Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Impact of Rater Characteristics and Prosodic Features of Speaker Accentedness on Ratings of International Teaching Assistants' Oral Performance

Few prior studies have examined degree of fidelity between raters' assessments of oral performances and objectively observable prosodic indices of accentedness. Prosodic indices of accentedness quantify trait-relevant variance, whereas rater background variables represent trait-irrelevant variance. The present study, therefore, investigated the extent to which raters' background characteristics and instrumentally measured prosodic indices of speakers' accentedness jointly influenced the rating of oral performances. Seventy U.S. undergraduate students rated the speaking and teaching proficiency of 11 international teaching assistants (ITAs). Using the PRAAT computer program, 5 min of continuous speech from each of the ITAs were instrumentally analyzed for a number of indices of speech rate, pausing, stress, and intonation. Dependent variables were undergraduates' ratings of ITA oral proficiency and instuctional competence. Rater background variables such as the listener's native speaker status and experience as a language tutor explained 7–9% of the variance in oral performance ratings, whereas 18–19% was attributable to the prosody variables. These findings suggest that U.S. undergraduates are sensitive to trait-relevant indicators of ITA oral proficiency. At the same time, their speech evaluations are subject to substantial bias based on their own backgrounds.
UvA-DARE ( Digital Academic Repository ) Overview of the SBS 2015 Suggestion

The goal of the SBS 2015 Suggestion Track is to evaluate approaches for supporting users in searching collections of books who express their information needs both in a query and through example books. The track investigates the complex nature of relevance in book search and the role of traditional and user-generated book metadata in retrieval. We extended last year’s investigation into the nature of book suggestions from the LibraryThing forums and how they compare to book relevance judgements. Participants were encouraged to incorporate rich user profiles of both topic creators and other LibraryThing users to explore the relative value of recommendation and retrieval paradigms for book search. We found further support that such suggestions are a valuable alternative to traditional test collections that are based on top-k pooling and editorial relevance judgements. In terms of systems evaluation, the most effective systems include some form of learning-to-rank. It seems that the complex nature of the requests and the book descriptions, with multiple sources of evidence, requires a careful balancing of system parameters.
The basis of the 3/4 view advantage in face recognition

Three-quarter views of faces promote better recognition memory for previously unfamiliar faces than do full-face views. This paper reports experiments which examine the possible basis of the effect, and, in particular, examine whether the effect reflects some ‘canonical’ role for the 3/4 view of a face. Experiment 1 showed no advantage of 3/4 views over full-face views when the task was to decide whether or not each of a series of faces was that of a highly familiar colleague. In Experiment 2 a sequential matching task was used, where subjects had to respond positively if both members of a pair of faces were of the same person. When the faces used were highly familiar to the subjects, there was no evidence of an advantage for a 3/4 view in the matching task. Three-quarter views and full-face views led to equivalent performance, though profiles produced decrements in performance. When the same faces were shown to subjects who were unfamiliar with the faces, 3/4 views did lead to increased speeds in same trials, compared with full-face, though profiles again proved difficult. Thus a 3/4 view advantage appeared only where the faces were unfamiliar, and the task had to be performed at the level of visual matching. It appears that the 3/4 view advantage may be obtained only when the task involves explicit matching between test views and remembered target photographs, rather than reflecting any more fundamental properties of the representations used to recognize highly familiar faces.
Coexistence of Foam Cells and Hypocholesterolemia in Mice Lacking the ABC Transporters A1 and G1

The concept that macrophages can become foam cells as a result of a disturbed balance between the uptake of cholesterol from lipoproteins and cholesterol efflux is generally accepted. ABCA1 and ABCG1 are two cholesterol transporters that may act sequentially to remove cellular cholesterol, but currently their combined role in vivo is unknown. We report here that targeted disruption of both ABCA1 and ABCG1 in mice, despite severe plasma hypocholesterolemia, leads to massive lipid accumulation and foam cell formation of tissue macrophages. A complete ablation of cellular cholesterol efflux in vitro is observed, whereas in vivo macrophage-specific reverse cholesterol transport to the feces is markedly decreased. Despite the massive foam cell formation of tissue macrophages, no lipid accumulation was observed in the vascular wall, even in mice of 1 year old, indicating that the double knockout mice, possibly because of their hypocholesterolemia, lack the trigger to attract macrophages to the vessel wall. In conclusion, even under hypocholesterolemic conditions macrophages can be converted into foam cells, and ABCA1 and ABCG1 play an essential role in the prevention of foam cell formation.
Vaccination with Tumor Lysate-Pulsed Dendritic Cells Elicits Antigen-Specific, Cytotoxic T-Cells in Patients with Malignant Glioma

The primary goal of this Phase I study was to assess the safety and bioactivity of tumor lysate-pulsed dendritic cell (DC) vaccination to treat patients with glioblastoma multiforme and anaplastic astrocytoma. Adverse events, survival, and cytotoxicity against autologous tumor and tumor-associated antigens were measured. Fourteen patients were thrice vaccinated 2 weeks apart with autologous DCs pulsed with tumor lysate. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells were differentiated into phenotypically and functionally confirmed DCs. Vaccination with tumor lysate-pulsed DCs was safe, and no evidence of autoimmune disease was noted. Ten patients were tested for the development of cytotoxicity through a quantitative PCR-based assay. Six of 10 patients demonstrated robust systemic cytotoxicity as demonstrated by IFN-γ expression by peripheral blood mononuclear cells in response to tumor lysate after vaccination. Using HLA-restricted tetramer staining, we identified a significant expansion in CD8+ antigen-specific T-cell clones against one or more of tumor-associated antigens MAGE-1, gp100, and HER-2 after DC vaccination in four of nine patients. A significant CD8+ T-cell infiltrate was noted intratumorally in three of six patients who underwent reoperation. The median survival for patients with recurrent glioblastoma multiforme in this study (n = 8) was 133 weeks. This Phase I study demonstrated the feasibility, safety, and bioactivity of an autologous tumor lysate-pulsed DC vaccine for patients with malignant glioma. We demonstrate for the first time the ability of an active immunotherapy strategy to generate antigen-specific cytotoxicity in brain tumor patients.
Menstrual Variation of Normal Breast NMR Relaxation Parameters

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) offers great promise in noninvasively distinguishing normal, benign, and malignant tissues in the breast. However, well-documented changes that occur in breast tissues during the normal menstrual cycle suggest that lesion detectability will depend on knowledge of the variations in NMR parameters that occur as a consequence of these changes. Correct selection of optimal NMR pulse sequences and inter-pulse times, based on spin density and T1 and T2 values, to maximize tissue contrast and lesion detectability, will likewise depend on our understanding of variations in NMR parameters of normal breast tissues. The purpose of this study is to determine the range and variability of NMR parameters (spin density, T1 and T2) associated with changes in normal breast tissues during the menstrual cycle, as measured by NMR imaging. Initial findings suggest that there are measurable differences between breast tissues as a function of time in the menstrual cycle.
Exploring green interference power for wireless information and energy transfer in the MISO downlink

In this paper we propose a power-efficient transfer of information and energy, where we exploit the constructive part of wireless interference as a source of green useful signal power. Rather than suppressing interference as in conventional schemes, we take advantage of constructive interference among users, inherent in the downlink, as a source of both useful information and wireless energy. Specifically, we propose a new precoding design that minimizes the transmit power while guaranteeing the quality of service (QoS) and energy harvesting constraints for generic phase shift keying modulated signals. The QoS constraints are modified to accommodate constructive interference. We derive a sub-optimal solution and a local optimum solution to the precoding optimization problem. The proposed precoding reduces the transmit power compared to conventional schemes, by adapting the constraints to accommodate constructive interference as a source of useful signal power. Our simulation results show significant power savings with the proposed data-aided precoding compared to the conventional precoding.
Balanced, gated-mode photon detector for quantum-bit discrimination at 1550 nm.

A photon detector that combines two avalanche photodiodes (APDs) has been demonstrated for quantum-bit discrimination at 1550 nm. Spikes accompanied by signals in a gated mode were canceled by balanced output from the two APDs. The spike cancellation enabled one to reduce the threshold in the discriminators and thus the gate pulse voltage. The dark count probability and afterpulse probability were reduced to 7x10(-7) and 7x10(-4) , respectively, without affecting the detection efficiency (11%) at 178 K.
Beyond CPM and CPC: determining the value of users on OSNs

Not all of the over one billion users of online social networks (OSNs) are equally valuable to the OSNs. The current business model of monetizing advertisements targeted to users does not appear to be based on any visible grouping of the users. The primary metrics remain CPM (cost per mille---i.e., thousand impressions) and CPC (cost per click) of ads that are shown to users. However, there is significant diversity in the actions of users---some users upload interesting content triggering additional views and comments leading to further cascades of action. Beyond direct impressions, a user's action can generate indirect impressions by actions induced on friends and other users. Identifying the valuable user segments requires examination of profile data, friendships, and most importantly, their activity. Here we explore an alternate approach for measuring the value of users in OSNs by proposing a framework from the viewpoint of a popular OSN. Using a real dataset on the social network and activities of users, we show that a small subset of actions are likely to be key indicators of a user's value. Additionally, by examining the current targeting demographics available in Facebook, we are able to explore the relative (monetary) value that different users represent to the OSN.
Kisspeptin / Neurokinin B / Dynorphin ( KNDy ) Cells of the Arcuate Nucleus : A Central Node in the Control of Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone Secretion

Recently, a subset of neurons was identified in the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus that colocalize three neuropeptides, kisspeptin, neurokinin B, and dynorphin, each of which has been shown to play a critical role in the central control of reproduction. Growing evidence suggests that these neurons, abbreviated as the KNDy subpopulation, are strongly conserved across a range of species from rodents to humans and play a key role in the physiological regulation of GnRH neurons. KNDy cells are a major target for steroid hormones, form a reciprocally interconnected network, and have direct projections to GnRH cell bodies and terminals, features that position them well to convey steroid feedback control to GnRH neurons and potentially serve as a component of the GnRH pulse generator. In addition, recent work suggests that alterations in KNDy cell peptides may underlie neuroendocrine defects seen in clinical reproductive disorders such as polycystic ovarian syndrome. Taken together, this evidence suggests a key role for the KNDy subpopulation as a focal point in the control of reproductive function in health and disease. (Endocrinology 151: 3479 –3489, 2010)
Working for the Union

Este es un testimonio, o historia oral, basado en algunas de las experiencias vitales de Bert Corona. Destacada figura de la historia chicana debido al papel que ha desempenado por largo tiempo como activista y organizador tanto en cuestiones laborales como de la comunidad, Corona particio en la campana inicial sindicalista del CIO (Congress of Industrial Organizations, Congreso de Organizaciones Industriales) a finales de la decada de los anos treinta. Este testimonio se ocupa particularmente de su bautismo en el movimiento sindical y de su rapida maduracion como lider obrero. Su compromiso en las luchas para obtener un cambio social en Los Angeles durante la depresion enfatiza la participacion y el liderazgo de los mexicanos americanos en el hacer de la historia.
Elucidation of the Erwinia uredovora carotenoid biosynthetic pathway by functional analysis of gene products expressed in Escherichia coli

The most important function of carotenoid pigments, especially beta-carotene in higher plants, is to protect organisms against photooxidative damage (G. Britton, in T. W. Goodwin, ed., Plant Pigments--1988, 1988; N. I. Krinsky, in O. Isler, H. Gutmann, and U. Solms, ed., Carotenoids--1971, 1971). beta-Carotene also functions as a precursor of vitamin A in mammals (G. A. J. Pitt, in I. Osler, H. Gutmann, and U. Solms, ed., Carotenoids--1971, 1971). The enzymes and genes which mediate the biosynthesis of cyclic carotenoids such as beta-carotene are virtually unknown. We have elucidated for the first time the pathway for biosynthesis of these carotenoids at the level of enzyme-catalyzed reactions, using bacterial carotenoid biosynthesis genes. These genes were cloned from a phytopathogenic bacterium, Erwinia uredovora 20D3 (ATCC 19321), in Escherichia coli and located on a 6,918-bp fragment whose nucleotide sequence was determined. Six open reading frames were found and designated the crtE, crtX, crtY, crtI, crtB, and crtZ genes in reference to the carotenoid biosynthesis genes of a photosynthetic bacterium, Rhodobacter capsulatus; only crtZ had the opposite orientation from the others. The carotenoid biosynthetic pathway in Erwinia uredovora was clarified by analyzing carotenoids accumulated in E. coli transformants in which some of these six genes were expressed, as follows: geranylgeranyl PPiCrtB----prephytoene PPiCrtE----phytoeneCrtI---- lycopeneCrtY----beta-caroteneCrtZ----zeaxanthinCrtX--- -zeaxanthin-beta- diglucoside. The carotenoids in this pathway appear to be close to those in higher plants rather than to those in bacteria. Also significant is that only one gene product (CrtI) for the conversion of phytoene to lycopene is required, a conversion in which four sequential desaturations should occur via the intermediates phytofluene, zeta-carotene, and neurosporene.
Characteristics of noun retrieval in picture descriptions across the adult lifespan

Background: Our previous research showed an age-related decrease in the frequency of nouns selected for production on a picture description task, as determined by objective frequency counts, subjective ratings of frequency, and cumulative frequency. These findings were interpreted as demonstrating the breadth of vocabulary available to older adults. Aims: The present study examines whether the recorded decrease in noun frequency reflects lexical aspects of word retrieval or task approach. Methods & Procedures: A total of 136 healthy participants (age range 20–85) described the Cookie Theft picture. Additional 230 adults (half < 30, half ≥ 60) rated the nouns produced on these descriptions for frequency, concreteness, age-of-acquisition, and relevance to picture. Outcomes & Results: Age of participants describing the picture was negatively correlated with frequency and relevance, but not with concreteness or age-of-acquisition. Conclusions: The results suggest that older adults may select infrequent words that are less relevant to the picture because they choose to describe details that are not inherent to the story presented in the picture.
Biotransformation and bioconversion of phenolic compounds obtainment: an overview

Abstract Phenolic compounds have recently been recognized for their influence on human metabolism, acting in the prevention of some chronic diseases as well as proving to be important antioxidants in food. Nevertheless, the extraction and concentration processes are usually carried out by organic solvent extraction from natural sources and can generate some drawbacks like phenolic compound degradation, lengthy process times and low yields. As a solution, some eco-friendly technologies, including solid-state fermentation (SSF) or enzymatic-assisted reaction, have been proposed as alternative processes. This article reviews the extraction of phenolic compounds from agro-industrial co-products by solid-state fermentation, even as friendly enzyme-assisted extractions. It also discusses the characteristics of each bioprocess system and the variables that affect product formation, as well as the range of substrates, microorganisms and enzymes that can be useful for the production of bioactive phenolic compounds.
Microwave Sanitization of Color Additives Used in Cosmetics: Feasibility Study

Microwave exposure has been explored as a method of microbiologically sanitizing color additives used in cosmetic products. Selected microbiologically unacceptable cosmetic color additives, D&C red no. 7 Ca lake (certified synthetic organic color), carmine (natural organic color not subject to certification), and chromium hydroxide green (inorganic color not subject to certification), were submitted to microwave exposure. Gram-negative bacteria were eliminated, as verified by enrichment procedures, and levels of gram-positive bacteria were reduced. Generally, analytical and dermal safety studies indicated no significant alterations in physical, chemical, and toxicological properties of the colors. Sanitization was also successfully performed on other colors (D&C red no. 9 Ba lake, D&C red no. 12 Ba lake, D&C green no. 5, and FD&C red no. 4); initial physical and chemical tests were satisfactory. Results indicated that this method of sanitization is feasible and warrants further investigation.
Arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy: an update

Arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC) is an inherited heart muscle disease that predominantly affects the right ventricle (RV). The main pathologic feature is the progressive loss of RV myocardium and its replacement by fibrofatty tissue. The condition was initially believed to be a developmental defect of the RV myocardium, leading to the original designation of “dysplasia”. This concept has evolved over the last 25 years into the current perspective of a genetically determined “cardiomyopathy”. The estimated prevalence of ARVC in the general population ranges from 1 in 2000 to 1 in 5000. A familial background has been demonstrated in 30–50% of ARVC cases. Clinical manifestations develop most often between the second and third decade of life and are related to ventricular tachycardia (VT) or ventricular fibrillation (VF) which may lead to sudden death, mostly in young people. Later in the disease evolution, progression of RV muscle disease and left ventricular (LV) involvement may result in right or biventricular heart failure. Ventricular arrhythmias are worse during or immediately after exercise, and participation in competitive athletics has been associated with an increased risk for sudden death. Clinical diagnosis of ARVC is often difficult due to the non-specific nature of disease features and the broad spectrum of phenotypic manifestation, ranging from severe to concealed forms. Early detection and preventive therapy of young individuals at highest risk of experiencing sudden cardiac death may modify the natural history of the disease. In 2000 we published in the Education in Heart series a comprehensive review of the diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of ARVC.1 Since this publication, advances in the genetic background, epidemiology, clinical diagnosis, imaging, and treatment have provided significant new insights into the management of ARVC patients.2 This article offers an up-to-date perspective on molecular genetics, clinical and imaging diagnosis, risk stratification and …
CONCURRENCY AND COMPUTATION : PRACTICE AND EXPERIENCE Concurrency Computat

Stencil computations constitute the kernel of many scientific applications. Tiling is often used to improve the performance of stencil codes for data locality and parallelism. However, tiled stencil codes typically require shadow regions, whose management becomes a burden to programmers. In fact, it is often the case that the code required to manage these regions, and in particular their updates, is much longer than the computational kernel of the stencil. As a result, shadow regions usually impact programmers’ productivity negatively. In this paper, we describe overlapped tiling, a construct that supports shadow regions in a convenient, flexible and efficient manner in the context of the hierarchically tiled array (HTA) data type. The HTA is a class designed to express algorithms with a high degree of parallelism and/or locality as naturally as possible in terms of tiles. We discuss the syntax and implementation of overlapped HTAs as well as our experience in rewriting parallel and sequential codes using them. The results have been satisfactory in terms of both productivity and performance. For example, overlapped HTAs reduced the number of communication statements in non-trivial codes by 78% on average while speeding them up. We also examine different implementation options and compare overlapped HTAs with previous approaches. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Antidepressant-like properties of cocoa ' s polyphenols The role of flavanoids and flavanols on depression

HERVE JAVELoT1,2,3*, MICHAËL MESSAoUdI1, CECILE JACQUELIN2, NICoLAS VIoLLE1, JEAN-FRANÇoIS BISSoN1, AMINE NEJdI1, PASCALE RoZAN1, dIdIER dESoR4 *Corresponding author 1. ETAP Centre de Recherche en Pharmacologie, Cancérologie et Nutrition-Santé, Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy, France 2. Faculté de Médecine de Nancy, Université Henri Poincaré, Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy, France 3. Hôpital Brabois Adultes, Service Pharmacie, CHU Nancy, Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy, France 4. Equipe de Neurosciences Comportementales, URAFPA, INRA UC340, INPL-UHP, Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy, France
CÓDIGOS DE LECTURA EN SORDOS:LA DACTILOLOGÍA Y OTRAS ESTRATEGIAS VISUALES Y KINESTÉSICAS

Las investigaciones realizadas en el ultimo medio siglo revelan que la gran mayoria de los sordos escolarizados no alcanzan el nivel minimo o funcional para poder comunicarse por escrito. En este articulo revisamos las investigaciones que en las ultimas decadas han intentado establecer las causas y las posibles soluciones para la mejora de la lectura en sujetos sordos. De modo particular analizamos los componentes linguisticos y los codigos signados, fonologicos, y dactilicos. En la ultima parte del articulo proponemos un modelo de lectura para sordos que es similar al utilizado en los sujetos oyentes que son dislexicos fonologicos, incluyendo de forma destacada las siguientes estrategias: dactilologia, lectura labial, implantes cocleares, cued-speech, lengua de signos y estimulos kinestesicos, con el proposito de mejorar el componente fonologico.