Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
On the Time Course of Vocal Emotion Recognition

How quickly do listeners recognize emotions from a speaker's voice, and does the time course for recognition vary by emotion type? To address these questions, we adapted the auditory gating paradigm to estimate how much vocal information is needed for listeners to categorize five basic emotions (anger, disgust, fear, sadness, happiness) and neutral utterances produced by male and female speakers of English. Semantically-anomalous pseudo-utterances (e.g., The rivix jolled the silling) conveying each emotion were divided into seven gate intervals according to the number of syllables that listeners heard from sentence onset. Participants (n = 48) judged the emotional meaning of stimuli presented at each gate duration interval, in a successive, blocked presentation format. Analyses looked at how recognition of each emotion evolves as an utterance unfolds and estimated the “identification point” for each emotion. Results showed that anger, sadness, fear, and neutral expressions are recognized more accurately at short gate intervals than happiness, and particularly disgust; however, as speech unfolds, recognition of happiness improves significantly towards the end of the utterance (and fear is recognized more accurately than other emotions). When the gate associated with the emotion identification point of each stimulus was calculated, data indicated that fear (M = 517 ms), sadness (M = 576 ms), and neutral (M = 510 ms) expressions were identified from shorter acoustic events than the other emotions. These data reveal differences in the underlying time course for conscious recognition of basic emotions from vocal expressions, which should be accounted for in studies of emotional speech processing.
Ileal Endogenous Amino Acid Flow Response to Nitrogen-free Diets with Differing Ratios of Corn Starch to Dextrose in Pigs

The objective of this study was to determine the responses in the digestibility of dry matter (DM) and amino acid (AA) composition of ileal endogenous flow (IEF) of pigs (initial body weight, 69.1±6.46 kg) fed N-free diets (NFD) formulated with different ratios of corn starch to dextrose. Fifteen pigs fitted with a T-cannula at the distal ileum were fed 5 diets according to a triplicated 5×2 incomplete Latin-square design. Each period consisted of a 5-d adjustment period and 2 d of ileal digesta collection for 12 h on each of d 6 and 7 and between each period, there was a 5-d recovery period to avoid abnormal weight loss. The ratios of corn starch to dextrose investigated were 0:879, 293:586, 586:293, 779:100, and 879:0 for diet numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, respectively, and chromic oxide (5 g/kg) was used as an indigestible index. Ileal DM digestibility was greater in Diet 1 than that in Diet 4 (89.5% vs 87.3%, p<0.01) but they were not different from Diet 2, 3, or 5. The IEF for most of indispensable AA were not different among diets with the exception of Met, in which a lack of corn starch or dextrose gave lower (p = 0.028) IEF of Met than diets containing corn starch and dextrose. Likewise, the dispensable AA and total AA in the IEF did not differ among diets. The respective IEF of AA (mg/kg of dry matter intake) in pigs fed Diets 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 were 301, 434, 377, 477,or 365 for Lys, 61, 89, 71, 87, or 61 for Met, and 477, 590, 472, 520, or 436 for Thr. Proline was the most abundant AA in the IEF followed by Gly, Glu, and Asp and together accounted for approximately 50% of the total ileal AA flows of pigs fed NFD. In conclusion, the variation in proportion of corn starch and dextrose in a NFD does not largely affect estimates of IEF of N and AA for growing-finishing pigs.
Cognitive Effects of Low-dose Topiramate Compared with Oxcarbazepine in Epilepsy Patients

Background and Purpose Low-dose topiramate (TPM) monotherapy has recently been found effective for seizure control in newly diagnosed epilepsy. In higher dosages, TPM has been associated with relatively high rates of adverse cognitive effects; similar side effects have been seen after rapid titration or polytherapy. However, its cognitive effects during low-dose monotherapy have not been established. We evaluated the cognitive effects of low-dose TPM compared with oxcarbazepine (OXC), a drug that does not appear to affect cognitive function. Methods Cognitive tests and subjective complaints of 30 patients with low-dose TPM monotherapy (50-200 mg/day) were retrospectively compared with those of 30 patients with OXC monotherapy at 1 year of medication. The two groups did not differ with respect to epilepsy-relevant variables, nor on baseline neuropsychological tests. Results The TPM group showed a significant difference in the performance of delayed word recall (P<0.05), backward digit span (P<0.01), and verbal fluency (P<0.05) compared with the OXC group. The TPM group showed worse performances of digit span and verbal fluency. The OXC group showed better performances of delayed word recall. The incidence of cognitive complaints was higher in the TPM group (50%) than in the OXC group (20%) (P<0.05). These cognitive effects shown in the TPM group were dose-related. The cognitive dysfunction was trivial with patients taking 50 mg/day TPM. Conclusions Even at low-dose, TPM has a negative effect on working memory and verbal fluency compared with OXC. It can be demonstrated at 1 year of treatment.
Evaluation of an E-Learning Distance Education System in the Graduate School of Medical Sciences of Tottori University

Three years have passed since the introduction of a new e-learning system as part of the graduate study program in the Faculty of Medicine of Tottori University. To improve this system, a survey was conducted among graduate students and faculty members to evaluate it. The subjects of the study were 138 graduate students (in the doctoral programs in Medical Science, 1st- and 2nd-term doctoral programs in Life Science, 1st- and 2nd-term doctoral programs in the Institute of Regenerative Medicine and Biofunction, and Clinical Psychology) as well as 108 faculty of the Graduate School of Medical Sciences of Tottori University. Graduate students reported that the e-learning education system is adequate and that they are satisfied to an above average level. The reasons for dissatisfaction with the system were roughly divided into 3 categories: "contents", "system" and "student reports". This e-learning system is still at an early stage of development, but we are pushing forward to improve this in anticipation of increasing the use of web learning modalities in the future.
Endothelial Progenitor Cells in Acute Ischemic Kidney Injury: Strategies for Increasing the Cells' Renoprotective Competence

Acute ischemic kidney injury is the most frequent cause of acute renal failure in daily clinical practice. It has become increasingly recognized that microvascular endothelial cell dysfunction (ED) in peritubular capillaries inhibits the process of postischemic renal reperfusion. ED can serve as therapeutic target in the management of acute ischemic kidney injury. Postischemic reflow can be restored by systemic administration of either mature endothelial cells or of endothelial progenitor cells. Endothelial progenitor cells EPCs can be cultured from the peripheral circulation of humans and different animals. The cells act vasoprotectively by direct and indirect mechanisms. The protective effects of EPCs in acute ischemic kidney injury can be stimulated by preincubating the cells with different agonistic mediators. This paper summarizes the currently available data on strategies to improve the renoprotective activity of EPCs in acute ischemic kidney injury.
GENERAL: A Possible Population-Driven Phase Transition in Cicada Chorus

We investigate the collective synchronization of cicada chirping. Using both experimental and phenomenological numerical techniques, here we show that the onset of a periodic two-state acoustic synchronous behavior in cicada chorus depends on a critical size of population Nc = 21, above which a typical chorus state appears periodically with a 30 second-silence state in between, and further clarify its possibility concerning a new class of phase transition, which is unusually driven by population. This work has relevance to acoustic synchronization and to general physics of phase transition. PACS numbers: 05.45. Xt, 05.70. Fh, 87.80. Tq
Tracking performances of Cascade and sliding mode controllers with application to a XY milling table

Design and implementation of robust tracking controllers for linear feed drive high speed machine tools are the primary objectives of this work. Cutting forces and friction forces limit tracking accuracy and their influences are minimised through robust controller design. This paper discusses the design and tracking performances of a traditional cascade and a sliding mode controller for a X-Y milling table. Circular tests are performed at selected tracking speeds and circle radii for tracking performance analysis. The tracking error for cascade P/PI controller is proportional to the reference tracking speed and is inversely proportional to the velocity gain value of the position loop controller. Speed and acceleration feedforward further reduce this tracking error. Quadrant glitches, a product of nonlinear friction at the points of velocity reversal, are observed. Sliding mode controller exhibits better tracking accuracy and dynamic stiffness and yields a significant reduction of the quadrant glitches.
Performance of relay-aided downlink MC-CDMA system using transmitter preprocessing

In this article, we investigate the performance of a relay-aided downlink (DL) multi-carrier code division multiple access (MC-CDMA) system with the aid of transmitter preprocessing (TP). In this contribution, we assume that each of the K user's mobile station (MS) is aided by a group of MSs acting as relays to achieve relay diversity. In particular, we employ the preprocessing at the base station (BS) to mitigate the multi-user interference (MUI) at the relays that deters in achieving the relay diversity. Further, inter-relay interference (IRI) at the destination mobile stations (DMSs) is suppressed with the support of the preprocessing operated at the relays. To be specific, the preprocessing employed at the BS is based on the maximum-signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (MSINR) approach, and at the relays is based on transmit minimum-mean-square error (MMSE) principle. Our study demonstrates that TP-aided relay-assisted system results in better achievable bit-error-rate (BER) as the TP assists in achieving the relay diversity by eliminating the DL-MUI and IRI at the relays and the DMSs, respectively.
Electronic Group Communication for Cultural Support: Maori Electronic Networking in New Zealand

Electronic group communication systems are of potential use in supporting group communication in contexts where cultural norms and traditions have defined clear protocols for face to face communication. The characteristics of electronic group communication and requirements for success are discussed. Group communication protocols of the Maori people in New Zealand are introduced briefly, and a project using Lotus Notes is described which will support electronic group communication within and among Maori groups.
Early Transcriptional Signatures of the Immune Response to a Live Attenuated Tetravalent Dengue Vaccine Candidate in Non-human Primates

Background The development of a vaccine against dengue faces unique challenges, including the complexity of the immune responses to the four antigenically distinct serotypes. Genome-wide transcriptional profiling provides insight into the pathways and molecular features that underlie responses to immune system stimulation, and may facilitate predictions of immune protection. Methodology/Principal Findings In this study, we measured early transcriptional responses in the peripheral blood of cynomolgus macaques following vaccination with a live, attenuated tetravalent dengue vaccine candidate, TDV, which is based on a DENV-2 backbone. Different doses and routes of vaccine administration were used, and viral load and neutralizing antibody titers were measured at different time-points following vaccination. All 30 vaccinated animals developed a neutralizing antibody response to each of the four dengue serotypes, and only 3 of these animals had detectable serum viral RNA after challenge with wild-type dengue virus (DENV), suggesting protection of vaccinated animals to DENV infection. The vaccine induced statistically significant changes in 595 gene transcripts on days 1, 3, 5 and 7 as compared with baseline and placebo-treated animals. Genes involved in the type I interferon (IFN) response, including IFI44, DDX58, MX1 and OASL, exhibited the highest fold-change in transcript abundance, and this response was strongest following double dose and subcutaneous (versus intradermal) vaccine administration. In addition, modules of genes involved in antigen presentation, dendritic cell activation, and T cell activation and signaling were enriched following vaccination. Increased abundance of gene transcripts related to T cell activation on day 5, and the type I IFN response on day 7, were significantly correlated with the development of high neutralizing antibody titers on day 30. Conclusions/Significance These results suggest that early transcriptional responses may be predictive of development of adaptive immunity to TDV vaccination in cynomolgus macaques, and will inform studies of human responses to dengue vaccines.
Further Evidence that Legalized Abortion Lowered Crime

Donohue and Levitt (2001) suggest there is a causal link between legalized abortion and reductions in crime almost two decades later when the cohorts exposed to legalized abortion reach their peak crime years. Joyce (2003) examines crime committed in the period 1985–90 for the cohorts born immediately before and after abortion legalization. He finds little impact of legalized abortion. In this paper, we demonstrate that Joyce’s failure to uncover a negative relationship between abortion and crime is a consequence of his decision to focus almost exclusively on one nonrepresentative six-year period during the peak of the crack epidemic. We provide empirical evidence that the crack-cocaine epidemic hit the high-abortion early-legalizing states earlier and more severely than other states. When we simply replicate his analyses, but extend the sample to cover the entire lives of these exact same cohorts, abortion is just as negatively related to crime as in our original analysis. Joyce’s results appear to be purely an artifact of omitted variable bias due to focusing on the peak crack years without including adequate controls for crack.
Using continuous data to estimate clear‐sky errors in inversions of satellite CO2 measurements

We used continuous measurements of atmospheric CO2 at two stations to investigate potential errors in inversions of temporal averages of satellite clear‐sky column retrievals. Compared to the complete data sets, the mid‐day CO2 on clear days was systematically lower with a larger winter difference. Net ecosystem exchange (NEE) of CO2 was enhanced on clear vs. all days, the summer boundary layer was deeper, and the CO concentration was systematically lower. During winter these differences cannot account for the CO2 bias, which must be caused by advection. Summertime errors reflect a tradeoff between deeper mixing and enhanced NEE on clear days. If these sites represent mid‐latitude forests and if the CO2 difference is confined to the bottom 15% column mass, then inversions of temporally‐averaged satellite column data products will incur a −0.2 to −0.4 ppm bias. CO2 concentrations must therefore be assimilated at the place and time observed.
Induction of scattering and cellular invasion by trefoil peptides in src‐ and RhoA‐transformed kidney and colonic epithelial cells

Trefoil factors (TFFs) are protease‐resistant peptides that promote epithelial cell migration and mucosal restitution during inflammatory conditions and wound healing in the gastrointestinal tract. To date, the molecular mechanism of TFFs action and their possible role in tumor progression are unclear. In the present study, we observed that premalignant human colonic PC/AA/C1 and canine kidney MDCK epithelial cells are not competent to invade collagen gels in response to exogenously added TFFs (pS2, spasmolytic polypeptide, and intestinal trefoil factor). In contrast, activated src and RhoA exert permissive induction of invasion by the TFFs that produce similar parallel dose‐response curves in src‐transformed MDCKts.src and PCmsrc cells (EC50 = 20–40 nM). Cell scattering is also induced by TFFs in MDCKts.src cells. Stable expression of the pS2 cDNA promotes constitutive invasiveness in MDCKts.src‐pS2 cells and human colonic HCT8/S11‐pS2 cells established from a sporadic tumor. Furthermore, we found that TFF‐mediated cellular invasion is dependent of several signaling pathways implicated in cell transformation and survival, including phosphoinositide PI3′‐kinase, phospholipase C, protein kinase C, and the rapamycin target TOR. Constitutive and intense expression of pS2 was revealed byWestern blot analyses and immunohistochemistry in human colorectal tumors and their adjacent control mucosa during the neoplastic progression, from the adenoma to the liver metastases. Our studies indicated that TFFs can be involved in cell scattering and tumor invasion via autocrine loops and may serve as potential targets in the control of colon cancer progression. —Emami, S. , Le Floch, N. , Bruyneel, E. , Thim, L. , May, F. , Westley, B. , Rio, M. ‐C. , Mareel, M. , Gespach, C. Induction of scattering and cellular invasion by trefoil peptides in src‐ and RhoA‐transformed kidney and colonic epithelial cells. FASEB J. 15, 351‐361 (2001)
Perception-based control of vibrato parameters in string instrument synthesis

Perceptual knowledge provides a tool for making sound synthesis more efficient. Also for the parametric representations of sound, it is necessary to understand the perception of individual features. This paper reports four listening experiments exploring the perception of vibrato, aiming at guidelines for the control of vibrato parameters in string instrument synthesis. The results suggest that accurate control of the vibrato rate is much more important than control of vibrato extent. JND’s for vibrato rate were found to be around 6 %, while for the extent the perceptual tolerances were much wider. Additional experiments on the perception of pitch and musical consonance of vibrato tones did not support the importance of vibrato extent either.
Prediction of the outcome of a Twenty-20 Cricket Match

Twenty20 cricket, sometimes written Twenty-20, and often abbreviated to T20, is a short form of cricket. In a Twenty20 game the two teams of 11 players have a single innings each, which is restricted to a maximum of 20 overs. This version of cricket is especially unpredictable and is one of the reasons it has gained popularity over recent times. However, in this paper we try four different machine learning approaches for predicting the results of T20 Cricket Matches. Specifically we take in to account: previous performance statistics of the players involved in the competing teams, ratings of players obtained from reputed cricket statistics websites, clustering the players' with similar performance statistics and propose a novel method using an ELO based approach to rate players. We compare the performances of each of these feature engineering approaches by using different ML algorithms, including logistic regression, support vector machines, bayes network, decision tree, random forest.
CLINICAL CONCEPTS AND COMMENTARY

STATINS are highly effective in lowering serum cholesterol concentrations through 3-hydroxy-3-methyl glutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase inhibition and thus are central to the primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease. More than 50% of patients undergoing major vascular surgery and 80% undergoing cardiac surgery are on chronic statin therapy. Statins also exert numerous lipid-independent or “pleiotropic” effects (effects that were not expected during drug development) as a result of their ability to inhibit the inflammatory response, reduce thrombosis, enhance fibrinolysis, decrease platelet reactivity, inhibit cell growth, reduce ischemia–reperfusion injury, and restore endothelial function. These beneficial effects result predominantly from the modulation of the complex interplay between the pathologic triad of inflammation, dynamic obstruction, and thrombosis. This triad is integral to the surgical stress response and central to postoperative outcomes. However, recent reports noted that patients who undergo postoperative statin withdrawal experience increased cardiac morbidity when compared with patients who undergo early postoperative readministration of statins or with patients not treated with statins. These facts raise several important questions for the anesthesiologist regarding statin therapy during the perioperative period: (1) Do statins modify perioperative risk? (2) Is continuation or discontinuation of statin therapy during the perioperative period associated with additional risk? (3) Do the potential benefits of statin therapy outweigh the potential risks? This review of the literature explores the risks and benefits associated with perioperative statin therapy.
The Principalship: Views from Without and Within.

stress "role" of principal much analysis and generalization attempt to build theoretical knowledge base lower interest level content to principals writing more sophisticated and technically correct prescriptive ("shonlds") generalistic Principal Literature shorter pieces--both books and articles include bibliographies seldom few figures and statistics cited first person singular, active constructio seldom critical of peers less certain, more tentative apologetic concrete: focus on problems and practice emphasis on the individual principal little 'analysis and generalization attempt to build skill base higher interest level content to principals writing more uneven, less sophisticated, . /phigh variation in literary content
Support Vector Machine accuracy improvement with k-means clustering

Support Vector Machine (SVM) is a classifier tool which, originally, uses a hyperplane as a border for separating two classes of data in hyperspace. However, if data from each class are not clustered together, the two classes might not be linearly separable. Typically, researchers attempted to resolve this issue by replacing the hyperplane with a complex border via kernel tricks. However, these kernel tricks could result in a longer training time or only a minute accuracy improvement (or both). On the other hand, if data from one class are separated into subclasses according to their proximity, then all the subclasses should be easily separated by hyperplanes. Therefore, this paper proposes a method to improve the accuracy of linear SVM by first applying k means clustering to each class of input data. Then, after clustered, a multi-classes linear SVM is trained using each subclass as a separate class. Thus, the trained SVM can identify any new input into a subclass which can be easily mapped to the correct class. To evaluate, the proposed method is experimentally used to classify images of Thai character where multiple fonts of characters can be taken as hidden clusters within classes. Empirically, the proposed method could achieve over 6% improvement from a linear SVM or SVMs with RBF or polynomial kernel.