Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Author Profiling in the Wild

In this paper, we use machine learning for profiling authors of online textual media. We are interested in determining the gender and age of an author. We use two different approaches, one where the features are learned from raw data and one where features are manually extracted.We are interested in understanding how well author profiling works in the wild and therefore we have tested our models on different domains than they are trained on. Our results show that applying models to a different domain then they were trained on significantly decreases the performance of the models. The results show that more efforts need to be put into making models domain independent if techniques such as author profiling should be used operationally, for example by training on many different datasets and by using domain independent features.
Improving Reordering in Statistical Machine Translation from Farsi

In this paper, we propose a novel model for scoring reordering in phrase-based statistical machine translation (SMT) and successfully use it for translation from Farsi into English and Arabic. The model replaces the distance-based distortion model that is widely used in most SMT systems. The main idea of the model is to penalize each new deviation from the monotonic translation path. We also propose a way for combining this model with manually created reordering rules for Farsi which try to alleviate the difference in sentence structure between Farsi and English/Arabic by changing the position of the verb. The rules are used in the SMT search as soft constraints. In the experiments on two general-domain translation tasks, the proposed penalty-based model improves the BLEU score by up to 1.5% absolute as compared to the baseline of monotonic translation, and up to 1.2% as compared to using the distance-based distortion model.
Concordance of Prevalence of Human Papillomavirus DNA in Anogenital and Oral Infections in a High-Risk Population

ABSTRACT The concordance of the prevalence of human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA in 188 sex workers in five different locations was investigated. HPV was found in 43.6% of the women, and its prevalence at genital sites was similar. Prevalence was highest among women aged 20 years or younger but declined thereafter in specimens from all anogenital sites.
Selective Inhibitors of the Proteasome-dependent and Vacuolar Pathways of Protein Degradation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae *

We have studied whether various agents that inhibit purified yeast and mammalian 26 S proteasome can suppress the breakdown of different classes of proteins in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The degradation of short-lived proteins was inhibited reversibly by peptide aldehyde inhibitors of proteasomes, carbobenzoxyl-leucinyl-leucinyl-leucinal (MG132) and carbobenzoxyl-leucinyl-leucinyl-norvalinal (MG115), in a yeast mutant with enhanced permeability, but not in wild-type strains. Lactacystin, an irreversible proteasome inhibitor, had no effect, but the β-lactone derivative of lactacystin, which directly reacts with proteasomes, inhibited the degradation of short-lived proteins. These inhibitors also blocked the rapid ubiquitin-dependent breakdown of a β-galactosidase fusion protein and caused accumulation of enzymatically active molecules in cells. The degradation of the bulk of cell proteins, which are long-lived molecules, was not blocked by proteasome inhibitors, but could be blocked by phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride. This agent, which inhibits multiple vacuolar proteases, did not affect the proteasome or breakdown of short-lived proteins. These two classes of inhibitors can thus be used to distinguish the cytosolic and vacuolar proteolytic pathways and to increase the cellular content of short-lived proteins.
Rayleigh-Bénard convection near the gas-liquid critical point.

We present experimental results on Rayleigh-Benard convection in SF 6 near the gas-liquid critical point. We measured the critical temperature difference for the onset of convection, ΔT 0 , as a function of the reduced average temperature τ=(T-T c )/T c and found ΔT 0 =525×τ 1.89 , which is close to the expected power law behavior. The strong temperature dependence of the physical properties is used to scan the Prandtl number in a wide range. A new, many «target» pattern state, initiated by a defect instability, was observed
Imaging and CSF Studies in the Preclinical Diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease

Abstract: It is widely believed that the path to early and effective treatment for Alzheimer's disease (AD) requires the development of early diagnostic markers that are both sensitive and specific. To this aim, using longitudinal study designs, we and others have examined magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), 2‐fluoro‐2‐deoxy‐d‐glucose‐positron emission tomography (FDG/PET), and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers in cognitively normal elderly (NL) subjects and in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Such investigations have led to the often replicated findings that structural evidence of hippocampal atrophy as determined by MRI, as well as metabolic evidence from FDG‐PET scan of hippocampal damage, predicts the conversion from MCI to AD. In this article we present a growing body of evidence of even earlier diagnosis. Brain pathology can be detected in NL subjects and used to predict future transition to MCI. This prediction is enabled by examinations revealing reduced glucose metabolism in the hippocampal formation (hippocampus and entorhinal cortex [EC]) as well as by the rate of medial temporal lobe atrophy as determined by MRI. However, neither regional atrophy nor glucose metabolism reductions are specific for AD. These measures provide secondary not primary evidence for AD. Consequently, we will also summarize recent efforts to improve the diagnostic specificity by combining imaging with CSF biomarkers and most recently by evaluating amyloid imaging using PET. We conclude that the combined use of conventional imaging, that is MRI or FDG‐PET, with selected CSF biomarkers incrementally contributes to the early and specific diagnosis of AD. Moreover, selected combinations of imaging and CSF biomarkers measures are of importance in monitoring the course of AD and thus relevant to evaluating clinical trials.
Substrate uptake and protein stability relationship in mammalian histidine decarboxylase

There is some evidence linking the substrate entrance in the active site of mammalian histidine decarboxylase and an increased stability against proteolytic degradation. In this work, we study the basis of this relationship by means of protein structure network analysis and molecular dynamics simulations. We find that the substrate binding to the active site influences the conformation of a flexible region sensible to proteolytic degradation and observe how formation of the Michaelis–Menten complex increases stability in the conformation of this region. Proteins 2010. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Piezoelectric transducer surface vibration characterization using acoustic holography and laser vibrometry

The acoustic pressure radiated by a piezoelectric source can be predicted based on the normal velocity distribution along the transducer surface. However, up to now, there have been no reliable direct methods of surface vibration measurement in liquids. The transducer vibration is frequently considered as being uniform (thickness mode), which may be incorrect due to the transducer structure (e.g., phased arrays) or due to excitation of Lamb waves in the piezoelectric plate in addition to the thickness vibration mode. A holographic method has been developed and experimentally used that enables reconstruction of the radiator vibration pattern. The method includes: measurement of wave amplitude and phase at different points of a plane and perpendicular to the acoustic axis at some distance from the source; theoretical time reversal of the waveform in each gridpoint; backpropagation of the field to the source using the Rayleigh integral. Vibration of piezoelectric transducers was also studied using a laser vibrometer. A special experimental and theoretical study was performed in order to show that this well-developed method gives wrong results when the transducer is in contact with the liquid, because of strong acousto-optic interaction in a condensed media. It is shown that, although the acoustic holographic approach has limited spatial resolution (of the order of a wavelength), it allows fairly exact prediction of the radiated field pattern.
The Order of Concurrent Training Does not Affect Soccer-Related Performance Adaptations

Abstract Despite the wealth of evidence regarding physical training strategies in soccer, there is little information regarding soccer-specific concurrent training and the effects of training order. The current study aimed to: i) quantify the effects of concurrent high-intensity run-based training (HIT) and strength- and power-based training (STR) on soccer-specific performance, and ii) investigate the order effect of completing HIT and STR either first or second within training sessions. Eighteen semi- and fully-professional players completed a battery of field- and gym-based tests before and after a 5-week pre-season training intervention. Players were pair-matched and completed 3 sessions per week of HIT followed by STR (n=9) or STR followed by HIT (n=9). ANCOVA tests revealed no differences between groups for changes in any of the measures (p>0.05). However, a training effect was observed for all measures (p<0.05), with 10-m sprint, 6×30-m repeated sprint, 40-m agility and Yo-Yo test performances improving by 1.8±2.6%, 1.3±1.8%, 1.0±1.5% and 19.4±23.4%, respectively (n=18). In conclusion, there was a positive effect of the concurrent training approach on key measures of soccer performance, but the order of completing HIT and STR appears inconsequential to performance adaptations.
Dressing “in code”: Clothing rules, propriety, and perceptions

ABSTRACT Does dressing in line with societal clothing rules make a woman appear more professional and competent? We used a within-subjects design and tested if participants rated women dressed in compliance with school and workplace clothing rules more positively than women not dressed in compliance with rules. Participants (N = 89) at a mid-sized mid-western university rated 10 pictures of women captured from the internet on 11 attributes. Participants rated the five women dressed following clothing rules higher on a composite measure of positive attributes (intelligent, competent, powerful, organized, efficient, and professional), F(1, 86) = 68.92, p < . 001 ηp2 = . 45. Participant’s ratings did not correlate with their own self-reported levels of sexism. Participants’ gender was not a significant correlate. Our findings indicate that how students perceive women significantly relates to dressing in code. Participants rated women in less revealing and less tight clothing more positively.
A theory of relational signals in online groups

The outcomes of interaction in online communities depend to a large extent on finding solutions to typical problems of interaction, such as free-riding and lack of trust. This article presents a theory which argues that a member's online behaviour sends signals about how (s)he regards the relationship to other members and to the group. Under specific conditions, members take the signal sending into account when they decide whether to contribute to group discussions and to participate in trust-demanding online activities. Community administrators can use the insights to influence members' behaviour by using social control. Three forms of social control are distinguished. Group conditions influence which form is more adequate for diminishing free-riding and lack of trust. A theory-guided typology of online groups and communities clarifies what type of community is more likely to suffer from problems of interaction and the effects of each kind of social control.
Visual and Audio Aware Bi-Modal Video Emotion Recognition

With rapid increase in the size of videos online, analysis and prediction of affective impact that video content will have on viewers has attracted much attention in the community. To solve this challenge several different kinds of information about video clips are exploited. Traditional methods normally focused on single modality, either audio or visual. Later on some researchers tried to establish multi-modal schemes and spend a lot of time choosing and extracting features by different fusion strategy. In this research, we proposed an end-toend model which can automatically extract features and target an emotional classification task by integrating audio and visual features together and also adding the temporal characteristics of the video. The experimental study on commonly used MediaEval 2015 Affective Impact of Movies has shown this method’s potential and it is expected that this work could provide some insight for future video emotion recognition from feature fusion perspective.
Glutathione peroxidase-1 deficiency leads to increased nuclear light scattering, membrane damage, and cataract formation in gene-knockout mice.

PURPOSE Previous in vitro studies with transgenic and gene-knockout mice have shown that lenses with elevated levels of glutathione peroxidase (GPX)-1 activity are able to resist the cytotoxic effect of H(2)O(2), compared with normal lenses and lenses from GPX-1-deficient animals. The purpose of this study was to investigate the functional role of this enzyme in antioxidant mechanisms of lens in vivo by comparing lens changes of gene-knockout mice with age-matched control animals. METHODS In vivo lens changes were monitored by slit lamp biomicroscopy, and enucleated lenses were examined under a stereomicroscope in gene-knockout animals and age-matched control animals ranging in age from 3 weeks to 18 months. Transmission (TEM) and confocal microscopy were performed on different regions of lenses after the mice were killed at various times. RESULTS Slit lamp images showed an increase in nuclear light scattering (NLS) in gene-knockout mice compared with control animals. TEM revealed changes in the nucleus as early as 3 weeks of age by the appearance of waviness of fiber membranes. With increasing age, there was greater distortion of fiber membranes and distension of interfiber space at the apex of fiber cells compared with control mice. The changes in nuclear fiber membranes were even more dramatic, as observed by confocal microscopy, which was performed on thicker sections. In contrast to the changes in the lens nucleus, the morphology of the epithelium and superficial cortex remained unchanged in knockout animals during the same experimental period, consistent with slit lamp observations. Stereomicroscopy of ex vivo lenses demonstrated a significant increase in opacification in gene-knockout mice relative to control animals of the same age. This effect became evident in mice aged 5 to 9.9 months and persisted thereafter in older animals, resulting in mature cataracts after 15 months. CONCLUSIONS The results demonstrate the critical role of GPX-1 in antioxidant defense mechanisms of the lens nucleus. The increased NLS appears to be associated with damage to fiber membranes in the nucleus, which is particularly susceptible to oxidative challenge because of the deficiency of GPX-1. It is suggested that the lens membrane changes in the knockout animals may be due to the formation of lipid peroxides, which serve as substrates for GPX-1. Cataract development in gene-knockout mice appeared to progress from focal opacities, apparent at an earlier age, to lamellar cataracts between 6 and 10 months, and finally to complete opacification in animals older than 15 months. This is the first reported phenotype in GPX-1-knockout mice.
Observer-based sliding mode control of Markov jump systems with random sensor delays and partly unknown transition rates

ABSTRACT In this paper, the sliding mode control problem of Markov jump systems (MJSs) with unmeasured state, partly unknown transition rates and random sensor delays is probed. In the practical engineering control, the exact information of transition rates is hard to obtain and the measurement channel is supposed to subject to random sensor delay. Design a Luenberger observer to estimate the unmeasured system state, and an integral sliding mode surface is constructed to ensure the exponential stability of MJSs. A sliding mode controller based on estimator is proposed to drive the system state onto the sliding mode surface and render the sliding mode dynamics exponentially mean-square stable with H∞ performance index. Finally, simulation results are provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed results.
Neural Dynamics in Monkey Parietal Reach Region Reflect Context-Specific Sensorimotor Transformations

We investigated the neural dynamics of sensorimotor transformations in the parietal reach region (PRR) of monkeys. To dissociate sensory from motor goal representations, we used a memory-guided anti-reach task. The monkeys had to reach either to a visually instructed, memorized peripheral target position (pro-reach) or to a diametrically opposed position (anti) while keeping central ocular fixation. Pro- and anti-reaches were randomly interleaved and indicated by a color instruction from the beginning of each trial. We analyzed spatiotemporal single-cell tuning and performed time-resolved population decoding to quantify the dynamic representation of the spatial visual cue, the reach goal, and the currently valid task rule (pro/anti mapping). Sensory information regarding the visual cue position was represented weakly during a short period of cue visibility. PRR predominantly encoded the reach goal from the end of the cue period on. The representation of the reach goal in the memory task evolves later for the anti- compared with pro-reaches, consistent with a 40–50 ms difference in reaction time between the two task rules. The task rule could be decoded before the appearance of the spatial cue, which indicates that abstract rule information is present in PRR that is independent of spatial cue or motor goal representations. Our findings support the hypothesis that PRR immediately translates current sensory information into reach movement plans, rather than storing the memorized cue location in the instructed-delay task. This finding indicates that PRR represents integrated knowledge on spatial sensory information combined with abstract behavioral rules to encode the desired movement goal.
Towards Automatic Icon Design using Machine Learning

We propose a deep learning approach for automatic colorization of icons. The system maps grayscale outlines to fully colored and stylized icons using a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN). The colorization is performed in a single feed-forward pass, enabling colorizations in less than 0.5s per image. Compared to previous research in colorization of grayscale images or anime characters, icon colorization is significantly more multi-modal and icon outlines have less structure to guide colorization. This poses a challenge to traditional supervised learning training regimes. Our main contributions are (1) framing this as a supervised learning problem and presenting the results of optimizing a U-Net CNN architecture on perpixel L1 loss, (2) performing ablative analysis on our data augmentation pipeline and (3) demonstrating that introducing an adversarial loss term can produce color reproduction more faithful to the original icon styles. This is the first system we know of that applies CNNs to the colorization of icon outlines. Our code and models are available at https://mosessoh.github. io/iconcolor
A Bootstrap Procedure for Inference in Nonparametric Instrumental Variables

This paper proposes a consistent bootstrap procedure for the test statistic of Santos (2007). The derived bootstrap allows for inference in partially identified nonparametric instrumental variables models. It can be employed to test whether at least one element of the identified set satisfies a conjectured restriction. Possible applications include testing for shape restrictions such as economies of scale and scope as well as building confidence regions for functionals on the identified set, such as the level of the function and its derivative at a point. The obtained procedure is also applicable to a wider class of models defined by a conditional moment restriction, as in Newey & Powell (2003) and Ai & Chen (2003).
Identification of a Post-targeting Step Required for Efficient Cotranslational Translocation of Proteins across the Escherichia coli Inner Membrane*

Recent studies have shown that cytoplasmic proteins are exported efficiently in Escherichia coli only if they are attached to signal peptides that are recognized by the signal recognition particle and are thereby targeted to the SecYEG complex cotranslationally. The evidence suggests that the entry of these proteins into the secretory pathway at an early stage of translation is necessary to prevent them from folding into a translocation-incompetent conformation. We found, however, that several glycolytic enzymes attached to signal peptides that are recognized by the signal recognition particle were exported inefficiently. Based on previous studies of post-translational export, we hypothesized that the export block was due to the presence of basic residues at the extreme N terminus of each enzyme. Consistent with our hypothesis, we found that the introduction of negatively charged residues into this segment increased the efficiency of export. Export efficiency was sensitive to the number, position, and sequence context of charged residues. The importance of charge for efficient export was underscored by an in silico analysis that revealed a conserved negative charge bias at the N terminus of the mature region of bacterial presecretory proteins. Our results demonstrate that cotranslational targeting of a protein to the E. coli SecYEG complex does not ensure its export but that export also depends on a subsequent event (most likely the initiation of translocation) that involves sequences both within and just beyond the signal peptide.
Time-averaged level of fibroblast growth factor-23 and clinical events in chronic kidney disease.

BACKGROUND A single time-point fibroblast growth factor-23 (FGF23) level is a strong, well-established risk factor for clinical events in chronic kidney disease (CKD). This study investigated whether repeated measurements of FGF23 after 2 years, allowing the calculation of time-averaged FGF23 and the rate of change in FGF23, provided a better prediction of clinical events in CKD than a single time-point value. METHODS A post-hoc analysis was performed in a subset of 439 adult patients with a median estimated glomerular filtration rate of 36 (interquartile range 28-48) mL/min per 1.73 m(2) of the prospective multicentre MASTERPLAN study, in which paired samples to measure FGF23 were available. The primary outcome was defined as a composite of myocardial infarction, stroke and cardiovascular mortality and secondary end points, which were overall mortality, congestive heart failure (CHF) and start of renal replacement therapy. Only events occurring after Month 24 were included in the analysis. RESULTS Analysis of different FGF23 measures showed that a single time-point value and time-averaged FGF23 were positively associated with the primary end point, and also with overall mortality, start of renal replacement therapy and CHF. The adjusted hazard ratios of a single value of FGF23 and of time-averaged FGF23 for the composite end points were 1.71 (CI 1.20-2.43) and 1.91 (CI 1.29-2.82), respectively. Change in FGF23 was not associated with any outcome except for the initiation of renal replacement therapy. CONCLUSIONS Our study confirms that FGF23 is an important cardiovascular risk factor. Two measurements of FGF23 have no added value over a single value to predict the cardiovascular outcome. This study demonstrates that, under routine clinical practice, the variability of FGF23 in 2 years' time is small. Concomitantly, this study showed no benefit of consecutive FGF23 testing for estimating the risk of a clinical event in an individual patient.