LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Designing prosody rule-set for converting neutral TTS speech to storytelling style speech for Indian languages: Bengali, Hindi and Telugu

This paper provides a design of prosody rule-set for transforming the neutral speech synthesized by Text-to-Speech (TTS) system to storytelling style speech. The objective of this work is to synthesize storyteller speech from the neutral TTS system for a given story text as input. In this work, neutral TTS refers to TTS system developed using Festival framework with neutral speech corpus. For generating storyteller speech from neutral TTS, we are proposing modifications to various prosodic parameters of neutral synthesized speech. In this work, the prosodic parameters considered for modification are (i) pitch contour, (ii) duration patterns, (iii) intensity patterns, (iv) pause patterns and (v) tempo. We have designed individual rule-sets for the above mentioned prosodic parameters, separately for three Indian languages Bengali, Hindi and Telugu. The rule-sets are designed carefully by analyzing the perceptual differences between synthesized neutral speech utterances and their respective natural (original) spoken utterances, narrated by a storyteller. The designed prosody rule-sets are evaluated using subjective listening tests. The results of the perceptual evaluation indicate that the designed prosody rule-sets play a significant role in achieving the story-specific style during conversion from neutral to storytelling style speech.
Morphology discrimination in implantable cardioverter-defibrillators: consistency of template match percentage during atrial tachyarrhythmias at different heart rates.

BACKGROUND
Morphology discrimination (MD) in implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) is based on the comparison of the ventricular electrogram during tachycardia with a stored reference template obtained during baseline rhythm. However, the effect of heart rate on the template match percentage during supraventricular tachyarrhythmias (SVT) is not known. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the performance of the template match percentage during SVT at different heart rates.


METHODS AND RESULTS
Stored electrograms of 868 tachyarrhythmias from 88 patients with a dual-chamber ICD (St Jude Medical, USA) were analysed by the investigators. The effect of heart rate on template match percentage was estimated by regression analysis. For performance measures, data were corrected for multiple episodes in a patient by using the generalized estimating equation method. The mean template match percentage was 86.6 +/- 22.2% (median 100%) for SVT episodes. No significant differences in template match percentage between fast [ventricular cycle length (CL) 300-350 ms] and slow (ventricular CL >400 ms) SVTs were observed (85.4 +/- 27.0 vs. 87.1 +/- 19.7%). Using nominal settings, MD alone provided sensitivity and specificity of 70.2% and 89.4% overall, respectively. Morphology discrimination in conjunction with rate branch analysis, sudden onset, and stability yielded sensitivity and specificity of 98.5% and 91.2%, respectively.


CONCLUSION
Morphology discrimination has a consistently high template match percentage during SVTs, which is independent of ventricular CL. The consistent high match percentage results in high specificity for arrhythmia discrimination.
The relationship between hypotension, cerebral flow, and the surgical field during endoscopic sinus surgery.

OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS
Hypotensive anesthesia is often used in endoscopic sinus surgery (ESS) to improve surgical visibility; however, its safety and efficacy in this role are yet to be justified. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of hypotensive anesthesia on both real-time middle cerebral artery blood flow velocity (Vmca) and the severity of surgical bleeding in patients undergoing ESS.


STUDY DESIGN
Prospective, observational cohort study.


METHODS
Thirty-two patients undergoing hypotensive anesthesia for ESS at a single tertiary institution during February 2011 to July 2012 were recruited for the study. Transcranial Doppler ultrasonography measured periodic Vmca, which were time-matched for hemodynamic and respiratory factors. One-minute video segments corresponding with each Vmca reading were randomized and distributed to two blinded observers for bleeding assessment.


RESULTS
Three hundred and fifty-six data time points were recorded for systolic, diastolic, and mean arterial blood pressure (MAP), pulse rate, respiratory rate, end-tidal carbon dioxide concentration, Vmca, and bleeding assessment score (BAS). A direct relationship exists between MAP and Vmca (r = 0.77, P < .0001) as well as MAP and BAS (r = 0.36, P < .0001). MAP levels above 60 mm Hg maintained at least 50% of baseline Vmca flow in almost 90% of all time points.


CONCLUSIONS
Hypotensive anesthesia is an effective method of controlling intraoperative bleeding during endoscopic sinus surgery; however the effect is clinically small in low MAP ranges. In otherwise healthy patients undergoing ESS with general anesthesia, reducing MAP to below 60 mm Hg may increase the risk of cerebral ischemia.
Improving Utilization of Infrastructure Clouds

A key advantage of infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) clouds is providing users on-demand access to resources. To provide on-demand access, however, cloud providers must either significantly overprovision their infrastructure (and pay a high price for operating resources with low utilization) or reject a large proportion of user requests (in which case the access is no longer on-demand). At the same time, not all users require truly on-demand access to resources. Many applications and workflows are designed for recoverable systems where interruptions in service are expected. For instance, many scientists utilize high-throughput computing (HTC)-enabled resources, such as Condor, where jobs are dispatched to available resources and terminated when the resource is no longer available. We propose a cloud infrastructure that combines on-demand allocation of resources with opportunistic provisioning of cycles from idle cloud nodes to other processes by deploying backfill virtual machines (VMs). For demonstration and experimental evaluation, we extend the Nimbus cloud computing toolkit to deploy backfill VMs on idle cloud nodes for processing an HTC workload. Initial tests show an increase in IaaS cloud utilization from 37.5% to 100% during a portion of the evaluation trace but only 6.39% overhead cost for processing the HTC workload. We demonstrate that a shared infrastructure between IaaS cloud providers and an HTC job management system can be highly beneficial to both the IaaS cloud provider and HTC users by increasing the utilization of the cloud infrastructure (thereby decreasing the overall cost) and contributing cycles that would otherwise be idle to processing HTC jobs.
Singapore and the New Regionalism: Bilateral Economic Relations with Japan and the US

SINGAPORE AND THE NEW REGIONALISM: BILATERAL TRADE LINKAGES WITH JAPAN AND THE US Free Trade Areas (FTAs) have recently become an integral part of Singapore trade policy. This paper discusses the reasons behind Singapore’s recent embracement of “new regionalism” with particular reference to the proposals to form FTAs with Japan and the US. The paper goes on to examine various aspects of Singapore’s trade linkages with the two economic superpowers in some detail. Popular discussion of FTAs gives one the appearance that such a trade policy is entirely benign. The paper sounds a cautionary note, highlighting some reasons to be concerned with Singapore’s recent embracement of the “new regionalism”.
Effect of yoga therapy on plasma oxytocin and facial emotion recognition deficits in patients of schizophrenia

CONTEXT
Yoga therapy has been demonstrated to be useful in treatment of negative symptoms and improving the socio-occupational functioning and emotion recognition deficits in antipsychotic-stabilized schizophrenia patients. Oxytocin has been recently implicated in social cognition deficits in schizophrenia. The effect of yoga therapy on oxytocin levels in schizophrenia has not been studied.


AIMS
This study aimed to assess the effect of yoga therapy on symptoms, socio-occupational functioning, facial emotion recognition deficits and plasma oxytocin levels in antipsychotic stabilized schizophrenia patients.


SETTINGS AND DESIGN
Randomized controlled study on 43 consenting, medication stabilized patients with schizophrenia in a tertiary psychiatric center using yoga intervention and waitlisted groups.


MATERIALS AND METHODS
A total of 43 schizophrenia patients were randomized to yoga group (n=15) or waitlist group (n=28). Patients in the yoga group received training in a specific yoga therapy module for schizophrenia. Patients in both groups were continued on stable antipsychotic medication. Assessments included scale for assessment of positive symptoms, scale for assessment of negative symptoms, socio-occupational functioning scale and tool for recognition of emotions in neuropsychiatric disorders (TRENDS) and plasma oxytocin levels; performed at baseline and at the end of 1 month.


RESULTS
A total of 15 patients in the yoga group and 12 in waitlist group completed the study. The yoga therapy group showed a significant improvement in socio-occupational functioning, performance on TRENDS (P<0.001) and plasma increase in oxytocin levels (P=0.01) as compared with the waitlist group.


CONCLUSION
The study supported the role of add-on yoga therapy in management of schizophrenia and demonstrated an improvement in endogenous plasma oxytocin levels in schizophrenia patients receiving yoga therapy.
Benztropine prophylaxis of dystonic reactions

The effectiveness of antiparkinson medication for the prevention of drug induced dystonias has remained a question. Forty patients with acute psychosis who received high potency oral antipsychotic drugs were interviewed to determine the incidence of acute dystonia. An eleven-fold increase in dystonia was found in patients who received no prophylactic medication. Such prophylaxis appears effective in preventing acute dystonia.
Examining the quality of name code record linkage: what is the impact on death and cancer risk estimates? A validation study.

OBJECTIVE
To examine the validity and impact of record linkage using name code compared to full name records.


METHODS
A registry of 45,419 opioid substitution clients (1985-2007) was linked with national population-based death and cancer registries using registrant's name, date of birth, sex, state, postcode and date of death. Records were linked using full name and then using the first two letters of the given and surname (2×2 name code). Sensitivity and specificity were computed and regression analysis used to identify factors related to linkage accuracy. Standardised mortality ratios (SMR) and standardised cancer incidence ratios (SIR) were estimated.


RESULTS
The sensitivity and specificity of name code compared to full name linkage were 65.31% and 99.91% for death records and 76.81% and 99.89% for cancer records. Registrants' age and sex and accuracy of the registries were associated with risk of false linkages. Death and cancer risks (SMR 6.98, 95%CI 6.77-7.19; SIR 1.16, 95%CI 1.08-1.24) were significantly under-estimated using name code linkage (SMR 4.39, 95%CI 4.23-4.56; SIR 0.92, 95%CI 0.85-0.99).


CONCLUSION
Record linkage using 2×2 name code has low sensitivity but high specificity, resulting in conservative estimates of death and cancer risk. This may translate to meaningful differences in outcomes.
Predictors of immunological failure after initial response to highly active antiretroviral therapy in HIV-1-infected adults: a EuroSIDA study.

BACKGROUND
Factors that determine the immunological response to highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) are poorly defined.


OBJECTIVE
Our aim was to investigate predictors of immunological failure after initial CD4(+) response.


METHODS
Data were from EuroSIDA, a prospective, international, observational human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) type 1 cohort.


RESULTS
Of 2347 patients with an increase in CD4(+) cell count >or=100 cells/microL within 6-12 months of the initiation of HAART, 550 (23%) subsequently experienced immunological failure (CD4(+) count less than or equal to the pre-HAART value). The incidence of failure was 11.6 incidences/100 person-years of follow-up (95% confidence interval [CI], 10.2-13.4) during the first 12 months and decreased significantly over time (P<.0001). Independent predictors of immunological failure were pre-HAART CD4(+) cell count (per 50% higher; relative hazard [RH], 2.05; 95% CI, 1.83-2.31; P<.0001), time-updated virus load (per 1 log(10) higher; RH, 1.77; 95% CI, 1.64-1.92; P<.0001), and HIV-1 risk behavior (P=.047 for a global comparison of risk groups).


CONCLUSION
The risk of immunological failure in patients with an immunological response to HAART diminishes with a longer time receiving treatment and is associated with pretreatment CD4(+) cell count, ongoing viral replication, and intravenous drug use.
Adaptive document image binarization

A new method is presented for adaptive document image binarization, where the page is considered as a collection of subcomponents such as text, background and picture. The problems caused by noise, illumination and many source type-related degradations are addressed. Two new algorithms are applied to determine a local threshold for each pixel. The performance evaluation of the algorithm utilizes test images with ground-truth, evaluation metrics for binarization of textual and synthetic images, and a weight-based ranking procedure for the "nal result presentation. The proposed algorithms were tested with images including di!erent types of document components and degradations. The results were compared with a number of known techniques in the literature. The benchmarking results show that the method adapts and performs well in each case qualitatively and quantitatively. ( 1999 Pattern Recognition Society. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
A comparison of two approaches to measuring frailty in elderly people.

BACKGROUND
Many definitions of frailty exist, but few have been directly compared. We compared the relationship between a definition of frailty based on a specific phenotype with one based on an index of deficit accumulation.


METHODS
The data come from all 2305 people 70 years old and older who composed the clinical examination cohort of the second wave of the Canadian Study of Health and Aging. We tested convergent validity by correlating the measures with each other and with other health status measures, and analyzed cumulative index distributions in relation to phenotype. To test criterion validity, we evaluated survival (institutionalization and all-cause mortality) by frailty index (FI) score, stratified by the phenotypic definitions as "robust," "pre-frail," and "frail."


RESULTS
The measures correlated moderately well with each other (R=0.65) and with measures of function (phenotypic definition R=0.66; FI R=0.73) but less well with cognition (phenotypic definition R=-0.35; FI R=-0.58). The median FI scores increased from 0.12 for the robust to 0.30 for the pre-frail and 0.44 for the frail. Survival was also lower with increasing frailty, and institutionalization was more common, but within each phenotypic class, there were marked differences in outcomes based on the FI values-e.g., among robust people, the median 5-year survival for those with lower FI values was 85%, compared with 55% for those with higher FI values.


CONCLUSION
The phenotypic definition of frailty, which offers ready clinical operationalization, discriminates broad levels of risk. The FI requires additional clinical translation, but allows the risk of adverse outcomes to be defined more precisely.
Chinese Sentence-Level Sentiment Classification Based on Fuzzy Sets

This paper presents a fuzzy set theory based approach to Chinese sentence-level sentiment classification. Compared with traditional topic-based text classification techniques, the fuzzy set theory provides a straightforward way to model the intrinsic fuzziness between sentiment polarity classes. To approach fuzzy sentiment classification, we first propose a fine-to-coarse strategy to estimate sentence sentiment intensity. Then, we define three fuzzy sets to represent the respective sentiment polarity classes, namely positive, negative and neutral sentiments. Based on sentence sentiment intensities, we further build membership functions to indicate the degrees of an opinionated sentence in different fuzzy sets. Finally, we determine sentence-level polarity under maximum membership principle. We show that our approach can achieve promising performance on the test set for Chinese opinion analysis pilot task at NTCIR-6.
A SURVEY OF STREAM DATA MINING

At present a growing number of applications that generate massive streams of data need intelligent data processing and online analysis. Real-time surveillance systems, telecommunication systems, sensor networks and other dynamic environments are such examples. The imminent need for turning such data into useful information and knowledge augments the development of systems, algorithms and frameworks that address streaming challenges. The storage, querying and mining of such data sets are highly computationally challenging tasks. Mining data streams is concerned with extracting knowledge structures represented in models and patterns in non stopping streams of information. In this paper, we present the theoretical foundations of data stream analysis and identify potential directions of future research. Mining data stream techniques are being critically reviewed.
Anthracyclines in Early Breast Cancer: The ABC Trials-USOR 06-090, NSABP B-46-I/USOR 07132, and NSABP B-49 (NRG Oncology).

Purpose Docetaxel and cyclophosphamide (TC) was superior to doxorubicin and cyclophosphamide (AC) in a trial in early breast cancer. However, activity of TC relative to AC regimens with a taxane (TaxAC) is unknown. Methods In a series of three adjuvant trials, women were randomly assigned to TC for six cycles (TC6) or to a standard TaxAC regimen. US Oncology Research (USOR) 06-090 compared TC6 with docetaxel, doxorubicin, and cyclophosphamide (TAC6). National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP) B-46-I/USOR 07132 compared TC6, TAC6, or TC6 plus bevacizumab. NSABP B-49 compared TC6 with several standard AC and taxane combination regimens. Before any analysis of individual trials, a joint efficacy analysis of TC versus the TaxAC regimens was planned, with invasive disease-free survival (IDFS) as the primary end point. Patients who received TC6 plus bevacizumab on NSABP B-46-I/USOR 07132 were not included. A hazard ratio (HR) from a stratified Cox model that exceeded 1.18 for TC6 versus TaxAC was predefined as inferiority for TC6. The prespecified interim monitoring plan was to report for futility if the HR was > 1.18 when 334 IDFS events were observed (50% of 668 events required for definitive analysis). Results A total of 2,125 patients were randomly assigned to receive TC6 regimens and 2,117 patients were randomly assigned to receive TaxAC regimens. The median follow-up time was 3.3 years. There were 334 IDFS events, and the HR for TC6 versus TaxAC was 1.202 (95% CI, 0.97 to 1.49), which triggered early reporting for futility. The 4-year IDFS was 88.2% for TC6 and was 90.7% for TaxAC ( P = .04). Tests for treatment interaction by protocol, hormone receptor status, and nodal status were negative. Conclusion The TaxAC regimens improved IDFS in patients with high-risk human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-negative breast cancer compared with the TC6 regimen.
Paradoxical adipose hyperplasia after cryolipolysis.

IMPORTANCE
Cryolipolysis is the noninvasive reduction of fat with localized cutaneous cooling. Since initial introduction, over 650,000 cryolipolysis treatment cycles have been performed worldwide. We present a previously unreported, rare adverse effect following cryolipolysis: paradoxical adipose hyperplasia.


OBSERVATIONS
A man in his 40s underwent a single cycle of cryolipolysis to his abdomen. Three months following his treatment, a gradual enlargement of the treatment area was noted. This enlargement was a large, well-demarcated subcutaneous mass, slightly tender to palpation. Imaging studies revealed accumulation of adipose tissue with normal signal intensity within the treatment area.


CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE
Paradoxical adipose hyperplasia is a rare, previously unreported adverse effect of cryolipolysis with an incidence of 0.0051%. No single unifying risk factor has been identified. The phenomenon seems to be more common in male patients undergoing cryolipolysis. At this time, there is no evidence of spontaneous resolution. Further studies are needed to characterize the pathogenesis and histologic findings of this rare adverse event.
Predictive role of post-treatment [18F]FDG PET/CT in patients with uterine cervical cancer.

OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the efficacy of post-treatment positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) for identification of tumor recurrence, and to determine whether [(18)F]fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) uptake measured as the maximum standardized uptake value (SUV(max)) has predictive role regarding survival in patients with uterine cervical cancer.


METHODS
Medical records from 276 women with uterine cervical cancer who had post-treatment [(18)F]FDG PET/CT performed were retrospectively reviewed. Results of PET/CT scans were compared with histological or clinical examination.


RESULTS
Ninety-five (34.4%) of the 276 patients had documented recurrence by either surgical biopsy or clinical and imaging follow-up. Median duration from treatment to PET/CT scan was 24 months (range, 6-307). The overall sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and accuracy of post-treatment PET/CT were 94.7%, 87.8%, 80.4%, 97%, and 90.2%, respectively. The PET/CT scan modified both the diagnostic or treatment plan in 67 patients (24.3%). Patients were divided into two groups according to cut-off SUV(max) established on the basis of ROC analysis (<5.25 vs. ≥5.25), and there was a significant difference in OS between groups (p=0.001). In addition, the 5-year progression-free survival (PFS) and OS rates of patients with a negative PET/CT scan for recurrence were significantly better than those with a positive PET/CT (98.62% vs. 17.83%, p<0.0001 for PFS, 99.31% vs. 85.38%, p=0.0015 for OS).


CONCLUSION
Post-treatment PET/CT scan is a sensitive and accurate surveillance modality, and provides prognostic information in uterine cervical cancer. Furthermore, it may allow individualization of patient care.
Understanding knowledge sharing in virtual communities: An integration of social capital and social cognitive theories

The biggest challenge in fostering a virtual community is the supply of knowledge, namely the willingness to share knowledge with other members. This paper integrates the Social Cognitive Theory and the Social Capital Theory to construct a model for investigating the motivations behind people's knowledge sharing in virtual communities. The study holds that the facets of social capital — social interaction ties, trust, norm of reciprocity, identification, shared vision and shared language — will influence individuals' knowledge sharing in virtual communities. We also argue that outcome expectations — community-related outcome expectations and personal outcome expectations — can engender knowledge sharing in virtual communities. Data collected from 310 members of one professional virtual community provide support for the proposed model. The results help in identifying the motivation underlying individuals' knowledge sharing behavior in professional virtual communities. The implications for theory and practice and future research directions are discussed. © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.