Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Lexico-semantic and acoustic-phonetic processes in the perception of noise-vocoded speech: implications for cochlear implantation

Noise-vocoding is a transformation which, when applied to speech, severely reduces spectral resolution and eliminates periodicity, yielding a stimulus that sounds “like a harsh whisper” (Scott et al., 2000, p. 2401). This process simulates a cochlear implant, where the activity of many thousand hair cells in the inner ear is replaced by direct stimulation of the auditory nerve by a small number of tonotopically-arranged electrodes. Although a cochlear implant offers a powerful means of restoring some degree of hearing to profoundly deaf individuals, the outcomes for spoken communication are highly variable (Moore and Shannon, 2009). Some variability may arise from differences in peripheral representation (e.g., the degree of residual nerve survival) but some may reflect differences in higher-order linguistic processing. In order to explore this possibility, we used noise-vocoding to explore speech recognition and perceptual learning in normal-hearing listeners tested across several levels of the linguistic hierarchy: segments (consonants and vowels), single words, and sentences. Listeners improved significantly on all tasks across two test sessions. In the first session, individual differences analyses revealed two independently varying sources of variability: one lexico-semantic in nature and implicating the recognition of words and sentences, and the other an acoustic-phonetic factor associated with words and segments. However, consequent to learning, by the second session there was a more uniform covariance pattern concerning all stimulus types. A further analysis of phonetic feature recognition allowed greater insight into learning-related changes in perception and showed that, surprisingly, participants did not make full use of cues that were preserved in the stimuli (e.g., vowel duration). We discuss these findings in relation cochlear implantation, and suggest auditory training strategies to maximize speech recognition performance in the absence of typical cues.
[Effects of acupuncture on the expression of Cx43 in different acupoints of rats].

OBJECTIVE To observe the differences of the expression of Cx43 in rats' acupoints and sham-acupoint when needled blocks, and explore the relatively specificity of acupoints. METHOD Twenty Wistar rats were randomly divided into two groups: an acupuncture group and a control group, ten in each group. The rats in the control group were not treated and sacrificed directly to by air embolism; the rats in the acupuncture group were needled at "Neiguan (PC 6)", "Zusanli (ST 36)", "Dazhui (GV 14)" and "Guanyuan (CV 4)", Sham-acupoints were on 1 cm next to each of the above acupoints and "Yongquan (KI 1)" were needled by hand manipulation, retented needles for 30 min, then all the rats were sacrificed by air embolism. With the rats fixed, the tissue blocks at the acupoints and sham-acupoints were collected, then quick-frozen and cut into sections. The sections were stained by immunohistochemical method (Cx43). RESULTS The expression of the rats' Cx43 at the acupoints was significantly higher than that at the non-points in both groups (all P < 0.01). The expression of Cx43 at the acupoints in the acupuncture group was significantly higher than that in the control group (all P < 0.01). CONCLUSION The expression of Cx43 at acupoints and non-points is significantly different, which indicates that the acupoints are actually existed and have relatively specificity.
ISAR imaging using circularly polarized antennas in an anechoic chamber

Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging is typically performed using linearly polarized (LP) signals. There are not many SAR systems utilizing circularly polarized (CP) signals. Recent trends show investigation into CP such as Compact SAR resulting in reduced system size and images with distinct characteristics due to CP signals. To gain insight into a full CP SAR system, we begin study in a controlled environment. This paper presents the design and testing of a wideband inverse synthetic aperture radar (ISAR) system using CP antennas for both receive and transmit. Data measurement setup was constructed in an anechoic chamber with the use of a vector network analyzer (VNA) and automated rotary turntable to revolve targets. We present the measurement procedures for CP imaging, followed by imaging results of canonical targets made using uncalibrated data for CP and compared them with LP ISAR images to illustrate the differences between the two polarizations. This work will lead to the investigation of generating images from CP receive and transmit signals, CP polarimetric decomposition, improvement of related imaging algorithms for CP signals and suitable antenna design.
Heat Shock Protein 90 Alpha, Lass B Member 1: a Key Regulative Gene of Monitoring Duodenal Tumor for Obesity Induced by High-Fat Diet.

BACKGROUND Effective methods of preventing and treating duodenal carcinoma, especially cancer induced by obesity (resulting from a high-fat diet) remains a longstanding challenge in medicine. METHODS With regard to the objective, key genes were explored in the evolutional process in a group of normal, obese (high-fat diet), and duodenal tumor mice. Here, 23 genes were selected by the bioinformatics method. In order to correct the result, verification experiments were performed twice through online analysis. RESULTS Finally, heat shock protein 90 alpha class B member 1, enriched in inflammation, tumors and steroid hormones-related pathways, was the statistically different gene in the evolutional process. CONCLUSIONS This work provided a new perspective to understand the evolutional process in a group of normal, obese (high-fat diet), and duodenal tumor mice and a potential target gene for monitoring duodenal tumors for normal individuals especially for obesity induced by high-fat diet.
National Standards for Diabetes Self-Management Education

Evidence indicates that diabetes self-management education using empowerment models improves patient outcomes (1). It also shows that a variety of pathways have been used for achieving patient empowerment. Two pathways, general self-efficacy (2) and sense of coherence (3), have shown high utility. Self-efficacy is an individual’s confidence in their capabilities to perform a specific action that has influence over …
Wavelets and ensemble of FLDs for P300 classification

Over the last few years various P300 classification algorithms have been assessed using the P300 data provided by the Wadsworth center for brain-computer interface (BCI) competitions II and III. In this paper a novel method of P300 classification is presented and compared to the state of the art results obtained for BCI competition II data set IIb and BCI competition III data set II. The novel classification method includes discrete-wavelet transform (DWT) preprocessing and an ensemble of Fishers Linear Discriminants for classification. The performance of the proposed method is as good as the state of the art method for the BCI competition II data set and only slightly worse than the state of the art method for BCI competition III data sets. Furthermore the proposed method is far less computationally expensive than the current state of the art method and could be modified for adaptive behavior in an online system.
Multispectral Stereo Odometry

In this paper, we investigate the problem of visual odometry for ground vehicles based on the simultaneous utilization of multispectral cameras. It encompasses a stereo rig composed of an optical (visible) and thermal sensors. The novelty resides in the localization of the cameras as a stereo setup rather than two monocular cameras of different spectrums. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time such task is attempted. Log-Gabor wavelets at different orientations and scales are used to extract interest points from both images. These are then described using a combination of frequency and spatial information within the local neighborhood. Matches between the pairs of multimodal images are computed using the cosine similarity function based on the descriptors. Pyramidal Lucas-Kanade tracker is also introduced to tackle temporal feature matching within challenging sequences of the data sets. The vehicle egomotion is computed from the triangulated 3-D points corresponding to the matched features. A windowed version of bundle adjustment incorporating Gauss-Newton optimization is utilized for motion estimation. An outlier removal scheme is also included within the framework to deal with outliers. Multispectral data sets were generated and used as test bed. They correspond to real outdoor scenarios captured using our multimodal setup. Finally, detailed results validating the proposed strategy are illustrated.
Parallel Initialization on Distributed Simulation Systems

The initialization of distributed heterogeneous simulation systems presents challenges regarding the parallelization of object construction and setup. This paper presents a method for parallel initialization of distributed simulation systems that consists of a two phases setup. Object instantiation and setup are split in Config and Post Bind phases to permit fast creation times allowing distribution of initialization tasks among different nodes and removing the ordering requirement between the initialization of interdependent objects. A framework of references is presented to facilitate the use of remote objects in a MPI environment using proxies to access local and remote variables, served by a reference name server built into the simulation engine.
Problematic internet use: Proposed classification and diagnostic criteria

Since the mid‐1990s, there have been frequent reports of individuals whose use of the computer and internet is problematic. Given the recent expansion and the expected increase in internet availability and usage in the coming years, it is important that healthcare professionals be informed about this behavior and its associated problems. Recently, psychological and psychiatric literature has described individuals that exhibit problematic internet use who often suffer from other psychiatric disorders. In the face of this comorbidity, it is essential to evaluate whether these individuals represent a distinct class of disorder, or a manifestation/coping mechanism related to other underlying diagnosis. In either event, problematic internet use negatively impacts social and emotional functioning. Based on the current limited empirical evidence, problematic internet use may best be classified as an impulse control disorder. It is therefore imperative that problematic internet use be appropriately identified among symptomatic individuals. For these reasons, we propose specific diagnostic criteria that will allow for consistent identification and assist in further study of this behavior. Depression and Anxiety 17:207–216, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Perceptions of language use in a bilingual industrial community

Social behaviorists have long been aware of the fact that an individual's perception of his environment, or of his own performance, may differ radically from an objective evaluation of that environment, or from that individual's actual behavior. Evans et al. (1973) investigated the relative effectiveness of high fear arousal and of more gentle techniques in persuading children to adopt good dental hygiene habits. It was discovered that elaborate recommendations with positive affect were most effective in changing actual behavior. However, high fear arousal combined with recommendations were most effective in changing reported behavior. Thus, not only was the possibility of a lack of correspondence between actual behavior and reported behavior confirmed, but it was also found that actual behavior and reported behavior could be influenced in quite different ways. Dramatic evidence of the degree to which perceptions can differ from reality was discovered by Kephart (1972) in an examination of the attitudes of white policemen in Philadelphia. Of most concern to Kephart was 'Negro visibility', defined as 'the extent to which Negroes are numerically overestimated' (1972: 211). Eighty-seven per cent of the policemen overestimated the proportion of Negroes among those arrested in their own districts. Furthermore, the higher the actual Negro arrest rate was in a district, the greater the overestimation of that rate was, even though districts with a high Negro arrest rate had a smaller margin for overestimation than districts with a relatively low rate of Negro arrests. Ninety-one per cent of the white policemen also overestimated the number of Negro policemen then working in the Philadelphia police force. Various attempts have been made to explain discrepancies between reported and actual behavior. The social psychologists Hendrick and Jones (1972) have adduced the demand characteristics inherent in any behavioral investigation as a possible cause for this phenomenon of subjects' self-report data not being a reliable guide to actual performance, while Mischel (1970) believes that the
Regulation of β-catenin structure and activity by tyrosine phosphorylation.

beta-Catenin plays a dual role as a key effector in the regulation of adherens junctions and as a transcriptional coactivator. Phosphorylation of Tyr-654, a residue placed in the last armadillo repeat of beta-catenin, decreases its binding to E-cadherin. We show here that phosphorylation of Tyr-654 also stimulates the association of beta-catenin to the basal transcription factor TATA-binding protein. The structural bases of these different affinities were investigated. Our results indicate that the beta-catenin C-terminal tail interacts with the armadillo repeat domain, hindering the association of the armadillo region to the TATA-binding protein or to E-cadherin. Phosphorylation of beta-catenin Tyr-654 decreases armadillo-C-terminal tail association, uncovering the last armadillo repeats. In a C-terminal-depleted beta-catenin, the presence of a negative charge at Tyr-654 does not affect the interaction of the TATA-binding protein to the armadillo domain. However, in the case of E-cadherin, the establishment of ion pairs dominates its association with beta-catenin, and its binding is greatly dependent on the absence of a negative charge at Tyr-654. Thus, phosphorylation of Tyr-654 blocks the Ecadherin-beta-catenin interaction, even though the steric hindrance of the C-tail is no longer present. These results explain how phosphorylation of beta-catenin in Tyr-654 modifies the tertiary structure of this protein and the interaction with its different partners.
Optimal Monetary Policy When Agents are Learning

We derive the optimal monetary policy in a sticky price model when private agents follow adaptive learning. We show that this slight departure from rationality has important implications for policy design. The central bank faces a new intertemporal trade-off, not present under rational expectations: it is optimal to forego stabilizing the economy in the present in order to facilitate private sector learning and thus ease the future intratemporal inflation-output gap trade-offs. The policy recommendation is robust: the welfare loss entailed by the optimal policy under learning if the private sector actually has rational expectations is much smaller than if the central bank mistakenly assumes rational expectations when in fact agents are learning.
An Investigation into the Crime Scene Characteristics That Differentiate a Car Key Burglary from a Regular Domestic Burglary

As a result of the mandatory introduction in 1998 of electronic immobilisers in all new vehicles, car crime has evolved so that criminals resort to stealing vehicle keys during domestic burglaries in order to steal the vehicle subsequently. This new offence is referred to as ‘car key burglary’. Building upon previous research (Shaw, Smith, & Bond, 2010), car key burglary data provided by Northamptonshire Police from 1 January 2008 to 31 December 2009 was analysed to identify the crime-scene characteristics that can differentiate a car key burglary from a regular domestic burglary. Significant differences were found between car key burglaries and regular domestic burglaries pertaining to the security of the property and the types of items stolen, with secure premises and items likely to be left in a vehicle overnight (such as satellite navigation systems, in-car DVD players and mobile telephones) being more indicative of car key burglary. The implications of these findings are considered and the limitations discussed in terms of the current methods of recording police data. Suggestions as to how police data recording might be amended to facilitate a better understanding of car key burglary are considered.
The creation of consonance : how musical context influences chord perception

This PhD study investigates how our perception of musical chords, both in isolation and in musical context, is influenced and shaped by our knowledge of the tonal hierarchy and tonal syntax in terms of consonance/dissonance, pleasantness/unpleasantness, stability/instability, and relaxation/tension. Six experiments were conducted to gather behavioural data on the perception of chords from listeners with varying levels of musical training and experience. The first study is principally concerned with the influence of frequency of occurrence on the perception of twelve types of chord in isolation, including both triads and tetrads. It also examines to what extent factors besides frequency of occurrence, namely listener familiarity with the timbre in which chords are played and the acoustic features of chords, predict listener perception. The second and third studies concern the perception of chords in musical context. The second study focuses on musical contexts in which diminished and augmented chords appear, and on the harmonic functions of chords in short sequences of IV-V-I. Using sequences containing an augmented chord, the third study investigates the ways in which a non-diatonic tone can be anchored by its succeeding tone, and considers how the perception of these sequences is influenced by the harmonic function of its succeeding chord. These studies all reveal that the way in which chords and chord sequences are perceived is not completely predetermined by their acoustic, physical dimension. In addition, we impute on them a fluidity and elasticity as a result of our knowledge of the tonal hierarchy and tonal syntax in our musical schemata.
Galectin-3 Deficiency Accelerates High-Fat Diet–Induced Obesity and Amplifies Inflammation in Adipose Tissue and Pancreatic Islets

Obesity-induced diabetes is associated with low-grade inflammation in adipose tissue and macrophage infiltration of islets. We show that ablation of galectin-3 (Gal-3), a galactoside-binding lectin, accelerates high-fat diet–induced obesity and diabetes. Obese LGALS3−/− mice have increased body weight, amount of total visceral adipose tissue (VAT), fasting blood glucose and insulin levels, homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance, and markers of systemic inflammation compared with diet-matched wild-type (WT) animals. VAT of obese LGALS3−/− mice exhibited increased incidence of type 1 T and NKT lymphocytes and proinflammatory CD11c+CD11b+ macrophages and decreased CD4+CD25+FoxP3+ regulatory T cells and M2 macrophages. Pronounced mononuclear cell infiltrate, increased expression of NLRP3 inflammasome and interleukin-1β (IL-1β) in macrophages, and increased accumulation of advanced glycation end products (AGEs) and receptor for AGE (RAGE) expression were present in pancreatic islets of obese LGALS3−/− animals accompanied with elevated phosphorylated nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) p65 and mature caspase-1 protein expression in pancreatic tissue and VAT. In vitro stimulation of LGALS3−/− peritoneal macrophages with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and saturated fatty acid palmitate caused increased caspase-1–dependent IL-1β production and increased phosphorylation of NF-κB p65 compared with WT cells. Transfection of LGALS3−/− macrophages with NLRP3 small interfering RNA attenuated IL-1β production in response to palmitate and LPS plus palmitate. Obtained results suggest important protective roles for Gal-3 in obesity-induced inflammation and diabetes.
A window of opportunity study of potential tumor and soluble biomarkers of response to preoperative erlotinib in early stage non-small cell lung cancer

Background: Erlotinib is highly active in EGFR mutant NSCLC, but may benefit some with wild-type tumors. We examined pre-operative erlotinib in early stage NSCLC to assess response and correlation with potential biomarkers. Results: Twenty-five patients were enrolled; 22 received erlotinib treatment and were evaluable (median follow-up 4.4 years). Histology was predominantly adenocarcinoma although 31% had squamous carcinoma. PET response was observed in 2 patients (9%), both with squamous carcinoma. Most (20/22) had stable disease (RECIST), with frequent minor radiographic regression and histologic findings of fibrosis/necrosis including in squamous histology. Only two had EGFR mutations identified, one with minor radiographic response and the other stable disease after 4 weeks of EGFR TKI. High pre-treatment serum levels of TGF-α correlated with primary resistance to erlotinib (p = 0.02), whereas high post-treatment soluble EGFR levels correlated with response (p = 0.03). EGFR, PTEN, cMET and AXL expression did not correlate with tumor response. Methods: Clinical stage IA–IIB NSCLC patients received erlotinib 150 mg daily for 4 weeks followed by resection. Tumor response was assessed using CT, PET and pathological response. Tumor genotype was established using Sequenom Mass ARRAY; EGFR, PTEN, cMET and AXL expression was assessed by immunohistochemistry, circulating markers of EGFR activation (TGF-α, amphiregulin, epiregulin, EGFR ECD) by ELISA and EGFR, MET copy number by FISH. Conclusions: Erlotinib appears to demonstrate activity in EGFR wild-type tumors including squamous carcinoma. Further research is needed to characterize those wild-type patients that may benefit from EGFR TKI and predictive biomarkers including TGF-α, EGFR copy and others.
Topical cyclosporine a treatment in corneal refractive surgery and patients with dry eye.

PURPOSE To evaluate preoperative and postoperative dry eye and the effect of cyclosporine A treatment in patients screened for corneal refractive surgery and treated with photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) or LASIK. METHODS A consecutive case series of 1,056 patients screened for corneal refractive surgery from 2007 to 2012 was retrospectively analyzed. The level of preoperative and postoperative dry eye and the responsiveness to topical cyclosporine A treatment were assessed. RESULTS One eye of each patient was randomly selected. A total of 642 eyes progressed to surgery: 524 (81.6%) and 118 (18.4%) underwent LASIK and PRK, respectively. Of 81 (7.7%) diagnosed as having dry eye, 55 were deemed potential candidates and optimized for refractive surgery. Thirty-seven patients with moderate dry eye were treated with topical cyclosporine A prior to surgery (mean duration: 3.2 ± 2.1 months; range: 1 to 12 months). After cyclosporine A treatment, 28 (75.7%) eyes underwent LASIK, 4 (10.8%) eyes underwent PRK, and 5 (13.5%) eyes were not operated on due to failed treatment of dry eye. Postoperative refractive surgery-induced neurotrophic epitheliopathy (LINE in LASIK) was noted in 132 (27.3%) and 12 (11.1%) eyes that underwent LASIK and PRK, respectively. Topical cyclosporine A was prescribed in 79 LASIK-induced and 3 PRK-induced dry eyes. After 12 months or more of cyclosporine A treatment, 5 (6.1%) eyes continued to have dry eye symptoms or signs. CONCLUSIONS Topical cyclosporine A treatment is effective therapy for optimizing patients for refractive surgery and treatment of new onset or worsened dry eye after surgery.