Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sensory-based subtyping in children with autism spectrum disorder

25 Introduction . 27 Methods . 30 Results . 34 Discussion . 45 Sensory based subtyping systems. 45 Factors influencing sensory subtyping in ASD. 49 Methodology considerations. 51 Clinical Implications . 53 Limitations . 53 Future Directions . 54 Conclusion . 56 References . 57 vi Chapter 3: Paper II: Neurophysiological Correlates of Sensory-Based Phenotypes in Autism . 70 Abstract . 70. 70 Introduction . 72 Materials and Methods . 78 Overview. 78 Participants. 79 Measures. 81 The Short Sensory Profile. 81 Laboratory procedures. 82 Salivary cortisol. 82 Skin conductance level. 83 Heart rate variability. 84 Statistical analyses. 85 Results . 89 Cortisol. 90 Skin conductance level. 91 RSA. 92 Multinomial logistic regression. 94 vii Discussion . 95 Limitations . 98 Conclusion . 101 References . 103 Chapter 4: Paper III: Functional Performance Traits and Behavioral Characteristics of Sensory-Based ASD Subtypes . 113 Abstract . 113. 113 Introduction . 115 Materials and Methods . 120 Overview. 120 Participants. 121 Measures. 123 The Short Sensory Profile. 123 The Child Behavior Checklist. 124 The Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales, 2 Edition. 124 Data management procedures. 125 Statistical analyses. 127 Results . 128 ASD subjects only: Between subtype comparisons. 128 viii ASD and typical subjects: Between subtype comparisons. 130 Multinomial logistic regression. 131 Discussion . 132 Limitations . 137 Conclusion . 137 References . 139 Chapter 5: Conclusion . 147 References . 158 Appendix A . 170 Vita . 176
Experiments with speaker verification over the telephone

SUMMARY Wehavepresented aseries ofexperiments inspeaker ver-iﬁcation for both high quality speech and telephone speechusing a statistical approach based on HMM phone mod-els. The decoding procedure has been efﬁciently imple-mentedbyprocessingallthemodelsinparallelusingatime-synchronous beam search strategy. Speaker veriﬁcation (oridentiﬁcation) can be carried out in both text-dependent ortext-independent modes using the same phone models.For text-independent veriﬁcation, the phone based ap-proach was shown to clearly out-perform a simpler Gaus-sian mixture model on high-quality speech from the BREFcorpus and fortelephone speech has a 20% lower a posteri-oriequal errorrate. FortheBREF corpus, text-independentand text-dependentveriﬁcationEERs wereaboutthesame. 2 On the telephone corpus, text-dependent veriﬁcation per-forms better than text-independent. When a veriﬁcationattempt fails, allowing a second trial reduces the number oferrors by 20%, while only increasing the number of trialsby 10%. For the telephone speech corpus, the majority ofthe errors are due to low scores for a few target speakers,mostly reﬂecting differences in the origin of the call for th etraining and testing sessions. In an additional experimenton the telephone speech, combining a model for F0 withthe speaker-speciﬁc phone model set did not signiﬁcantlyimprove performance. On the telephone speech corpus, ana posteriori equal error rate of 2.9% was obtained using aminimum duration of 2s per trial, in text-dependent mode,allowing 2 trials per attempt. This can be contrasted withthe equal error rate obtained on the high quality speechcorpus which is well under 1%.
Automatic liver tumor detection using EM/MPM algorithm and shape information

In this paper, we propose a new method to detect liver tumors in CT images automatically. The proposed method is composed of two steps. In the first step, tumor candidates are extracted by EM/MPM algorithm; which is used to cluster liver tissue. To cluster a dataset, EM/MPM algorithm exploits both intensity of voxels and labels of the neighboring voxels. It increases the accuracy of detection, with respect to other probabilistic approaches. In the second step, false positive candidates are filtered by using shape information. We use tumor shape information to reduce the false positive regions. As tumors have usually a sphere-like shape, we just need to check the circularity of the candidate regions in each slice to reject false positive. We also reject those candidate tumors that their centroids are near the liver boundary. Quantitative evaluation of our method shows that it can decrease false positive rate successfully without decreasing true positive rate, compared with other conventional methods.
Effect of quiescence on integrin α 5 β 1 expression in human retinal pigment epithelium

The retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) is a monolayer of polarized epithelial cells located between the photoreceptor outer segments of the neural retina and the choroidal blood supply [1]. RPE cells have many metabolic and biochemical functions essential for maintaining retinal integrity, such as phagocytosis of rod and cone outer segments, transport of metabolites to and from the visual cells and choroid, maintenance of the blood-ocular barrier and adhesion of the retina [1]. At their basal surface, the RPE basement membrane is separated from the basement membrane of the choroidal capillaries by the Bruch’s membrane. The Bruch’s membrane is composed of a number of extracellular matrix (ECM) macromolecules such as type I, III and IV collagen, laminin and fibronectin (FN), which are also synthesized by RPE cells in vitro [2]. Studies of cultured RPE cells have shown that they attach to and spread on individual matrix molecules such as collagen [3], laminin [4,5] and fibronectin [5], as well as on ECM produced by various cell lines [3-6]. The interactions between a cell and its ECM are, in part, mediated by a family of cell surface glycoproteins called integrins [7,8]. Signals transduced by integrins can influence cell adhesion, migration, differentiation and proliferation [7,8]. Integrins are heterodimers consisting of variable αand βsubunits. The different combinations of these subunits determine the receptor specificity for the different ECM molecules [7,8]. Although integrins often bind to more than one ligand, some show selectivity. It is the case for the α5β1 integrin which binds specifically to FN [7-9]. The α5β1 integrin has been shown to mediate adhesion to FN for a number of cell types, including leukemic cells [10], mammary carcinoma cells [11], and RPE cells [12]. Cell spreading and proliferation are inhibited in α5-deficient NRK fibroblasts [13], whereas mammary carcinoma cell proliferation is inhibited by antibodies to α5β1 [11]. Furthermore, α5β1 has been shown to mediate migration of aortic endothelial cells [14], fibroblasts [15] and RPE cells [16] on FN, a further evidence that α5β1 also promotes cell proliferation and migration. The FN integrin α5β1 also appears to play pathogenic roles in a variety of proliferative diseases. Indeed, changes in α5β1 expression have been correlated with malignancy of uveal melanoma [17]. Robbins et al. [18] showed the presence of the α5 subunit (amongst others) on pigmented cells (presumably of RPE origin) from proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR) membranes and concluded that its presence was abnormal when compared to the lack of α5 staining on normal retina [19]. Integrins have been postulated to play a major role in PVR [7,18], a pathology in which normally quiescent and differentiated RPE cells detach from the underlying Bruch’s mem© 2003 Molecular Vision
Energy-Efficient Sorting on a Many-Core Platform

As processors move from multi-core to many-core architectures, opportunities arise for energy-efficient enterprise computations, such as sorting, on large arrays of processors. This paper proposes three different energy-efficient sorting methods for the first phase of an external sort simulated on a varying sized fine-grained many-core processor arrays used as a co-processor to an Intel CPU, which completes the second phase. The most energy efficient sort requires over 100× less energy than the comparable phase one GPU radix sort, and over 145× less energy than the comparable CPU quick sort to complete phase 1. Despite these large energy usage discrepancies, the highest throughput manycore sort was still over 17× faster than the comparable CPU sort and 9× faster than the GPU sort. The proposed sorting algorithms are scalable to any sized 2D mesh processor array while giving a large energy savings and increasing performance.
Low power storage exploration for H.263 video decoder

We describe a power exploration methodology for data-dominated applications using a H.263 video decoding demonstrator application. The starting point for our exploration is a C specification of the video decoder, available in the public domain from Telenor Research. We have transformed the data transfer scheme in the specification and have optimized the distributed memory organization. This results in a memory architecture with significantly reduced power consumption. For the worst-case mode using predicted and bi-directional (PB) frames, memory power consumption is reduced by a factor of 9. To achieve these results, we make use of our formalized high-level memory management methodology, partly supported in our ATOMIUM environment.
What are they counting on? An investigation of the role of working memory in math difficulties in elementary school-age and university students

Math difficulties (MD) occur in about 3-7% of children. To date, findings about the role of working memory in MD have been conflicting. The Automated Working Memory Assessment Battery (AWMA) was used to investigate which component of Baddeley and Hitch’s model of working memory was most related to math calculation skills in elementary-school children. Participants were 94 (52 male) children (M age = 9 years 1 month; Range = 6 years 0 months to 11 years 8 months). As hypothesized, math calculation scores were correlated with all four working memory components (phonological loop, visuospatial sketchpad, verbal and visuospatial central executive), but in a regression analysis, the visuospatial sketchpad (along with phonological processing) explained the most variance in math calculation scores. Short-term visuospatial memory should be assessed in children having difficulty with math and visuospatial strategies should be employed in the teaching of math calculation skills.
The Epidemiology of Hypertension in Uganda: Findings from the National Non-Communicable Diseases Risk Factor Survey

Background Hypertension is an important contributor to global burden of disease and mortality, and is a growing public health problem in sub-Saharan Africa. However, most sub-Saharan African countries lack detailed countrywide data on hypertension and other non-communicable diseases (NCD) risk factors that would provide benchmark information for design of appropriate interventions. We analyzed blood pressure data from Uganda’s nationwide NCD risk factor survey conducted in 2014, to describe the prevalence and distribution of hypertension in the Ugandan population, and to identify the associated factors. Methods The NCD risk factor survey drew a countrywide sample stratified by the four regions of the country, and with separate estimates for rural and urban areas. The World Health Organization’s STEPs tool was used to collect data on demographic and behavioral characteristics, and physical and biochemical measurements. Prevalence rate ratios (PRR) using modified Poison regression modelling was used to identify factors associated with hypertension. Results Of the 3906 participants, 1033 were classified as hypertensive, giving an overall prevalence of 26.4%. Prevalence was highest in the central region at 28.5%, followed by the eastern region at 26.4%, western region at 26.3%, and northern region at 23.3%. Prevalence in urban areas was 28.9%, and 25.8% in rural areas. The differences between regions, and between rural-urban areas were not statistically significant. Only 7.7% of participants with hypertension were aware of their high blood pressure. The prevalence of pre-hypertension was also high at 36.9%. The only modifiable factor found to be associated with hypertension was higher body mass index (BMI). Compared to participants with BMI less than 25 kg/m2, prevalence was significantly higher among participants with BMI between 25 to 29.9 kg/m2 with an adjusted PRR = 1.46 [95% CI = 1.25–1.71], and even higher among obese participants (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2) with an adjusted PRR = 1.60 [95% CI = 1.29–1.99]. The un-modifiable factor found to be associated with hypertension was older age with an adjusted PRR of 1.02 [95% CI = 1.02–1.03] per yearly increase in age. Conclusions The prevalence of hypertension in Uganda is high, with no significant differences in distribution by geographical location. Only 7.7% of persons with hypertension were aware of their hypertension, indicating a high burden of undiagnosed and un-controlled high blood pressure. Thus a big percentage of persons with hypertension are at high risk of hypertension-related cardiovascular NCDs.
Two-Year-Olds’ Sensitivity to Inflectional Plural Morphology: Allomorphic Effects

ABSTRACT Many English-speaking children use plural nominal forms in spontaneous speech before the age of two, and display some understanding of plural inflection in production tasks. However, results from an intermodal preferential study suggested a lack of comprehension of nominal plural morphology at 24 months of age (Kouider, Halberda, Wood, & Carey, 2006). The goal of the present study was to reexamine this issue using a phonologically and morphologically controlled set of stimuli. The results show that 24-month-olds do demonstrate understanding of nominal plural morphology, but only for the voiceless plural allomorph /s/, not /z/. Further study suggests that this result is not driven by input frequency, but rather by the longer duration of the /s/allomorph, which may enhance its perceptual salience. The implications for learning grammar more generally are discussed.
Data-centric publish-subscribe approach for Distributed Complex Event Processing deployment in smart grid Internet of Things

Smart grid is an important application of Internet Of Things (IOT). Monitoring data in large-scale smart grid are massive, real-time and dynamic that collected by a lot of sensors, services components etc. There are many challenges in deploying and managing distributed real time monitoring systems. This paper adopted data-centric approach in deploying Distributed Complex Event Processing (DCEP) monitoring system based on OMG Data Distribution Service (DDS) middleware, to bring about a more robust and scalable distributed monitoring system, and that easier to maintain and enhance over time. The DDS data-centric publish-subscribe programming model with support for a number of QoS properties gives many advantages for supporting DCEP components communications, that reliably transports events from data producers to Event Processing Agents (EPAs), between internal DCEP Processing Node (PN), and from the EPAs to the event consumers. This paper analyzed DCEP requirements in IoT, and its PN configuration and deployment flow, designed a DDS/DCEP integration architecture for smart grid IoT monitoring system, and gave a detail design about DCEP development and configuration method based on DDS data-centric programming model, that can simplify the DCEP complex deployment work. This work has beneficial for DECP large scale development & deployment research.
Experimental Studies on the Lorentz Symmetry in Post-Newtonian Gravity with Pulsars

Local Lorentz invariance (LLI) is one of the most important fundamental symmetries in modern physics. While the possibility of LLI violation (LLIv) was studied extensively in flat spacetime, its counterpart in gravitational interaction also deserves significant examination from experiments. In this contribution, I review several recent studies of LLI in post-Newtonian gravity, using powerful tools of pulsar timing. It shows that precision pulsar timing experiments hold a unique position to probe LLIv in post-Newtonian gravity.
When Speed Has a Price: Fast Information Extraction Using Approximate Algorithms

A wealth of information produced by individuals and organizations is expressed in natural language text. This is a problem since text lacks the explicit structure that is necessary to support rich querying and analysis. Information extraction systems are sophisticated software tools to discover structured information in natural language text. Unfortunately, information extraction is a challenging and time-consuming task. In this paper, we address the limitations of state-of-the-art systems for the optimization of information extraction programs, with the objective of producing efficient extraction executions. Our solution relies on exploiting a wide range of optimization opportunities. For efficiency, we consider a wide spectrum of execution plans, including approximate plans whose results differ in their precision and recall. Our optimizer accounts for these characteristics of the competing execution plans, and uses accurate predictors of their extraction time, recall, and precision. We demonstrate the efficiency and effectiveness of our optimizer through a large-scale experimental evaluation over real-world datasets and multiple extraction tasks and approaches.
Belong and engaged? First year student's experiences of discipline-focused retention and success interventions

This paper engages with issues related to building student engagement and belonging in higher education. It provides insights into first year students' experiences of starting their degrees and interventions in 3 disciplines at the University of Brighton. It is based on findings from an ongoing qualitative study, which is part of the HEA-led ‘What Works? ' Student Retention and Success Programme.
A case study on automatic camera placement and motion for visualizing historical data

In this paper, we address the problem of automatic camera positioning and automatic camera path generation in the context of historical data visualization. After short description of the given data, we elaborate on the constraints for the positioning of a virtual camera in such a way that not only the projected area is maximized, but also the depth of the displayed scene. This is especially important when displaying terrain models, which do not provide good 3D impression when only the projected area is maximized. Based on this concept, we present a method for computing an optimal camera position for each instant of time. Since the explored data are not static, but change depending on the explored scene time, we also discuss a method for animation generation. In order to avoid sudden changes of the camera position, when the previous method is applied for each frame (point in time), we introduce pseudo-events in time, which expand the bounding box defined by the currently active events of interest. In particular, this technique allows events happening in a future point in time to be taken into account such that when this time becomes current, all events of interest are already within the current viewing frustum of the camera.
Arcsecond scale radio polarization of BL Lacertae objects

We present deep VLA radio observations of six sources from the 1 Jy sample (Stickel et al. 1991) of radio se- lected BL Lac objects (RBL). The polarization properties of the extended emission of these objects are not consistent with those of the FR I radio galaxies (Fanaroff & Riley 1974) usually indicated as their \misaligned population".
THE OMNIMATE: A GUIDEWIRE -FREE AGV FOR HIGHLY FLEXIBLE AUTOMATION

This paper introduces a new Automated Guided Vehicle (AGV) for guidewireand beacon-free industrial applications. The AGV, called OmniMate, has full omnidirectional motion capabilities, can correct odometry errors without external references, and offers a large 183×91 cm (72×36”) loading deck. A patented, so-called compliant linkage avoids the excessive wheel slippage often found in other omnidirectional platforms. The OmniMate has a unique, patented odometry error correction system that makes the platform almost completely insensitive to even severe irregularities of the floor, such as bumps or cracks Deadreckoning is further enhanced by a fiber-optics gyroscope. Because of its unique dead-reckoning accuracy the OmniMate can travel over extended distances while following a pre-programmed path fully automatically. The paper describes an implemented “leadthrough” teaching system, in which an operator guides the OmniMate along a desired path, while the OmniMate records the path to memory. Later, in path execution mode, the OmniMate reproduces the path accurately. With this system it is possible and feasible to program or modify a complete path within minutes.
An Evolutionary Method to Find Good Building-Blocks for Architectures of Artificial Neural Networks

Architectures of Arti cial Neural Networks Christoph M. Friedrich University of Witten/Herdecke Inst. for Technology Development and Systems Analysis Alfred-Herrhausen Str. 44 58455 Witten, Germany chris@uni-wh.de Claudio Moraga University of Dortmund Department of Computer Science 44221 Dortmund, Germany moraga@ls1.informatik. uni-dortmund.de Abstract This paper deals with the combination of Evolutionary Algorithms and Arti cial Neural Networks (ANN). A new method is presented, to nd good building-blocks for architectures of Arti cial Neural Networks. The method is based on Cellular Encoding, a representation scheme by F. Gruau, and on Genetic Programming by J. Koza. First it will be shown that a modi ed Cellular Encoding technique is able to nd good architectures even for non-boolean networks. With the help of a graph-database and a new graph-rewriting method, it is secondly possible to build architectures from modular structures. The information about buildingblocks for architectures is obtained by statistically analyzing the data in the graphdatabase. Simulation results for two realworld problems are given.
Nonsyndromic Familial Oligodontia with Multiple Dens Invaginatus: A Case Report of an Unusual Case

Oligodontia is a rare dental anomaly with a prevalence of 0.3% in permanent teeth and much less frequency in the primary dentition. Familial oligodontia represents an absence of varying numbers of primary and/or secondary teeth as an isolated trait. It is a complex and multifactorial condition. Many explanations—evolutionary, genetic, and environmental—have been proposed as the etiology. Simultaneous with oligodontia are often the different positional changes of the existing teeth, their morphology, size, and growth disturbances of the maxillofacial skeleton. Early recognition is vital to provide adequate treatment and prevent squeal. Multidisciplinary referral or consultation is thus important in treatment planning to improve function and esthetics. The present paper reports a rare case of familial oligodontia associated with multiple dense invaginatus and microdontia.
Fundamental Rate Limits of Physical Layer Spoofing

This letter studies an emerging wireless communication intervention problem at the physical layer, where a legitimate spoofer aims to spoof a malicious link from Alice to Bob, by replacing Alice’s transmitted source message with its target message at Bob side. From an information-theoretic perspective, we are interested in characterizing the maximum achievable spoofing rate of this new spoofing channel, which is equivalent to the maximum achievable rate of the target message at Bob, under the condition that Bob cannot decode the source message from Alice. We propose a novel combined spoofing approach, where the spoofer sends its own target message, combined with a processed version of the source message to cancel the source message at Bob. For both cases when Bob treats interference as noise or applies successive interference cancelation, we obtain the maximum achievable spoofing rates by optimizing the power allocation between the target and source messages at the spoofer.