Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
PCMD: personality‐characterized mood dynamics model toward personalized virtual characters

How to endow the virtual characters with personalized behavior patterns remains a challenging problem. Instead of heuristically designing behaviors for certain personalities, this paper bridges the gap between personalities and behaviors using a medium concept, mood, to make the behaviors of the characters consistent enough to convey their personalities, while flexible enough to make appropriate response in various situations. We propose a personality‐characterized mood dynamics model, in which the emotion weights are computed as a solution of a convex optimization problem that is constructed to make the overall mood approaches the personality after sufficient interactions. The convergence of the algorithm is demonstrated by numerical simulations. The implementation of the personality‐characterized mood dynamics model enables an emotion‐oriented virtual human, Sophie, to show personalized behaviors in the emotional interactions with users. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Maximum a posteriori multipath fading channel estimation for ofdm systems

In this paper, a non-data-aided maximum a posteriori (MAP) channel estimation technique for OFDM systems employing M-PSK modulation scheme is proposed. The technique requires a convenient representation of the discrete multipath fading channel based on the Karhunen-Loeve orthogonal expansion and estimates the complex channel parameters of each subcamen iteratively in frequency domain using the Expectation-Maximization (EM) algorithm. Pilot symbols are employed to choose reliable initial values of the unknown channel parameters. An analytical expression is derived for the exact Cramer-Rao lower bound of the proposed MAP channel estimator. Moreover, robustness of estimator to changes in channel correlation and signal-to-noise ratio is also analyzed. The performance is presented in terns of the mean-square emr and the uncoded symbol error rate for a system employing QPSK signaling. Computer simulations demonstrate that the performance of OFDM systems using coherent demodulation based on our channel estimation can be significantly improved.
High-Throughput Metagenomic Technologies for Complex Microbial Community Analysis: Open and Closed Formats

ABSTRACT Understanding the structure, functions, activities and dynamics of microbial communities in natural environments is one of the grand challenges of 21st century science. To address this challenge, over the past decade, numerous technologies have been developed for interrogating microbial communities, of which some are amenable to exploratory work (e.g., high-throughput sequencing and phenotypic screening) and others depend on reference genes or genomes (e.g., phylogenetic and functional gene arrays). Here, we provide a critical review and synthesis of the most commonly applied “open-format” and “closed-format” detection technologies. We discuss their characteristics, advantages, and disadvantages within the context of environmental applications and focus on analysis of complex microbial systems, such as those in soils, in which diversity is high and reference genomes are few. In addition, we discuss crucial issues and considerations associated with applying complementary high-throughput molecular technologies to address important ecological questions.
Recruiting Practice-based Research Network (PBRN) Physicians to Be Research Participants: Lessons Learned From the North Texas (NorTex) Needs Assessment Study

Introduction: The purpose of this study was to examine strategies for recruiting physician subjects in a practice-based research network continuing education research study, using different recruitment methods at four systems, or health plan arrangements. Methods: The North Texas Primary Care Practice-based Research Network Needs Assessment Study consisted of a survey and five self-directed medical record abstractions. Physicians were recruited to be research subjects from four systems, using different recruitment strategies. χ2 was used to determine differences in physicians consenting and completing the study between systems. Kruskal-Wallis was used to determine differences in time from first contact to consent and number of contacts required before consent between systems. Results: One hundred five of 211 physicians (49.8%) consented to participate, of which 90 (85.7%) completed the survey. There was a significant difference by system in the number of physicians who consented (P = .04) and number of contacts required pre-consent (P < .001) but not in the number of physicians completing the study or time from first contact to consent. Discussion/Conclusions: Success of recruiting physicians to be research subjects varied between systems using different recruitment methods. Lessons learned include using clinician champions to make initial contact, establishing a relationship with clinic personnel, distinguishing the research team from a pharmaceutical representative, establishing a preferred contact method, and collecting study materials on a set timeline.
A new time-series trend forecasting technique

In this paper, a new time-series trend forecasting technique based on rules and pattern is presented. For the given time series data, the technique is first to convert the time-series data into a time subseries data set, and then to excavate the time subseries data set and extract the underlying rules and patterns from them. And the rules are used as a tool to predict the trend of the time series. The mining algorithm is given last.
Levels of Processing: Effects of Interference in Word Learning over Time

Although much research has addressed the “levels-of-processing” perspective, critics continue to attack this formulation. The lack of an operational definition is frequently cited as a shortcoming of the perspective. Utilizing resistance to interference as a perspective from which to investigate “deep” and shallow” processing, an experiment was conducted with two follow-up tests to ascertain the effects of proactive and retroactive interference in immediate, intermediate, and long-term recall.
Relationships of personality and lifestyle with mobile phone dependence among female nursing students

To clarify the relationships of personality and lifestyle with mobile phone dependence, defined as an intermittent craving to use a mobile phone or excessive mobile phone use, we administered a self-report questionnaire to 132 female college students attending a nursing school in Osaka, Japan. Results of multiple regression analysis indicated that scores for extroversion and neuroticism were positively related to the score of the Mobile Phone Dependence Questionnaire (MPDQ; Toda, Monden, Kubo, & Morimoto, 2004), while the score for healthy practices was negatively related to that of the MPDQ. These findings suggest that mobile phone dependence in female college students is associated with elevated traits of extroversion and neuroticism, as well as an unhealthy lifestyle.
Neutrophil CD64 for daily surveillance of systemic infection and necrotizing enterocolitis in preterm infants.

BACKGROUND Early detection and treatment of infected preterm infants could decrease morbidity and mortality. Neutrophil CD64 has been shown to be an excellent early diagnostic biomarker of late-onset sepsis (LOS) and necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC). We aimed to study whether using CD64 as a daily surveillance biomarker could predict LOS/NEC before clinical manifestation. METHODS We collected 0.1 mL whole blood from very low birth weight (VLBW) infants from day 7 postnatal age until routine daily blood tests were no longer required. Four categories of responses were defined: proven sepsis, clinical sepsis, nonsepsis/non-NEC, and asymptomatic CD64 activation. RESULTS A total of 146 infants were consecutively recruited and 155 episodes of sepsis evaluation were performed. The biomarker screening utility, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value for surveillance of LOS/NEC using a cutoff of 5655 antibody-PE (phycoerythrin) molecules bound/cell were 89%, 98%, 41%, and 99.8%, respectively. LOS/NEC was detected a mean of 1.5 days before clinical presentation. However, 63 episodes of CD64 activation occurred in asymptomatic infants who would not otherwise have required sepsis evaluations. CONCLUSIONS As a surveillance biomarker, neutrophil CD64 detected LOS/NEC 1.5 days before clinical presentation, but at the expense of performing 41% additional sepsis evaluations. This was mainly attributed to an unexpected group of asymptomatic infants with CD64 activation, who recovered spontaneously and did not require antimicrobial treatment. The latter group has not been previously recognized in VLBW infants and could represent subclinical infection secondary to transient bacterial translocation or mild viral infection.
Optical spectroscopy of flares from the black hole X-ray transient A0620-00 in quiescence

We present a time-resolved spectrophotometric study of the optical variability in the quiescent soft X-ray transient A0620–00. Superimposed on the double-humped continuum light curve are the well-known flare events, which last tens of minutes. Some of the flare events that appear in the continuum light curve are also present in the emission-line light curves. From the Balmer line flux and variations, we find that the persistent emission is optically thin. During the flare event at phase 1.15 the Balmer decrement dropped, suggesting either a significant increase in temperature or that the flares are optically thicker than the continuum. The data suggests that there are two H i emitting regions, the accretion disc and the accretion stream–disc region, with different Balmer decrements. The orbital modulation of Hα with the continuum suggests that the steeper decrement is most likely associated with the stream–disc impact region. By isolating the spectrum of the flare we find that it has a frequency power-law index of −1.40 ± 0.20 (90 per cent confidence). The flare spectrum can also be described by an optically thin gas with a temperature in the range 10 000–14 000 K that covers 0.05–0.08 per cent (90 per cent confidence) of the surface of the accretion disc. Given these parameters, the possibility that the flares arise from the bright-spot cannot be ruled out. We construct Doppler images of the Hα and Hβ emission lines. Apart from showing enhanced blurred emission at the region where the stream impacts the accretion disc, the maps also show significant extended structure from the opposite side of the disc. The trailed spectra show characteristic S-wave features that can be interpreted in the context of an eccentric accretion disc.
Evaluating the Youth Criminal Justice Act after Five Years: A Qualified Success

La Loi sur le système de justice pénale pour les adolescents (2003) a été promulguée dans le but de diminuer le recours aux tribunaux et à la détention pour les jeunes contrevenants, et à améliorer l’efficacité des mesures prises dans les cas de violence criminelle grave commise par des jeunes. Dans l’article, on évalue l’impact qu’a eu la Loi au cours des cinq années suivant son adoption. On y passe en revue les principales dispositions de la Loi touchant la détermination de la peine et les mesures extrajudiciaires. On y parle aussi de la jurisprudence de la Cour suprême du Canada quant à l’interprétation de la Loi et on présente des données statistiques sur l’impact qu’a eu la Loi sur les mesures extrajudiciaires et la détermination de la peine chez les adolescents, ainsi que sur le nombre de cas jugés devant les tribunaux et en détention. La Cour suprême a interprété de manière restrictive les dispositions de la Loi permettant de recourir à la détention, ce qui a contribué à faire diminuer le taux de détention. La Cour a aussi insisté sur le fait qu’il faut traiter les jeunes différemment des adultes. De plus, elle a jugé inconstitutionnelles les dispositions de la Loi créant une présomption de peine applicable aux adultes pour les jeunes contrevenants les plus violents, limitant ainsi les effets de certains articles de la Loi visant les crimes graves avec violence. Grâce à la Loi, le taux de recours aux tribunaux et à la détention ont considérablement diminué, sans que la criminalité enregistrée chez les jeunes augmente pour autant. Il existe encore des variations importantes d’une région à l’autre du recours aux tribunaux de la jeunesse et de détention chez les jeunes. Même s’il y a moins de différences régionales liées au recours aux tribunaux depuis l’adoption de la Loi, il n’y a pas vraiment eu de changement quant à la détention après son entrée en vigueur. La criminalité chez les jeunes demeure un sujet de préoccupation politique litigieux au Canada.
From Proteins to Fairytales: Directions in Semantic Publishing

There has been an ongoing discussion about how to improve the delivery of scientific content using online tools, especially by focusing on content reuse and social media. This column explores how semantic technologies and systems could also enhance the scientific communication process. The author discusses some ongoing initiatives in semantic publishing, which aims to improve how scientists communicate using semantic technologies. The column mentions different types of projects, including efforts focusing on entity enrichment and projects that involve triple markup of documents (subject-predicate-object expressions). However, such approaches are not enough. They help us find information, but they don't help us understand it. The author argues that we need to incorporate a better understanding of how language encodes meaning into our systems, so that we can develop a richer scientific knowledge representation.
Opportunities to learn about Europe at school. A comparative analysis among European adolescents in 21 European member states

In this article, we investigate the relationship between different learning methods and the formation of European identity among adolescents. The analysis is based on the European module of the International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (2009), with 70,502 respondents in 21 European member states. The results show that offering opportunities for cognitive learning is more strongly related to European identity than social learning opportunities, i.e. opportunities for interactions with citizens from other European Union member states. The occurrence of an interaction effect between cognitive and social learning strategies, however, suggests that jointly offering both learning strategies can be considered the most effective tool for the formation of a European identity. The multilevel analysis reveals the impact of a more Eurosceptic climate on the country level, suggesting that living in a Eurosceptic member state is related to a weaker European identity among adolescents. We close with some observations on how curricula can contribute to a strengthening of European identity.
TRACING INTERGENERATIONAL RELATIONS THROUGH REPORTS OF TRANSFERS OF TIME AND MONEY: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF AFRICAN‐AMERICANS, HISPANICS AND WHITES

The purpose of this study was to describe any patterns of distinctive sociocultural adaptation in the form of exchanges of time and money between American households, and to determine whether any observed racial or ethnic differences remain after controlling for social background characteristics. We tested one dimension of the sociocultural adaptation hypothesis — Through processes of distinctive sociocultural adaptation, minority group members learn to survive by adjusting behaviors, values, and informal organization in response to demands and stressors in their social environment. The focal adaptation in our study involved instrumental and expressive exchanges between households. The findings showed that minority groups on average were less likely to participate in instrumental and expressive exchanges between households as compared to the majority group. The study involved a secondary analysis of data collected in 1987–1988 as part of the National Survey of Families and Households (N= 13,017). Logistic.
Population Ageing and Socially Assistive Robots for Elderly Persons: The Importance of Sociodemographic Factors for User Acceptance

Taking care of older adults is among the major challenges currently faced by ageing populations. Researchers, designers, and engineers have proposed socially assistive robots as one way of helping elderly people stay in their homes longer. In a systematic literature review, this paper wants to investigate if and how evaluations of the acceptance of socially assistive robots by older people take into account sociodemographic factors. The results indicate that this only holds true for a few studies. Research that incorporates age, gender, education, and so forth; clearly shows that these key factors have a significant impact. However, the relations are complex and experience with technology mitigates the influence of sociodemographic factors on acceptance. Assistive devices should be adaptable to individual needs to be able to consider all these factors.
The P2Y1 receptor, necessary but not sufficient to support full ADP‐induced platelet aggregation, is not the target of the drug clopidogrel

Recently we showed that the P2Y1 receptor coupled to calcium mobilization is necessary to initiate ADP‐induced human platelet aggregation. Since the thienopyridine compound clopidogrel specifically inhibits ADP‐induced platelet aggregation, it was of interest to determine whether the P2Y1 receptor was the target of this drug. Therefore we studied the effects of clopidogrel and of the two specific P2Y1 antagonists A2P5P and A3P5P on ADP‐induced platelet events in rats. Although clopidogrel treatment (50 mg/kg) greatly reduced platelet aggregation in response to ADP as compared to untreated platelets, some residual aggregation was still detectable. In contrast, A2P5P and A3P5P totally abolished ADP‐induced shape change and aggregation in platelets from both control and clopidogrel‐treated rats. A2P5P and A3P5P (100 μM) totally inhibited the [Ca2+]i rise induced by ADP (0.1 μM) in control and clopidogrel‐treated platelets, whereas clopidogrel treatment had no effect. Conversely, the inhibition of adenylyl cyclase induced by ADP (5 μM) was completely blocked by clopidogrel but not modified by A2P5P or A3P5P (100 μM). A3P5P (1 m M) reduced the number of [33P]2MeSADP binding sites on control rat platelets from 907 ± 50 to 611 ± 25 per platelet. After clopidogrel treatment, binding of [33P]2MeSADP decreased to 505 ± 68 sites per platelet and further decreased to 55 ± 12 sites in the presence of A3P5P (1 m M). In summary, these results demonstrate that the platelet P2Y1 receptor responsible for the initiation of aggregation in response to ADP is not the target of clopidogrel. Platelets may express another, as yet unidentified, P2Y receptor, specifically coupled to the inhibition of adenylyl cyclase and necessary to induce full platelet aggregation, which could be the target of this drug.
Defective pneumococcal-specific Th1 responses in HIV-infected adults precedes a loss of control of pneumococcal colonization.

BACKGROUND African adults infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) have high rates of pneumococcal colonization and invasive disease. Here we have investigated the possibility that HIV disrupts the normal balance of pneumococcal-specific helper T cell (Th) 1/Th17 immunity to colonization, resulting in a more permissive nasopharyngeal niche. METHODS One hundred thirty-six HIV-infected and -uninfected Malawian adults were enrolled in the study. Changes in rates and composition of nasopharyngeal pneumococcal colonization were analyzed using microarray. The underlying pneumococcal-specific Th1/Th17 responses associated with altered pneumococcal colonization were investigated using flow cytometry. RESULTS We find that pneumococcal carriage is only modestly increased in asymptomatic HIV-infected Malawian adults but that colonization rates rise dramatically during symptomatic disease (HIV(neg) 13%, HIV(asy) 19%, and HIV(sym) 38%). These rates remain high in subjects established on antiretroviral therapy (ART): 33% (at 6-12 months) and 52% (at 18 months), with HIV-infected individuals carrying a broader range of invasive and noninvasive serotypes compared with HIV-negative controls. The frequency of multiple serotype carriage (>1 serotype HIV(neg) 26%, HIV(asy) 30%, HIV(sym) 31%, HIV(ART) 31%) is not affected. These changes in colonization are associated with generalized CD4 T-cell depletion, impaired antigen-specific proliferation, and a defect in pneumococcal-specific T-cell interferon-γ but not interleukin 17 production. CONCLUSIONS These data reveal the persistently poor control of pneumococcal colonization in HIV-infected adults following immune ART-mediated reconstitution, highlighting a potential reservoir for person-to-person spread and vaccine escape. Novel approaches to control colonization either through vaccination or through improvements in the quality of immune reconstitution are required.
Quantitative microscopy of functional HIV post-entry complexes reveals association of replication with the viral capsid

The steps from HIV-1 cytoplasmic entry until integration of the reverse transcribed genome are currently enigmatic. They occur in ill-defined reverse-transcription- and pre-integration-complexes (RTC, PIC) with various host and viral proteins implicated. In this study, we report quantitative detection of functional RTC/PIC by labeling nascent DNA combined with detection of viral integrase. We show that the viral CA (capsid) protein remains associated with cytoplasmic RTC/PIC but is lost on nuclear PIC in a HeLa-derived cell line. In contrast, nuclear PIC were almost always CA-positive in primary human macrophages, indicating nuclear import of capsids or capsid-like structures. We further show that the CA-targeted inhibitor PF74 exhibits a bimodal mechanism, blocking RTC/PIC association with the host factor CPSF6 and nuclear entry at low, and abrogating reverse transcription at high concentrations. The newly developed system is ideally suited for studying retroviral post-entry events and the roles of host factors including DNA sensors and signaling molecules. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.7554/eLife.04114. 001
INEX Tweet Contextualization Track at CLEF 2012: Query Reformulation using Terminological Patterns and Automatic Summarization

The tweet contextualization INEX task at CLEF 2012 consists of the developing of a system that, given a tweet, can provide some context about the subject of the tweet, in order to help the reader to understand it. This context should take the form of a readable summary, not exceeding 500 words, composed of passages from a provided Wikipedia corpus. Our general approach to get this objective is the following: we perform some automatic reformulations of the initial tweets provided for the task (obtaining a list of terms related with the main topic of all them using terminological patterns). Then, using these reformulated tweets, we obtain related documents with the search engine Indri. Finally, we use REG, an automatic extractive summarization system based on graphs, to summarize these documents and provide the summary associated to each tweet.
Contingent attentional capture: A reply to Yantis (1993).

Folk, Remington, and Johnston (1992) recently proposed that involuntary shifts of spatial attention, even those elicited by abrupt visual onsets, are contingent on variable internal control settings. Yantis (1993) argues that the results of Jonides and Yantis (1988) significantly challenge this hypothesis and that the paradigm of Folk et al. (1992) is inappropriate for investigating stimulus-driven attentional capture. Yantis's concerns are addressed, and it is concluded that the contingent involuntary orienting hypothesis in fact provides a unified and parsimonious account of the data on attentional capture