Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
End-to-end speech emotion recognition using multi-scale convolution networks

Automatic speech emotion recognition is one of the challenging tasks in machine learning community mainly due to the significant variations across individuals while expressing the same emotion cue. The success of emotion recognition with machine learning techniques primarily depends on the feature set chosen to learn. Formulation of appropriate features that cater for all variations in emotion cues however is not a trivial task. Recent works on emotion recognition with deep learning techniques thus focus on the end-to-end learning scheme which identifies the features directly from the raw speech signal instead of relying on hand-crafted feature set. Existing methods in this scheme however did not take into account the fact that speech signals often exhibit distinct features at different time scales and frequencies than in the raw form. We propose the multi- scale convolution neural network (MCNN) to identify features at different time scales and frequencies from raw speech signals. This end-to-end model leverages on the multi-branch input layer and tunable convolution layers to learn the identified features which are subsequently employed to recognize the emotion cues accordingly. As a proof-of-concept, the MCNN method with a fixed transformation stage is evaluated using the SAVEE emotion database. Results showed that MCNN improves the emotion recognition performance when compared to existing methods, which underpins the necessity of learning features at different time scales.
Randomized Clinical Trial of Maxillary Sinus Grafting using Deproteinized Porcine and Bovine Bone Mineral

BACKGROUND Deproteinized porcine bone mineral (DPBM) was recently developed and commercially available in maxillary sinus grafting, in which demineralized bovine bone mineral (DBBM) was widely used. OBJECTIVES The present randomized controlled clinical trial aimed to compare histological bone quality and radiographic volume stability in maxillary sinuses grafted with DPBM and DBBM. MATERIALS AND METHODS Twenty sinuses in 16 participants were enrolled and randomly allocated to control and test groups using sequentially numbered, sealed envelopes; laterally approached sinus grafting with DBBM and DPBM, respectively. All participants were blinded to the group assignment during the entire experiment. After standardized osteotomy at the lateral wall of the maxillary sinus, the sinus membrane was elevated, and the control or test biomaterial was grafted. Computed tomography (CT) images were taken immediately after surgery, and another CT and trephine biopsy was taken for radiographic and histological analyses after 6 months. The histological bone quality was measured as a primary outcome, and changes in the height and volume of the graft were evaluated in the reconstructed CT images as secondary outcomes. RESULTS Fifteen sites (7 and 8 sites for control and test group) in 11 participants were finally included in the per protocol (PP) analysis, and 16 sites (7 and 9 sites, respectively) in 12 participants were included in the intention-to-treat (ITT) analysis; there were four drop-outs and one minor protocol violation. In both statistical analyses, the test groups showed comparable new bone formation and residual biomaterials in histology, and both groups exhibited minimal volume/height changes in radiographies. However, smaller sizes of residual biomaterials were observed in the histological samples from the test compared to control sites, despite the use of the same sizes of both biomaterials. CONCLUSIONS The results suggested that DPBM might produce comparable bone formation and volumetric stability with DBBM in maxillary sinus grafting, however, further clinical study with longer-term periods and larger sample sizes should be needed for confirming this suggestion.
Effect of a peripheral and a central acting opioid antagonist on the testicular response to stress in rats.

The possible involvement of opioid receptors in mediating the inhibitory effects of immobilization stress on testicular steroidogenesis was determined in adult male rats. Unstressed controls and animals exposed to 3 h of immobilization stress were injected subcutaneously with either vehicle or 1 or 10 mg/kg body weight (BW) of naloxone or naltrexone methobromide (NMB; an opioid receptor antagonist that does not cross the blood-brain barrier) at the beginning of and at 1.5 h of the stress period. Animals were sacrificed at 2 h (30 min after the second injection of antagonist) or 3 h (90 min after the second injection of antagonist) of stress. Plasma LH was not affected by stress, but 30 min after naloxone (1 or 10 mg/kg BW) injection, LH was elevated in both control and stressed rats above levels in vehicle-injected animals. By 90 min after naloxone injection, plasma LH had declined to levels comparable to those in vehicle-injected animals. NMB had no effect on plasma LH concentrations in either control or stressed rats. Three hours of stress reduced plasma testosterone (T) levels by 60% in vehicle-injected animals. This effect of stress on plasma T levels was antagonized by the 10 mg/kg BW dose of naloxone and 1 or 10 mg/kg BW of NMB. The ability of naloxone to reverse the effect of stress on plasma T levels was likely related to its ability to stimulate LH secretion, but NMB normalized plasma T values in stressed animals without altering plasma LH concentrations. Only the highest dose of NMB increased plasma T levels in unstressed control animals. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Complete mitochondrial genome of the Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzee, Pan troglodytes ellioti (Primates: Hominidae)

Abstract Chimpanzees are especially suited to teach us about ourselves, both in terms of their similarities and differences with human, and such important similarities and differences have also been noted for the incidence and severity of several major human diseases. In the present work, we report the entire mitochondrial genome of the Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes ellioti) for the first time. Results shows that this mitogenome is 16,559 bp long and consists of 13 protein-coding genes, 22 transfer RNA genes, 2 ribosomal RNA genes, and 1 putative non-coding region (D-loop region). The genomic organization and gene order are the same as other Chimpanzees. The whole nucleotide base composition is 31.1% of A, 30.7% of C, 12.9% G, and 25.3% T, with a slight A+T bias of 56.4%. Most of the genes are encoded on H-strand, except for the ND6 subunit gene and 8 tRNA genes. The complete mitochondrial genome sequence reported here provides useful genetic information for P. t. ellioti, and will further contribute to the comparative genomics studies in primates.
Effects of 0.005% Latanoprost on Optic Nerve Head and Peripapillary Retinal Blood Flow

Fifty-two eyes of 26 healthy volunteers were recruited for evaluating the effects of 0.005% latanoprost on optic nerve head (ONH) and peripapillary retinal blood flow. In a randomized double-blind design, one eye received one drop of 0.005% latanoprost and its fellow eye received one drop of a placebo eyedrop. Intraocular pressure (IOP), ONH and peripapillary retinal blood flow were measured with Heidelberg retinal flowmetry (HRF) before, 2 and 24 h after administration of eyedrops. IOP was decreased significantly in latanoprost-treated eyes at 2 and 24 h after administration (p < 0.05). In the volume, flow or velocity of ONH and peripapillary retina, there were no significant changes from the baseline values at 2 and 24 h after latanoprost administration in either latanoprost-treated eyes or their fellow eyes (p > 0.05). No significant differences were found in the measured quantities between latanoprost-treated eyes and their fellow eyes at each time point (p > 0.05). This result may suggest that 0.005% latanoprost in healthy subjects does not have any adverse effect on ONH and peripapillary retinal blood flow.
From Microscopic to Macroscopic Description of Composite Thin Panels: A Road Map for Their Simulation in Time Domain

In this paper, we show a simulation strategy for composite dispersive thin-panels, starting from their microscopic characteristics and ending into a time-domain macroscopic model. In a first part, we revisit different semianalytic methods that may be used to obtain the S-parameter matrices. The validity of them is assessed with numerical simulations and experimental data. We also include some formulas that may be used to tailor the shielding effectiveness of panels in a design phase. In a second part, we present an extension to dispersive media of a subgridding hybrid implicit–explicit algorithm finite difference time domain (FDTD) devised by the authors to deal with that kind of materials. The method, here presented and applied to the FDTD method, is a robustly stable alternative to classical impedance boundary condition techniques. For this, a previous analytical procedure allowing to extract an equivalent effective media from S-parameters is presented, thus making this road map able to simulate any kind of dispersive thin layer. A numerical validation of the algorithm is finally shown by comparing with experimental data.
Degradation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons by actinomycetes

The potential of some actinomycetes to degrade polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and the effect of co-substrates, plants and other additives on their degradation and bioavailability was studied. A glass bead system for growth of PAH-degrading actinomycetes in liquid culture was developed and used for the screening of strains for biosurfactant activity and phenanthrene degradation in the presence of different co-substrates. Indication of biosurfactant production by all tested strains was obtained with hexadecane and rapeseed oil as co-substrates but not with glucose. Rhodococcus sp. DSM 44126 was identified as R. wratislaviensis and found to be able to degrade phenanthrene and anthracene. An actinomycete with a high capacity to degrade phenanthrene and pyrene was isolated from an agricultural soil and identified as Mycobacterium LP1. The catabolic activity of both strains was studied in liquid cultures and in soil. Several additives were also tested for their effect on PAH degradation in soils. The surfactant Triton X-100, but not wheat straw, promoted PAH degradation in a soil with aged creosote by increasing the bioavailability of the compounds. The presence of plants increased the proportion of active microorganisms and enhanced PAH degradation, likely due to root exudates provided by the plants. In a PAH-spiked soil, the addition of rapeseed oil (1% w/w) stimulated the degradation of anthracene and benzo(a)pyrene mainly as a result of abiotic processes, but negatively affected the degradation of phenanthrene and pyrene, probably due to limitations in nutrient and oxygen supply. Based on these results, a new sequential treatment in two steps for cleaning PAH-contaminated soil was designed and tested using four different PAH as model substances. The first step consisted of the inoculation with Mycobacterium LP1, favouring biological degradation of low-molecular-weight PAH, and the second step consisted of the addition of rapeseed oil, which promoted the abiotic transformation, and probably also the solubilisation, of the high-molecular-weight PAH.
ROBIN, a Telepresence Robot to Support Older Users Monitoring and Social Inclusion: Development and Evaluation.

INTRODUCTION This article describes an enhanced telepresence robot named ROBIN, part of a telecare system derived from the GIRAFFPLUS project for supporting and monitoring older adults at home. ROBIN is integrated in a sensor-rich environment that aims to continuously monitor physical and psychological wellbeing of older persons living alone. The caregivers (formal/informal) can communicate through it with their assisted persons. Long-term trials in real houses highlighted several user requirements that inspired improvements on the robotic platform. The enhanced telepresence robot was assessed by users to test its suitability to support social interaction and provide motivational feedback on health-related aspects. METHODS Twenty-five users (n = 25) assessed the new multimodal interaction capabilities and new communication services. A psychophysiological approach was adopted to investigate aspects like engagement, usability, and affective impact, as well as the possible role of individual differences on the quality of human-robot interaction. RESULTS ROBIN was overall judged usable, the interaction with/through it resulted pleasant and the required workload was limited, thus supporting the idea of using it as a central component for remote assistance and social participation. Open-minded users tended to have a more positive interaction with it. CONCLUSIONS This work describes an enabling technology for remote assistance and social communication. It highlights the importance of being compliant with users' needs to develop solutions easy to use and able to foster their social connections. The role of personality appeared to be relevant for the interaction, underscoring a clear role of the service personalization.
The node influence for link prediction based on triadic closure structure

Efficiently and accurately predicting missing links is becoming a concerned topic in the complex network field in recent years. It is promising to address this challenging problem according to specific structure of the network. Motivated by the Structural Balance Theory (Triadic Closure Theory), we propose a comprehensive index to fully quantify the common neighbor influence and inter-node influence on forming the link between the nodes. Unlike the classical common neighbor based prediction methods which just consider the number of common neighbors, our new algorithm is highly accuracy and stable robust when the inter-node influence on forming the triadic closure is characterized by the similarity of common neighbors, and the common neighbor impact on developing the triadic closure is comprehensively characterized by the common neighbor influence shared by the directly connected nodes and the dispersion of common neighbor influence. Consequently, we propose an ensemble link prediction algorithm which integrates above three indicators. The performance of the proposed model is tested on realistic complex networks, and the computational results show that the proposed algorithm is highly accurate and robust compared with the current common neighbor-based algorithm.
A Class of Benzenoid Chemicals Suppresses Apoptosis in C. elegans

Benzene is a human carcinogen that might act through both genotoxic and nongenotoxic mechanisms to promote tumorigenesis. The genotoxic effects of benzene are well established, however, its potential nongenotoxic roles in carcinogenesis are poorly understood. We find that benzene suppresses somatic apoptosis in C. elegans; this suggests a potential nongenotoxic mechanism by which this chemical might promote tumorigenesis. We find that two other benzenoid chemicals, biphenyl and toluene, also inhibit apoptosis in C. elegans. Notably, these chemicals are suspected carcinogens in mammals; this suggests that a subclass of benzenoid chemicals might promote tumorigenesis by suppressing apoptosis. A benzene metabolite, 1,4‐benzoquinone, can directly inhibit the activity of caspase‐3; this suggests a general molecular mechanism by which benzenoid chemicals might suppress apoptosis. These findings suggest that C. elegans is an excellent alternative animal model for studying the antiapoptotic activity of tumor‐promoting chemicals and for identifying in vivo targets of these chemicals.
Use of a web portal among adult clinic patients seen for type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Background To determine the number of adult clinic patients seen for type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) at an academic medical center and to examine characteristics of those who had or had not registered for a web portal. Methods Electronic records were reviewed to identify web portal registration by patients treated for T2DM by age, sex, race and Hispanic ethnicity, and service (General Internal Medicine, Endocrinology). Results A total of 1,401 patients with T2DM were seen in General Internal Medicine and Endocrinology outpatient clinics. Less than one third (32%) had registered for the web portal. Women were more likely to have registered for the web portal than men [odds ratio (OR) =1.25; 95% CI, 0.99-1.57; P<0.063]. Black patients were less likely to have registered than whites (OR =0.40; 95% CI, 0.31-0.51; P<0.001). Patients who were 18-25 years of age were less likely to have registered for the web portal, along with those who were 56 to 60 and >66 years of age. In multivariate analysis, a statistically significant association was observed between web portal registration and General Internal Medicine clinic vs. Endocrinology clinic (OR =2.96, P<0.001). Inverse associations were observed with age >18-25 years, male sex (adjusted OR =0.71, P=0.006), and Black race (OR =0.33, P<0.001). Conclusions Additional research is needed to identify portal design features that improve glycemic control and interventions that will increase use of patient portals, especially among Black patients with T2DM and those with low health literacy or computer literacy.
Grazer responses to variable macroalgal resource conditions facilitate habitat structuring

Consumer responses to altered resource conditions can vary depending on dietary preference, resource characteristics and secondary resource features such as shelter. These can have cascading effects, especially if the consumed resource impacts on overall ecological functioning. In this study, we assessed the dietary composition of grazer communities following seasonal changes in the characteristics of their staple food-source (macroalgae). This was conducted in the living stromatolite pools growing along the coast of South Africa. Stable isotope mixing models suggested that following macroalgal bleaching in summer, metazoan consumers shifted their diet from predominantly macroalgae to a generalist composition. This has important implications for the integrity of the stromatolite matrix and its layered deposition. Where previously in winter stromatolite microalgae comprised a minor component of metazoan consumer diets, in summer, following a change in the resource conditions of macroalgae, microalgae featured more prominently in grazer diets. This seasonal grazing pressure on stromatolite-related resources probably promotes the pattern of annual layering observed in the stromatolite accretion. It also demonstrates a mechanism whereby grazer dietary shifts following a change in their preferred food resource can affect the ecosystem structure of their environment, specifically the stromatolite layering process which responds to microalgal growth or grazing conditions.
Developmental timing differences underlie armor loss across threespine stickleback populations

Comparing ontogenetic patterns within a well‐described evolutionary context aids in inferring mechanisms of change, including heterochronies or deletion of developmental pathways. Because selection acts on phenotypes throughout ontogeny, any within‐taxon developmental variation has implications for evolvability. We compare ontogenetic order and timing of locomotion and defensive traits in three populations of threespine stickleback that have evolutionarily divergent adult forms. This analysis adds to the growing understanding of developmental genetic mechanisms of adaptive change in this evolutionary model species by delineating when chondrogenesis and osteogenesis in two derived populations begin to deviate from the developmental pattern in their immediate ancestors. We found that differences in adult defensive morphologies arise through abolished or delayed initiation of these traits rather than via an overall heterochronic shift, that intra‐population ontogenetic variation is increased for some derived traits, and that altered armor developmental timing differentiates the derived populations from each other despite parallels in adult lateral plate armor phenotypes. We found that changes in ossified elements of the pelvic armor are linked to delayed and incomplete development of an early‐forming pelvic cartilage, and that this disruption likely presages the variable pelvic vestiges documented in many derived populations.
Violence against women and suicide in the context of migration: A review of the literature and a call for action

Domestic violence and other forms of violence against women and coercion are well known to be substantial and widespread, with women more likely than men to be abused by partners and other family members. Domestic violence is a major precipitating factor for suicide, and ethnic minority, immigrant and refugee women are at higher risk for suicidal behaviour. This article reviews literature about suicide and domestic violence among ethnic minorities, immigrants and refugees to examine the relationship between the two. Further, it presents a 'call for action' for academics, policy makers and service providers engaged in suicide prevention. Higher risk of being victim of violence, additional forms of violence (immigration-related abuse), and greater barriers to seeking help, contribute to make women from immigrant and refugee backgrounds particularly vulnerable to suicidal behaviour. While violence against women is now widely recognized as a significant global problem, a major public health issue, and one of the most widespread violations of human rights, suicidal behaviour among immigrant women has received limited attention as a public health concern, and even less as a human/women's right issue. Suicide prevention must be addressed as a public health issue, and it is time for suicide to be considered also as a women and human rights issue.
The European Renal Association – European Dialysis and Transplant Association (ERA-EDTA) Registry Annual Report 2015: a summary

Abstract Background This article summarizes the European Renal Association – European Dialysis and Transplant Association (ERA-EDTA) Registry’s 2015 Annual Report. It describes the epidemiology of renal replacement therapy (RRT) for end-stage renal disease (ESRD) in 2015 within 36 countries. Methods In 2016 and 2017, the ERA-EDTA Registry received data on patients who were undergoing RRT for ESRD in 2015, from 52 national or regional renal registries. Thirty-two registries provided individual patient-level data and 20 provided aggregated-level data. The incidence, prevalence and survival probabilities of these patients were determined. Results In 2015, 81 373 individuals commenced RRT for ESRD, equating to an overall unadjusted incidence rate of 119 per million population (pmp). The incidence ranged by 10-fold, from 24 pmp in Ukraine to 232 pmp in the Czech Republic. Of the patients commencing RRT, almost two-thirds were men, over half were aged ≥65 years and a quarter had diabetes mellitus as their primary renal diagnosis. Treatment modality at the start of RRT was haemodialysis for 85% of the patients, peritoneal dialysis for 11% and a kidney transplant for 4%. By Day 91 of commencing RRT, 82% of patients were receiving haemodialysis, 13% peritoneal dialysis and 5% had a kidney transplant. On 31 December 2015, 546 783 individuals were receiving RRT for ESRD, corresponding to an unadjusted prevalence of 801 pmp. This ranged throughout Europe by more than 10-fold, from 178 pmp in Ukraine to 1824 pmp in Portugal. In 2015, 21 056 kidney transplantations were performed, equating to an overall unadjusted transplant rate of 31 pmp. This varied from 2 pmp in Ukraine to 94 pmp in the Spanish region of Cantabria. For patients commencing RRT during 2006–10, the 5-year unadjusted patient survival probabilities on all RRT modalities combined was 50.0% (95% confidence interval 49.9–50.1).