Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
AUT System for SITW Speaker Recognition Challenge

This document intends to present AUT speaker recognition system submitted to SITW (Speakers in the Wild) speaker recognition challenge. This challenge aims to provide real world data across a wide range of acoustic and environmental conditions in the context of automatic speaker recognition so as to facilitate the development of new algorithms. The presented system is based on the state-of-the-art i-vector/PLDA and source normalization techniques. The system has been developed on publically available databases and evaluated on the data provided by SITW challenge. Taking advantage of the challenge development data, our experiments indicate that source normalization can help speaker recognition system to better adapt to the evaluation condition. Post evaluation analysis is conducted on the conditions of SITW database.
A New Strategy to Compare Inverted Rupture Models Exploiting the Eigenstructure of the Inverse Problem

Finite-fault-slip inversions provide crucial information on earthquake rupture phenomena. Many slip-inversion methods exist and differ in how the rupture model is parameterized and which regularizations or constraints are applied (e.g., Ide, 2007, and references therein). Some methods are utilized even routinely for large earthquakes and published online (e.g., the U.S. Geological Survey website http://earthquake.usgs.gov/, last accessed August 2015). However, the slip-inversion results obtained by various authors for the same event may differ (e.g., Clevede et al., 2004). There is currently no consensus about which slip-inversion method is preferable, and there are concerns about the reliability of the inferred source models due to the nonuniqueness or ill conditioning of the inverse problem (Hartzell et al., 2007; Zahradnik and Gallovic, 2010; Gallovic and Zahradnik, 2011; Shao and Ji, 2012). Therefore, slip inversion is still a subject of active research.
Differential acetylation of Tat coordinates its interaction with the co‐activators cyclin T1 and PCAF

The HIV‐1 transactivator protein, Tat, is an atypical transcriptional activator that functions through binding, not to DNA, but to a short leader RNA, TAR. Although details of its functional mechanism are still unknown, emerging findings suggest that Tat serves primarily to adapt co‐activator complexes such as p300, PCAF and P‐TEFb to the HIV‐1 long terminal repeat. Hence, an understanding of how Tat interacts with these cofactors is crucial. It has recently been shown that acetylation at a single lysine, residue 50, regulated the association of Tat with PCAF. Here, we report that in the absence of Tat acetylation, PCAF binds to amino acids 20–40 within Tat. Interestingly, acetylation of Tat at Lys28 abrogates Tat–PCAF interaction. Acetylation at Lys50 creates a new site for binding to PCAF and dictates the formation of a ternary complex of Tat–PCAF–P‐TEFb. Thus, differential lysine acetylation of Tat coordinates the interactions with its co‐activators, cyclin T1 and PCAF. Our results may help in understanding the ordered recruitment of Tat co‐activators to the HIV‐1 promoter.
Specific proteolysis of the NR2 subunit at multiple sites by calpain

The NMDA subtype of glutamate receptor plays an important role in the molecular mechanisms of learning, memory and excitotoxicity. NMDA receptors are highly permeable to calcium, which can lead to the activation of the calcium‐dependent protease, calpain. In the present study, the ability of calpain to modulate NMDA receptor function through direct proteolytic digestion of the individual NMDA receptor subunits was examined. HEK293t cells were cotransfected with the NR1a/2A, NR1a/2B or NR1a/2C receptor combinations. Cellular homogenates of these receptor combinations were prepared and digested by purified calpain I in vitro. All three NR2 subunits could be proteolyzed by calpain I while no actin or NR1a cleavage was observed. Based on immunoblot analysis, calpain cleavage of NR2A, NR2B and NR2C subunits was limited to their C‐terminal region. In vitro calpain digestion of fusion protein constructs containing the C‐terminal region of NR2A yielded two cleavage sites at amino acids 1279 and 1330. Although it has been suggested that calpain cleavage of the NMDA receptor may act as a negative feedback mechanism, the current findings demonstrated that calpain cleavage did not alter [125I]MK801 binding and that receptors truncated to the identified cleavage sites had peak intracellular calcium levels, 45Ca uptake rates and basal electrophysiological properties similar to wild type.
MHC Class II-Peptide Complexes and APC Lipid Rafts Accumulate at the Immunological Synapse

Activation of CD4+ Th cells requires their cognate interaction with APCs bearing specific relevant MHC class II-peptide complexes. This cognate interaction culminates in the formation of an immunological synapse that contains the various proteins and lipids required for efficient T cell activation. We now show that APC lipid raft membrane microdomains contain specific class II-peptide complexes and serve as platforms that deliver these raft-associated class II molecules to the immunological synapse. APC rafts are required for T cell:APC conjugate formation and T cell activation at low densities of relevant class II-peptide complexes, a requirement that can be overcome at high class II-peptide density. Analysis of confocal microscopy images revealed that over time APC lipid rafts, raft-associated relevant class II-peptide complexes, and even immunologically irrelevant class II molecules accumulate at the immunological synapse. As the immunological synapse matures, relevant class II-peptide complexes are sorted to a central region of the interface, while irrelevant class II molecules are excluded from this site. We propose that T cell activation is facilitated by recruitment of MHC class II-peptide complexes to the immunological synapse by virtue of their constitutive association with lipid raft microdomains.
Triple notch UWB antenna controlled by three types of resonators

This paper discusses a microstrip fed UWB monopole antenna with a triple notch characteristic. The three notches are designed to occur at the WiMAX frequency range, the WLAN and at a third frequency in the higher end of the UWB range. Each of the three notches is controlled by a different type of resonators and each and every notch can be adjusted without affecting the position or the shape of the remaining two, thus allowing for an antenna design with adjustable, agile S11 response.
A marketplace for attention: Responses to a synthetic currency used to signal information importance in e-mail

The productivity of information workers is jeopardized by too much e-mail. A proposed solution to e-mail overload is the creation of an economy that uses a scarce synthetic currency that senders can use to signal the importance of information and receivers can use to prioritize messages. A test of the virtual economy with corporate information workers showed that people in a large company used different amounts of the currency when sending e-mails, and that the amount of currency attached to messages produced statistically significant differences in how quickly receivers opened the messages. An analysis of the network of virtual currency trades between workers showed the different roles that participants played in the communication network, and showed that relationships defined by currency exchanges uncovered social networks that are not apparent in analyses that only examine the frequency, as opposed to the value of interactions.
Prevalence, Risk Factors, and Use of Health Care in Depression: A Survey in a Large Region of France between 1991 and 2005

Objective: To compare the prevalence, risk factors, and use of care for depression between 2 periods, concerning changes in social factors and health care provision. Method: We compared data from 2 surveys carried out in a large urbanized French region (Île-de-France) 15 years apart (1991, n = 1192; 2005, n = 5308), using comparable methodology and tools. Results: The overall prevalence of depression has slightly increased over this period. In contrast, the tendency of people who claim they feel depressed has dramatically increased. At-risk populations have also changed during this period. The proportion of people consulting a psychiatrist for depression has not changed, while general practitioner (GP) consultations have decreased and psychologist consultations have increased 3-fold. Psychotropic use by people who are depressed has decreased significantly. Conclusion: The trend toward increased depressive symptoms does not correspond to an increase in depressed disorders. In a well-staffed urbanized French region, psychologists are playing a growing role in managing depression at the expense of GPs, when the use of a psychiatrist remains unchanged; decreased use of psychotropic drugs may be a consequence.
Design Considerations for Frequency Responsive Grid FriendlyTM Appliances

This paper addresses design considerations for frequency responsive grid friendlytrade appliances (FR-GFAs), which can turn on/off based on frequency signals and make selective low-frequency load shedding possible at appliance level. FR-GFAs can also be treated as spinning reserve to maintain a load-to-generation balance under power system normal operation states. The paper first presents a statistical analysis on the frequency data collected in 2003 in Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC) systems. Using these frequency data as an input, the triggering frequency and duration of an FR-GFA device with different frequency setting schemes are simulated. Design considerations of the FR-GFA are then discussed based on simulation results
FATORES DETERMINANTES PARA UTILIZAÇÃO DO HEDGE EM COMPANHIAS ABERTAS LISTADAS NA BM&FBOVESPA

O objetivo do estudo foi identificar fatores determinantes para a utilizacao do hedge em companhias abertas listadas nos niveis diferenciados de governanca corporativa da BM&FBovespa. Realizou-se pesquisa descritiva, conduzida por meio de analise documental e abordagem quantitativa, com emprego de regressao logistica. A amostra foi composta por 151 companhias, com dados referentes ao ano de 2011. Os resultados demonstram que o hedge de fluxo de caixa foi o tipo mais utilizado e que, de modo geral, 57% das empresas possuiam algum tipo de hedge no periodo. Dentre os fatores apontados na literatura como influenciadores para a utilizacao do hedge, somente cinco se confirmaram nas empresas pesquisadas. Concluiu-se, a partir disso, que empresas maiores, importadoras e/ou exportadoras, auditadas por companhia de auditoria big four e com ADRs, fazem uso do hedge de modo mais recorrente, estando mais protegidas quanto aos riscos cambiais e de fluxo de caixa em relacao as demais companhias.
Influencia de los estiramientos estáticos y las vibraciones aplicadas durante el calentamiento sobre la fuerza y la velocidad

El objetivo de esta tesis fue examinar el efecto de diferentes protocolos de calentamiento incluyendo estiramientos estaticos (EE) y vibraciones de cuerpo entero (WBV) en diferentes variables en test press banca al fallo, salidas de piraguismo y esprin de 30 s en ciclismo. Sujetos y metodologia: Se realizo a cabo con sujetos fisicamente activos, piraguistas y ciclista de elite. Los sujetos realizaron de forma aleatoria, 4 condiciones experimentales con un diseno cruzado: EE, WBV, estiramientos con vibraciones superpuestas (EE+WBV) y control (C). Al terminar cada protocolo de calentamiento los sujetos realizaron el test correspondiente a cada caso (press banca al fallo al 60% del 1RM, salidas de piraguismo de 10 m y test de 30 s en ciclismo). Resultados y conclusiones: Los principales resultados de este estudio mostraron que la utilizacion de vibraciones en el calentamiento de manera aislada o junto a estiramientos, no mejora el rendimiento forma general y significativa (p < 0.05) en los test utilizados en sujetos fisicamente activos, piraguistas o ciclistas con relacion con incluir unicamente estiramientos.
Impact of temperature on the frequency domain dielectric spectroscopy for the diagnosis of power transformer insulation

Dielectric testing techniques, in both time and frequency domains are currently being widely used by the power utilities for the assessment of the condition of transformer oil-paper insulation systems. However, it has been reported that the results of these tests are highly influenced by the operating temperature during the measurement. The distribution, migration and equilibrium of moisture between oil and paper in a complicated insulation system are highly temperature dependent. It requires adequate experience and proper understanding to interpret the dielectric response results in the presence of temperature variations and thermal instability. Proper analysis of the dielectric test result is only possible with a thorough understanding of the physical behaviour of the insulation system in response to temperature. Frequency domain dielectric spectroscopy (FDS) has been investigated for a model transformer at different operating temperatures. FDS data was then used to simulate polarization and depolarization currents. A correlation has been investigated between the operating temperature and FDS measured data, which is then extended to simulated PDC data. Finally the problems of a clear and transparent interpretation of the dielectric test results have been explained
Robust H∞ filtering for a class of multiple time delays discrete-time systems with nonlinear inequalities constraints

A delay-independent approach to robust H∞ filtering is proposed for discrete-time system with multiple delays in the state and nonlinear inequality constraints. The uncertain parameters are supposed to reside in a polytope and a method for designing the robust H∞ filters for the filtering error system with sector nonlinearities is derived. The designed filters can guarantee robustly asymptotically stable and a prescribed H∞ noise attenuation level for the filtering error system. A unified framework of filter can be obtained from the solution of convex optimization problem via linear matrix inequality (LMI), which can be solved via efficient interior-point algorithm. Finally, an example is given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed methods.
A Sentiment Analysis Approach using Effective Feature Reduction Method

Sentiment analysis has attracted researchers in recent years which aims to present an automatic method for analyzing comments, assessments, opinions and sentiments of a text. In this paper, Ngram feature vector and POS (Part of Speech) are extracted from text and it is tried to find a proper combination of feature vectors so that texts can be classified as positive and negative opinions. In order to choose the most useful features, information gain ratio is used, then machine learning algorithms are used to investigate the effect of different features on sentiment analysis. In this paper, 4 groups of data are studied including film evaluation, products' evaluation (including book, DVD and electronics). Classification results are studied for three types of feature vectors: Ngram feature vector, POS feature vector and combination feature vector of Ngram with POS. results show that combinational feature vector performs better in sentiment analysis. By combining features, Boolean Multinominal Naïve Bayes (BMNB) results are improved compared to support vector machine classification algorithm.
KMulE: a framework for user-based comparison of recommender algorithms

Collaborative Filtering Recommender Systems come in a wide variety of variants. In this paper we present a system for visualizing and comparing recommendations provided by different collaborative recommendation algorithms. The system utilizes a set of context-aware, hybrid, and other collaborative filtering solutions in order to generate various recommendations from which its users can pick those corresponding best to their current situation (i.e. context). All user interaction is fed back to the system in order to additionally improve the quality of the recommendations. Additionally, users can explicitly ask the system to treat certain recommenders as more important than others, or disregard them completely if the list of recommended movies is not to their liking.
Serum and muscle potassium in experimental alcoholic myopathy

We investigated the possible role of potassium deficiency, a recognized cause of myopathy, in the pathogenesis of experimental acute alcoholic myopathy (EAM) in the rat. Alcohol-treated animals receiving the same dietary potassium as controls developed mild hypokalemia; however, muscle potassium was preservedor elevated even in the presence of scattered muscle fiber necrosis. Increasing dietary potassium raised serum potassium but did not prevent EAM. These data indicate that hypokalemia in EAM is due to potassium redistribution between intra- and extracellular compartments rather than potassium deficiency, and confirm clinical observations that alcohol-induced muscle injury occurs independently of potassium deficiency.
Low level of procoagulant platelet microparticles is associated with impaired coagulation and transfusion requirements in trauma patients

BACKGROUND Following activation, platelets release small vesicles called platelet-derived microparticles (PMPs). PMPs accelerate thrombin generation and thus clot formation at sites of injury by exposing the procoagulant membrane phospholipid phosphatidylserine (PS). The role of PMPs in coagulopathy and hemorrhage following trauma remains elusive. We hypothesized that low levels of PS-positive PMPs (PS + PMPs) would be associated with impaired clot formation. METHODS This is a prospective observational study of 210 trauma patients admitted directly to a Level 1 trauma center. Plasma levels of PS + PMPs were determined by flow cytometry. Coagulation status was assessed by rotational thrombelastometry, and impaired clot formation was defined by an &agr; angle less than 63 degrees using the tissue factor–based EXTEM reagent. Transfusion requirement was assessed by number of units of red blood cells (RBCs) transfused within 24 hours of admission; platelet aggregation capacity was evaluated by the Multiplate assay; and injury severity was determined by the Injury Severity Score (ISS). RESULTS The median ISS was 17, and blood samples were obtained after a median of 65 minutes following injury. Significantly lower levels of PS + PMPs were found in patients with impaired clot formation (p < 0.001). A low level of PS + PMPs was associated with a higher number of RBCs transfused during the initial 24 hours after admission (p < 0.03) when corrected for risk factors, for example, platelet count, hemoglobin level, and ISS. Platelet aggregation and PS + PMPs did not correlate significantly. CONCLUSION Low levels of PMPs were associated with impaired clot formation in trauma patients at admission and also with the number of RBC transfusions. This suggests that PMPs may play an important and not previously investigated role in trauma-induced coagulopathy. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE Prognostic study, level III.
A neurophysiological and clinical study of Brunnstrom recovery stages in the upper limb following stroke

Primary objective: To determine the extent to which the Brunnstrom recovery stages of upper limb in hemiparetic stroke patients are correlated to neurophysiological measures and the spasticity measure of Modified Modified Ashworth Scale (MMAS). Research design: A concurrent criterion-related validity study. Interventions: Not applicable. Methods and procedures: Thirty patients (15 men and 15 women; mean ± SD = 58.8 ± 11.5 years) with upper limb spasticity after stroke were recruited. Wrist flexor spasticity was rated using the MMAS. The neurophysiological measures were Hslp/Mslp ratio, Hmax/Mmax ratio and Hslp. Main outcomes and results: There was a significant moderate correlation between the Brunnstrom recovery stages and the neurophysiological measures. The Brunnstrom recovery stages were highly correlated to the MMAS scores (r = −0.81, p < 0.0001). Conclusions: The Brunnstrom recovery stages are moderately correlated with neurophysiological measures and highly correlated with the MMAS regarding the evaluation of motor recovery in stroke patients. The Brunnstrom recovery stages can be used as a valid test for the assessment of patients with post-stroke hemiplegia.
Is bereavement-related depression different than non-bereavement-related depression?

Background. This review tackles the question: ‘Is bereavement related depression (BRD) the same or different from standard (non-bereavement-related) major depression (SMD)? ’ To answer this question, we examined published data on key characteristics that define and characterize SMD to assess whether they also characterize BRD. Method. We searched all English-language reports in Medline up to November 2006 to identify relevant studies. Bibliographies of located articles were searched for additional studies. Results. Consistent with the position that BRD is distinct from SMD, some, but not all, studies report that men are as likely as women to have BRD and that past or family histories of SMD do not predict BRD. With greater consistency, studies suggest that, like SMD, BRD is: more common in younger than in older adults, predicated by poor health or low social support, followed by recurrent episodes of major depressive episode (MDE), and associated with impaired immunological responses, altered sleep architecture, and responsivity to antidepressant treatment. Conclusions. Overall, the prevailing evidence more strongly supports similarities than differences between BRD and SMD. Because so few studies focus on BRD occurring within the first 2 months of bereavement, the period identified by the DSM to exclude the diagnosis of MDE, more research is needed specifically on this group to help us evaluate the validity of this important diagnostic convention.
Spatial Regulation of ABCG25, an ABA Exporter, Is an Important Component of the Mechanism Controlling Cellular ABA Levels

Spatial regulation of the ABA exporter ABCG25 helps plants fine-tune cellular ABA levels according to cellular and environmental conditions. The phytohormone abscisic acid (ABA) plays crucial roles in various physiological processes, including responses to abiotic stresses, in plants. Recently, multiple ABA transporters were identified. The loss-of-function and gain-of-function mutants of these transporters show altered ABA sensitivity and stomata regulation, highlighting the importance of ABA transporters in ABA-mediated processes. However, how the activity of these transporters is regulated remains elusive. Here, we show that spatial regulation of ATP BINDING CASETTE G25 (ABCG25), an ABA exporter, is an important mechanism controlling its activity. ABCG25, as a soluble green fluorescent protein (sGFP) fusion, was subject to posttranslational regulation via clathrin-dependent and adaptor protein complex-2-dependent endocytosis followed by trafficking to the vacuole. The levels of sGFP:ABCG25 at the plasma membrane (PM) were regulated by abiotic stresses and exogenously applied ABA; PM-localized sGFP:ABCG25 decreased under abiotic stress conditions via activation of endocytosis in an ABA-independent manner, but increased upon application of exogenous ABA via activation of recycling from early endosomes in an ABA-dependent manner. Based on these findings, we propose that the spatial regulation of ABCG25 is an important component of the mechanism by which plants fine-tune cellular ABA levels according to cellular and environmental conditions.