Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Clear versus casual consonant identification by hearing-impaired and normal-hearing listeners

ABSTRACT Hearing-impaired (HI) listeners who benefit from hearing-aid use in quiet often continue to have difficulty understanding speech in noise. Requesting talkers to speak clearly is one strategy to overcome this deficit. Paradoxically, one feature of clear speech is a shift to higher frequencies, which may move speech energy into a frequency range that is inaudible or more distorted for some HI listeners. Casual (or conversational) speech, on the other hand, may shift speech energy into a lower frequency range that is more audible or less distorted. This study examined the intelligibility of 21 amplified, casually- and clearly-spoken, US English coda consonants in nonsense syllables for 10 normal-hearing (NH) and 17 HI listeners. Most clear-speech consonants yielded higher recognition scores as expected. However, certain phonological processes common in casual speech, such as palatalization of higher frequency alveolar into lower frequency postalveolar consonants, generated significantly higher scores than their clear counterparts for some HI listeners in noise. These results have implications for coaching conversational partners of aided HI listeners. For the military, talkers can be instructed how to speak to Service members with hearing loss or in noisy environments.
Parameterized Streaming Algorithms for Min-Ones d-SAT

In this work, we initiate the study of the Min-Ones d -SAT problem in the parameterized streaming model. An instance of the problem consists of a d -CNF formula F and an integer k , and the objective is to determine if F has a satisfying assignment which sets at most k variables to 1. In the parameterized streaming model, input is provided as a stream, just as in the usual streaming model. The key diﬀerence is that now the amount of local memory available to the algorithm is Θ( f ( k ) log n ) ( f : N → N , a computable function) as opposed to the usual streaming model’s O(log n ). It is also expected that the algorithm make a small number of passes (bounded by a function of k ) over its input. We design a ( k + 1)-pass
Prognostic Values of Long Noncoding RNA linc00152 in Various Carcinomas: An Updated Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Dysregulation of the long noncoding RNA linc00152 has been reported in various solid tumors. Here, we performed a synthetic analysis to clarify the clinical value of linc00152 as a prognostic indicator in malignant tumors. Article collection was conducted using several electronic databases, including PubMed, Web of Science, Medline, OVID, and Embase (up to February 13, 2018). The meta-analysis comprised nine original studies and 808 total patients. The application of a random-effects model revealed significant positive association between high expression level of linc00152 and lymph node metastasis (odds ratio [OR] = 2.93, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.88-4.57, p < .0001; I2 = 48.8, p = .119) and negative association with low-grade cancer (OR = 2.43, 95% CI: 1.51-3.92; I2 = 61.7, p = .033), while with tumor recurrence (hazard ratio [HR] = 3.32, 95% CI: 1.98-5.57, p < .0001; I2 = 0, p = .451) by fixed-effects model as the low heterogeneity. As demonstrated via the application of the fixed-effects model, Linc00152 overexpression is positively related to poor overall survival (pooled HR = 1.98, 95% CI: 1.70-2.31, p < .0001; I2 = 0%, p = .756) and poor disease-free survival (HR = 1.66, 95% CI: 1.20-2.29, p < .0001; I2 = 75.8%, p = .042) in human solid cancers. Statistically significant associations were additionally found with cancer type, sample size, and follow-up time. In conclusion, linc00152 is of potential value as a novel biomarker of lymph node metastasis and prognosis in human cancer. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: linc00152 is of potential value as a novel biomarker of lymph node metastasis and prognosis in human cancer.
STUDY OF LIPID BIOMARKERS OF PATIENTS WITH POLYPS AND COLORECTAL CÂNCER.

BACKGROUND Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the leading causes of cancer worldwide. Early diagnostic methods using serum biomarkers are required. The study of omics, most recently lipidomics, has the purpose of analyzing lipids for a better understanding of human lipidoma. The evolution of mass spectrometry methods, such as MALDI-MS technology, has enabled the detection and identification of a wide variety of lipids with great potential to open new avenues for predictive and preventive medicine. OBJECTIVE To determine the lipid profile of patients with colorectal cancer and polyps. METHODS Patients with stage I-III CRC, adenomatous polyps and individuals with normal colonoscopy were selected. All patients underwent peripheral blood collection for lipid extraction. The samples were analyzed by MALDI-MS technique for lipid identification. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS Univariate and multivariate (principal component analysis [PCA] and discriminant analysis by partial least squares [PLS-DA]) analyses workflows were applied to the dataset, using MetaboAnalyst 3.0 software. The ions were identified according to the class of lipids using the online database Lipid Maps (http://www.lipidmaps.org). RESULTS We included 88 individuals, 40 with CRC, 12 with polyps and 32 controls. Boxplot analysis showed eight VIP ions in the three groups. Differences were observed between the cancer and control groups, as well as between cancer and polyp, but not between polyps and control. The polyketide (810.1) was the lipid represented in cancer and overrepresented in polyp and control. Among the patients with CRC we observed differences between lipids with lymph node invasion (N1-2) compared to those without lymph node invasion (N). CONCLUSION Possible lipid biomarkers were identified among cancer patients compared to control and polyp groups. The polyketide lipid (810.1) was the best biomarker to differentiate the cancer group from control and polyp. We found no difference between the biomarkers in the polyp group in relation to the control.
Effects of Variety and Grape Berry Condition of Vitis vinifera on Preference Behavior and Performance of Drosophila suzukii

Drosophila suzukii is an invasive fruit pest and represents a potential economic threat to viticulture. After first observations of D. suzukii in Europe in 2008, research mainly focused on the evaluation of the host range and infestation risk for fruit and berry crops. However, the risk assessment of D. suzukii in viticulture has only recently started. Understanding the factors influencing preferences of D. suzukii for host species and varieties as well as offspring performance is essential to improve management strategies. We investigated the field infestation of different grape varieties across Baden-Wuerttemberg, southwestern Germany, between 2015 and 2018. Moreover, we performed dual-choice assays in the laboratory to investigate whether adults show preferences for certain varieties and whether offspring performance differs between varieties. Furthermore, we studied the impact of grape damage on choice behavior. Field monitoring revealed that D. suzukii show preferences for red varieties, whereas almost no oviposition occurred in white varieties. The results of dual-choice assays confirmed that D. suzukii preference and performance are influenced by grape variety and that flies preferred damaged over intact “Pinot Noir”, “Pinot Blanc”, and “Müller-Thurgau” berries. Overall, these findings may have important implications for winegrowers regarding cultivated varieties, grape health, and insecticide reduction.
Motif Counting in Preferential Attachment Graphs

Network motifs are small patterns that occur in a network significantly more often than expected. They have gathered a lot of interest, as they may describe functional dependencies of complex networks and yield insights into their basic structure [Milo et al., 2002]. Therefore, a large amount of work went into the development of methods for network motif detection in complex networks [Kashtan et al., 2004; Schreiber and Schwobbermeyer, 2005; Chen et al., 2006; Wernicke, 2006; Grochow and Kellis, 2007; Alon et al., 2008; Omidi et al., 2009]. The underlying problem of motif detection is to count how often a copy of a pattern graph H occurs in a target graph G. This problem is #W[1]-hard when parameterized by the size of H [Flum and Grohe, 2004] and cannot be solved in time f(|H|)n^o(|H|) under #ETH [Chen et al., 2005]. Preferential attachment graphs [Barabasi and Albert, 1999] are a very popular random graph model designed to mimic complex networks. They are constructed by a random process that iteratively adds vertices and attaches them preferentially to vertices that already have high degree. Preferential attachment has been empirically observed in real growing networks [Newman, 2001; Jeong et al., 2003]. We show that one can count subgraph copies of a graph H in the preferential attachment graph G^n_m (with n vertices and nm edges, where m is usually a small constant) in expected time f(|H|) m^O(|H|^6) log(n)^O(|H|^12) n. This means the motif counting problem can be solved in expected quasilinear FPT time on preferential attachment graphs with respect to the parameters |H| and m. In particular, for fixed H and m the expected run time is O(n^(1+epsilon)) for every epsilon>0. Our results are obtained using new concentration bounds for degrees in preferential attachment graphs. Assume the (total) degree of a set of vertices at a time t of the random process is d. We show that if d is sufficiently large then the degree of the same set at a later time n is likely to be in the interval (1 +/- epsilon)d sqrt(n/t) (for epsilon > 0) for all n >= t. More specifically, the probability that this interval is left is exponentially small in d.
Design and Analysis of Sram Cell for Reducing Leakage in Submicron Technologies Using Cadence Tool

Leakage power has become a great challenge now a days. As the size of the device shrink the leakage power increases. So the leakage power is the very serious problem in CMOS chips. As we move towards the submicron technology the device consistency and the threshold voltage become smaller. When decreasing the supply voltage, the threshold voltage and the oxide thickness decreases due to this leakage increases. The main motivation of this work is to reduce the leakage of the SRAM. The circuit of the SRAM is designed by using different leakage reduction technique like sleep transistor technique, force stack technique, sleepy stack technique and simulated in the cadence virtuoso tool using 45nm,90nm,180nm process technology.
Behavioral Cybersecurity: Investigating the influence of Patching Vulnerabilities in Markov Security Games via Cognitive Modeling

Current research in cyber-security is not focused on human decision-making. The primary objective of this study is to address this gap and investigate how cognitive processes proposed by Instance-based Learning Theory (IBLT) like reliance on recency and frequency, attention to opponent’s actions, and cognitive noise are influenced by the effectiveness of vulnerability patching. Data involving participants performing as hackers and analysts was collected in a lab-based experiment in two patching conditions: effective (N = 50) and less-effective (N = 50). In effective (less-effective) patching, computer systems were in a non-vulnerable state (i.e., immune to cyber-attacks) 90% (50%) of the time after patching. An IBL model accounted for human decisions and revealed low (high) reliance on recency and frequency, attention to opponent’s actions, and cognitive noise for hacker (analyst) in effective patching. Whereas, it revealed opposite results for less-effective patching. We highlight the implications of our findings for cyber decision-making.
Metricas de Tamanho de Software com Metodos Ageis no Setor Publico: uma Revisão Sistemática

A administrac~ao publica tem utilizado cada vez mais metodos ageis, adequando-se a realidade do mercado. Muito embora continue obrigada a mensurar suas entregas atraves de alguma metrica de tamanho de software, a escolha adequada dessa metrica pode denir o nvel de sucesso dos projetos publicos. Neste artigo, identica-se as congurac~oes de metricas de tamanho de software em conjunto com metodos ageis no setor publico. Como instrumento metodologico para a identicac~ao de evid^encias foi utilizada a revis~ao sistematica da literatura. A metrica Ponto de Func~ao IFPUG e o metodo Manifesto Agil e Scrum foram identicados como os mais utilizados no setor publico. A denic~ao de congurac~oes de uso de metricas e metodos ageis no setor publico torna possvel direcionar a tomada de decis~oes para a conclus~ao com sucesso dos projetos, no menor tempo possvel, com o menor custo aceitavel e entregando valor agregado perceptvel a sociedade.
Interval Temporal Logic for Visibly Pushdown Systems

In this article, we introduce and investigate an extension of Halpern and Shoham’s interval temporal logic HS for the specification and verification of branching-time context-free requirements of pushdown systems under a state-based semantics over Kripke structures enforcing visibility of the pushdown operations. The proposed logic, called nested BHS, supports branching-time both in the past and in the future and is able to express non-regular properties of linear and branching behaviours of procedural contexts in a natural way. It strictly subsumes well-known linear time context-free extensions of LTL such as CaRet [4] and NWTL [2]. The main result is the decidability of the visibly pushdown model-checking problem against nested BHS. The proof exploits a non-trivial automata-theoretic construction.
Monitoring 'Cyber Related' Discussions in Online Social Platforms

As the use of social platforms continues to evolve, in areas such as cyber-security and defence, it has become imperative to develop adaptive methods for tracking, identifying and investigating cyber-related activities on these platforms. This paper introduces a new approach for detecting cyber-related discussions in online social platforms using a candidate set of terms that are representative of the cyber domain. The objective of this paper is to create a cyber lexicon with cyber-related terms that is applicable to the automatic detection of cyber activities across various online platforms. The method presented in this paper applies natural language processing techniques to representative data from multiple social platform types such as Reddit, Stack overflow, twitter and cyberwar news to extract candidate terms for a generic cyber lexicon. In selecting the candidate terms, we introduce the APMIS Aggregated Pointwise Mutual Information Score in comparison with the Term Frequency-Term Degree Ratio (FDR Score) and Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency Score (TF-IDF Score). These scoring mechanisms are robust to account for term frequency, term relevance and mutual dependence between terms. Finally, we evaluate the performance of the cyber lexicon by measuring its precision of in classifying discussions as 'Cyber-Related' or 'Non-Cyber-Related'.
MicroRNA-139-3p Inhibits The Growth And Metastasis Of Ovarian Cancer By Inhibiting ELAVL1

Background The aberrant expression of microRNA-139-3p (miR-139-3p) has been recently involved in the development of multiple tumor types, but its function in ovarian cancer remains not well investigated. In this study, we mainly investigated the function of miR-139-3p in the progression of ovarian cancer. Methods The levels of miR-139-3p in ovarian cancer cells and tissues were detected using quantitative real-time-PCR (qRT-PCR) assay. The proliferation, colony formation, migration and invasion of ovarian cancer cell were determined, respectively. A luciferase reporter assay was used to confirm ELAV Like RNA Binding Protein 1 (ELAVL1) was a target gene of miR-139-3p. The expression of ELAVL1 was detected using Western blotting and immunofluorescence staining assay. The roles of miR-139-3p on the growth and metastasis of ovarian cancer cell in vivo were explored using transplanted tumor model and experimental lung metastasis model. Results MiR-139-3p was down-regulated in ovarian cancer tissues and ovarian cancer cell lines (SK-OV-3, A2780 and OVCAR-3). Overexpression of miR-139-3p decreased the growth, colony formation, migration and invasiveness of SK-OV-3 and OVCAR-3 cells. Moreover, overexpression of miR-139-3p reduced the growth and lung metastasis of ovarian cancer cells in vivo. The luciferase reporter gene assay indicated that ELAVL1 was a target of miR-139-3p and its expression was negatively regulated by miR-139-3p. Furthermore, the expression of ELAVL1 was inversely correlated with miR-139-3p level in ovarian cancer tissue. Conclusion Taken together, we demonstrated that miR-139-3p regulated ovarian cancer growth and metastasis by modulating the expression of ELAVL1.
The Intracellular Delivery Of Anti-HPV16 E7 scFvs Through Engineered Extracellular Vesicles Inhibits The Proliferation Of HPV-Infected Cells

Purpose Single-chain variable fragments (scFvs) are one of the smallest antigen-binding units having the invaluable advantage to be expressed by a unique short open reading frame (ORF). Despite their reduced size, spontaneous cell entry of scFvs remains inefficient, hence precluding the possibility to target intracellular antigens. Here, we describe an original strategy to deliver scFvs inside target cells through engineered extracellular vesicles (EVs). This approach relies on the properties of a Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)-1 Nef mutant protein referred to as Nefmut. It is a previously characterized Nef allele lacking basically all functions of wt Nef, yet strongly accumulating in the EV lumen also when fused at its C-terminus with a foreign protein. To gain the proof-of-principle for the efficacy of the proposed strategy, the tumor-promoting Human Papilloma Virus (HPV)16-E7 protein was considered as a scFv-specific intracellular target. The oncogenic effect of HPV16-E7 relies on its binding to the tumor suppressor pRb protein leading to a dysregulated cell duplication. Interfering with this interaction means impairing the HPV16-E7-induced cell proliferation. Methods The Nefmut gene was fused in frame at its 3ʹ-terminus with the ORF coding for a previously characterized anti-HPV16-E7 scFv. Interaction between the Nefmut-fused anti-HPV16-E7 scFv and the HPV16-E7 protein was tested by both confocal microscope and co-immunoprecipitation analyses on co-transfected cells. The in cis anti-proliferative effect of the Nefmut/anti-HPV16-E7 scFv was assayed by transfecting HPV16-infected cells. The anti-proliferative effect of EVs engineered with Nefmut/anti-HPV16-E7 scFv on HPV16-E7-expressing cells was evaluated in two ways: i) through challenge with purified EVs by a Real-Time Cell Analysis system and ii) in transwell co-cultures by an MTS-based assay. Results The Nefmut/anti-HPV16-E7 scFv chimeric product is efficiently uploaded in EVs, binds HPV16-E7, and inhibits the proliferation of HPV16-E7-expressing cells. Most important, challenge with cell-free EVs incorporating the Nefmut/anti-HPV16-E7 scFv led to the inhibition of proliferation of HPV16-E7-expressing cells. The proliferation of these cells was hindered also when they were co-cultured in transwells with cells producing EVs uploading Nefmut/anti-HPV16-E7 scFv. Conclusion Our data represent the proof-of-concept for the possibility to target intracellular antigens through EV-mediated delivery of scFvs. This finding could be relevant to design novel methods of intracellular therapeutic interventions.
DISSERTAÇÃO DE MESTRADO ROBOT-AIDED ENDOSCOPE CONTROL UNDER LAPAROSCOPIC SURGERY CONSTRAINTS USING DUAL QUATERNIONS

This work is divided in two complementary contributions concerning the use of serial-link robotic manipulators in a laparoscopic surgery setting. At first, known techniques for singularity robustness and redundancy exploitation are adapted to the use of unit dual quaternions, which have some advantages over homogenous transformation matrices concerning compactness, while not having singularities natural to minimal representations. The performance of the adapted techniques is evaluated in a simple simulated task. Using those techniques, we can control a manipulator robot to aid in laparoscopic procedures. As opposed to specialized surgical robots, a serial robot might be used for different procedures, lowering the involved costs. In such scenario, the safety on the pivoting point must be assured by software. This work presents a novel control strategy for controlling laparoscopic tools attached to robotic manipulators that makes use of a programmable RCM. The tool movement references are generated intuitively by the surgeon. The method is evaluated in a simulated surgical environment and presented satisfactory results, in terms of pivoting point generation error and tool positioning error.
Tacit Knowledge Transfer of Middle Level Manager and the Relationship between Knowledge Transfer Behavior and Demographic Properties: A Research on Public Enterprises

Knowledge is a strategic factor which provides a competitive advantage in a fierce competition environment. Sustainability of organization, which can be affected by various factors, is needed to transfer of strategic and specialized knowledge from executive to other managers and workers. But the transfer of knowledge is a complicated process, because the knowledge has cognitive or subjective traits as well as objective framework. Because of the nature of knowledge, there are some classifications about its traits. Tacit knowledge and explicit knowledge are the most common classification which emphasizes tacit knowledge is so embedded in the individual while explicit is about facts and things. From this point of view, the aim of this study is to examine the relationship between the behavior of knowledge transfer and properties of middle level manager. The sample group consists of 335 middle level managers in public enterprises in Turkey. The data were collected through a questionnaire that is reformed by the authors as 10 items with reference to Bock et al. (2005) and Göksel et al. (2010). As a result of the conducted analysis, statistical significant relationships were found between the two variables (p<0,01). Finally, demographic information of the sample is seen important for researchers, professionals, and those interested in these fields.
Integrating climate adaptation and biodiversity conservation in the global ocean

We evaluate the extent of climate change adaptation in the global protected seascape, and identify ways to further advance it. The impacts of climate change and the socioecological challenges they present are ubiquitous and increasingly severe. Practical efforts to operationalize climate-responsive design and management in the global network of marine protected areas (MPAs) are required to ensure long-term effectiveness for safeguarding marine biodiversity and ecosystem services. Here, we review progress in integrating climate change adaptation into MPA design and management and provide eight recommendations to expedite this process. Climate-smart management objectives should become the default for all protected areas, and made into an explicit international policy target. Furthermore, incentives to use more dynamic management tools would increase the climate change responsiveness of the MPA network as a whole. Given ongoing negotiations on international conservation targets, now is the ideal time to proactively reform management of the global seascape for the dynamic climate-biodiversity reality.