Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
End-to-end DNN-CNN Classification for Language Identification

A defining problem in spoken language identification (LID) is how to design effective representations which allow features to be extracted that are specific to language information. Recent advances in deep neural networks for feature extraction have led to significant improvements in results, with deep end-to-end methods proving effective. In this paper, a novel network is proposed and explored that models an effective representation using first and second-order statistics of features extracted from a well-trained phoneme-related DNN bottleneck network followed by a stack of CNN convolutional layers. The high-order statistics extracted through second order pooling at the output of the CNN are robust to speaker and channel variability, and background noise. Evaluation with NIST LRE 2009 shows improved performance compared to current state-of-the-art systems, achieving over 33% and 20% relative equal error rate (EER) improvement for 3s and 10s utterances.
Privacy Management in a Mobile Setting

This paper is concerned with privacy management in mobile settings. We are also going to be looking at the type of applications that are starting to spin off from the Internet onto mobile phones, such as Messenger, Facebook and Twitter. Publication of the whereabouts and activities of the user is at the core of these systems. Many commentators worry about users forgetting that the social network may compromise their privacy, in the sense that information that is published may range farther and wider than the intentions. Withdrawal of personal information that is disseminated is hardly possible. This paper looks at various model of privacy, and examines some ideas related to trust and confidence from the literature.
Expression of the functional soluble form of human fas ligand in activated lymphocytes.

Fas is a type I membrane protein which mediates apoptosis. Fas ligand (FasL) is a 40 kDa type II membrane protein expressed in cytotoxic T cells upon activation that belongs to the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) family. Here, we found abundant cytotoxic activity against Fas‐expressing cells in the supernatant of COS cells transfected with human FasL cDNA but not with murine FasL cDNA. Using a specific polyclonal antibody against a peptide in the extracellular region of human FasL, a protein of 26 kDa was detected in the supernatant of the COS cells. The signal sequence of granulocyte colony‐stimulating factor was attached to the extracellular region of human FasL. COS cells transfected with the cDNA coding for the chimeric protein efficiently secreted the active soluble form of human FasL (sFasL). Chemical crosslinking and gel filtration analysis suggested that human sFasL exists as a trimer. Human peripheral T cells activated with phorbol myristic acetate and ionomycin also produced functional sFasL, suggesting that human sFasL works as a pathological agent in systemic tissue injury.
Estimation of Laplacian Symbols for Analog Transmission Over MIMO Channels

The MAP and MMSE estimation of Laplace-distributed symbols transmitted over multiple-input multiple-output channels is studied. This is an important problem in analog joint source channel coding with spiral mappings, where the probability density function of the transmitted symbols approximates a Laplace distribution in the low SNR regime. Simulation results are presented to illustrate the suitability of these estimators in uncoded and coded analog communications.
Lab-on-chip for the isolation and characterization of circulating tumor cells

A consortium of seven European partners has undertaken the challenging task to develop a miniaturized system capable to isolate and characterize circulating tumor cells (CTC), which should have its use as a time and labor saving, minimally invasive tool for cancer therapy selection and monitoring and for the detection of recurrent disease. This paper reports on the general concept of the system and elaborates on the development of the different modules and their integration.
Markers of Prognosis and Response to Treatment: Ready for Clinical Use in Oncology? A Biostatistician's Viewpoint

Cancer is a heterogeneous disease: tumors are highly variable in their growth rates, patterns of metastases and other biological characteristics. The benefit derived from any given therapy also varies from one patient to another. Several molecular markers that might complement the TNM system have been investigated in the last two decades in order to improve the knowledge of disease evolution (prognostic factors) and treatment planning (predictive factors), but the results of published studies are often inconsistent or even contradictory, thus limiting their value and potential application. Common causes are small sample sizes and differences in patient subsets, assay techniques, cutoff values, and study endpoints. The methodological description of the studies is often poor and established prognostic and predictive factors are not considered in the statistical analysis, making it difficult to compare and combine model results to achieve an acceptable level of evidence regarding the markers’ role. Study conclusions are often based mainly on “statistical significance” and only if a marker divides patients into groups showing significant differences in survival or relapse is it considered clinically useful, avoiding additional evaluation of clinical importance. It is worthy of note that a study that is not adequately planned may provide both false positive and false negative results and that the latter situation is likely to be associated also with unpublished studies (publication bias), further limiting correct marker evaluation. On the other hand, the evaluation of published papers is not a simple task because a lot of information must be considered including the techniques adopted for the assay, patient selection, statistical analysis, and completeness of the reported results. A biased interpretation of clinical tumor marker results may increase the cost of care or the exposure of patients to toxic or unnecessary therapeutic agents. For this reason a panel of experts has provided updated guidelines for the use of some tumor markers (for example ASCO, 2001). Nevertheless, considering the constant progress in marker research, it is important to resort to criteria aiming at evaluating clinical utility (1, 2). Since it is impossible to know and review all markers, this note is focused on illustrating and discussing criteria for the clinical utility of tumor markers, providing examples on well-known markers for breast cancer.
Visual Search of Food Nutrition Labels

Using an eye-tracking methodology, we evaluated food nutrition labels' ability to support rapid and accurate visual search for nutrition information. Participants (5 practiced label readers and 5 nonreaders) viewed 180 trials of nutrition labels on a computer, finding answers to questions (e.g., serving size). Label manipulations included several alternative line arrangements, location of the question target item, and label size. Dependent measures included search time and number of fixations prior to visually capturing the target, as well as the accuracy and duration of the capturing fixation. Practiced label readers acquired the target more quickly and accurately than did less-practiced readers. Targets near the denser center of the label required 33% more time and were harder to find than targets at the top or bottom of the label. Thinner alignment lines were more influential than thicker anchoring lines on visual search time. Overall, the current nutrition label supported accurate and rapid search for desired information. Potential applications of the present methodology include the evaluation of warning labels and other static visual displays.
Quantum squeezing of motion in a mechanical resonator

Manipulation of a quantum squeeze The uncertainty principle of quantum mechanics dictates that even when a system is cooled to its ground state, there are still fluctuations. This zero-point motion is unavoidable but can be manipulated. Wollman et al. demonstrate such manipulation with the motion of a micrometer-sized mechanical system. By driving up the fluctuations in one of the variables of the system, they are able to squeeze the other related variable below the expected zero-point limit. Quantum squeezing will be important for realizing ultrasensitive sensors and detectors. Science, this issue p. 952 The fluctuating motion of a mechanical system can be squeezed below the zero-point limit. According to quantum mechanics, a harmonic oscillator can never be completely at rest. Even in the ground state, its position will always have fluctuations, called the zero-point motion. Although the zero-point fluctuations are unavoidable, they can be manipulated. Using microwave frequency radiation pressure, we have manipulated the thermal fluctuations of a micrometer-scale mechanical resonator to produce a stationary quadrature-squeezed state with a minimum variance of 0.80 times that of the ground state. We also performed phase-sensitive, back-action evading measurements of a thermal state squeezed to 1.09 times the zero-point level. Our results are relevant to the quantum engineering of states of matter at large length scales, the study of decoherence of large quantum systems, and for the realization of ultrasensitive sensing of force and motion.
Genetic Identity and Biological Phenotype of a Transmitted/Founder Virus Representative of Nonpathogenic Simian Immunodeficiency Virus Infection in African Green Monkeys

ABSTRACT Understanding the lack of disease progression in nonpathogenic simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) infections is essential for deciphering the immunopathogenesis of human AIDS. Yet, in vivo studies have been hampered by a paucity of infectious molecular clones (IMCs) of SIV suitable to dissect the viral and host factors responsible for the nonpathogenic phenotype. Here, we describe the identification, cloning, and biological analysis of the first transmitted/founder (T/F) virus representing a nonpathogenic SIV infection. Blood was collected at peak viremia from an acutely infected sabaeus monkey (Chlorocebus sabaeus) inoculated intravenously with an African green monkey SIV (SIVagm) strain (Sab92018) that had never been propagated in vitro. To generate IMCs, we first used conventional (bulk) PCR to amplify full-length viral genomes from peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) DNA. Although this yielded two intact SIVagmSab genomes, biological characterization revealed that both were replication defective. We then performed single-genome amplification (SGA) to generate partially overlapping 5′ (n = 10) and 3′ (n = 13) half genomes from plasma viral RNA. Analysis of these amplicons revealed clusters of nearly identical viral sequences representing the progeny of T/F viruses. Synthesis of the consensus sequence of one of these generated an IMC (Sab92018ivTF) that produced infectious CCR5-tropic virions and replicated to high titers in Molt-4 clone 8 cells and African green monkey PBMCs. Sab92018ivTF also initiated productive infection in sabaeus monkeys and faithfully recapitulated the replication kinetics and nonpathogenic phenotype of the parental Sab92018 strain. These results thus extend the T/F virus concept to nonpathogenic SIV infections and provide an important new tool to define viral determinants of disease nonprogression.
WEDA: A Weak Emission-Line Detection Algorithm Based on the Weighted Ranking

The <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\text{H}\alpha $ </tex-math></inline-formula> emission line in rest wavelength frame of optical spectra is valuable characteristics for nebulae detection. Searching and recognizing the spectra with <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\text{H}\alpha $ </tex-math></inline-formula> emission line from massive data are necessary for the further study, while the most of methods existed currently do not adapt to such spectral data, especially for the spectra with weak <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\text{H}\alpha $ </tex-math></inline-formula> emission line. To address this issue, a new algorithm (named WEDA) for detection of spectra with <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\text{H}\alpha $ </tex-math></inline-formula> emission line is provided in this paper. Firstly, the difference factor <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mu $ </tex-math></inline-formula> between the line characteristics of the specific data is defined as its weight in recognizing of the whole lines table. Secondly, a tuning function <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mathit {f(\tau, \delta)}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> based on the momentum formula is defined to update the weights during the process. In this step, the spectra with <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\text{H}\alpha $ </tex-math></inline-formula> emission line are analysed and classified as 3 different situations. The amount of spectra with <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\text{H}\alpha $ </tex-math></inline-formula> emission line is different in 3 different situations, so the speed of weight of update is different in 3 different situations. The weight of update helps us detect the data containing weak <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\text{H}\alpha $ </tex-math></inline-formula> emission line in the 3 situations. Based on this, a new integrated algorithm especially for the detection of the spectra with <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\text{H}\alpha $ </tex-math></inline-formula> is provided. In the end, by using several spectral datasets from the DR5 of LAMOST survey, experiments results indicate that the WEDA shows higher accuracy basically unaffected by the dataset size and the signal to noise ratio(SNR) than the other similar algorithms.
The role of pancreatic and duodenal homeobox 1 as a therapeutic target in pancreatic cancer

Introduction: Pancreatic cancer is one of the most lethal cancer types known with no successful clinical therapy available and a 5-year survival rate of < 5%. Demographic calculations predict pancreatic cancer to be the second-leading cause of cancer-related deaths by 2030. Hence, the identification of novel drug targets and the subsequent development of novel therapeutic strategies are of utmost importance. Areas covered: In this review, the authors describe the role of the transcription factor pancreatic and duodenal homeobox 1 (Pdx1) in pancreatic organ development and pancreatic cancer. Published data suggest that Pdx1 possesses oncogenic traits fostering cell proliferation, inhibition of apoptosis and increased cell invasion. Resulting from these findings, the authors discuss the potential use of Pdx1 as an anticancer drug target. Expert opinion: In summary, Pdx1 should be considered as an interesting potential molecular target in future therapeutic approaches. Although no specific therapies exploiting Pdx1 are available at the moment and more preclinical data has to be accumulated, several putative applications in the areas of cancer diagnostics and therapy are conceivable.
A SiGe140-GHz low power Gm-boosted down-conversion mixer

In this work, a 140 GHz down-conversion mixer has been developed based on SiGe BiCMOS technology. The mixer employs a Gm-boosting method intended for simultaneous achievement of improved conversion gain and reduced LO power requirement. Measured peak conversion gain is 7.4 dB at RF frequency of 135.6 GHz and LO power of 10 dBm at 134 GHz. The entire circuit draws 0.67 mA from a 2.2 V supply. Measured input referred P−1dB is −21 dBm.
Energy-Efficient Resource Allocation In Secure OFDMA Communication Systems

— Orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) is a multiple access technique in which the base stations allow multiple users to transmit simultaneously on different number of subcarriers during the same symbol period. Due to the broadcast nature of the radio propagation, the wireless data transmission can be highly vulnerable to eavesdropping attacks. To this end, physical-layer security mechanism is a promising technique to protect the wireless communications against eavesdropping attacks. A key issue in OFDMA is the allocation of the OFDM subcarriers and power among users sharing the channel. In this paper, the resource allocation mechanism for energy-efficient communication in secure orthogonal frequency-division multiple-access downlink network is proposed. The power, subcarrier allocation policies and secrecy data rate are optimized for maximization of the energy efficiency of secure data communication (bit/joule securely delivered to the users).
Random acts of kindness: sustaining the morale and morals of professionalism.

Each generation of physicians passes down countless stories about the experiences of working, learning, and living within medicine's crucible. This crucible, otherwise known as internship, is often described in military terms with interns as privates in boot camp, their physical, mental, and emotional skills pushed to the limits. Food rations and bunks are basic if not occasionally substandard; and many of the skirmishes and battles fought by interns are chronicled like wartime reports from the front lines. As in the military, a certain bond is established among physicians who live through the ordeal together.
Integrative Medicine

A future, more integrative psychiatry will include an eclectic and sophisticated array of individualized assessment and treatment approaches that are capable of addressing symptoms of mental illness at disparate biological, informational, and energetic levels of the body, brain, and mind. Although quantitative electroencephalography (QEEG) analysis has become an important research tool in psychiatry, this technique is not yet widely used in conventional psychiatric assessment. Thus, for purposes of this discussion, QEEG is regarded as a nonconventional approach. Emerging evidence suggests that ultraweak biophotons may be useful indicators of illness. Serological and urinary assays used in functional medicine are increasingly being applied in clinical settings. Assessment approaches that purport to detect subtle forms of energy not described by Western science are also being widely used by alternative medicine practitioners to evaluate persons who present with mental health issues. These techniques include pulse diagnosis in Chinese medicine, Ayurvedic and Tibetan medicine, and analysis of the vascular autonomic signal (VAS). Some approaches will be scientifically validated by future research findings while others will be refuted. The increasing use of novel assessment approaches in Western psychiatry will permit more comprehensive and cost-effective treatment planning because accurately characterizing the underlying causes of symptoms will point to the most appropriate and effective biomedical or nonconventional treatment. In this article, I briefly review approaches that are being used to assess psychiatric disorders but that are not currently in use in conventional Western psychiatry.
Macular Diagnostic Ability in OCT for Assessing Glaucoma in High Myopia

Purpose To compare the diagnostic abilities of spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT; Spectralis OCT) and time-domain OCT (TD-OCT; Stratus OCT). Changes in macular parameters in highly myopic eyes of glaucoma patients and highly myopic eyes of glaucoma suspects were evaluated and compared. Methods We collected data from 72 highly myopic eyes (spherical equivalent, ⩽−6.0D). Forty-one eyes had perimetric glaucoma and 31 eyes were suspected to have glaucoma (control group). All eyes underwent SD-OCT and TD-OCT imaging. Area under the receiver operating characteristic (AUROC) curve and sensitivity were examined on macular volume and thickness parameters at a fixed specificity and compared between groups. Results The highest TD-OCT AUROC curves were found using outer inferior sector macular thickness (AUROC curve, 0.911) and volume (AUROC curve, 0.909). The highest SD-OCT AUROC curves were found using outer inferior region thickness (AUROC curve, 0.836) and volume (AUROC curve, 0.834). The difference between the two imaging modalities was not statistically significant (thickness, p = 0.141; volume, p = 0.138). The sensitivity of TD-OCT macular outer inferior average thickness was highest and was 88.2%, with a specificity of 80.4%. The sensitivity of TD-OCT average volume measurements in this same region was 76.5%, with a specificity of 91.3%. The SD-OCT average thickness measurements also had the highest sensitivity in this region, which was 78.6%, with a specificity of 82.1%. The SD-OCT volume measurements had a sensitivity of 67.9%, with a specificity of 92.3%. Conclusions Both SD-OCT and TD-OCT measurements of outer inferior macular thickness and volume can differentiate between eyes of glaucoma patients and glaucoma suspects with high myopia. These independent predictors all had good sensitivity. Based on our results, SD-OCT and TD-OCT have similar diagnostic abilities. These parameters may provide useful additional data in highly myopic eyes to complement standard glaucoma diagnosis tools.
Effect of Thymectomy on Development of Leukemia in C3H Mice Inoculated with Leukemic “Passage” Virus.∗

Summary 1. Of 39 young and adult C3H mice, thymectomized, and a few days later inoculated intraperitoneally with passage A leukemic filtrate, none developed leukemia. Of 41 normal controls inoculated simultaneously with the same filtrate 18 (44%), developed leukemia at 7 months average age. 2. Of 55 suckling C3H mice inoculated with passage A leukemic filtrate when less than 9 days old, then 1 month later thymectomized, only 1 thus far developed a palpable spleen, and definite leukemia. Of 78 control litter mates inoculated simultaneously with the same filtrates, but not thymectomized, 68 (87%), developed leukemia at 2.7 months average age. 3. Thymectomy, either preceding, or following inoculation of leukemic passage A filtrate, inhibits development of leukemia in otherwise susceptible C3H mice.