914 research outputs found
Multi-Classifier Interactive Learning for Ambiguous Speech Emotion Recognition
In recent years, speech emotion recognition technology is of great
significance in industrial applications such as call centers, social robots and
health care. The combination of speech recognition and speech emotion
recognition can improve the feedback efficiency and the quality of service.
Thus, the speech emotion recognition has been attracted much attention in both
industry and academic. Since emotions existing in an entire utterance may have
varied probabilities, speech emotion is likely to be ambiguous, which poses
great challenges to recognition tasks. However, previous studies commonly
assigned a single-label or multi-label to each utterance in certain. Therefore,
their algorithms result in low accuracies because of the inappropriate
representation. Inspired by the optimally interacting theory, we address the
ambiguous speech emotions by proposing a novel multi-classifier interactive
learning (MCIL) method. In MCIL, multiple different classifiers first mimic
several individuals, who have inconsistent cognitions of ambiguous emotions,
and construct new ambiguous labels (the emotion probability distribution).
Then, they are retrained with the new labels to interact with their cognitions.
This procedure enables each classifier to learn better representations of
ambiguous data from others, and further improves the recognition ability. The
experiments on three benchmark corpora (MAS, IEMOCAP, and FAU-AIBO) demonstrate
that MCIL does not only improve each classifier's performance, but also raises
their recognition consistency from moderate to substantial.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure
Mast Cells and Nerve Signal Conduction in Acupuncture
Nerve and mast cells are densely distributed around acupoints in connective tissue. To explore the internal relations between them in acupuncture effect, we examined dorsal root potential (DRP) response to acupuncture at Zusanli (ST36) under sodium cromoglicate (DSCG, a mast cell stabilizer) intervention in anesthetized Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. We used single unit nerve recording techniques to collect nerve signals from DRP afferent nerves for a 45-minute period that includes 4 stages, that is, base, drug absorption, acupuncture, and recovery stages. We analyzed the recorded signals from time-domain and frequency-domain perspectives. The results showed that once acupuncture needle was inserted, twisting needle excited more nerves discharges than those at base discharges in ACU (from 35.1 ± 7.2 to 47 ± 9.2 Hz, P=0.004), and there existed the same trend in Saline + ACU group (from 23.8 ± 2.6 to 29.8 ± 4.2 Hz, P=0.059). There was no change of nerve discharges under twisting needle with injection of DSCG (from 34.8 ± 5.3 to 34.7 ± 4.4 Hz, P=0.480). We conclude that acupuncture manipulation promotes neural signal production and DSCG could partly inhibit nerve discharges
Sleep deprivation disturbed regional brain activity in healthy subjects: evidence from a functional magnetic resonance-imaging study
Association of Toll-Like Receptor 4 Gene Polymorphism and Expression with Urinary Tract Infection Types in Adults
Background: Innate immunity of which Toll-like receptor (TLR) 4 and CXCR1 are key elements plays a central role in the development of urinary tract infection (UTI). Although the relation between the genetics of TLR4 and CXCR1 and UTI is investigated partly, the polymorphisms and expression of TLR4 and CXCR1 in different types of UTI in adults are not extremely clear. Methodology/Principal Findings: This study investigates the presence of TLR4 A (896) G and CXCR1 G (2608) C polymorphisms in 129 UTI patients using RFLP-PCR. Gene and allelic prevalence were compared with 248 healthy controls. Flow cytometry was used to detect TLR4 and CXCR1 expression in the monocytes of UTI patients and healthy controls. TLR4 (896) AG genotype and TLR4 (896) G allele had higher prevalence in UTI (especially in acute cystitis and urethritis) patients, whereas CXCR1 (2608) GC genotype and CXCR1 (2608) C allele had lower prevalence in UTI patients than controls. TLR4 expression was significantly lower in chronic UTI patients than in acute pyelonephritis or healthy controls. CXCR1 expression was similar in both controls and patients. TLR4 expression in chronic UTI patients after astragalus treatment was higher than pre-treatment. Conclusions: The results indicate the relationship between the carrier status of TLR4 (896) G alleles and the development of UTI, especially acute cystitis and urethritis, in adults. TLR4 expression levels are correlated with chronic UTI
The prognostic value of Foxp3+ tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes in patients with glioblastoma
Forkhead box protein 3 (Foxp3) is known as a specific marker for regulatory T cells which contribute to immunosuppression in tumor microenvironment. However, existing studies regarding clinical significance of Foxp3+ tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) in glioblastoma (GBM) remained discrepant. In this study, we aimed to explore whether this subtype of TILs correlated with prognosis in patients with GBM. Foxp3+ TILs as well as CD8+ ones were detected by immunohistochemistry on paraffin-embedded tumor samples from 62 patients. Staining for p53, MGMT and Ki-67 were also performed. The correlation of TIL subtypes with clinicopathologic features were analyzed. Progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were estimated by Kaplan–Meier method and compared using log-rank test. Independent prognostic factors for PFS and OS were determined through univariate and multivariate analysis. Significant correlation was found between Foxp3 and CD8 expression (P = 0.003), but not between TIL subtypes and clinicopathologic characteristics. Patients with higher density of Foxp3+ TILs showed relatively shorter PFS (P < 0.001) and OS (P = 0.003) whereas patients with higher density of CD8+ TILs obtained no significant differences in survival. Survival analysis based on molecular classifications further clarified these predictive values. Univariate and multivariate analysis revealed that frequency of Foxp3+ TILs was probably associated with both PFS (P = 0.002) and OS (P = 0.003). In conclusion, the results suggest that Foxp3 positive infiltrates could provide an independent predictive factor in GBM. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s11060-013-1314-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users
Group Signatures and Accountable Ring Signatures from Isogeny-based Assumptions
Group signatures are an important cryptographic primitive providing both
anonymity and accountability to signatures. Accountable ring signatures combine
features from both ring signatures and group signatures, and can be directly
transformed to group signatures. While there exists extensive work on
constructing group signatures from various post-quantum assumptions, there has
not been any using isogeny-based assumptions. In this work, we propose the
first construction of isogeny-based group signatures, which is a direct result
of our isogeny-based accountable ring signature. This is also the first
construction of accountable ring signatures based on post-quantum assumptions.
Our schemes are based on the decisional CSIDH assumption (D-CSIDH) and are
proven secure under the random oracle model (ROM)
Populus trichocarpa PtNF-YA9, A Multifunctional Transcription Factor, Regulates Seed Germination, Abiotic Stress, Plant Growth and Development in Arabidopsis
NF-YAs play important roles in abiotic stress. However, their characteristics and functions in abiotic stress of poplar, a model woody plant, have not been fully investigated. Here, the biological functions of PtNF-YA9 (Potri.011G101000), an NF-YA gene from Populus trichocarpa, were first fully investigated. PtNF-YA9 is located in the nucleus. The expression of PtNF-YA9 was reduced by mannitol, NaCl, and abscisic acid (ABA). The GUS staining of ProNF-YA9::GUS transgenic lines was also reduced by mannitol treatments. In the PtNF-YA9-overexpressed Arabidopsis (OxPtNA9), OxPtNA9 lines exhibited sensitivity to simulated drought, ABA, and salinity stress during germination stage, and growth arrest emerged at post-germination stage. These phenomena might involve the ABA signaling pathway via the regulation of ABI3, ABI4, and ABI5. At vegetative stages, OxPtNA9 lines decreased in water loss via promoting stomatal closure and displayed high instantaneous water-use efficiency (WUE) of the leaf to exhibit enhanced drought tolerance. Furthermore, OxPtNA9 lines exhibited long primary root in the half-strength Murashige–Skoog agar medium supplemented with NaCl and conferred strong tolerance in the soil under salt stress. Additionally, PtNF-YA9 exhibited dwarf phenotype, short hypocotyl, small leaf area and biomass, delayed flowering, and increased chlorophyll content. Above all, our research proposes a model in which PtNF-YA9 not only plays a key role in reducing plant growth but also can play a primary role in the mechanism of an acclimatization strategy in response to adverse environmental conditions
Corrigendum: Populus trichocarpa PtNF-YA9, a Multifunctional Transcription Factor, Regulates Seed Germination, Abiotic Stress, Plant Growth and Development in Arabidopsis
Prediction and Identification of Potential Immunodominant Epitopes in Glycoproteins B, C, E, G, and I of Herpes Simplex Virus Type 2
Twenty B candidate epitopes of glycoproteins B (gB2), C (gC2), E (gE2), G (gG2), and I (gI2) of herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) were predicted using DNAstar, Biosun, and Antheprot methods combined with the polynomial method. Subsequently, the biological functions of the peptides were tested via experiments in vitro. Among the 20 epitope peptides, 17 could react with the antisera to the corresponding parent proteins in the EIA tests. In particular, five peptides, namely, gB2466–473 (EQDRKPRN), gC2216–223 (GRTDRPSA), gE2483–491 (DPPERPDSP), gG2572–579 (EPPDDDDS), and gI2286-295 (CRRRYRRPRG) had strong reaction with the antisera. All conjugates of the five peptides with the carrier protein BSA could stimulate mice into producing antibodies. The antisera to these peptides reacted strongly with the corresponding parent glycoproteins during the Western Blot tests, and the peptides reacted strongly with the antibodies against the parent glycoproteins during the EIA tests. The antisera against the five peptides could neutralize HSV-2 infection in vitro, which has not been reported until now. These results suggest that the immunodominant epitopes screened using software algorithms may be used for virus diagnosis and vaccine design against HSV-2
Discovery of novel quinazolines as potential anti-tubulin agents occupying three zones of colchicine domain
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