Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Using Utterance and Semantic Level Confidence for Interactive Spoken Dialog Clarification

Spoken dialog tasks incur many errors including speech recognition errors, understanding errors, and even dialog management errors. These errors create a big gap between the user's intention and the system's understanding, which eventually results in a misinterpretation. To fill in the gap, people in human-to-human dialogs try to clarify the major causes of the misunderstanding to selectively correct them. This paper presents a method of clarification techniques to human-to-machine spoken dialog systems. We viewed the clarification dialog as a two-step problem - Belief confirmation and Clarification strategy establishment. To confirm the belief, we organized the clarification process into three systematic phases. In the belief confirmation phase, we consider the overall dialog system's processes including speech recognition, language understanding and semantic slot and value pairs for clarification dialog management. A clarification expert is developed for establishing clarification dialog strategy. In addition, we proposed a new design of plugging clarification dialog module in a given expert based dialog system. The experiment results demonstrate that the error verifiers effectively catch the word and utterance-level semantic errors and the clarification experts actually increase the dialog success rate and the dialog efficiency.
Five Dimensions of Reasoning in the Wild

Reasoning does not work well when done in isolation from its significance, both to the needs and interests of an agent and with respect to the wider world. Moreover, those issues may best be handled with a new sort of data structure that goes beyond the knowledge base and incorporates aspects of perceptual knowledge and even more, in which a kind of anticipatory action may be key.
Simultaneous Linear and Deformable Registration Through a Higher Order MRF Model

In this paper, we present a new approach to tackle simultaneously linear and deformable registration between a pair of images. Our combined formulation avoids the bias created when linear registration is performed independently before a deformable registration. Our registration problem is formulated as a discrete Markov Random Field employing a higher order objective function. To cope with both linear and deformable registration, we introduce two graphical models, one for each subproblem. The two graphical models consist of identical node systems. The nodes of the first graph encode the local translations of the global linear registration component, while the nodes of the second graph encode the local translations of the deformable registration component. A higher-order edge system (third and fourth order interactions) that imposes the linearity of the transformation is introduced for the first graph, while a simple pairwise edge system that promotes the smoothness of the deformation field is employed for the second graph. The two graphs are coupled by additional edges that connect homologous nodes and encode the data term, while unary potentials are used only for the deformable part and penalize large deformations. The resulting formulation is modular with respect to the image metric used to evaluate the correctness of mapping as well as with respect to the nature of the linear transformation (rigid, similarity, affine). Inference on this graph is performed efficiently through Alternating Direction Method of Multipliers. Promising results on medical 3D images demonstrate the potentials of our approach.
Isolation and Characterization of Subclones of L 1210 Murine Leukemia with Different Sensitivities to Various Cytotoxic Agents 1

Two subclones of L1210 murine leukemia (L1210-46.1 and L1210-56.3) were isolated in the absence of selective agents. Subclone 56.3 appeared to be more sensitive than was subclone 46.1 to treatment with dexamethasone, 1-/8-D-arabinofuranosyl cytosine, vincristine, and X-irradiatkxi. No differences between the parent cells and the two subclones could be observed in population-doubling time, cloning efficiency, number of chromo somes, and tumorigenic potential in DBA/2 mice. The subclones did not differ in the per cell number of glucocorticoid receptor sites. Animal experiments revealed an increase in life span of 65% in mice inoculated with cells from subclone 46.1 and of 130% of mice with subclone 56.3 after treatment with I-. -Ã•-Darabinofuranosylcytosine. The present results indicate that the L1210 wild-type murine leukemia cells contained stable subpopulations with a different but collateral sensitivity to various cytotoxic treatments. It is postulated that differences in drug sensitivity between cells are partly determined by cellular properties which are independent of the mechanism of action of any specific treatment.
Plasma B-type natriuretic peptide levels reflect the presence and severity of stable coronary artery disease in chronic haemodialysis patients.

BACKGROUND Coronary artery disease (CAD) is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in haemodialysis (HD) patients. Although the plasma B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) levels may be a strong marker of long-term mortality in HD patients, what plasma BNP levels reflect is not well known in this setting. Therefore, we examined the relationship between plasma BNP levels and the presence and severity of stable CAD based on coronary angiography (CAG) in chronic HD patients. METHODS Plasma BNP levels were measured in 179 consecutive HD patients who were referred for CAG due to symptoms or objective signs of stable CAD. Left ventricular end-diastolic wall stress (LV EDWS) was also calculated as a crucial haemodynamic determinant of plasma BNP. RESULTS Plasma BNP levels were significantly higher in patients with CAD than in those with non-CAD. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve for BNP to predict CAD was 0.837. Plasma BNP levels increased progressively with the extent of CAD [1-vessel disease (VD), 496 +/- 49 pg/ml; 2-VD, 932 +/- 119 pg/ml; 3-VD, 2073 +/- 317 pg/ml; P < 0.01]. LV EDWS was well correlated with plasma BNP levels (r = 0.61, P < 0.01), and a multivariable regression analysis that took into account EDWS demonstrated a significant association between the extent of CAD and BNP (P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS These results suggest that the presence and severity of stable CAD determine plasma BNP levels in chronic HD patients. Plasma BNP levels may be a useful marker in the management of HD patients.
Health effects of green tea catechins in overweight and obese men: a randomised controlled cross-over trial

Regular consumption of green tea may be cardioprotective. In the present study we investigated the health effects of dietary supplementation with green tea catechins and the potential modifying effect of the catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) Val/Met genotype. Subjects (sedentary males, aged 40–69 years, with BMI ≥ 28 and ≤ 38 kg/m2) were randomly assigned to consume decaffeinated green tea extract (DGT; 530 mg containing about 400 mg total catechins/capsule, twice daily) and placebo in a complete cross-over design. Ambulatory blood pressure and biomarkers of metabolic function (cholesterol, TAG, glucose and insulin) were measured at weeks 0 and 6. Although a marked increase in the concentration of plasma epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), urinary epigallocatechin (EGC) and urinary 4′-O-methyl EGC was found after DGT treatment, no effect on blood pressure or biomarkers of metabolic function was observed. However, a period × treatment interaction (P < 0·05) was detected for body-weight change. Despite a similar increase in estimated energy intake during intervention period 1, body weight decreased by 0·64 (sd 2·2) kg and increased by 0·53 (sd 1·9) kg in the DGT and placebo groups, respectively (P = 0·025), suggesting a protective effect of green tea catechins on weight gain. Additionally, the COMT Val/Met genotype influenced urinary accumulation of EGC and 4′-O-methyl EGC (P < 0·01). Mean concentrations were lower in individuals homozygous for the high-activity G-allele, possibly reflecting increased metabolic flux and a more rapid conversion to downstream metabolic species, compared with individuals carrying at least one copy of the low-activity A-allele. Additional studies are needed to confirm these findings and further explore the modifying effect of genotype.
Research on route recommendation for indoor multi-travel destinations

This paper focuses on route recommendation for customers with multi-walking destinations in indoor environment. The author considers the influential factors of route recommendation, including not only the length of all routs between two walking destinations, but also the traffic density on the routes. Because heavy traffic density influences not only customers' walking speed, but also customers' experience in the shopping malls and the customer flow amount of the shopping malls. The creativity of this paper lies in: (1) purposing time weight as the relative walking time between two points. Acquire the walking speed by building a new model between the walking speed and the flow density; (2) determining the time weights between two destinations based on the flow density and route lengths. Taking the indoor multi-destination route as an open route, in this paper, Vertex-exchange Algorithm is improved to optimize the multi-destination route to find the route with least sum of time weight . Complete the simulation and implementation of the algorithm referred above. A large number of testing showed that the algorithm was efficient to meet the actual need.
Prime Time? A Look At The Effects Of Circadian Mismatch On Stereotype Reliance

Stereotype-based decisions are formed as the result of employing various heuristics and biases, and they serve as a way to assess ambiguous situations and compensate for limited information processing. Research has demonstrated that during circadian mismatched (non-optimal) periods of the day cognitive resource availability is diminished. This study examined the influence of circadian arousal levels (particularly in mismatched conditions) on the tendency to use stereotypes in decision-making tasks. It was predicted that mismatch between chronotype (individual circadian preference) and time of day would correlate negatively with cognitive resource availability, thus increasing vulnerability to stereotype reliance. Participants were 59 Appalachian State undergraduates. The participants were administered an online survey consisting of the validated reduced Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire, the Karolinska Sleepiness Scale, the Epworth Sleep Scale, and a stereotyping task. Each subject participated in sessions at two different times of the day, with the sessions occurring approximately one week apart. Though the stereotype priming manipulation failed, results suggest that participants in adverse sleep or circadian states may have still relied on biases or heuristics when assessing guilt.
Gold Nanoparticles for the Improved Anticancer Drug Delivery of the Active Component of Oxaliplatin

The platinum-based anticancer drugs cisplatin, carboplatin, and oxaliplatin are an important component of chemotherapy but are limited by severe dose-limiting side effects and the ability of tumors to develop resistance rapidly. These drugs can be improved through the use of drug-delivery vehicles that are able to target cancers passively or actively. In this study, we have tethered the active component of the anticancer drug oxaliplatin to a gold nanoparticle for improved drug delivery. Naked gold nanoparticles were functionalized with a thiolated poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) monolayer capped with a carboxylate group. [Pt(1R,2R-diaminocyclohexane)(H2O)2]2NO3 was added to the PEG surface to yield a supramolecular complex with 280 (±20) drug molecules per nanoparticle. The platinum-tethered nanoparticles were examined for cytotoxicity, drug uptake, and localization in the A549 lung epithelial cancer cell line and the colon cancer cell lines HCT116, HCT15, HT29, and RKO. The platinum-tethered nanoparticles demonstrated as good as, or significantly better, cytotoxicity than oxaliplatin alone in all of the cell lines and an unusual ability to penetrate the nucleus in the lung cancer cells.
Unsupervised learning of reflexive and action-based affordances to model navigational behavior

Here we model animat navigation in a real world env ironment by using place cell as a sensory representation. The cells’ place fields divided the environment into discrete states. The robot learns knowledge of the environment by memorizing t he sensory outcome of its motor actions. This was composed of a central process, le arning the probability of state-to-state transitions by motor actions and a distal processin g routine, learning the extent to which these state-to-state transitions are caused by sensory-dr iven eflex behavior (obstacle avoidance). Navigational decision making integrates central and distal learned environmental knowledge to select an action that leads to a goal state. Dif ferentiating distal and central processing increases the behavioral accuracy of the selected a tions. We claim that the system can easily be expanded to model other behaviors, using alterna tive definitions of states and actions.
Designing controllers for physics‐based characters with motion networks

We present a system that allows non‐programmers to create generic controllers for physically simulated characters. The core of our system is based on a directed acyclic graph of trajectory transformations, which can be modified by feedback terms and serve as reference motions tracked by the physically simulated character. We then introduce tools to enable the automatic creation of robust and parameterized controllers suitable for running in real‐time applications, such as in computer games. The entire process is accomplished by means of a graphical user interface, and we demonstrate how our system can be intuitively used to design a SIMBICON‐like walking controller and a parameterized jump controller to be used in real‐time simulations. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Motion in industrial Wireless Networked Control Systems using 802.11b

Wireless Networked Control Systems is becoming an important topic in the context of factory automation. In this paper, a workcell is studied where the 802.11 standard is used as the communication protocol. The focus is on the effect of different types of motion on the packet end-to-end delay. OPNET simulations indicate that motion does not violate the delay requirements for the proposed model. Since noise in the ISM band can affect wireless communication in the cell, the maximum permissible WiFi noise is found.
Neuroanatomy of Apathy and Disinhibition in Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration

Objective: To investigate the neural basis for the behavioral symptoms of frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) that cause the greatest caregiver distress. Background: FTLD is a progressive neurodegenerative disease associated with behavioral disturbances. Group studies have related these behaviors to volume loss on MRI. Methods: Forty caregivers of patients with the clinical diagnosis of FTLD completed the Neuropsychiatric Inventory. Twelve neuropsychiatric symptoms and the associated caregiver distress were assessed. Optimized voxel-based morphometry identified significant atrophy in subgroups of FTLD patients with isolated behavioral symptoms corresponding to the most distressing behaviors, and we correlated cortical atrophy directly with these distressing behavioral disorders in an unbiased group analysis. Results: The greatest stressors for caregivers were apathy and disinhibition (p < 0.005 for both contrasts). Partially distinct areas of cortical atrophy were associated with these behaviors in both individual patients with these symptoms and group-wide analyses, including the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in apathetic patients, and the medial orbital frontal cortex in disinhibited patients. Conclusions: Caregiver stress in families of FTLD patients is due in large part to apathy and disinhibition. The anatomic distribution of cortical loss corresponding to these distressing social behaviors includes partially distinct areas within the frontal lobe.
Individual music therapy for agitation in dementia: an exploratory randomized controlled trial

Objectives: Agitation in nursing home residents with dementia leads to increase in psychotropic medication, decrease in quality of life, and to patient distress and caregiver burden. Music therapy has previously been found effective in treatment of agitation in dementia care but studies have been methodologically insufficient. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of individual music therapy on agitation in persons with moderate/severe dementia living in nursing homes, and to explore its effect on psychotropic medication and quality of life. Method: In a crossover trial, 42 participants with dementia were randomized to a sequence of six weeks of individual music therapy and six weeks of standard care. Outcome measures included agitation, quality of life and medication. Results: Agitation disruptiveness increased during standard care and decreased during music therapy. The difference at −6.77 (95% CI (confidence interval): −12.71, −0.83) was significant (p = 0.027), with a medium effect size (0.50). The prescription of psychotropic medication increased significantly more often during standard care than during music therapy (p = 0.02). Conclusion: This study shows that six weeks of music therapy reduces agitation disruptiveness and prevents medication increases in people with dementia. The positive trends in relation to agitation frequency and quality of life call for further research with a larger sample.
The Imbalance between Coagulation and Fibrinolysis Is Related to the Severity of the Illness and the Prognosis in Sepsis

Objectives The coagulation and fibrinolytic system appears to be activated by the septic process independently, leading to the syndrome of disseminated intravascular coagulation(DIC). In this study, we investigated the changes within the hemostatic system related to the severity of the illness and the prognosis in patients with sepsis. Methods Plasma thrombin-antithrombin III (TAT) and plasmin-α2-antiplasmin (PAP) complexes were measured using ELISA methods in 32 patients with sepsis and 20 controls and were analyzed according to the APACHE III scores and survival of the patients. Results Plasma TAT and PAP in patients with sepsis were significantly higher than controls. Nonsurvivors showed greater levels of TAT(21.7±22.3ng/mL) and lower levels of PAP(628.4±378.1ng/mL) than survivors (TAT: 11.1±11.2ng/mL; PAP: 857.1±364.1ng/mL). The imbalance between coagulation and fibrinolysis described as TAT/PAP ratio was closely related with APACHE III scores in patients with sepsis(r=0.47) and the TAT/PAP ratio in nonsurvivors was significantly higher compared with survivors(34.4±21.4 vs. 14.4±13.8). Conclusion In sepsis, both coagulation and the fibrinolysis system are activated and the imbalance between coagulation and fibrinolysis predisposes to the hypercoagulation state and is closely related to the severity of the disease and the prognosis.
Identification of Novel Graded Polarity Actin Filament Bundles in Locomoting Heart Fibroblasts: Implications for the Generation of Motile Force

We have determined the structural organization and dynamic behavior of actin filaments in entire primary locomoting heart fibroblasts by S1 decoration, serial section EM, and photoactivation of fluorescence. As expected, actin filaments in the lamellipodium of these cells have uniform polarity with barbed ends facing forward. In the lamella, cell body, and tail there are two observable types of actin filament organization. A less abundant type is located on the inner surface of the plasma membrane and is composed of short, overlapping actin bundles (0.25–2.5 μm) that repeatedly alternate in polarity from uniform barbed ends forward to uniform pointed ends forward. This type of organization is similar to the organization we show for actin filament bundles (stress fibers) in nonlocomoting cells (PtK2 cells) and to the known organization of muscle sarcomeres. The more abundant type of actin filament organization in locomoting heart fibroblasts is mostly ventrally located and is composed of long, overlapping bundles (average 13 μm, but can reach up to about 30 μm) which span the length of the cell. This more abundant type has a novel graded polarity organization. In each actin bundle, polarity gradually changes along the length of the bundle. Actual actin filament polarity at any given point in the bundle is determined by position in the cell; the closer to the front of the cell the more barbed ends of actin filaments face forward. By photoactivation marking in locomoting heart fibroblasts, as expected in the lamellipodium, actin filaments flow rearward with respect to substrate. In the lamella, all marked and observed actin filaments remain stationary with respect to substrate as the fibroblast locomotes. In the cell body of locomoting fibroblasts there are two dynamic populations of actin filaments: one remains stationary and the other moves forward with respect to substrate at the rate of the cell body. This is the first time that the structural organization and dynamics of actin filaments have been determined in an entire locomoting cell. The organization, dynamics, and relative abundance of graded polarity actin filament bundles have important implications for the generation of motile force during primary heart fibroblast locomotion.
The ACS Fornax Cluster Survey. I. Introduction to the Survey and Data Reduction Procedures

The Fornax Cluster is a conspicuous cluster of galaxies in the southern hemisphere and the second largest collection of early-type galaxies within ≲20 Mpc after the Virgo Cluster. In this paper, we present a brief introduction to the ACS Fornax Cluster Survey—a program to image, in the F475W (g475) and F850LP (z850) bandpasses, 43 early-type galaxies in Fornax using the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) on the Hubble Space Telescope. Combined with a companion survey of Virgo, the ACS Virgo Cluster Survey, this represents the most comprehensive imaging survey to date of early-type galaxies in cluster environments in terms of depth, spatial resolution, sample size, and homogeneity. We describe the selection of the program galaxies, their basic properties, and the main science objectives of the survey, which include the measurement of luminosities, colors, and structural parameters for globular clusters associated with these galaxies, an analysis of their isophotal properties and surface brightness profiles, and an accurate calibration of the surface brightness fluctuation distance indicator. Finally, we discuss the data reduction procedures adopted for the survey.
Secure Communication for a Class of Broadcast Channel with Feedback

This paper investigates the secure data transmission in the broadcast channel with noiseless feedback by using the information-theoretic method. We consider transmitting a private message and a common message to two receivers, of which the common message is to be decoded by both receivers while the private message is only for the intended receiver. The channel to the intended receiver is assumed to be independent of that to the other receiver. Feedback from the output of the intended receiver is used as a shared secret key to enhance the secrecy in the transmission. The capacity-equivocation region and the secrecy capacity of this new model are obtained. We find the secrecy capacity is enhanced by using feedback, even in the case that the other receiver is in a better position than the intended receiver. In addition, our results generalize the secrecy capacity of the degraded wiretap channel with secure feedback, and the capacity region of the degraded broadcast channel.