Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Talk to me: the influence of audio quality on the perception of social presence

In this paper, we compare the impact of monophonic, stereophonic, and binaural human speech recordings in terms of their ability to induce the feeling of presence and influence the understanding of the emotional state the speakers were in. These factors are generally important in entertainment applications, for example when conversing with a non-player character or in mediated synchronous human-to-human communication. Our results show a significant advantage of binaural over mono and stereo sound for inducing the sense of being present in an (virtual) environment. Furthermore, we found that listening to a stereophonic recording of a conversation leads to a significantly stronger understanding of the emotional state of speakers than listening to a mono or binaural recording.
The Recovery of Weak Impulsive Signals Based on Stochastic Resonance and Moving Least Squares Fitting

In this paper a stochastic resonance (SR)-based method for recovering weak impulsive signals is developed for quantitative diagnosis of faults in rotating machinery. It was shown in theory that weak impulsive signals follow the mechanism of SR, but the SR produces a nonlinear distortion of the shape of the impulsive signal. To eliminate the distortion a moving least squares fitting method is introduced to reconstruct the signal from the output of the SR process. This proposed method is verified by comparing its detection results with that of a morphological filter based on both simulated and experimental signals. The experimental results show that the background noise is suppressed effectively and the key features of impulsive signals are reconstructed with a good degree of accuracy, which leads to an accurate diagnosis of faults in roller bearings in a run-to failure test.
Real time tissue elastography for diagnosis of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma

Ultrasonographic (US) elastography is a novel, noninvasive imaging technique that can be used to depict relative tissue stiffness in response to an applied force. It is based on the comparison of signals acquired before and after tissue displacement. In analogy to manual palpation, stiff tissues deform less and exhibit less strain than compliant tissues in response to the same force. Currently, US elastography is under validation for different types of tissues located near to the human skin surface, including breast, prostate, and thyroid structures [1,2]. We therefore hypothesized that US elastography might also be of diagnostic value in the assessment of subcutaneous skin tumors. A 45-year-old man presented to our outpatient clinic with a small number of irregular erythematous patches, 6–8 cm in diameter, located on the lower trunk and the legs. The primary histological examination revealed an acanthotic epidermis with mild parakeratosis and accompanied by a sparse band-like upper dermal infiltrate composed of small lymphocytes, with some cells infiltrating the epidermis [Figure 1(A)]. CD30þ cells were almost absent [Figure 1(B)]. In synopsis with the clinical findings, the diagnosis of a large-plaque parapsoriasis was made, and the patient was treated successfully with ultraviolet (UV)-A1 phototherapy. Three months later, the same patient revealed an indolent, rapidly growing circumscribed subcutaneous tumor on his right forearm. Palpation and ultrasonography of regional lymph nodes were unsuspicious. Highresolution ultrasound (HRUS) with a 13 MHz probe (HI Vision Preirus; Hitachi Medical Systems GmbH, Wiesbaden, Germany) revealed an inhomogeneous echo-poor roundish structure mixed with echo-rich areas beneath an intact epidermis [Figure 1(C), right]. Because of the inhomogeneous B-mode pattern, which does not definitively discriminate between a benign and a malignant lesion [3,4], we decided to additionally use real time tissue elastography as a new ultrasound tool. After applying soft pressure with the transducer, the corresponding elastogram showed a predominance of dark blue areas within the lesion, representing tissue with a higher stiffness compared to the surrounding tissue [Figure 1(C), left]. In accordance with reports applying real time elastography for diagnosis of non-cutaneous malignancies such as breast and prostate cancer, we classified the subcutaneous lesion as being suspicious for a malignant tumor based on the elastogram color distribution [1,2]. A skin biopsy of the tumor was performed, and here, similar epidermal changes (acanthosis, parakeratosis) were seen as in the earlier biopsy, but the dermis was dominated by a dense lymphocytic infiltrate with large CD30þT cells, consistent with a CD30þ anaplastic large T-cell lymphoma [Figures 1(E) and 1(F)]. These findings were further supported by a biclonal rearrangement of the g-chain of the T-cell receptor [5]. The subcutaneous lesion was excised
Antioxidant pyruvate inhibits cardiac formation of reactive oxygen species through changes in redox state.

Myocardial ischemia-reperfusion is associated with bursts of reactive oxygen species (ROS) such as superoxide radicals (O(2)(-). ). Membrane-associated NADH oxidase (NADHox) activity is a hypothetical source of O(2)(-). , implying the NADH concentration-to-NAD(+) concentration ratio ([NADH]/[NAD(+)]) as a determinant of ROS. To test this hypothesis, cardiac NADHox and ROS formation were measured as influenced by pyruvate or L-lactate. Pre- and postischemic Langendorff guinea pig hearts were perfused at different pyruvate/L-lactate concentrations to alter cytosolic [NADH]/[NAD(+)]. NADHox and ROS were measured with the use of lucigenin chemiluminescence and electron spin resonance, respectively. In myocardial homogenates, pyruvate (0.05, 0.5 mM) and the NADHox blocker hydralazine markedly inhibited NADHox (16 +/- 2%, 58 +/- 9%). In postischemic hearts, pyruvate (0.1-5.0 mM) dose dependently inhibited ROS up to 80%. However, L-lactate (1.0-15.0 mM) stimulated both basal and postischemic ROS severalfold. Furthermore, L-lactate-induced basal ROS was dose dependently inhibited by pyruvate (0.1-5.0 mM) and not the xanthine oxidase inhibitor oxypurinol. Pyruvate did not inhibit ROS from xanthine oxidase. The data suggest a substantial influence of cytosolic NADH on cardiac O(2)(-). formation that can be inhibited by submillimolar pyruvate. Thus cytotoxicities due to cardiac ischemia-reperfusion ROS may be alleviated by redox reactants such as pyruvate.
Smooth Random Effects Distribution in a Linear Mixed Model

Summary A linear mixed model with a smooth random effects density is proposed. A similar approach to P‐spline smoothing of Eilers and Marx (1996, Statistical Science11, 89–121) is applied to yield a more flexible estimate of the random effects density. Our approach differs from theirs in that the B‐spline basis functions are replaced by approximating Gaussian densities. Fitting the model involves maximizing a penalized marginal likelihood. The best penalty parameters minimize Akaike's Information Criterion employing Gray's (1992, Journal of the American Statistical Association87, 942–951) results. Although our method is applicable to any dimensions of the random effects structure, in this article the two‐dimensional case is explored. Our methodology is conceptually simple, and it is relatively easy to fit in practice and is applied to the cholesterol data first analyzed by Zhang and Davidian (2001, Biometrics57, 795–802). A simulation study shows that our approach yields almost unbiased estimates of the regression and the smoothing parameters in small sample settings. Consistency of the estimates is shown in a particular case.
The complexity and hierarchical structure of tasks in insect societies

To understand the functioning and organizational complexity of insect societies, a combination of different approaches is needed. One such approach, which we adopt in this study, is to consider tasks in insect societies not based upon their function, as is traditional, but upon their structure. Four types of task in insect societies have been proposed: individual, group, team and partitioned tasks. We examine the relationships among these four task types and consider ‘task complexity’ to mean the degree of cooperation and coordination required to complete a particular task successfully. In this respect, individual tasks are considered the simplest (low complexity), group tasks are more complex (medium), and team and partitioned tasks the most complex (high). We decompose tasks into their component subtasks to understand how the demands of a task influence how workers must work together to complete it successfully. We describe a simple method to measure the complexity of tasks using task deconstruction. Points are assigned to each subtask within the task and summed to give a total score. This measure, the task’s score, allows objective comparison of tasks (different tasks may be ranked in order of their complexity) within and between species, or even higher taxa, and we hope it will be of practical use to researchers. We propose that both team and partitioned tasks may contain individual, group, team and partitioned subtasks. We examine each of the possible task–subtask relationships and provide examples from known social insect behaviour.  2001 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour
Plasticity of Metabotropic Glutamate Receptor-Dependent Long-Term Depression in the Anterior Cingulate Cortex after Amputation

Long-term depression (LTD) is a key form of synaptic plasticity important in learning and information storage in the brain. It has been studied in various cortical regions, including the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). ACC is a crucial cortical region involved in such emotion-related physiological and pathological conditions as fear memory and chronic pain. In the present study, we used a multielectrode array system to map cingulate LTD in a spatiotemporal manner within the ACC. We found that low-frequency stimulation (1 Hz, 15 min) applied onto deep layer V induced LTD in layers II/III and layers V/VI. Cingulate LTD requires activation of metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs), while L-type voltage-gated calcium channels and NMDA receptors also contribute to its induction. Peripheral amputation of the distal tail impaired ACC LTD, an effect that persisted for at least 2 weeks. The loss of LTD was rescued by priming ACC slices with activation of mGluR1 receptors by coapplying (RS)-3,5-dihydroxyphenylglycine and MPEP, a form of metaplasticity that involved the activation of protein kinase C. Our results provide in vitro evidence of the spatiotemporal properties of ACC LTD in adult mice. We demonstrate that tail amputation causes LTD impairment within the ACC circuit and that this can be rescued by activation of mGluR1.
High-throughput sequencing reveals differential expression of miRNAs in prehierarchal follicles of laying and brooding geese

Broodiness is the primary factor influencing egg production in geese, in which several genes and miRNAs participate. Detailed spatiotemporal profiles of miRNAs encompassing follicle development levels, however, are lacking. In this study, we collected preovulatory follicles (classified as small white follicles, large white follicles, and small yellow follicles) from brooding and laying geese and aimed to analyze microRNA (miRNA or miR) during folliculogenesis. High-throughput sequencing and bioinformatics analysis were used to identify the miRNAs involved in follicle development. The let7 family, miR-10 family, and miR-143 family were abundant in these libraries, and they have been suggested to play a housekeeping role during folliculogenesis. Joint comparisons revealed 23 upregulated and 21 downregulated miRNAs (in at least two comparisons of follicles during brooding and laying, P < 0.1) in the laying stage. Unlike reproduction pathways reported for ovaries, GO and KEGG analysis suggested pathways for cell apoptosis and proliferation, such as the regulation of actin cytoskeleton, endocytosis, axon guidance, pathways in cancer, tight junctions, focal adhesion, the MAPK signaling pathway, cytokine-cytokine receptor interactions, and the Wnt signaling pathway in folliculogenesis. This study revealed the miRNAs that were directly involved in follicular atresia, and our results added to the understanding of the functional involvement of miRNAs during specific stages of follicle development.
Author ' s personal copy Towards an integrated observation and modeling system in the New York Bight using variational methods . Part I : 4 DVAR data assimilation

Four-dimensional variational data assimilation (4DVAR) in the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS) is used to produce a best-estimate analysis of ocean circulation in the New York Bight during spring 2006 by assimilating observations collected by a variety of instruments during an intensive field program. An incremental approach is applied in an overlapped cycling system with 3-day data assimilation window to adjust model initial conditions. The model-observation mismatch for all observed variables is reduced substantially. Comparisons between model forecast and independent observations show data assimilation improves forecast skill for about 15 days for temperature and salinity, and 2–3 days for velocity when the model is forced by a concatenation of successive 24-h meteorological forecasts. These time scales for forecast improvement due to data assimilation may be less in practice with real-time multiday forecast meteorology. Tests that limit the data used to certain subsets show that assimilating satellite sea surface temperature data improves the forecast of surface and subsurface temperature, assimilating in situ temperature and salinity data from gliders improves the subsurface temperature and salinity forecast, and assimilating HF-radar surface current data improves the velocity forecast yet degrades the subsurface temperature forecast – an effect that is attributed to the lack of cross-variable covariance in the univariate background error covariance used here. During some time periods the convergence for velocity is poor as a result of the data assimilation system being unable to adjust for errors in the applied winds because surface forcing is not among the control variables. The capability of a 4DVAR data assimilation system to reduce model-observation mismatch and improve forecasts in the coastal ocean is demonstrated, and the value of accurate meteorological forcing is highlighted. 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Delivery of renal replacement therapy in acute kidney injury: what are the key issues?

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES The prescription and delivery of renal replacement therapy for acute kidney injury is subject to a wide variation and is conditioned by a multiplicity of factors. A variety of renal replacement therapy modalities are now available to treat acute kidney injury; however, there are no standards for the dosage, choice of modality, and intensity and duration of these therapies. Although several observational and interventional studies have addressed these topics, there are no consensus recommendations in this field. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS The available literature on this topic and draft consensus recommendations for research studies in this area were developed using a modified Delphi approach and an international multidisciplinary network. RESULTS The following questions were most important: What is the "dosage" of renal replacement therapy delivered to patients with stage 3 acute kidney injury? What is the optimal "dosage" of renal replacement therapy to maximize patient and renal survival? Is there a minimal "dosage" of renal replacement therapy required in patients with single-organ failure? Does modality of renal replacement therapy selected have an effect on patient and/or renal survival? In cases of continuous renal replacement therapy, does citrate anticoagulation confer a benefit? CONCLUSIONS This report summarizes the available evidence and elaborates on the key questions and the methods that should be used so that the goal of standardizing the care of patients with acute kidney injury and improving outcomes can be achieved.
Context-sensitive and Collaborative application for Distributed User Interfaces on tabletops

This paper focuses on collaborative work on interactive tabletops. To optimize the travel time of team members (remote workplace, telecommuting, and so on), collaborative work is now often remotely done. This brings many user interfaces issues between distributed platforms of each member. In the domain of context-sensitive user interfaces, which aims at an adaptation to the users, the platforms and the environment, context models have been proposed in the literature. We propose, in this paper, a context model for distributed applications centered on collaboration and interactive tabletops. The proposed model is validated by a distributed application, which is developed on two interactive tabletops with tangible interaction; these tabletops are equipped with RFID technology. This application, which has educational purposes, highlights the collaborative aspect and exchanges between remote users. The paper ends with a conclusion and several perspectives.
A game to crowdsource data for affective computing

This game submission describes BeFaced, a tile matching casual tablet game that enables massive crowdsourcing of facial expressions to advance affective computing. BeFaced uses state-of-theart facial expression tracking technology with dynamic difficulty adjustment to keep the player engaged and hence obtain a large and varied face dataset. FDG attendees will experience a novel affective game input interface and also investigate how the game design enables massive crowdsourcing in an extensible manner.
The study of gemcitabine in combination with other chemotherapeutic agents as an effective treatment for prostate cancer.

BACKGROUND Gemcitabine has demonstrated clinical activity against several common cancers. Our studies examine the ability of gemcitabine, both alone and in combination with other chemotherapeutic agents, to inhibit the in vitro and in vivo growth of several prostate cancer cell lines. MATERIALS AND METHODS Cultures of LNCaP, PC-3 or MLL cells were exposed to either gemcitabine or other appropriate agents for specified amounts of time. Cells were lysed and nuclei counted utilizing a Coulter Counter. For in vivo experiments, animals were injected with 1 x 10(5) MLL cells subcutaneously into the right flank. Animals were treated as indicated for 14 days. Tumors were then excised, weighed and measured. RESULTS In both human (PC-3 and LNCaP) and rat prostate (MLL) cancer cell lines our studies demonstrated gemcitabine had a strong effect in vitro, with an IC50 of approximately 500 nM in the human lines and 10 nM in MLL cells. In vivo, studies using the Dunning prostate cancer model in Copenhagen rats resulted in a dose response inhibition of tumor growth, with an 80% decrease in tumor size in rats treated with gemcitabine at 10 mg/kg. CONCLUSIONS Our results demonstrated the potent activity of gemcitabine against prostate cancer in the Dunning rat model and suggest the addition of paclitaxel may not aid in this activity.
There’s more than one way to skin a cat: Teaching novel idioms

Difficulties with interpretation of non-literal language (e.g., idioms, metaphors) have been reported in adults with brain injury and in second-language learners. This study compared the effectiveness of a traditional definition approach to teaching idioms with learning through supportive contexts. Six healthy older adults learned the meaning of 24 novel idioms; 12 were taught through definitions and the remaining 12 through supportive contexts. Results indicated that participants learned idioms equally well in both conditions, in both immediate and delayed recall. This provides support for the idea that a context-based strategy may be an effective method for teaching novel idioms.
A High Performance Kernel-Less Operating System Architecture

Operating Systems provide services that are accessed by processes via mechanisms that involve a ring transition to transfer control to the kernel where the required function is performed. This has one significant drawback that every service call involves an overhead of a context switch where processor state is saved and a protection domain transfer is performed. However, as we discovered, it is possible, on processor architectures that support segmentation, to achieve a significant performance gain in accessing the services provided by the operating system by not performing a ring transition. Further, such gains can be achieved without compromising on the separation of the privileged components from the unprivileged. KLOS is a Kernel-Less Operating System built on the basis of such a design. The KLOS service call mechanism is an order of magnitude faster than the current widely implemented mechanisms for service or system calls with a 4x improvement over the traditional trap/interrupt and a 2x improvement over the Intel SYSENTER/SYSEXIT fast system call models.
Static and Stiffness Analyses of a Class of Over-Constrained Parallel Manipulators with Legs of Type US and UPS

This paper deals with a class of over-constrained parallel manipulators that can be obtained from architecturally singular parallel mechanisms with legs of type US (U and S stand for universal and spherical joints respectively) by the addition of legs of type UPS (P stands for actuated prismatic pair). These manipulators can be internally preloaded in order to tune the system stiffness, to diminish system backlash and to control the state of tension of their structural elements. The paper, in particular, addresses the static and stiffness analyses of this class of manipulators. A symmetric stiffness matrix defined as the Hessian of the elastic potential energy of the system is used, as an alternative to the Cartesian stiffness matrix used in this field, to describe the stiffness characteristic of these manipulators. An over-constrained 2-dof parallel spherical wrist is analyzed as a case study.
ATMOS - A Data Collection and Presentation Toolkit for the Nevada Climate Change Portal

Climate change is the subject of intense research, covering a broad range of causes and effects over long periods of time. Large data sources are needed to support this research, prompting scientists to turn to repositories to collect and share data. Many repositories exist with various data formats and access methods, presenting a challenging environment for researchers. Data portals help to address this by providing a central location for data on a specific topic or region. The Nevada Climate Change Portal is one example, which provides data to support research on Nevada’s climate. This portal was funded under an NSF EPSCoR grant with a goal of sharing resources with similar portals in New Mexico and Idaho. This paper proposes the ATMOS toolkit to help meet this goal and to address challenges facing climate change researchers. ATMOS is a pluginbased toolkit that provides Access to Map and Tabular Online Services uniformly, regardless of the underlying source. The design and construction of ATMOS are discussed, showing how the toolkit supports the Nevada Climate Change Portal, and how it can meet future needs of researchers.