Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Speech-to-Song Illusion Is Reduced in Speakers of Tonal (vs. Non-Tonal) Languages

The speech-to-song illusion has attracted interest as a probe of the perceptual interface between language and music. One might anticipate differential speech-to-song effects in tonal vs. non-tonal languages, since these language classes differ importantly in the linguistic value they assign to tones. Here we addressed this issue for the first time in a cohort of 20 healthy younger adults whose native language was either tonal (Thai, Mandarin) or non-tonal (German, Italian) and all of whom were also fluent in English. All participants were assessed using a protocol designed to induce the speech-to-song illusion on speech excerpts presented in each of the five study languages. Over the combined participant group, there was evidence of a speech-to-song illusion effect for all language stimuli and the extent to which individual participants rated stimuli as “song-like” at baseline was significantly positively correlated with the strength of the speech-to-song effect. However, tonal and non-tonal language stimuli elicited comparable speech-to-song effects and no acoustic language parameter was found to predict the effect. Examining the effect of the listener's native language, tonal language native speakers experienced significantly weaker speech-to-song effects than non-tonal native speakers across languages. Both non-tonal native language and inability to understand the stimulus language significantly predicted the speech-to-song illusion. These findings together suggest that relative propensity to perceive prosodic structures as inherently linguistic vs. musical may modulate the speech-to-song illusion.
The role of rodents in avian influenza outbreaks in poultry farms: a review

ABSTRACT Wild migratory birds are associated with global avian influenza virus (AIV) spread. Although direct contact with wild birds and contaminated fomites is unlikely in modern non-free range poultry farms applying biosecurity measures, AIV outbreaks still occur. This suggests involvement of other intermediate factors for virus transmission between wild birds and poultry. This review describes current evidence of the potential role of rodents in AIV transmission from wild birds to poultry and between poultry houses. Rodents can be abundant around poultry houses, share their habitat with waterfowl and can readily enter poultry houses. Survival of AIV from waterfowl in poultry house surroundings and on the coat of rodents suggests that rodents are likely to act as mechanical vector. AIVs can replicate in rodents without adaptation, resulting in high viral titres in lungs and nasal turbinates, virus presence in nasal washes and saliva, and transmission to naïve contact animals. Therefore, active AIV shedding by infected rodents may play a role in transmission to poultry. Further field and experimental studies are needed to provide evidence for a role of rodents in AIV epidemiology. Making poultry houses rodent-proof and the immediate surroundings unattractive for rodents are recommended as preventive measures against possible AIV introduction.
The renal risks of smoking: an update

Purpose of reviewSmoking increases the renal risk both in diabetic and in nondiabetic renal disease. The purpose of the present review is to summarize the current state of knowledge about this important remediable renal risk factor. Recent findingsThe deleterious effect of smoking on renal function extends beyond patients with primary or secondary renal disease and patients with a renal transplant, because recent studies document a relation between smoking and loss of filtration rate, even in cardiovascular high-risk populations without primary renal disease such as the elderly, the patient with severe essential hypertension, or the patient with widespread atherosclerosis. Furthermore, recent studies show that in nondiabetic patients without primary renal disease, albuminuria, a potential surrogate marker of glomerular damage, is correlated with smoking. The mechanisms underlying the adverse renal effects of smoking are still incompletely understood. Beyond its effect on progression of renal failure, smoking is also an important cardiovascular risk factor in the patient with renal failure or the patient with a renal transplant. SummarySmoking is one of the most important remediable renal risk factors. The exact mechanisms of smoking-induced renal damage remain to be determined. For all the above reasons cessation of smoking should be recommended to renal patients - a recommendation which is infrequently given and even less frequently followed.
Arabic newspaper page segmentation

The aim of layout analysis is to extract the geometricstructure from a document image. It consists of labelinghomogenous regions of a document image. This paperdescribes the performance of segmentation algorithmsand their adaptation in order to treat complex structuredArabic documents such as newspapers. Experimentaltests have been carried out on four different phases ofnewspaper image analysis: thread recognition, framerecognition, image text separation, text line recognition,and line merging into blocks. Some promisingexperimental results are reported.
Epstein–Barr virus nuclear antigen 3A partially coincides with EBNA3C genome-wide and is tethered to DNA through BATF complexes

Significance Epstein–Barr Virus (EBV)-infected lymphoblasts can give rise to non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas, Hodgkin’s disease, and lymphoproliferative disorders, especially in immunosuppressed and HIV-infected individuals. EBV-driven lymphoblast growth requires EBV nuclear antigen 3A (EBNA3A) for suppression of CDKN2A-mediated cell senescence responses. We have described the EBNA3A genome-wide landscape in EBV-infected human lymphoblasts. EBNA3A was found mostly at strong enhancers, colocalized with BATF, ETS, IRF4, and RUNX3. EBNA3A was tethered to DNA through BATF protein complexes. Epstein–Barr Virus (EBV) conversion of B-lymphocytes to Lymphoblastoid Cell Lines (LCLs) requires four EBV nuclear antigen (EBNA) oncoproteins: EBNA2, EBNALP, EBNA3A, and EBNA3C. EBNA2 and EBNALP associate with EBV and cell enhancers, up-regulate the EBNA promoter, MYC, and EBV Latent infection Membrane Proteins (LMPs), which up-regulate BCL2 to protect EBV-infected B-cells from MYC proliferation-induced cell death. LCL proliferation induces p16INK4A and p14ARF-mediated cell senescence. EBNA3A and EBNA3C jointly suppress p16INK4A and p14ARF, enabling continuous cell proliferation. Analyses of the EBNA3A human genome-wide ChIP-seq landscape revealed 37% of 10,000 EBNA3A sites to be at strong enhancers; 28% to be at weak enhancers; 4.4% to be at active promoters; and 6.9% to be at weak and poised promoters. EBNA3A colocalized with BATF-IRF4, ETS-IRF4, RUNX3, and other B-cell Transcription Factors (TFs). EBNA3A sites clustered into seven unique groups, with differing B-cell TFs and epigenetic marks. EBNA3A coincidence with BATF-IRF4 or RUNX3 was associated with stronger EBNA3A ChIP-Seq signals. EBNA3A was at MYC, CDKN2A/B, CCND2, CXCL9/10, and BCL2, together with RUNX3, BATF, IRF4, and SPI1. ChIP-re-ChIP revealed complexes of EBNA3A on DNA with BATF. These data strongly support a model in which EBNA3A is tethered to DNA through a BATF-containing protein complexes to enable continuous cell proliferation.
Genome wide re-sequencing of newly developed Rice Lines from common wild rice (Oryza rufipogon Griff.) for the identification of NBS-LRR genes

Common wild rice (Oryza rufipogon Griff.) is an important germplasm for rice breeding, which contains many resistance genes. Re-sequencing provides an unprecedented opportunity to explore the abundant useful genes at whole genome level. Here, we identified the nucleotide-binding site leucine-rich repeat (NBS-LRR) encoding genes by re-sequencing of two wild rice lines (i.e. Huaye 1 and Huaye 2) that were developed from common wild rice. We obtained 128 to 147 million reads with approximately 32.5-fold coverage depth, and uniquely covered more than 89.6% (> = 1 fold) of reference genomes. Two wild rice lines showed high SNP (single-nucleotide polymorphisms) variation rate in 12 chromosomes against the reference genomes of Nipponbare (japonica cultivar) and 93–11 (indica cultivar). InDels (insertion/deletion polymorphisms) count-length distribution exhibited normal distribution in the two lines, and most of the InDels were ranged from -5 to 5 bp. With reference to the Nipponbare genome sequence, we detected a total of 1,209,308 SNPs, 161,117 InDels and 4,192 SVs (structural variations) in Huaye 1, and 1,387,959 SNPs, 180,226 InDels and 5,305 SVs in Huaye 2. A total of 44.9% and 46.9% genes exhibited sequence variations in two wild rice lines compared to the Nipponbare and 93–11 reference genomes, respectively. Analysis of NBS-LRR mutant candidate genes showed that they were mainly distributed on chromosome 11, and NBS domain was more conserved than LRR domain in both wild rice lines. NBS genes depicted higher levels of genetic diversity in Huaye 1 than that found in Huaye 2. Furthermore, protein-protein interaction analysis showed that NBS genes mostly interacted with the cytochrome C protein (Os05g0420600, Os01g0885000 and BGIOSGA038922), while some NBS genes interacted with heat shock protein, DNA-binding activity, Phosphoinositide 3-kinase and a coiled coil region. We explored abundant NBS-LRR encoding genes in two common wild rice lines through genome wide re-sequencing, which proved to be a useful tool to exploit elite NBS-LRR genes in wild rice. The data here provide a foundation for future work aimed at dissecting the genetic basis of disease resistance in rice, and the two wild rice lines will be useful germplasm for the molecular improvement of cultivated rice.
PERAN MOTIVASI, DISIPLIN KERJA TERHADAP KOMITMEN KARYAWAN DAN KINERJA KARYAWAN PADA PERUSAHAAN AIR MINUM DI MALANG RAYA

The purpose of this study was to examine the direct effect of motivation, discipline to organizational commitment, and examine the effect of indirect motivation, discipline on performance through organizational commitment. The sample was 150 employees of PDAM Malang which is using simple random sampling. The research proves that there is a significant influence between motivation, organizational commitment and discipline to performance. While the indirect effect of motivation on performance through organizational commitment results obtained by (P1 X P3) = 0.477 x 0.159 = 0.0758, whereas the indirect influence between disciplines working on performance through organizational commitment is equal to (P2 x P4) = 0.186 x 0.199 = 0.0370. It conclude that the greatest influence is indirect effect of motivation on performance through organizational commitment. Keywords: motivation, discipline, organizational commitment, performance.
Personae: a Corpus for Author and Personality Prediction from Text

We present a new corpus for computational stylometry, more specifically authorship attribution and the prediction of author personality from text. Because of the large number of authors (145), the corpus will allow previously impossible studies of variation in features considered predictive for writing style. The innovative meta-information (personality profiles of the authors) associated with these texts allows the study of personality prediction, a not yet very well researched aspect of style. In this paper, we describe the contents of the corpus and show its use in both authorship attribution and personality prediction. We focus on features that have been proven useful in the field of author recognition. Syntactic features like part-of-speech n-grams are generally accepted as not being under the authors conscious control and therefore providing good clues for predicting gender or authorship. We want to test whether these features are helpful for personality prediction and authorship attribution on a large set of authors. Both tasks are approached as text categorization tasks. First a document representation is constructed based on feature selection from the linguistically analyzed corpus (using the Memory-Based Shallow Parser (MBSP)). These are associated with each of the 145 authors or each of the four components of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (Introverted-Extraverted, Sensing-iNtuitive, Thinking-Feeling, Judging-Perceiving). Authorship attribution on 145 authors achieves results around 50%-accuracy. Preliminary results indicate that the first two personality dimensions can be predicted fairly accurately.
Fluorescence energy transfer measurements of spatial relationships between sulfhydryl groups of thiolase I from porcine heart.

Mitochondrial thiolase I from pig heart has been found to have at least two and possibly three reactive sulfhydryl residues at or near the active site [Izbicka-Dimitrijević, E. , & Gilbert, H. F. (1982) Biochemistry 21, 6112-6118; Izbicka-Dimitrijević, E. , & Gilbert, H. F. (1984) Biochemistry 23, 4318-4324]. In the native enzyme, fluorescein mercuric acetate reacts with two of the sulfhydryl groups and inactivates the enzyme with a rate constant of 1.6 X 10(-4) M-1 s-1 in 0.1 M Tris-acetate, pH 7.0. The presence of saturating (250 microM) concentrations of acetoacetyl coenzyme A protects against both modification and inactivation. The acetyl enzyme, a normal intermediate in the reaction catalyzed by thiolase, is not inactivated by fluorescein mercuric acetate although one sulfhydryl group out of five per mole of thiolase subunit is still available for reaction with the reagent. Fluorescein mercuric acetate and S-mercurio-N-dansyl-L-cysteine (Dns-Cys-SHg+) have been used to differentially label two of the sulfhydryl groups in thiolase. The distance between Dns-Cys-SHg+ (donor) and fluorescein mercuric acetate (acceptor) determined by the fluorescence energy transfer is less than 14 A. The fluorescent analogue of coenzyme A, 1,N6-etheno coenzyme A, is recognized by thiolase as a substrate (Km = 21 microM); however, substrate inhibition and equilibrium dialysis show that the affinity of the free enzyme for CoA is quite low (Ki = 100 microM). The quantum yield of the fluorescence of the three thiolase tryptophan residues is low (0.024), corresponding to about 12% of the fluorescence expected from equivalent concentrations of tryptophan.
Compile the Hypothesis Space: Do it Once, Use it Often

Inductive Logic Programming (ILP) is a powerful and well-developed abstraction for multi-relational data mining techniques. Despite the considerable success of ILP, deployed ILP systems still have efficiency problems when applied to complex problems. In this paper we propose a novel technique that avoids the procedure of deducing each example to evaluate each constructed clause. The technique is based on the Mode Directed Inverse Entailment approach to ILP, where a bottom clause is generated for each example and the generated clauses are subsets of the literals of such bottom clause. We propose to store in a prefix-tree all clauses that can be generated from all bottom clauses together with some extra information. We show that this information is sufficient to estimate the number of examples that can be deduced froma clause and present an ILP algorithmthat exploits this representation. We also present an extension of the algorithm where each prefix-tree is computed only once (compiled) per example. The evaluation of hypotheses requires only basic and efficient operations on trees. This proposal avoids re-computation of hypothesis' value in theorylevel search, in cross-validation evaluation procedures and in parameter tuning. Both proposals are empirically evaluated on real applications and considerable speedups were observed.
Recombination-Induced Tag Exchange (RITE) Cassette Series to Monitor Protein Dynamics in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Proteins are not static entities. They are highly mobile, and their steady-state levels are achieved by a balance between ongoing synthesis and degradation. The dynamic properties of a protein can have important consequences for its function. For example, when a protein is degraded and replaced by a newly synthesized one, posttranslational modifications are lost and need to be reincorporated in the new molecules. Protein stability and mobility are also relevant for the duplication of macromolecular structures or organelles, which involves coordination of protein inheritance with the synthesis and assembly of newly synthesized proteins. To measure protein dynamics, we recently developed a genetic pulse-chase assay called recombination-induced tag exchange (RITE). RITE has been successfully used in Saccharomyces cerevisiae to measure turnover and inheritance of histone proteins, to study changes in posttranslational modifications on aging proteins, and to visualize the spatiotemporal inheritance of protein complexes and organelles in dividing cells. Here we describe a series of successful RITE cassettes that are designed for biochemical analyses, genomics studies, as well as single cell fluorescence applications. Importantly, the genetic nature and the stability of the tag switch offer the unique possibility to combine RITE with high-throughput screening for protein dynamics mutants and mechanisms. The RITE cassettes are widely applicable, modular by design, and can therefore be easily adapted for use in other cell types or organisms.
Predisposition to repeat breeding in UK cattle and success of artificial insemination alone or in combination with embryo transfer

To investigate whether there was a subpopulation of repeat breeders (cows or heifers that returned to oestrus after three inseminations) that were less fertile after a fourth artificial insemination (AI) with or without additional embryo transfer, and to estimate the efficacy of AI plus embryo transfer to overcome repeat breeding problems, a two-part investigation was carried out. Part 1 involved 85 repeat breeders and 85 controls subjected to AI alone. In part 2, 128 repeat breeders received AI on day 0 plus an embryo transfer seven days later, while controls received embryo transfer alone on day 7. In repeat breeders, the interval between calving and pregnancy was 80 days longer than in the controls (P=0.01), irrespective of previous fertility treatment which had mainly focused on the ovaries. The incidence of dystocia was similar in repeat breeders and in controls, but repeat breeders had a higher previous incidence of moderate uterine infection compared with controls (P=0.04). In repeat breeder cows, pregnancy rates for AI alone were 30 per cent after the fourth AI (controls: 45 to 64 per cent after one to three inseminations) compared with 52.6 per cent after a fourth AI with embryo transfer (controls with embryo transfer alone: 49 per cent). Successful pregnancies after a fourth AI plus embryo transfer produced a 6.25 per cent incidence of twins.
Excited State Energy Transfer Pathways in Photosynthetic Reaction Centers. 1. Structural Symmetry Effects

Ultrafast excited state energy transfer to the primary electron donor or special pair in photosynthetic reaction centers has been measured following excitation of the lowest electronic state of the other chromophores. This was achieved by observing the rise time and induced anisotropy in the spontaneous fluorescence from the special pair using fluorescence up-conversion at 85 K. Very fast energy transfer is observed when exciting either of the bacteriochlorophyll monomers. Energy transfer from the bacteriopheophytins, which are considerably further from the special pair than the bacteriochlorophyll monomers, is about 50% slower. The rate, distance, and temperature dependence of energy transfer in both cases are very different from what is predicted by conventional Forster dipole−dipole theory. By working at low temperature and with the reaction center mutant (M)L214H (the beta mutant), which assembles with a bacteriochlorophyll monomer in place of a bacteriopheophytin in the HL binding site (the location .
Hollow Victory: The Minimum Winning Coalition

The proof of Riker's size principle is inadequate for the general class of zero-sum bargaining games (whether symmetric or asymmetric), and the principle is valid only for a very restricted class of games—the supersymmetric games and their asymmetric counterparts. Butterworth's modification of the size principle (the maximum number of positive gainers principle) can be extended to cover games which are only approximately symmetric. Roll-call voting in the United States House of Representatives overwhelmingly violates the size principle; hence, the House does not generally play a supersymmetric zero-sum bargaining game. More generally, both Butterworth's and Riker's principles seem inapplicable to large bodies.
Molecular epidemiology of yellow fever virus

Solicitud de sobretiros: Alan D. T. Barrett. Center for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases, Sealy Center for Vaccine development, Institute for Human Infections and Immunity, and Department of Pathology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas. E-mail: abarrett@utmb.edu Recibido: el 20 de agosto de 2010. Aceptado para publicacion: el 20 de octubre de 2010 Despite a safe and effective vaccine, there are still approximately 200,000 cases, including 30,000 deaths, caused by yellow fever virus (YFV). The last 25 years has seen the classic studies on YFV extended by the use of molecular techniques. A total of seven genotypes of the virus have been identified, five in Africa and two in South America. Extensive genetic studies have been used to refine the epidemiology of YFV and been applied to investigations of outbreaks and epidemics. Overall, these studies have greatly aided public health and will continue to make important contributions in the future.
A Comprehensive Definition of Morphological Awareness: Implications for Assessment

Purpose: Although there is an increasing body of evidence for the important role morphological awareness plays in written language development, there is little consensus on a fully specified definition of this linguistic awareness ability. Without agreement on a definition, several problems arise, at least one of which impacts researchers' and practitioners' ability to fully and consistently assess students' morphological awareness abilities. Method: In the first portion of this article, I discuss insufficiencies with current definitions of morphological awareness and propose a more comprehensive definition. Following this, I relate the implications of this new definition for assessment: the inability of current norm-referenced tests and experimenter-designed tasks to meet the definition and considerations from the research to keep in mind about stimuli on morphological awareness tasks. Conclusion: In the final segment of the article, I provide implications and suggestions for practitioners who wish to assess morphological awareness in a comprehensive manner, using the new definition as a guide to measure students' morphological awareness abilities.