Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Audio and Speech Processing for Data Mining

The explosive increase in computing power, network bandwidth and storage capacity has largely facilitated the production, transmission and storage of multimedia data. Compared to alpha-numeric database, non-text media such as audio, image and video are different in that they are unstructured by nature, and although containing rich information, they are not quite as expressive from the viewpoint of a contemporary computer. As a consequence, an overwhelming amount of data is created and then left unstructured and inaccessible, boosting the desire for efficient content management of these data. This has become a driving force of multimedia research and development, and has lead to a new field termed multimedia data mining. While text mining is relatively mature, mining information from non-text media is still in its infancy, but holds much promise for the future. In general, data mining the process of applying analytical approaches to large data sets to discover implicit, previously unknown, and potentially useful information. This process often involves three steps: data preprocessing, data mining and postprocessing (Tan, Steinbach, & Kumar, 2005). The first step is to transform the raw data into a more suitable format for subsequent data mining. The second step conducts the actual mining while the last one is implemented to validate and interpret the mining results. Data preprocessing is a broad area and is the part in data mining where essential techniques are highly dependent on data types. Different from textual data, which is typically based on a written language, image, video and some audio are inherently non-linguistic. Speech as a spoken language lies in between and often provides valuable information about the subjects, topics and concepts of multimedia content (Lee & Chen, 2005). The language nature of speech makes information extraction from speech less complicated yet more precise and accurate than from image and video. This fact motivates content based speech analysis for multimedia data mining and retrieval where audio and speech processing is a key, enabling technology (Ohtsuki, Bessho, Matsuo, Matsunaga, & Kayashi, 2006). Progress in this area can impact numerous business and government applications (Gilbert, Moore, & Zweig, 2005). Examples are discovering patterns and generating alarms for intelligence organizations as well as for call centers, analyzing customer preferences, and searching through vast audio warehouses.
Eimeria acervulina and E. mivati: oocysts, life-cycle and ability to develop in the chicken embryo

SUMMARY Three strains of Eimeria acervulina and 3 strains of E. mivati were compared. E. acervulina was characterized by the ovoidal shape of its oocysts and their rapid sporulation, small first-generation schizonts containing few merozoites, and its inability to complete development in the chorio-allantois of chicken embryos. E. mivati had more rounded oocysts with a Longer sporulation time, larger first-generation schizonts containing twice as many merozoites and it developed readily in the chorio-allantois. Pre-patent periods were variable but generally shorter with E. acervulina. A strain of E. mivati attenuated by repeated embryo passage showed a reduced pre-patent period.
Low-temperature growth of MgO by molecular-beam epitaxy.

Exploration de la croissance epitaxique des monocristaux de MgO en utilisant des faisceaux de O 2 et Mg separes, et aussi MgO directement a partir d'un faisceau de MgO evapore par faisceau electronique. Cette derniere methode s'avere preferable vu que l'efficacite d'incorporation de O 2 est de ∼10 −3 meme a 200 o C dans la premiere methode. On obtient une excellente croissance de MgO par cette derniere methode d'evaporation a des temperatures aussi basses que 140 K (T m /20), en accord avec les predictions de Yang et Flynn. On obtient une bonne qualite de la surface en heteroepitaxie, meme pour les premieres couches
Robust analysis in joint models: an application to a study on muscular dystrophy

Generalized partial ordinal models occur frequently in biomedical investigations where, along with ordinal longitudinal outcomes, there are time‐dependent covariates that act nonparametrically. In these studies, an association between such outcomes and time to an event is of considerable interest to medical practitioners. The primary objective in the present article is to study the robustness of estimators of the parameters of interest in a joint generalized partial ordinal models and a time‐to‐event model, because in many situations, the estimators in such joint models are sensitive to outliers. A Monte Carlo Metropolis–Hastings Newton Raphson algorithm is proposed for robust estimation. A detailed simulation study was performed to justify the behavior of the proposed estimators. By way of motivation, we consider a data set concerning longitudinal outcomes of children involved in a study on muscular dystrophy. Our analysis revealed some interesting findings that may be useful to medical practitioners. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The chromatin‐associated protein H‐NS alters DNA topology in vitro.

H‐NS is one of the two most abundant proteins in the bacterial nucleoid and influences the expression of a number of genes. We have studied the interaction of H‐NS with DNA; purified H‐NS was demonstrated to constrain negative DNA supercoils in vitro. This provides support for the hypothesis that H‐NS influences transcription via changes in DNA topology, and is evidence of a structural role for H‐NS in bacterial chromatin. The effects of H‐NS on topology were only observed at sub‐saturating concentrations of the protein. In addition, a preferred binding site on DNA was identified by DNase I footprinting at sub‐saturating H‐NS concentrations. This site corresponded to a curved sequence element which we previously showed, by in vivo studies, to be a site at which H‐NS influences transcription of the proU operon. When present in saturating concentrations, H‐NS did not constrain supercoils and bound to DNA in a sequence‐independent fashion, covering all DNA molecules from end to end, suggesting that H‐NS may form distinct complexes with DNA at different H‐NS:DNA ratios. The data presented here provide direct support for the hypothesis that H‐NS acts at specific sites to influence DNA topology and, hence, transcription.
1 Routing in Sensor Networks

A wireless sensor network refers to a group of sensors, or nodes, linked by a wireless medium to perform distributed sensing tasks. The primary interest in wireless sensor networks is due to their ability to monitor the physical environment through ad hoc deployment of numerous tiny, intelligent, wireless networked sensor nodes. Traditional routing protocols developed for wireless ad hoc networks can not be used for sensor networks. This is because conventional protocols focus on avoiding congestion or maintaining connectivity when faced with mobility and not on the limited energy supply. This paper studies and compares Sensor Protocols for Information via Negotiation (SPIN), Directed Diffusion and Low-Energy Adaptive Clustering Hierarchy (LEACH), to bring out the significance of energy-efficiency for routing protocols deployed in sensor networks.
[Propofol reduces intercellular adhesion molecular-1 expression in lung injury following intestinal ischemia/reperfusion in rats].

OBJECTIVE To investigate the effect of propofol on intercellular adhesion molecular-1 (ICAM-1) expression in the lung tissue following intestinal ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) in rats. METHODS SD rats were randomly divided into 4 groups (n=8 in each group). (1) Group I/R in which rats were subjected to 1 hour of occlusion of the superior mesenteric artery (SMA), followed by 2 hours of reperfusion. (2) Early treatment group (group P1), rats were subjected to the same procedure as group I/R with the additional administration of propofol beginning 10 minutes before ischemia with 10 mg/kg loading dose, followed by continuous infusion at 10 mg(-1). kg(-1). h(-1). (3) Treatment group (group P2), rats were subjected identical insult as in group I/R with the administration of propofol started 10 minutes before reperfusion with 10 mg/kg loading dose, followed by continuous infusion at 10 mg.kg(-1). h(-1). (4) Sham-operation group, rats were subjected to laparotomy only, but received normal saline at 10 ml.kg(-1). h(-1). At the end of reperfusion, all animals were sacrificed. The activity of myeloperoxidase (MPO) and the content of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) were determined in the lung tissue, and plasma TNF-alpha content was also quantified. The ICAM-1 expression in pulmonary endothelium was assessed by histochemical staining. RESULTS All animals subjected to intestinal I/R demonstrated an increase in TNF-alpha in plasma and lung tissue, MPO activity and ICAM-1 expression in lung tissue. It was much more pronounced in I/R group. Plasma TNF-alpha content was increased significantly in group I/R and P2. All the increase was less in quantity in the early treatment group of propofol than the other two groups, and there was significant difference in contents of plasma TNF-alpha and ICAM-1 expression in lung between group I/R and group P1(both P<0.05). CONCLUSION ICAM-1 plays an important role in lung injury after intestinal I/R. The early treatment of propofol before intestinal I/R may be beneficial by reducing ICAM-1 expression in lung injury.
[Clinical evaluation of integration of transcatheter arterial chemoembolization and traditional Chinese medicine in treating metastatic liver cancer].

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the treatment effect, quality of life and side-effect of transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in treating metastatic liver cancer. METHODS Thirty-nine cases of colon metastatic liver cancer were randomly divided into two groups. Both TACE and TCM were used in the treatment group, while only TACE was used in the control group. The drug used in TACE included floxuridine, pirarubicin, cisplatin, and the herbs for strengthening the spleen and regulating Qi were used in TCM. RESULTS The response rate in the treatment group was 30% (45% including minor remission patients), and the median survival time was 18.6 months. While in the control group the response rate was 15.8% (36.8% including minor remission patients), and the median survival time was 14.3 months. The 1-, 2-, 3- year survival rates of treatment group and the control group were 70.2%, 40.3%, 13.0% and 68.7%, 29.5%, 10.3% respectively. There were fewer other organ metastases in the treatment group. The score from the EORTC quality of life questionnaire QLQ-C30 in treatment group was higher than that in the control group. CONCLUSION Integration of TACE and TCM in treating colon metastatic liver cancer has better results.
Consistent Land- and Atmosphere-Based U.S. Carbon Sink Estimates

For the period 1980–89, we estimate a carbon sink in the coterminous United States between 0.30 and 0.58 petagrams of carbon per year (petagrams of carbon = 1015 grams of carbon). The net carbon flux from the atmosphere to the land was higher, 0.37 to 0.71 petagrams of carbon per year, because a net flux of 0.07 to 0.13 petagrams of carbon per year was exported by rivers and commerce and returned to the atmosphere elsewhere. These land-based estimates are larger than those from previous studies (0.08 to 0.35 petagrams of carbon per year) because of the inclusion of additional processes and revised estimates of some component fluxes. Although component estimates are uncertain, about one-half of the total is outside the forest sector. We also estimated the sink using atmospheric models and the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide (the tracer-transport inversion method). The range of results from the atmosphere-based inversions contains the land-based estimates. Atmosphere- and land-based estimates are thus consistent, within the large ranges of uncertainty for both methods. Atmosphere-based results for 1980–89 are similar to those for 1985–89 and 1990–94, indicating a relatively stable U.S. sink throughout the period.
Cheap and Cheerful: Chinese Silks in Scandinavia, 1731–1761

Abstract:This article explores the large Scandinavian trade in cheap and colorful Chinese silk textiles between 1731 and 1761. Most pieces brought from Canton (Guangzhou) to Denmark and Sweden were monochrome, with discreet designs and patterns. What stood out was the wide color assortment, shades named with a nomenclature shared by the European East India companies. Changing quantities of different shades of red and blue silks reveal shifting Scandinavian consumer demands. The lack of new colors in the assortment of cheap and cheerful Chinese silks suggests, however, that Canton only played a limited role as a fashion leader.
Suppression of Hepatic Epithelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition by Melittin via Blocking of TGFβ/Smad and MAPK-JNK Signaling Pathways

Transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1 plays a crucial role in the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in hepatocytes and hepatic stellate cells (HSC), which contributes to the pathogenesis of liver fibrosis. Melittin (MEL) is a major component of bee venom and is effective in rheumatoid arthritis, pain relief, cancer cell proliferation, fibrosis and immune modulating activity. In this study, we found that MEL inhibits hepatic EMT in vitro and in vivo, regulating the TGFβ/Smad and TGFβ/nonSmad signaling pathways. MEL significantly inhibited TGF-β1-induced expression of EMT markers (E-cadherin reduction and vimentin induction) in vitro. These results were confirmed in CCl4-induced liver in vivo. Treatment with MEL almost completely blocked the phosphorylation of Smad2/3, translocation of Smad4 and phosphorylation of JNK in vitro and in vivo. Taken together, these results suggest that MEL suppresses EMT by inhibiting the TGFβ/Smad and TGFβ/nonSmad-c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK)/Mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathways. These results indicated that MEL possesses potent anti-fibrotic and anti-EMT properties, which may be responsible for its effects on liver diseases.
Near-Optimal Incentive Allocation for Piggyback Crowdsensing

Piggyback crowdsensing (PCS) is a novel energy- efficient mobile crowdsensing paradigm that reduces the energy consumption of crowdsensing tasks by leveraging smartphone app opportunities (SAOs). This article, based on several fundamental assumptions of incentive payment for PCS task participation and spatial-temporal coverage assessment for collected sensor data, first proposes two alternating data collection goals. Goal 1 is maximizing overall spatial-temporal coverage under a predefined incentive budget constraint; goal 2 is minimizing total incentive payment while ensuring predefined spatial-temporal coverage for collected sensor data, all on top of the PCS task model. With all of the above assumptions, settings, and models, we introduce CrowdMind -- a generic incentive allocation framework for the two optimal data collection goals, on top of the PCS model. We evaluated CrowdMind extensively using a large-scale real-world SAO dataset for the two incentive allocation problems. The results demonstrate that compared to baseline algorithms, CrowdMind achieves better spatial-temporal coverage under the same incentive budget constraint, while costing less in total incentive payments and ensuring the same spatial-temporal coverage, under various coverage/incentive settings. Further, a short theoretical analysis is presented to analyze the performance of Crowd- Mind in terms of the optimization with total incentive cost and overall spatial-temporal coverage objectives/constraints.
Diagnosis of visceral leishmaniasis by the polymerase chain reaction using blood, bone marrow and lymph node samples from patients from the Sudan

Summary We have evaluated the sensitivity of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) as a diagnostic tool for Leishmania donovani using blood, bone marrow and lymph node samples from Sudanese patients with a confirmed infection. Forty patients were diagnosed by microscopic examination of bone marrow or lymph node samples. The PCR was able to detect parasite DNA in 37 out of 40 blood samples. In bone marrow and lymph node samples, the PCR was able to detect parasite DNA in all 7 and 6 samples, respectively. We suggest that the PCR should be considered as a valuable and sensitive tool for the diagnosis of L. donovani infection. However, if PCR diagnosis is to supplement or even replace microscopic diagnosis in developing countries, a large number of patients with no apparent signs of infection and patients with other diseases have to be tested in order to evaluate its true potential.
Evaluating the quality of work-integrated learning curricula : a comprehensive framework

There are many different forms that work-integrated learning (WIL) takes, and variants go by a range of different names. Based on current literature key dimensions, shared by the various and disparate forms of WIL curricula, were identified and operationalised in a measurement model. The key dimensions identified were: authenticity; integrated learning supports (both at university and the workplace); alignment (of teaching and learning activities and assessments with integrative learning outcomes); supervisor access; and induction / preparation processes. It is suggested that variations in the way that WIL courses or subjects are designed within these dimensions are the basis for different expressions of the quality of such courses. A latent construct measurement model was developed and validated with a sample of Australian and UK students. This paper presents the model and discusses the results of the validation study. It is proposed that the measures validated in this study will be useful for evaluating a wide variety of WIL curricula.
Influence of sex steroids on the production of prostaglandins F2 alpha and E2 and response to oxytocin in cultured epithelial and stromal cells of the bovine endometrium.

The uterus is a primary target for sex steroid action in vivo during the estrous cycle and pregnancy. Cell cultures have been used to determine the specific function of the different cell types forming the uterus. We used endometrial cell cultures previously characterized in our laboratory to study the effect of estradiol (E) and progesterone (P4) on prostaglandin (PG) production and on regulation of the response of the cells to oxytocin (OT). The studies were performed on confluent cultures of epithelial cells grown as a monolayer either on plastic or on filter inserts to allow basal-apical polarization. As described previously, prostaglandin F2 alpha (PGF 2 alpha) production was greater (3.7-fold, p < 0.0001) than prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) production in epithelial cells, and the opposite was true in stromal cells (PGE2 9.9-fold > PGF2 alpha, p < 0.0001). In epithelial cells, the basal production of PGE2 (-61.6%, p < 0.0001) and PGF2 alpha (-51.7%, p < 0.0001) was reduced significantly by E and increased significantly by P4 (PGE2, + 30.0% [p < 0.002]; PGF2 alpha, + 22.2% [p < 0.006]). No significant effect of sex steroids on the basal production of PGs was detected in stromal cells. OT stimulated the production of PGF2 alpha (6.7-fold, p < 0.0001) and PGE2 (9.1-fold, p < 0.0001) in epithelial but not stromal cells. Treatment of the cells with E significantly (p < 0.001) increased OT-stimulated PGF2 alpha production in both the epithelial and stromal cells and that of PGE2 in epithelial cells only. The effect of steroids and OT was similar in polarized (filter) and nonpolarized (plastic) epithelial cells. Analysis of the vectorial secretion of PGs in epithelial cells grown on filter inserts revealed that PGF2 alpha is preferentially secreted in the basal (p < 0.001) compared to the apical compartment. The direction of secretion was not influenced by steroid or OT treatments. The results suggest that epithelial cells of the endometrium are a preferred target for the regulation of PG synthesis by sex steroids and OT.
Phosphatidylserine Binding of Class B Scavenger Receptor Type I, a Phagocytosis Receptor of Testicular Sertoli Cells*

Testicular Sertoli cells phagocytose apoptotic spermatogenic cells in a manner depending on the membrane phospholipid phosphatidylserine (PS) expressed at the surface of the latter cell type. Our previous studies have indicated that class B scavenger receptor type I (SR-BI) is responsible for the PS-mediated phagocytosis by Sertoli cells. We examined here whether SR-BI binds directly to PS. A cell line acquired the ability to bind to PS-exposing apoptotic cells and to incorporate PS-containing liposomes when it was forced to express SR-BI. Furthermore, the extracellular domain of rat SR-BI fused with human Fc (SRBIecd-Fc) bound to PS with a dissociation equilibrium constant of 2.4 × 10−7 m in a cell-free solid-phase assay, whereas other phospholipids including phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylinositol, and phosphatidylcholine were poor binding targets. The binding activity was enhanced when CaCl2 was included in the assay or when SRBIecd-Fc was pre-treated with N-glycanase. A portion of the extracellular domain spanning amino acid positions 33 and 191 (numbered with respect to the amino terminus) fused with Fc (SRBI33–191-Fc) showed activity and phospholipid specificity equivalent to those of SRBIecd-Fc. Finally, SRBI33–191-Fc bound to the surface of apoptotic cells with externalized PS, and the injection of SRBI33–191-Fc into the seminiferous tubules of live mice increased the number of apoptotic spermatogenic cells. These results allowed us to conclude that SR-BI is a phagocytosis-inducing PS receptor of Sertoli cells.
Cerebral Blood Flow Abnormalities in Adults with Infantile Autism

Stuctural brain abnormalities have recently been discovered using magnetic resonance imaging in infantile autism, a neurodevelopmental disorder of unknown etiology. However, functional neuroimaging studies in autism using positron emission tomography have had conflicting results and have not explained how the known structural brain abnormalities in autism act in a functioning brain to produce autistic behavior. Using a new technology, highresolution brain single photon emission tomography, we studied and scanned four young adults with infantile autism and four age-matched controls using the labeled ligand 99mTc-D,Lhexamethyl- propylene amine oxime (99mTc-HMPAO). Total brain perfusion was significantly decreased in autism subjects (range, 58% to 72% of controls, p≤.02). In addition to the globally decreased perfusion, the autism group also had regionally decreased flow in the right lateral temporal and right, left, and midfrontal lobes compared with controls (p≤.02, Mann- Whitney t-test).