Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Intrinsic Fourier Analysis on the Manifold of Speech Sounds

Recently, there has been much interest in geometrically motivated dimensionality reduction algorithms. These algorithms exploit low-dimensional manifold structure in certain natural datasets to reduce dimensionality while preserving categorical content. This paper has two goals: (i) to motivate the existence of a low-dimensional curved manifold structure to voiced speech sounds, and (ii) to present a new intrinsic (manifold-based) spectrogram technique founded on the existence this manifold structure. We find that the intrinsic representation allows phonetic distinction in fewer dimensions than required by a traditional spectrogram
The energy components of stacked chromatin layers explain the morphology, dimensions and mechanical properties of metaphase chromosomes

The measurement of the dimensions of metaphase chromosomes in different animal and plant karyotypes prepared in different laboratories indicates that chromatids have a great variety of sizes which are dependent on the amount of DNA that they contain. However, all chromatids are elongated cylinders that have relatively similar shape proportions (length to diameter ratio approx. 13). To explain this geometry, it is considered that chromosomes are self-organizing structures formed by stacked layers of planar chromatin and that the energy of nucleosome–nucleosome interactions between chromatin layers inside the chromatid is approximately 3.6 × 10−20 J per nucleosome, which is the value reported by other authors for internucleosome interactions in chromatin fibres. Nucleosomes in the periphery of the chromatid are in contact with the medium; they cannot fully interact with bulk chromatin within layers and this generates a surface potential that destabilizes the structure. Chromatids are smooth cylinders because this morphology has a lower surface energy than structures having irregular surfaces. The elongated shape of chromatids can be explained if the destabilizing surface potential is higher in the telomeres (approx. 0.16 mJ m−2) than in the lateral surface (approx. 0.012 mJ m−2). The results obtained by other authors in experimental studies of chromosome mechanics have been used to test the proposed supramolecular structure. It is demonstrated quantitatively that internucleosome interactions between chromatin layers can justify the work required for elastic chromosome stretching (approx. 0.1 pJ for large chromosomes). The high amount of work (up to approx. 10 pJ) required for large chromosome extensions is probably absorbed by chromatin layers through a mechanism involving nucleosome unwrapping.
Investigation of Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) in Australian commercial milk using qPCR

This technical research communication describes the first study to use quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) to investigate the presence of Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) in Australian pasteurised milk. MAC is the most common NTM responsible for human illnesses and includes M. avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP). MAC is a causative agent of lymphadenitis in children, with contaminated food and water considered as a likely source. As such the presence of MAC in milk would have public health significance. MAP has been linked to Crohn's disease and is also the causative agent of Johne's disease in cattle. Previous studies have detected MAP in pasteurised milk from Brazil, India, Czech Republic, USA, Argentina, UK, Iran, Ireland and the United Kingdom. This study investigated a total of 180 commercially available Australian pasteurised milk samples which were tested for MAC DNA in triplicate using PCR. All samples were negative for MAC DNA. An additional 14 milk samples were tested, incubated for 3 weeks at 37 °C to potentially increase the concentration of any viable MAC that may be present and then retested. All samples were again negative for MAC DNA. This could be due to concentrations below the limit of detection, limited sample size or could be reflective of the Australian biosecurity control protocols and surveillance of Johne's disease in ruminant animals.
Cellodextrin Utilization by Bifidobacterium breve UCC2003

ABSTRACT Cellodextrins, the incomplete hydrolysis products from insoluble cellulose, are accessible as a carbon source to certain members of the human gut microbiota, such as Bifidobacterium breve UCC2003. Transcription of the cldEFGC gene cluster of B. breve UCC2003 was shown to be induced upon growth on cellodextrins, implicating this cluster in the metabolism of these sugars. Phenotypic analysis of a B. breve UCC2003::cldE insertion mutant confirmed that the cld gene cluster is exclusively required for cellodextrin utilization by this commensal. Moreover, our results suggest that transcription of the cld cluster is controlled by a LacI-type regulator encoded by cldR, located immediately upstream of cldE. Gel mobility shift assays using purified CldRHis (produced by the incorporation of a His12-encoding sequence into the 3′ end of the cldC gene) indicate that the cldEFGC promoter is subject to negative control by CldRHis, which binds to two inverted repeats. Analysis by high-performance anion-exchange chromatography with pulsed amperometric detection (HPAEC-PAD) of medium samples obtained during growth of B. breve UCC2003 on a mixture of cellodextrins revealed its ability to utilize cellobiose, cellotriose, cellotetraose, and cellopentaose, with cellotriose apparently representing the preferred substrate. The cldC gene of the cld operon of B. breve UCC2003 is, to the best of our knowledge, the first described bifidobacterial β-glucosidase exhibiting hydrolytic activity toward various cellodextrins.
Empiricist Versus Sociological History: Some Comments on the ‘Civilizing Process’

This article offers a critique of the use of historical evidence by one of the sociologist proponents of the civilizing process in British sport. It argues that, in using cricket to illustrate how sport became less violent, he failed to define violence in a manner conducive to meaningful historical examination and, further, made historical errors of fact, relied too much on unchecked secondary sources, misinterpreted evidence, and argued by limited example.
A Physics-Driven Neural Networks-Based Simulation System (PhyNNeSS) for Multimodal Interactive Virtual Environments Involving Nonlinear Deformable Objects

While an update rate of 30 Hz is considered adequate for real-time graphics, a much higher update rate of about 1 kHz is necessary for haptics. Physics-based modeling of deformable objects, especially when large nonlinear deformations and complex nonlinear material properties are involved, at these very high rates is one of the most challenging tasks in the development of real-time simulation systems. While some specialized solutions exist, there is no general solution for arbitrary nonlinearities. In this work we present PhyNNeSS—a Physics-driven Neural Networks-based Simulation System—to address this long-standing technical challenge. The first step is an offline precomputation step in which a database is generated by applying carefully prescribed displacements to each node of the finite element models of the deformable objects. In the next step, the data is condensed into a set of coefficients describing neurons of a Radial Basis Function Network (RBFN). During real-time computation, these neural networks are used to reconstruct the deformation fields as well as the interaction forces. We present realistic simulation examples from interactive surgical simulation with real-time force feedback. As an example, we have developed a deformable human stomach model and a Penrose drain model used in the Fundamentals of Laparoscopic Surgery (FLS) training tool box. A unique computational modeling system has been developed that is capable of simulating the response of nonlinear deformable objects in real time. The method distinguishes itself from previous efforts in that a systematic physics-based precomputational step allows training of neural networks which may be used in real-time simulations. We show, through careful error analysis, that the scheme is scalable, with the accuracy being controlled by the number of neurons used in the simulation. PhyNNeSS has been integrated into SoFMIS (Software Framework for Multimodal Interactive Simulation) for general use.
Phase estimation of PSK signals using XTFD: A performances comparison between local and global adaptive methods

The quadratic time-frequency distribution (TFD) provides distribution of energy over the time-frequency plane for time-varying signals. Since phase information is not represented, the cross TFD (XTFD) is proposed to analyze phase shift keying (PSK) signals by providing localized phase information. However, the phase estimation does not yield desirable performances as the time-frequency representation is interfered by duplicated terms. The problem is solved by the proposed XTFD which uses an adaptive window to remove the duplicated term. The local and global adaptive algorithms are proposed to estimate the window width. It is shown that both algorithms meet the theoretical limit at a minimum signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of 5dB. At lower SNR, the local adaptive method outperforms the global adaptive method at the expense of higher number of computation.
GENMR: Generalized Query Processing through Map Reduce In Cloud Database Management System

Big Data, Cloud computing, Cloud Database Management techniques, Data Science and many more are the fantasizing words which are the future of IT industry. For all the new techniques one common thing is that they deal with Data, not just Data but the Big Data. Users store their various kinds of data on cloud repositories. Cloud Database Management System deals with such large sets of data. For processing such gigantic amount of data, traditional approaches are not suitable because these approaches are not able to handle such size of data. To handle these, various solutions have been developed such as Hadoop, Map Reduce Programming codes, HIVE, PIG etc. Map Reduce codes provides both scalability and reliability. But till date, users are habitual of SQL, Oracle kind of codes for dealing with data and they are not aware of Map Reduce codes. In this paper, a generalized model GENMR has been implemented, which takes queries written in various RDBMS forms like SQL, ORACLE, DB2, MYSQL and convert into Map Reduce codes. A comparison has been done to evaluate the performance of GENMR with latest techniques like HIVE and PIG and it has been concluded that GENMR shows much better performance as compare to both the techniques. We also introduce an optimization technique for mapper placement problems to enhance the effect of parallelism which improves the performance of such Amalgam approach.
Teacher Leadership: More than Just a Feel-Good Factor?

This article provides a critical analysis of the teacher leadership literature. It considers teacher leadership within the context of contemporary leadership theory, focusing particularly upon distributed leadership. The article explores different interpretations and definitions of the term ‘‘teacher leadership’’ and considers the implications for professional practice. Drawing upon recent reviews of the literature, it focuses upon the impact and effects of teacher leadership at three levels: the school, teacher, and student. It highlights some of the barriers to teacher as leaders and some of the ways in which teacher leadership can be developed and supported. The article concludes by outlining future directions and challenges for research in this field.
Reticuloendothelial Function and the Immune Response

Hyperphagocytic activity of the reticuloendothelial system induced in mice by the injection of glucan is associated with a significant increase in the primary and secondary immune responsiveness of these animals to sheep erythrocytes. Conversely, the administration of an agent which reduces endothelial phagocytosis is associated with significant depression of both primary and secnation of both factors.
Interactionism revisited: Reflections on the continuing crisis in the personality area

The current status of the personality area is critically examined with the view that problems in the discipline voiced two decades ago are still prevalent. Recurring problems in the personality area have important ramifications for much of contemporary theoretical and applied psychology. The interactional approach to personality came to the fore in the 1970s and early 1980s as an explicit attempt to resolve a number of perceived weaknesses in the personality area. While it has become common for researchers to publicly advocate an interactional position, in practice little interactional research has been conducted recently. The historical developments of the trait and situationism models of personality research and relevant assessment issues are outlined. This history is of interest because it helps to illuminate why and how many current personality researchers continue to perpetuate problems in the personality area. The interactional model of personality is also examined. Finally, the development of an interactional model for the study of anxiety is examined as a specific example of the theoretical, research, and practical benefits of this approach.
Acting, Embodiment, and Text: Hedda Gabler and Possible Uses of Cognitive Science

In spring 2009, I led a workshop staging of Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler for the Division of Theatre at Southern Methodist University in order to provide some of our MFA students with an opportunity to work on a major piece of modern realism. Our purpose was to focus on embodiment and relationship in acting, which drew on research I have been doing in cognitive neuroscience. Although I first focused on the individual actor, particularly in regard to text and action, I am now exploring applications of science to partnered work. Informed by research on embodiment, cognition, and the relationship among individuals, I wanted to investigate ways to help actors understand not that they need to “be in their body,” but that they are, in fact, nothing if they are not a body. The phrase “be in your body” is useful though potentially problematic, in much the same way that the ubiquitous Meisnerian “get out of your head” is. While we more or less know what these phrases mean, the images they conjure up perpetuate false binaries that split mind from body and risk hobbling the actor by giving her a false, fragmented image of herself. The cognitive and neurosciences can define more accurately how the various aspects of the actor’s self affect and even arise out of one another, and help her to more effectively manipulate those different aspects in engaging her fellow performers and creating a role. What we did physically with Hedda might not have looked terribly different from some standard approaches to acting, but the actors’ understanding of what we were doing, their point of view, their imagery work, and our intense focus on relationship varied in some significant regards.
Automatic image cropping with aesthetic map and gradient energy map

Image cropping is a fundamental task in image editing to enhance the aesthetic quality of images. In this paper, we propose an automatic image cropping technique based on aesthetic map and gradient energy map. Instead of utilizing aesthetic rules in previous methods, we learn the aesthetic map by a deep convolutional neural network with a large-scale dataset for aesthetic quality assessment. The aesthetic map can highlight the discriminative image regions for high (or low) aesthetic quality category. The gradient energy map presents edge spatial distribution of images and is developed to compute the simplicity of images. Then a composition model is learned with the aesthetic map and gradient energy map to evaluate the quality of composition for crops. Moreover, an aesthetic preservation model is developed to compute the aesthetic information remained in crops to avoid cropping out high aesthetic regions. Experiments show that our approach significantly outperforms state-of-the-art cropping methods.
Closeting and the Quality of Lesbian Relationships

Analysis of data collected from 124 lesbians currently Involved in a couple relationship indicated that closeting is related to the couple's relationship quality. Openness vs. secrecy with family and friends is most highly associated with the quality of their relationship. Further analyses suggested that particular family behaviors–inviting a member's lesbian partner to family events and accepting demonstrations of affection between the couple–can influence their relationship. These findings underscore the importance of support from family members and indicate the need for future studies to include multiple measures of closeting.
Novel method for planar microstrip antenna matching impedance

Because all microstrip antennas have to be matched to the standard generator impedance or load, the input impedance matching method for antenna is particularly important. In this paper a new methodology in achieving matching impedance of a planar microstrip antenna for wireless application is described. The method is based on embedding an Interdigital capacitor. The fine results obtained by using a microstrip Interdigital capacitor for matching antenna impedance led to an efficient method to improve array antenna performance. In fact, a substantial saving on the whole surfaces as well as enhancement of the gain, the directivity and the power radiated was achieved.
Developmental expression of two members of a new class of transcription factors: II. Expression of aryl hydrocarbon receptor nuclear translocator in the C57BL/6N mouse embryo

The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) and the AhR nuclear translocator protein (ARNT) are basic‐helix‐loop‐helix (bHLH) proteins involved in transcriptional regulation. The AhR is a ligand‐activated partner of the ARNT protein. Both proteins are required to transcriptionally regulate gene expression. ARNT must be complexed to AhR to permit binding to the regulatory DNA sequence. The AhR‐ligand complex is known to mediate a range of biological responses, such as developmental toxicity, induction of cleft palate, and hydronephrosis. AhR and ARNT are expressed in human embryonic palatal cells and AhR was recently shown to have a specific developmental pattern of expression in the mouse embryo. In the present study, expression of ARNT is characterized in C57BL/6N mouse embryos from gestation day (GD) 10–16 using immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization. An affinity purified antibody against human ARNT (1.1 μg/ml) was detected with an avidinbiotin‐peroxidase complex. ARNT mRNA was localized with a 35S‐RNA probe from pBM5/NEOM1–1. Specific spatial and temporal patterns of ANRT expression emerged and mRNA and protein expression correlated. The GD 10–11 embryos showed highest levels of ARNT in neuroepithelial cells of the neural tube, visceral arches, otic and optic placodes, and preganglionic complexes. The heart also had significant expression of ARNT with strong nuclear localization. After GD11, expression in heart and brain declined. In GD 12–13 embryos expression was highest in the liver where expression increased from GD 12–16. At GD 15–16 the highest levels of ARNT occurred in adrenal gland and liver, although ARNT was also detected in submandibular gland, ectoderm, tongue, bone, and muscle. In all of these tissues ARNT was cytoplasmic as well as nuclear, except in some of the cortical adrenal cells in which ARNT was strongly cytoplasmic with little or no nuclear localization. These specific patterns of ARNT expression, which differ in certain tissues from the expression of AhR, suggest that ARNT may have additional roles in normal embryonic development. © 1995 wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Erving Goffman, Relations in public: microstudies of the public order . New York: Basic Books, 1971. Pp. xvii + 396.

Particularly stressed are the virtues of accounting for an actual corpus and of studying numerous and diverse languages, and the evils of empty formalism. Hymes's paper ('Linguistic method in ethnography: Its development in the United States') is a detailed treatment of linguistics 'as a recurrent methodological model for anthropologists' (251) from Boas through the present. It makes a strong case for the American tradition of training anthropology graduate students in linguistics, showing how theoretical developments in linguistics over the past fifty years (including generative grammar) have been incorporated as an increasingly important component of ethnographic method. Hymes argues that there have been and continue to be various kinds of uses of linguistics in ethnography, and that these follow a rough logico-historical sequence, from the elementary 'facilitating' role (study of language as an entree to a community, where the focus is on 'translatable content, not on interviews, conversation, names or stories as having interesting systematic properties of their own' (252)), to a 'foundational' role, in which linguistics is seen as 'part of the methodological foundations of the study of culture as a whole' (253). Though somewhat heavy going, the paper is self contained, and makes rewarding reading, not only for sociolinguists trained in anthropology or ethnographic method. Its concluding sections in particular point to some of the ways in which contemporary anthropological theory and practice can feed back into linguistics.
CARDIOVASCULAR AND SURVIVAL PARADOXES IN DIALYSIS PATIENTS: The Cholesterol Paradox Is Flawed; Cholesterol Must Be Lowered in Dialysis Patients

In the general population, elevated cholesterol is associated with cardiovascular disease and mortality and lowering cholesterol is associated with improved outcomes. This reflects the predominance of isolated atherosclerotic coronary disease in the general population. In patients with renal disease, however, the relationship between serum lipids and cardiovascular outcomes is much less clear and even reversed. In our opinion, the relationship between cholesterol and coronary disease is obscured by high levels of co‐morbid disease, malnutrition, inflammation, atypical dyslipidemia and the fact that myocardial infarction is not the typical presentation of cardiovascular disease in patients with renal disease. Thus, cholesterol lowering will still be effective in patients with chronic kidney diseases.
EpCAM-based Flow Cytometric Detection of Circulating Tumor Cells in Gallbladder Carcinoma Cases

Purpose: Liquid biopsy has entered the arena of cancer diagnostics in the past decade and detection of circulating tumor cells (CTC) is one diagnostic component. CTCs in gallbladder cancer (GBC) have hitherto not been comprehensively analysed. Methods and Results: The current study focused on the diagnostic role of CTCs in 27 cases of treatment-naive GBC and 6 normal controls as well as 6 cases of cholecystitis. An EasySep kit featuring negative immunomagnetic bead separation and flow cytometric detection of EpCAM positive and CD45 negative cells revealed CTCs in 25 of the 27 cases. At a cut-off point of ≥1, the CTC count discriminated GBC from controls with a sensitivity, specificity and diagnostic accuracy of 92.6%, 91.7% and 92.3%, respectively. CTC levels in turn correlated significantly with clinico-pathological parameters of cases in terms of known prognostic indicators, with significant diagnostic potential at a cut-off point of >4, to discriminate disease stage I and II vs. III and IV GBC. With a cut-off of >3, the CTC count discriminated tumor stages I and II vs. III and IV and at >6 CTCs could discriminate metastatic vs. non metastatic GBCs with a sensitivity, specificity and diagnostic accuracy of 55. 6%, 100.0% and 85.2, respectively. A review of CTC in pancreatico-biliary malignancies is included. Conclusion: Detection and quantification of CTCs may serve as a non-invasive biomarker for GBC diagnosis in correlation with radiological studies.