gaze Behaviour in Social Anxiety Disorder: A Pilot Study

Abstract Background Attention bias modification (ABM) can reduce anxiety and attentional bias towards threatening stimuli, but evidence of its usefulness as a potential intervention for socially anxious individuals has been mixed. Eye contact avoidance, a maladaptive attentional strategy in social anxiety disorder (SAD), has yet to be targeted by ABM research. Aims This study sought to establish whether a new ABM training paradigm could increase attentional deployment towards eyes and what effect this would have on social and gaze-related anxiety. Method Participants (n = 23) recruited through adverts calling for people who felt anxious in social situations completed either a novel ABM training task designed to induce attentional bias towards images of eyes over images of noses, or control training. Data on response times (RTs), accuracy of responses, gaze behaviour (using an eye tracker) and scores on clinical measures of social and gaze-related anxiety were collected before and after both training tasks. Results ABM training produced a greater number of initial saccades towards eye images than did the control task, indicating an induced shift in early attentional deployment. ABM training was also associated with a marginal increase in fixation durations on eye images. No effect was observed on RTs or social and gaze-related anxiety. Conclusions Our results indicate that ABM can alter the gaze behaviour of socially anxious individuals. They also highlight the importance of eye tracking to ABM research, because it was more sensitive than analyses of RTs to changes in early attentional deployment.
Identification of XylR, the Activator of Arabinose/Xylose Inducible Regulon in Sulfolobus acidocaldarius and Its Application for Homologous Protein Expression

The thermophilic archaeon Sulfolobus acidocaldarius can use different carbon sources for growth, including the pentoses D-xylose and L-arabinose. In this study, we identified the activator XylR (saci_2116) responsible for the transcriptional regulation of the pentose transporter and pentose metabolizing genes in S. acidocaldarius. A xylR deletion mutant showed growth retardation on D-xylose/L-arabinose containing media and the lack of transcription of the respective ABC transporter. In contrast to so far used promoters for expression in S. acidocaldarius, the xylR responsive promoters have a very low background activity. Finally, two XylR dependent promoters next to the long-established maltose inducible promotor were used to construct a high-throughput expression vector system for S. acidocaldarius to efficiently clone and express proteins in S. acidocaldarius.
A Core Genome Multilocus Sequence Typing Scheme for Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a ubiquitous microorganism and an important opportunistic pathogen responsible for a broad spectrum of infections mainly in immunosuppressed and critically ill patients. Molecular investigations traditionally rely on pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and multilocus sequence typing (MLST). In this work we propose a core genome multilocus sequence typing (cgMLST) scheme for P. aeruginosa, a methodology that combines traditional MLST principles with whole genome sequencing data. All publicly available complete P. aeruginosa genomes, representing the diversity of this species, were used to establish a cgMLST scheme targeting 2,653 genes. The scheme was then tested using genomes available at contig, chromosome and scaffold levels. The proposed cgMLST scheme for P. aeruginosa typed over 99% (2,314/2,325) of the genomes available for this study considering at least 95% of the cgMLST target genes present. The absence of a certain number gene targets at the threshold considered for both the creation and validation steps due to low genome sequence quality is possibly the main reason for this result. The cgMLST scheme was compared with previously published whole genome single nucleotide polymorphism analysis for the characterization of the population structure of the epidemic clone ST235 and results were highly similar. In order to evaluate the typing resolution of the proposed scheme, collections of isolates belonging to two important STs associated with cystic fibrosis, ST146 and ST274, were typed using this scheme, and ST235 isolates associated with an outbreak were evaluated. Besides confirming the relatedness of all the isolates, earlier determined by MLST, the higher resolution of cgMLST denotes that it may be suitable for surveillance programs, overcoming possible shortcomings of classical MLST. The proposed scheme is publicly available at: https://github.com/BioinformaticsHIAEMolecularMicrobiology/cgMLST-Pseudomonas-aeruginosa.
Genome-Wide Identification and Characterization of Vacuolar Processing Enzyme Gene Family and Diverse Expression Under Stress in Apple (Malus × Domestic)

Vacuolar processing enzymes (VPEs) play an important role in stress resistance and development of plants. Despite their diverse roles, little information is available in apple (Malus × domestic). This study firstly presents the genome-wide identification of VPE family genes in apple, resulting in 20 family members those are unevenly distributed across six out of the 17 chromosomes. Phylogenetic analysis assigned these genes into four groups. Analysis of exon–intron junctions and motifs of each candidate gene revealed high levels of conservation within and between phylogenetic groups. Cis-element including w box, ABRE, LTR, and TC-rich repeats were found in promoters of MdVPEs. NCBI-GEO database shown that the expression of MdVPEs exhibited diverse patterns in different tissues as well as the infection of Pythium ultimum and Apple Stem Grooving Virus. Furthermore, qRT-PCR showed that MdVPE genes were responsive to salt, cadmium, low-temperature, and drought. Overexpression of MDP0000172014, which was strongly induced by salt and drought stress, significantly decreased Arabidopsis tolerance to salt stress. The genome-wide identification and characterization of MdVPEs in apple provided basic information for the potential utilization of MdVPEs in stress resistance.