Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Evaluation of Masking Effects on Speech Perception in Patients With Unilateral Chronic Tinnitus Using the Hearing in Noise Test

Objective To verify that tinnitus itself could disturb speech perception and to evaluate the effects of masking noise on speech perception ability in the patients with normal hearing but unilateral chronic tinnitus using the hearing in noise test. Study Design Prospective, nonrandomized study. Materials and Methods Between June 2009 and May 2011, we enrolled 20 patients with normal hearing and subjective unilateral tinnitus that had persisted for more than 12 months, along with 20 healthy controls of the same age. All subjects were evaluated using audiologic examinations, the tinnitus handicap inventory, and the Korean version of the Hearing in Noise Test (K-HINT) to assess characteristics of tinnitus and speech perception ability in various noisy situations. Results Reception threshold for speech (RTS) in a quiet environment and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in various conditions of noise were significantly higher in the tinnitus than in the control group, regardless of whether noise came from the front, right, or left (p < 0.05). When the tinnitus group was subdivided according to the site of noise exposure, the mean SNR of the contralateral noise group was −7.9 ± 1.4 dB, which was significantly higher than the ipsilateral noise (−9.1 ± 1.8 dB) or control group (right, −10.0 ± 0.6 dB; left, −10.1 ± 0.5 dB) (p < 0.05). In addition, there was no significant difference between ipsilateral noise and control groups. Conclusion From this study, we showed that tinnitus itself could adversely affect speech perception ability by increasing both RTS and SNR in the tinnitus patients in comparison with healthy controls. In addition, we suggest that proper level of noise on the site of tinnitus might be helpful to increase speech perception in the patients who experience chronic subjective tinnitus.
Lay Counsellor-Based Risk Reduction Intervention with HIV Negative Diagnosed Patients at HIV Counselling and Testing Sites in a Rural South African Setting

The study evaluated the feasibility, fidelity, and effectiveness of a human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevention intervention delivered to HIV-uninfected patients by lay counsellors during routine HIV counselling and testing (HCT) service in Mpumalanga, South Africa. Participants were 543 HIV negative diagnosed persons (males=383, females=163, age range=18–68). They were assessed at baseline, received a single 60-minute session motivational/skills-building HIV risk reduction counselling intervention and followed-up at 4-months with 75% retention. Measures included descriptive information (demographics, substance use, and HIV risk history), Information Motivation Behavioural Skills (IMB) constructs, and sexual behaviour. Analyses tested for differences between baseline and follow-up using Paired samples t-tests for continuous variables and McNemar Chi-square tests for categorical variables. The 60-minute motivational/skills risk reduction counselling demonstrated significantly greater risk reduction practices, lower rates of multiple partners, unprotected intercourse, alcohol or drug use in the context of sex, transactional sex and greater likelihood of reduction of alcohol use and abuse. Brief theory-based HIV prevention counselling may significantly reduce HIV risk behaviours for HIV-uninfected patients at HIV counselling and testing sites in South Africa. Further research is needed to validate the findings.
Broadband analytical magnetoquasistatic electromagnetic induction solution for a conducting and permeable spheroid

We use a hybrid model including asymptotic expressions of the spheroidal wave functions (SWFs) to obtain a reliable broadband solution for the electromagnetic induction (EMI) response from a conducting and permeable spheroid. We obtain this broadband response, valid in the magnetoquasistatic regime from zero to hundreds of kilohertz, by combining three different techniques, each applicable over a different frequency range. At low frequencies, the exact analytical solution is used. At midrange frequencies, asymptotic expressions for the angular and radial SWFs are incorporated into the exact solution in order to maintain a stable solution for the induced magnetic field. At higher frequencies, a small penetration approximation (SPA) solution is used when the SPA solution approaches the asymptotically assisted solution to within some predefined tolerance. Validation of this combined technique is accomplished through the comparison of the induced magnetic field predicted by our model to both a finite element/boundary integral (FE-BI) numerical solution and experimental data from various spheroids taken by an ultrawideband EMI instrument.
A Nonparametric Test Reveals Selection for Rapid Flowering in the Arabidopsis Genome

The detection of footprints of natural selection in genetic polymorphism data is fundamental to understanding the genetic basis of adaptation, and has important implications for human health. The standard approach has been to reject neutrality in favor of selection if the pattern of variation at a candidate locus was significantly different from the predictions of the standard neutral model. The problem is that the standard neutral model assumes more than just neutrality, and it is almost always possible to explain the data using an alternative neutral model with more complex demography. Today's wealth of genomic polymorphism data, however, makes it possible to dispense with models altogether by simply comparing the pattern observed at a candidate locus to the genomic pattern, and rejecting neutrality if the pattern is extreme. Here, we utilize this approach on a truly genomic scale, comparing a candidate locus to thousands of alleles throughout the Arabidopsis thaliana genome. We demonstrate that selection has acted to increase the frequency of early-flowering alleles at the vernalization requirement locus FRIGIDA. Selection seems to have occurred during the last several thousand years, possibly in response to the spread of agriculture. We introduce a novel test statistic based on haplotype sharing that embraces the problem of population structure, and so should be widely applicable.
Centre for Quantifiable Quality of Service in Communication Systems

In multimodal presentations the perceived audiovisual quality assessment is significantly influenced by the content of both the audio and visual tracks. Based on our earlier subjective quality test for finding the optimal trade-off between audio and video quality, this paper proposes a novel method for relative multimodal complexity analysis to derive the fusion parameter in objective audiovisual quality metrics. Audio and video qualities are first estimated separately using advanced quality models, and then they are combined into the overall audiovisual quality using a linear fusion. Based on carefully designed auditory and visual features, the relative complexity analysis model across sensory modalities is proposed for deriving the fusion parameter. Experimental results have demonstrated that the content adaptive fusion parameter can improve the prediction accuracy of objective audiovisual quality metrics, compared to the fusion parameters obtained from the subjective quality tests using other known optimization methods.
A framework for modelling virus gene expression data

Short, high-dimensional, Multivariate Time Series (MTS) data are common in many fields such as medicine, finance and science, and any advance in modelling this kind of data would be beneficial. Nowhere is this truer than functional genomics where effective ways of analysing gene expression data are urgently needed. Progress in this area could help obtain a “global” view of biological processes, and ultimately lead to a great improvement in the quality of human life. We present a computational framework for modelling this type of data, and report experimental results of applying this framework to the analysis of gene expression data in the virology domain. The framework contains a three-step modelling strategy: correlation search, variable grouping, and short MTS modelling. Novel research is involved in each step which has been individually tested on different real-world datasets in engineering and medicine. This is the first attempt to integrate all these components into a coherent computational framework, and test the framework on a very challenging application area, producing promising results.
Mean-field optimal control by leaders

In this paper we deal with a social dynamics model, where one controls a small number of leaders in order to influence the behavior of the whole group (leaders and followers). We first provide a general mathematical framework to deal with optimal control of the microscopic problem, where the number of agents is finite, and its mean-field limit with an infinite number of followers. Then we focus on a migration-type model and develop optimal control strategies for the microscopic model. Such strategies are tested in their behavior both for the number of agents tending to infinity and for different initial conditions and initial locations of the leaders.
A Flexible External Paging Interface

In this paper we describe an aspect of the Spring virtual memory system that was influenced by the distributed object-oriented architecture of Spring. The virtual memory system supports external pagers like those provided in MACH, yet the architecture is more flexible and provides better caching opportunities than is possible in other systems. A novel aspect of the architecture is the separation of the memory abstraction from the interface that provides the paging operations. This separation provides considerable caching opportunities in our file system and it facilitates our extensible stackable file system architecture. The virtual memory architecture described in this paper is implemented and has been in use for over three years as part of the experimental Spring operating system.
MobiDev: a mobile development kit for combined paper-based and in-situ programming on the mobile phone

In this paper we present MobiDev, a development kit that allows the creation of applications for mobile devices by developing directly on a mobile phone and by using paper-based sketches as a starting point for creating the user interface (UI). Although programming mobile applications on a computer has a well defined development structure, developing a mobile application on the mobile phone instead offers some advantages: (1) it allows people without access to a computer but to a mobile phone to create mobile applications and (2) it supports the development of applications which employ enhanced mobile phone features that are not fully supported by current desktop development environments. Users draw UI sketches on paper (similar to a paper prototype) as the initial step in an evolutionary UI development process to speed up the development of the application and to minimize the text input effort.
Distributed stopping for average consensus using double linear iterative strategies

We consider how double linear iterative strategies for asymptotic average consensus can be adapted so that the nodes can determine, in a distributed fashion, a stopping criterion that allows them to terminate (in finite time) the execution of the iterations when approximate average consensus has been reached. The nodes are said to have reached approximate average consensus when each of them has a value that is close to the desirable average (in a way that we precisely define). We consider both undirected and directed graphs, and compare the number of iterations and transmissions required by the proposed protocols against previously proposed stopping protocols for approximate average consensus.
Personas in uniform : Police officers and information technology

This paper apply personas to explore and analyze the highly regulated and (seemingly) uniform work practice of police officers. Historically, many information systems and information technology applications for the police has failed to meet the requirements of officers working in the field. It is claimed that a richer understanding of the practice outside the police station can result in more successful implementations of information systems for the police. An analysis of police practice is conducted through four personas of officers. The personas are derived through an analysis of an extensive set of qualitative data data from both police experience, and from observations and interviews. The personas are then situated in scenarios to visualize information related problems in the practice. The paper conclude that persona is a useful technique to analyze police work for design purpose.
The SmartKom Multimodal Corpus at BAS

In this contribution we announce and describe in detail the new multimodal corpus evolving from the publicly funded German SmartKom project. The first release of the corpus (BAS SK-P 1.0) has been finished end of 2001 and will be ready for distribution to the scientific community in July 2002. The SmartKom corpus will be the first of a new generation of Language Resources (LR) designed for a more or less complete data gathering of human-machine communication combining acoustic, visual and tactile input and output modalities. Since the funding of about EU 2 Mio for this LR is 100% public, the corpus will be available without royalties via the Bavarian Archive for Speech Signals (BAS) at the University of Munich.
An Efficient Algorithm for Hierarchical Classification of Protein and Gene Functions

The classification of protein and gene functions is a complex problem that is becoming more relevant as the number of sequenced genes and proteins increases. This work presents a modified version of the Extended Local Hierarchical Naive Bayes algorithm, which exploits the requirements of the original algorithm (single-path, mandatory-leaf-prediction hierarchical classification problems in tree-structured class hierarchies) to greatly improve classification run-time. We show that, considering 18 hierarchical classification datasets, the modified algorithm yields equivalent predictive performance and significantly improves run-time in the training and prediction phases.
Finite-element modeling of needle electrodes in tissue from the perspective of frequent model computation

Information about electric field distribution in tissue is very important for effective electropermeabilization. In heterogeneous tissues with complex geometry, finite-element (FE) models provide an alternative source of such information. In the present study, modeling of needle electrode geometry in the FE model was investigated in order to determine the most appropriate geometry by considering the need for frequent FE model computation present in electroporation models. The 8-faceted needle electrode geometry proposed /sub e/termined on a model with a single needle electrode pair by means of criteria function - consisted of the weighted sum of the relative difference between measured and computed total current, the relative difference in CPU time spent on solving model, and the relative difference in cross section surface of electrodes. Such electrode geometry was further evaluated on physical models with needle arrays by comparison of computed total current and measured current. The agreement between modeled and measured current was good (within 9% of measurement), except in cases with very thin gel. For voltage above 50 V, a linear relationship between current and voltage was observed in measurements. But at lower voltages, a nonlinear behavior was detected resulting from side (electrochemical) effects at electrode-gel interface. This effect was incorporated in the model by introducing a 50 V shift which reduced the difference between the model and the measurement to less than 3%. As long as material properties and geometry are well described by FE model, current-based validation can be used for a rough model validation. That is a routine assay compared with imaging of electric field, which is otherwise employed for model validation. Additionally, current estimated by model, can be preset as maximum in the electroporator in order to protect tissue against damage.
Hepatic Ischemia Is Associated with an Increase in Liver Parenchyma Nitric Oxide That Is in Part Enzyme-Independent

Background Nitric oxide (NO) might be involved in liver response to local ischemia–reperfusion injury. Methods A specific NO-sensitive electrode was inserted into liver parenchyma of anesthetized rabbits. After a 45-min period of stable NO signal, the vascular pedicle of the caudal lobe of the liver was clamped for 45 min, then the clamp was removed. Perfusion of the right upper lobe was left unchanged. The same procedure was applied in other animals after administration of a long-acting nonspecific NO synthase inhibitor NAPNA. Results Occlusion of the caudal pedicle was associated with a mean threefold increase in NO signal measured in the caudal lobe. After unclamping, this signal returned within 8 min to baseline value and remained stable for the next 6 h. In the right upper lobe, NO signal was unaffected by caudal lobe ischemia. By the end of the 6-h reperfusion period, administration of the NO inhibitor l-NAME led to a suppression of the NO signal, thus demonstrating the specificity of the measurement. Plasma nitrate and nitrite concentrations remained almost unchanged during the study period in all groups. In animals whose NO synthases had been previously inhibited by NAPNA, clamping the caudal pedicle for 45 min was still associated with a significant increase in caudal lobe NO signal. Conclusion Nitric oxide is present in liver parenchyma, and its generation is dramatically affected by an ischemia injury. The increased NO generation during local ischemia is, at least in part, independent of NO synthases.
An object-oriented formal specification of a configuration language for railway interlockings

The Solid-state interlocking system (SSI) [1] is one of the most popular railway signalling systems in use today. It has been successfully installed in several hundred sites around the world, and has a proven safety track record. The concept of SSI was developed in the late 1970s by British Railways Research and Development Division, and the system was engineered by British Railways, GECGeneral Signal Limited and Westinghouse Signals Limited in the early 1980s. Since then, the system has been enhanced by the three industrial partners.
Boundary determination of foot ulcer images by applying the associative hierarchical random field framework

Abstract. As traditional visual-examination-based methods provide neither reliable nor consistent wound assessment, several computer-based approaches for quantitative wound image analysis have been proposed in recent years. However, these methods require either some level of human interaction for proper image processing or that images be captured under controlled conditions. However, to become a practical tool of diabetic patients for wound management, the wound image algorithm needs to be able to correctly locate and detect the wound boundary of images acquired under less-constrained conditions, where the illumination and camera angle can vary within reasonable bounds. We present a wound boundary determination method that is robust to lighting and camera orientation perturbations by applying the associative hierarchical random field (AHRF) framework, which is an improved conditional random field (CRF) model originally applied to natural image multiscale analysis. To validate the robustness of the AHRF framework for wound boundary recognition tasks, we have tested the method on two image datasets: (1) foot and leg ulcer images (for the patients we have tracked for 2 years) that were captured under one of the two conditions, such that 70% of the entire dataset are captured with image capture box to ensure consistent lighting and range and the remaining 30% of the images are captured by a handheld camera under varied conditions of lighting, incident angle, and range and (2) moulage wound images that were captured under similarly varied conditions. Compared to other CRF-based machine learning strategies, our new method provides a determination accuracy with the best global performance rates (specificity: >95 % and sensitivity: >77 % .
Changes in axonally transported proteins during axon regeneration in toad retinal ganglion cells

In an effort to understand the regulation of the transition of a mature neuron to the growth, or regenerating, state we have analyzed the composition of the axonally transported proteins in the retinal ganglion cells of the toad Bufo marinus after inducing axon regeneration by crushing the optic nerve. At increasing intervals after axotomy, we labeled the retinal ganglion cells with [35S]methionine and subsequently analyzed the labeled transported polypeptides in the crushed optic nerve by means of one- and two-dimensional electrophoretic techniques. The most significant conclusion from these experiments is that, while the transition from the mature to the regenerating state does not require a gross qualitative alteration in the composition of axonally transported proteins, the relative labeling of a small subset of rapidly transported proteins is altered dramatically (changes of more than 20-fold) and reproducibly (more than 30 animals) by axotomy. One of these growth-associated proteins (GAPs) was soluble in an aqueous buffer, while three were associated with a crude membrane fraction. The labeling of all three of the membrane- associated GAPs increased during the first 8 d after axotomy, and they continued to be labeled for at least 4 wk. The modulation of these proteins after axotomy is consistent with the possibility that they are involve in growth-specific functions and that the altered expression of a small number of genes is a crucial regulatory event in the transition of a mature neuron to a growth state. In addition to these selective changes in rapidly transported proteins, we observed the following more general metabolic correlates of the regeneration process: The total radioactive label associated with the most rapidly transported proteins (groups I and II) increased three to fourfold during the first 8 d after the nerve was crushed, while the total label associated with more slowly moving proteins (group IV) increased about 10-fold during this same period. Among these more slowly transported polypeptides, five were observed whose labeling increased much more than the average. Three of these five polypeptides resemble actin and alpha- and beta- tubulin in their electrophoretic properties.