Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Unsupervised Word Discovery from Phonetic Input Using Nested Pitman-Yor Language Modeling

In this paper we consider the unsupervised word discovery from phonetic input. We employ a word segmentation algorithm which simultaneously develops a lexicon, i.e., the transcription of a word in terms of a phone sequence, learns a n-gram language model describing word and word sequence probabilities, and carries out the segmentation itself. The underlying statistical model is that of a Pitman-Yor process, a concept known from Bayesian non-parametrics, which allows for an a priori unknown and unlimited number of different words. Using a hierarchy of Pitman-Yor processes, language models of different order can be employed and nesting it with another hierarchy of Pitman-Yor processes on the phone level allows for backing off unknown word unigrams by phone m-grams. We present results on a large-vocabulary task, assuming an error-free phone sequence is given. We finish by discussing options how to cope with noisy phone sequences.
Better the Devil You Know: A User Study of Two CAPTCHAs and a Possible Replacement

CAPTCHAs are difficult for humans to use, causing frustration. Alternatives have been proposed, but user studies equate usability to solvability. We consider the user perspective to include workload and context of use. We assess traditional text-based CAPTCHAs alongside PlayThru, a 'gamified' verification mechanism, and NoBot, which uses face biometrics. A total of 87 participants were tasked with ticket-buying across three conditions: (1) all three mechanisms in comparison, and NoBot three times (2) on a laptop, and (3) on a tablet. A range of quantitative and qualitative measurements explored the user perspective. Quantitative results showed that participants completed reCAPTCHAs quickest, followed by PlayThru and NoBot. Participants were critical of NoBot in comparison but praised it in isolation. Despite reporting negative experiences with reCAPTCHAs, they were the preferred mechanism, due to familiarity and a sense of security and control. Although slower, participants praised NoBot's completion speeds, but regarded using personal images as invading privacy.
05 05 26 3 v 1 1 2 M ay 2 00 5 C and N Abundances in Stars At the Base of the Red Giant Branch in M 15 1

We present an analysis of a large sample of moderate resolution Keck LRIS spectra of subgiants and stars at the base of the RGB in the Galactic globular cluster M15 (NGC 7078), most within the range 16.5 < V < 19.5(1.2 < MV < 4.2), with the goal of deriving C abundances (from the G band of CH) and N abundances (from the NH band at 3360 Å). Star-to-star stochastic variations with significant range in both [C/Fe] and [N/Fe] are found at all luminosities extending to the subgiants at MV ∼ +3. The C and N abundances appear anti-correlated, as would be expected from the CN-cycle processing of stellar material. Yet these M15 stars are considerably fainter than the RGB bump, the point at which deep mixing is believed to set in. On this basis, while the observed abundance pattern is consistent with proton capture nucleosynthesis, we infer that the site of the reactions is likely not within the present sample. The range of variation of the N abundances is very large and the sum of C+N increases as C decreases. To reproduce this requires the incorporation not only of CN but also of ON-processed material. Combining our work with that of Trefzger et al. (1983) for the brighter giants in M15, we find strong evidence for additional depletion of C among the most luminous giants. This presumably represents the first dredge up (with enhanced deep mixing) expected for such luminous cluster RGB stars in the course of normal stellar evolution as they cross the RGB bump. We compare the behavior of these patterns for C and N in globular clusters covering a wide range of metallicity and of current mass. While all clusters studied show strong Based on observations obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory, which is operated jointly by the California Institute of Technology, the University of California and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Palomar Observatory, Mail Stop 105-24, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125 (jlc@astro.caltech.edu) Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, 800 Algoma Boulevard, Oshkosh, WI 54901. Currently on assignment to the National Science Foundation, 4201 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, VA 22230. Any opinions, findings, conclusions and recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. (mike@maxwell.phys.uwosh.edu) Dominion Astrophysical Observatory, 5071 West Saanich Road, Victoria, British Columbia V9E 2E7 Canada (Peter.Stetson@hia.nrc.ca) Guest User, Canadian Astronomy Data Centre, which is operated by the Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics, National Research Council of Canada Guest Investigator at the UK Astronomy Data Centre
Capital Flows , Country Risk and Contagion 1

It has been widely recognized that both country-specific and global factors matter in explaining capital flows. In this paper we present an empirical framework that allows us to disentangle the relative weight of country-specific and global factors in determining capital flows. In essence, our approach first separates the common component of emerging country spreads from their country-specific component. The pure country risk and global risk components are then used as explanatory variables to account for the observed pattern of capital flows using multivariate cointegration analyses. We are able to identify the relative weight of global and country-specific factors in explaining capital flows to Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and Venezuela in the 1990s. When further decomposing country risk into its determinants, we find that within a small system it is possible to jointly identify the determinants of capital flows and sovereign bond spreads. We find that capital flows are driven by country risk and global factors (“contagion” and U.S. Long-term interest rates), while country risk is determined by the primary balanceto-GDP ratio (-) and the ratio of public debt to GDP (+).
CHAPTER 1 Digital Terrain Analysis

The development and application of the TAPES: Terrain Analysis Programs for the Environmental Sciences software tools described in this book was motivated by our view of the world as a stage on which a series of hierarchically scaled biophysical processes are played out (Figure 1.1). This approach is useful because it can handle the complexity of individual landscape processes and patterns as well as some of the difficulties that are encountered in delineating the appropriate spatial and temporal scales (O’Neill et al. 1986, Mackey 1996, Malanson and Armstrong 1997). Many of the important biophysical processes operating at or near the earth’s surface are influenced by both past events and contemporary controls, interactions, and thresholds (Dietrich et al. 1992, Grayson et al. 1993, Montgomery and Dietrich 1995). These interrelationships are complicated and may be best understood using a dynamic systems modeling approach (Kirkby et al. 1996). The boundaries separating different spatial and temporal scales are not very clear and they may vary with individual processes and/or landscapes (cf. Sivapalan and Wood 1986, Mackey 1996, Malanson and Armstrong 1997). This state of affairs suggests that additional work is required to identify the important spatial and temporal scales and the factors that influence or control the processes and patterns operating at particular scales. The potential benefits may be substantial. Schaffer (1981), working with interacting systems of populations in community ecology, and Phillips (1986), working on examples in fluvial geomorphology, have demonstrated that the key processes operating over different timescales can be considered independently of each other. Phillips (1988) has also shown how the key processes operating at different spatial scales and affecting the hydraulic gradient of a desert stream in Arizona can be considered independently of each other. Band et al. (1991) generated landscape units with low internal variance and high between-unit
Gender Quotas – Controversial But Trendy

The recent introduction of electoral gender quotas all over the world represents an interesting new research area, since quotas touch upon so many central themes in feminist theory, political theory and policy analysis. The three articles on gender quotas in this cluster discuss ‘classic’ themes in quotas research such as quota discourses, implementation of different types of quotas in different electoral systems, and the effects of gender quotas. But the articles also contribute to expanding our research agenda with new lines of enquiry, such as attitudes towards quotas after the introduction of quotas; or the importance of mobilization around the demand for quotas in spite of poor results in terms of increasing women's representation. In this introduction to the three articles, it is argued that we need research into the question of why male dominated parliaments all over the world introduce gender quotas. It seems obvious that motives other than pure feminist ones are involved, since politics is after all a world of mixed motives, bargaining and compromises. Also, the introduction argues that there is a need for further developing our concepts and methods when studying the impact of gender quotas and the effect of women's representation in general. Different results may derive not solely from different cases, but also from the use of disparate criteria for this evaluation.
Mutually Exclusive Expression of Virulence Genes by Malaria Parasites Is Regulated Independently of Antigen Production

The primary virulence determinant of Plasmodium falciparum malaria parasite–infected cells is a family of heterogeneous surface receptors collectively referred to as PfEMP1. These proteins are encoded by a large, polymorphic gene family called var. The family contains approximately 60 individual genes, which are subject to strict, mutually exclusive expression, with the single expressed var gene determining the antigenic, cytoadherent, and virulence phenotype of the infected cell. The mutually exclusive expression pattern of var genes is imperative for the parasite's ability to evade the host's immune response and is similar to the process of “allelic exclusion” described for mammalian Ig and odorant receptor genes. In mammalian systems, mutually exclusive expression is ensured by negative feedback inhibition mediated by production of a functional protein. To investigate how expression of the var gene family is regulated, we have created transgenic lines of parasites in which expression of individual var loci can be manipulated. Here we show that no such negative feedback system exists in P. falciparum and that this process is dependent solely on the transcriptional regulatory elements immediately adjacent to each gene. Transgenic parasites that are selected to express a var gene in which the PfEMP1 coding region has been replaced by a drug-selectable marker silence all other var genes in the genome, thus effectively knocking out all PfEMP1 expression and indicating that the modified gene is still recognized as a member of the var gene family. Mutually exclusive expression in P. falciparum is therefore regulated exclusively at the level of transcription, and a functional PfEMP1 protein is not necessary for viability or for proper gene regulation in cultured parasites.
DESCRIBING JURORS ' PERSONAL CONCEPTIONS OF INSANITY AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP TO CASE JUDGMENTS

In a series of studies, prototype theory was applied to describe the nature, variability, and effect of jurors' conceptions of insanity. Specifically, (a) 80 jurors described the features of their prototypes of insanity, (b) 5 jurors combined similar features to develop a core set of features to measure individual differences, and (c) 135 jurors and 236 undergraduates completed measures of individual differences in prototypes and attitudes toward the insanity defense and the criminal justice system and rendered insanity case judgments. Results suggest that (a) jurors' prototypes of insanity cannot be reduced to legal or psychiatric constructs; (b) although there are marked individual differences in prototypes, there are 3 identifiable groups of jurors with prototypes that emphasize severe mental disability, "moral insanity," and mental state at the time of the offense; and (c) these prototypes are associated with case-relevant attitudes and affect the way in which jurors interpret case information and render verdicts. Implications for future research, legal reform, and the presentation of expert evidence are analyzed.
Promising Targets for Cancer Immunotherapy: TLRs, RLRs, and STING-Mediated Innate Immune Pathways

Malignant cancers employ diverse and intricate immune evasion strategies, which lead to inadequately effective responses of many clinical cancer therapies. However, emerging data suggest that activation of the tolerant innate immune system in cancer patients is able, at least partially, to counteract tumor-induced immunosuppression, which indicates triggering of the innate immune response as a novel immunotherapeutic strategy may result in improved therapeutic outcomes for cancer patients. The promising innate immune targets include Toll-like Receptors (TLRs), RIG-I-like Receptors (RLRs), and Stimulator of Interferon Genes (STING). This review discusses the antitumor properties of TLRs, RLRs, and STING-mediated innate immune pathways, as well as the promising innate immune targets for potential application in cancer immunotherapy.
Coherent Metropolis Light Transport with Multiple-Try Mutations

We present in this paper an effective way to implement coherent versions of Metropolis Light Transport (MLT) by using a class of Multiple-Try mutation strategies. Indeed, even if MLT is an unconditionally robust rendering technique which can handle any kind of lighting configurations, it does not exploit any computation coherency. For example, it is difficult to cluster similar light rays into beams or cones, to perform SIMD computations on vectorized data or to efficiently use geometry caching with non-tessellated scenes. To make Metropolis Light Transport suitable to most of the currently existing commercial renderers, we therefore propose to divide the algorithm into two parts: the first one explores the entire integration space in a way very similar to the initial implementation of Metropolis Light Transport while the second one "splits" in an unbiased way each sample into a family of arbitrarily coherent samples. We finally propose to illustrate the efficiency of our approach with an example of implementation of coherent ray tracing using SIMD instructions.
A SURVEY OF OBJECT DETECTION AND TRACKING IN COMPUTER VISION

Absract— Object detection and pursuing are vital and challenging tasks in countless computer vision requests such as surveillance, vehicle exploration, and self-governing robot navigation. Video surveillance in a vibrant nature, exceptionally for humans and vehicles, is one of the present challenging problem cases in computer vision. It is a key knowledge to battle opposing radicalism, offense, area protection and for effectual association of traffic. The work involves arranging of the effectual video surveillance arrangement in convoluted environments. In video surveillance, detection of advancing objects from a video is vital for object detection, target pursuing, and deeds understanding.
Fast self-tuning weighted measurement fusion Kalman filter for the ARMA signal

For the multisensor single channel autoregressive moving average(ARMA) signal with common disturbance measurement noise and sensor bias, when the model parameters, the sensor bias and the noise variances are all unknown, their consistent estimates are obtained by a multistage fused identification method, which includes the recursive extended least squares (RELS) algorithm, correlation method and the Gevers-Wouters algorithm with a dead band. Substituting these estimates into the optimal weighted measurement fusion(WMF) Kalman signal filter, a self-tuning WMF Kalman signal filter with asymptotic global optimality is presented. A fast inversion algorithm of the extended Pei-Radman matrix is presented in order to reduce the computational load. A simulation example verifies the effectiveness of the proposed method.
A comparative study of p53 gene mutations, protein accumulation, and response to cisplatin-based chemotherapy in advanced ovarian carcinoma.

The p53 protein is a multifunctional transcriptional regulator involved in cellular response to DNA damage and has been implicated as a putative determinant of sensitivity of tumor cells to cytotoxic agents. Since the p53 gene becomes inactivated in over one-half of advanced ovarian carcinoma, in this study we have examined the relationships between p53 gene alterations, p53 immunoreactivity, and response to cisplatin-based chemotherapy in ovarian cancer patients. All patients had advanced (FIGO stage III or IV) ovarian carcinoma and, with one exception, were untreated at the time of collection of tumor specimens. After initial debulking surgery, patients received high-dose cisplatin therapy. Tumor samples were analyzed for p53 gene mutations and for p53 protein accumulation, and the findings were correlated with tumor responsiveness. Of the 33 tumors examined, p53 gene mutations were found in 20 cases, including 15 missense mutations, 2 deletions, 2 nonsense mutations, and a base substitution at splice site. Twenty tumors showed positive immunostaining for p53. Only missense mutations were associated with positive immunostaining. In addition, p53 overexpression was detected in five tumors in the absence of mutations. Most (12 of 14) of the missense mutations associated with p53 protein stabilization were found refractory to therapy, as well as tumors overexpressing wild-type p53 (4 of 5). A significant correlation has been found between p53 accumulation, type of mutation (i.e., missense mutations), and pathological response to cisplatin-based therapy. In conclusion, the present results are consistent with a role of p53 as a determinant of chemosensitivity of ovarian carcinoma.
Mutations Within the Kinase Domain and Truncations of the Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Are Rare Events in Bladder Cancer: Implications for Therapy

Purpose: It has previously been reported that the patient response to gefitinib depends on the presence of mutations within the kinase domain of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) or the expression of its truncated form, EGFR variant III (EGFRvIII). The focus of this study was to determine if these alterations are present within the tyrosine kinase and ligand-binding domain of EGFR in urothelial carcinoma. Experimental Design: The kinase domain found within exons 18 to 21 of the EGFR from 11 bladder cancer cell lines and 75 patient tumors were subjected to automated sequencing. EGFRvIII expression was determined by immunohistochemistry using a urothelial carcinoma tissue microarray, and its expression was subsequently verified by reverse transcription PCR, real-time PCR, and Western blot analysis, using an EGFRvIII-transfected glioblastoma cell line and glioblastoma tumors as positive controls. Results: Our analysis failed to detect mutations within the tyrosine kinase domain of EGFR in the 11 cell lines and 75 patients tested. The initial analysis of EGFRvIII expression by immunohistochemistry revealed that at least 50% of the patient tumors expressed EGFRvIII in a urothelial carcinoma tissue microarray. Conflicting reports exist, however, regarding the extent of EGFRvIII expression in tissues owing to the specificity of the antibodies and the methodologies used. Therefore, we sought to validate this observation by reverse transcription PCR, real-time PCR, and Western blot analysis. In these assays, none of the samples were positive for EGFRvIII except for control transfectants and glioblastomas. Conclusions: When our results are taken together, we conclude that alterations within the tyrosine kinase domain and expression of EGFRvIII are rare events in bladder cancer. The present study has clinical implications in selecting tyrosine kinase inhibitors for the therapy of urothelial carcinoma.
A third decade of research

This is the long awaited second volume of Pascarella and Terenzini's 1991 award winning review of the research on the impacts of college on students. The authors review their earlier findings and then synthesize what has been learned since 1990 about college's influences on students' learning. The book also discusses the implications of the findings for research, practice, and public policy. This authoritative and comprehensive analysis of the literature on college impact is required reading for anyone interested in higher education practice, policy, and promise faculty, administrators, researchers, policy analysts, and decision makers at every level.
Molecular Genetic Analysis of Stomach Contents Reveals Wild Atlantic Cod Feeding on Piscine Reovirus (PRV) Infected Atlantic Salmon Originating from a Commercial Fish Farm

In March 2012, fishermen operating in a fjord in Northern Norway reported catching Atlantic cod, a native fish forming an economically important marine fishery in this region, with unusual prey in their stomachs. It was speculated that these could be Atlantic salmon, which is not typical prey for cod at this time of the year in the coastal zone. These observations were therefore reported to the Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries as a suspected interaction between a local fish farm and this commercial fishery. Statistical analyses of genetic data from 17 microsatellite markers genotyped on 36 partially-degraded prey, samples of salmon from a local fish farm, and samples from the nearest wild population permitted the following conclusions: 1. The prey were Atlantic salmon, 2. These salmon did not originate from the local wild population, and 3. The local farm was the most probable source of these prey. Additional tests demonstrated that 21 of the 36 prey were infected with piscine reovirus. While the potential link between piscine reovirus and the disease heart and skeletal muscle inflammation is still under scientific debate, this disease had caused mortality of large numbers of salmon in the farm in the month prior to the fishermen's observations. These analyses provide new insights into interactions between domesticated and wild fish.
Serum Nesfatin-1 is Reduced in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Patients with Peripheral Arterial Disease

Background Nesfatin-1, recently identified as a satiety regulator, elicits an anti-atherosclerosis effect. Our study was designed to determine whether there is an association between serum nesfatin-1 and the development and severity of peripheral arterial disease (PAD) in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Material/Methods This cross-sectional study included 355 T2DM patients (200 without PAD and 155 with PAD). Results T2DM patients with PAD exhibited marked lower serum nesfatin-1 concentrations than those without PAD. Multivariable logistic regression analysis indicated an inverse association of serum nesfatin-1 concentrations with the development of PAD in T2DM patients (OR 0.008, 95% CI 0.002 to 0.028; P<0.001). Simple linear regression analysis showed a marked correlation between serum nesfatin-1 concentrations and body mass index (BMI), homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), C-reactive protein (CRP), and ankle-brachial index (ABI) in T2DM patients. By contrast, multivariable analysis showed only BMI and ABI as independent correlates of serum nesfatin-1. Conclusions Our study shows an association of serum nesfatin-1 concentrations and the development and severity of PAD in T2DM patients.