Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
On developing new text and audio corpora and speech recognition tools for the turkish language

This paper describes recent work towards development of new corpora and tools for Turkish speech research. This effort represents an on-going collaboration between the Center for Spoken Language Research (CSLR) at the University of Colorado and the Department of Electrical Engineering at the Middle East Technical University (METU). A new text corpus developed from Turkish newspapers’ text is described. In addition, a 193-speaker audio corpus and pronunciation lexicon for the Turkish language is developed. We then describe our initial work towards porting Sonic, the CSLR speech recognition system, to the Turkish language. Results are shown for phonetic alignment and phoneme recognition accuracy using the newly constructed corpus and speech tools. It is shown that 91.2% of the automatically labeled phoneme boundaries are placed within 20 msec of hand-labeled locations for the Turkish audio corpus. Finally, a phoneme recognition error rate of 29.3% is demonstrated.
On the Use of Linguistic Ontologies for Accessing and Indexing Distributed Digital Libraries

Digital libraries containing vast amounts of information are expected to soon be readily available over wide area distributed networks. As the amount of data available increases, the problem of indexing the resources efficiently and accessing them easily will also increase. There have been several approachers proposed previously: these range from simple keyword retrieval (as in DIALOG, and MEDLINE) to sophisticated approaches that analyse the internal document structure and attempt a semantic and syntactic analysis in finding suitable matches [14]. The primary characteristics of these libraries will be: A very large repository of information distributed across a wide area network. A very large range of users (ranging from naive to expert). A significant rate of change in the data leading to high update rates.
LOW-COST HARDWARE FAULT DETECTION AND DIAGNOSIS FOR MULTICORE SYSTEMS RUNNING MULTITHREADED WORKLOADS

Continued device scaling is resulting in smaller devices that are increasingly vulnerable to errors from various sources, e.g., wear-out and high energy particle strikes. As this reliability threat grows, future shipped hardware will likely fail due to in-the-field hardware faults. A comprehensive reliability solution should detect the fault, diagnose the source of it, and recover the correct execution. Traditional redundancy-based reliability solutions that handle these faults are too expensive for mainstream computing. A promising approach is using software-level symptoms to detect hardware faults. Specifically, the SWAT project [11] has proposed a set of always-on monitors that perform such detections at very low cost. In the rare event of a fault, a more expensive diagnosis mechanism is invoked alongside a checkpoint/replay-based recovery procedure. Previous studies, however, were in the context of single-threaded applications on uniprocessors, and their applicability in multicore systems is unclear. This thesis provides detection and diagnosis mechanisms for hardware faults in multicore systems running multithreaded applications. For detection, we augmented the SWAT symptoms with multicore counterparts. These resulted in a high coverage of 98.8% for permanent faults, with a low 0.8% silent data corruption (SDC) rate. We also show that these symptoms are effective for transient faults. These results demonstrate the applicability of symptom-based detection for faults in multicore systems running multithreaded workloads. Permanent faults require a diagnosis mechanism, unlike transient faults. In multicore systems, a fault in a core may escape to a fault-free core, and the latter may result in a symptom. This makes permanent fault diagnosis a challenge. We propose a novel mechanism that identifies the faulty core, with near-zero performance overhead in the fault-free case. Our diagnosis mechanism replays the execution from each core on two other cores and compares the executions. A mismatch in the executions results in identification of the faulty core. Our results show that the proposed diagnosis technique successfully diagnoses 95.6% of the detected faults. We also show that 96% of those cases
The reliability and usefulness of an individualised submaximal shuttle run test in elite rugby league players

ABSTRACT Purpose: The aim of the present study was to examine the reliability and usefulness of a proposed 4-min individualised submaximal shuttle run test (SSRIndiv) in elite rugby league players. Materials and methods: Twenty-two elite rugby league players competing in the National Rugby League competition (23.2 ± 3.4 years, 186.8 ± 5.4 cm, 100.2 ± 8.5 kg) performed the SSRIndiv twice, seven days apart (test–retest design). The SSRIndiv was prescribed as 75% of the average speed during a 1500-m time trial. Exercise heart rate was calculated as the average heart rate (HR) over the final 30 s (HRex). Seated HR recovery (HRR) was recorded at 1- (HRR60) and 2-min (HRR120) post-exercise. Data were analysed with magnitude-based inferences. Results: Test–retest typical errors were moderate for HRex (1.2 percentage points; 90% confidence limits: 1.0–1.7), HRR60 (3.4; 2.7–4.6) and HRR120 (2.9; 2.3–3.9). Intraclass correlation coefficients were extremely high for HRex (0.91; 0.78–0.94) and very high for both HRR60 (0.80; 0.61–0.90) and HRR120 (0.84; 0.69–0.92). Thresholds for an individual change that would be likely small and greater than the typical error were ±1.8 (percentage points), ±4.6 and ±4.1 for HRex, HRR60 and HRR120, respectively. Conclusions: The SSRIndiv demonstrates acceptable reliability in the assessment of HRex and HRR, thus demonstrating its potential usefulness for monitoring fitness and fatigue in elite rugby league players.
Achievability results for learning under communication constraints

The problem of statistical learning is to construct an accurate predictor of a random variable as a function of a correlated random variable on the basis of an i.i. d. training sample from their joint distribution. Allowable predictors are constrained to lie in some specified class, and the goal is to approach asymptotically the performance of the best predictor in the class. We consider two settings in which the learning agent only has access to rate-limited descriptions of the training data, and present information-theoretic bounds on the predictor performance achievable in the presence of these communication constraints. Our proofs do not assume any separation structure between compression and learning and rely on a new class of operational criteria specifically tailored to joint design of encoders and learning algorithms in rate-constrained settings. These operational criteria naturally lead to a learning-theoretic generalization of the rate-distortion function introduced recently by Kramer and Savari in the context of rate-constrained communication of probability distributions.
Cell-Type Specific Channelopathies in the Prefrontal Cortex of the fmr1-/y Mouse Model of Fragile X Syndrome,,

Abstract Fragile X syndrome (FXS) is caused by transcriptional silencing of the fmr1 gene resulting in the loss of fragile X mental retardation protein (FMRP) expression. FXS patients display several behavioral phenotypes associated with prefrontal cortex (PFC) dysfunction. Voltage-gated ion channels, some of which are regulated by FMRP, heavily influence PFC neuron function. Although there is evidence for brain region-specific alterations to the function a single type of ion channel in FXS, it is unclear whether subtypes of principal neurons within a brain region are affected uniformly. We tested for alterations to ion channels critical in regulating neural excitability in two subtypes of prefrontal L5 pyramidal neurons. Using somatic and dendritic patch-clamp recordings, we provide evidence that the functional expression of h-channels (Ih) is down-regulated, whereas A-type K+ channel function is up-regulated in pyramidal tract-projecting (PT) neurons in the fmr1-/y mouse PFC. This is the opposite pattern of results from published findings from hippocampus where Ih is up-regulated and A-type K+ channel function is down-regulated. Additionally, we find that somatic Kv1-mediated current is down-regulated, resulting in increased excitability of fmr1-/y PT neurons. Importantly, these h- and K+ channel differences do not extend to neighboring intratelencephalic-projecting neurons. Thus, the absence of FMRP has divergent effects on the function of individual types of ion channels not only between brain regions, but also variable effects across cell types within the same brain region. Given the importance of ion channels in regulating neural circuits, these results suggest cell-type-specific phenotypes for the disease.
Radio frequency identification: beyond the myths. A case for health care

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is one of the most promising information system technologies for the health care industry today and in the future. Many experts and researchers consider that RFID should improve the tracking of patients, medical personnel, drugs, and equipment, decrease medical errors, provide positive identification of patients and medications, secure the access of sensitive places in hospitals, provide patients with safer medications and last but not least, it can facilitate better information management. In this paper, we question these promises by challenging seven myths associated with this technology: five are related to a misunderstanding of what RFID can really do and the other two are related to wrong or incomplete definitions of what RFID solutions are.
Agglomeration of Knowledge: A Regional Economic Analysis for the German Economy

We investigate the effects of job-specific knowledge for individual labor earnings of workers in the German economy. The results indicate a positive effect for earnings stemming in particular from high-knowledge in the areas of sales and marketing, computers and electronics, mathematics, biology and law and government. Investigating the geographical concentration of employment reveals, for example, that workers with highknowledge in the field of communication and media are concentrated in just a few places whereas workers with high-knowledge in law and government and administration and management are far more dispersed over the regions. These patterns of geographical localization of employment give evidence for differences in the dissemination of knowledge across peers and customers.
Any Good News in Soft News? The Impact of Soft News Preference on Political Knowledge

Several scholars, most notably Matt Baum, have recently argued that soft news formats contribute to democratic discourse, because they attract viewers who would otherwise not be exposed to news at all. I extend Baum's approach in two ways. First, Baum's theory postulates that people's appreciation of entertainment is one of the factors determining news exposure and, by extension, attention to politics, but he does not analyze the underlying utility calculation directly. I create a measure of entertainment preference and examine its impact on people's preferred news formats. Second, while Baum's analysis is restricted to attention paid to politics, I assess the effect of soft news preference on political knowledge. If soft news leads people to pay more attention to the "entertaining" aspect of politics, but does not actually produce any learning effects, the suggested positive consequences of soft news would have to be qualified. The main data source for this article is a survey of 2,358 randomly selected U.S. residents conducted by Knowledge Networks in February and March 2002. Results show that people like soft news for its entertainment value but that soft news programs are still not very popular compared to hard news and pure entertainment. More critically, there is only very limited evidence that viewers actually learn from soft news. The positive consequences of soft news for the political process remain to be demonstrated.
Rebound Potentiation of Inhibition in Juvenile Visual Cortex Requires Vision-Induced BDNF Expression

The developmental increase in the strength of inhibitory synaptic circuits defines the time window of the critical period for plasticity in sensory cortices. Conceptually, plasticity of inhibitory synapses is an attractive mechanism to allow for homeostatic adaptation to the sensory environment. However, a brief duration of visual deprivation that causes maximal change in excitatory synapses produces minimal change in inhibitory synaptic transmission. Here we examined developmental and experience-dependent changes in inhibition by measuring miniature IPSCs (mIPSCs) in layer 2/3 pyramidal neurons of mouse visual cortex. During development from postnatal day 21 (P21) to P35, GABAA receptor function changed from fewer higher-conductance channels to more numerous lower-conductance channels without altering the average mIPSC amplitude. Although a week of visual deprivation did not alter the average mIPSC amplitude, a subsequent 2 h exposure to light produced a rapid rebound potentiation. This form of plasticity is restricted to a critical period before the developmental change in GABAergic synaptic properties is completed, and hence is absent by P35. Visual experience-dependent rebound potentiation of mIPSCs is accompanied by an increase in the open channel number and requires activity-dependent transcription of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). Mice lacking BDNF transcription through promoter IV did not show developmental changes in inhibition and lacked rebound potentiation. Our results suggest that sensory experience may have distinct functional consequences in normal versus deprived sensory cortices, and that experience-dependent BDNF expression controls the plasticity of inhibitory synaptic transmission particularly when recovering vision during the critical period.
Proteomic analyses reveal differences in cold acclimation mechanisms in freezing-tolerant and freezing-sensitive cultivars of alfalfa

Cold acclimation in alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) plays a crucial role in cold tolerance to harsh winters. To examine the cold acclimation mechanisms in freezing-tolerant alfalfa (ZD) and freezing-sensitive alfalfa (W5), holoproteins, and low-abundance proteins (after the removal of RuBisCO) from leaves were extracted to analyze differences at the protein level. A total of 84 spots were selected, and 67 spots were identified. Of these, the abundance of 49 spots and 24 spots in ZD and W5, respectively, were altered during adaptation to chilling stress. Proteomic results revealed that proteins involved in photosynthesis, protein metabolism, energy metabolism, stress and redox and other proteins were mobilized in adaptation to chilling stress. In ZD, a greater number of changes were observed in proteins, and autologous metabolism and biosynthesis were slowed in response to chilling stress, thereby reducing consumption, allowing for homeostasis. The capability for protein folding and protein biosynthesis in W5 was enhanced, which allows protection against chilling stress. The ability to perceive low temperatures was more sensitive in freezing-tolerant alfalfa compared to freezing-sensitive alfalfa. This proteomics study provides new insights into the cold acclimation mechanism in alfalfa.
The Social Ordering of an Everyday Practice: The Case of Laundry

Sociological contributions to debates surrounding sustainable consumption have presented strong critiques of methodological individualism and technological determinism. Drawing from a range of sociological insights from the fields of consumption, everyday life and science and technology studies, these critiques emphasize the recursivity between (a) everyday performances and object use, and (b) how those performances are socially ordered. Empirical studies have, however, been criticized as being descriptive of micro-level phenomena to the exclusion of explanations of processes of reproduction or change. Developing a methodological approach that examines sequences of activities this article explores different forms of coordination (activity, inter-personal and material) that condition the temporal and material flows of laundry practices. Doing so produces an analysis that de-centres technologies and individual performances, allowing for the identification of mechanisms that order the practice of laundry at the personal, household and societal levels. These are: social relations; cultural conventions; domestic materiality; and institutionalized temporal rhythms. In conclusion, we suggest that addressing such mechanisms offers fruitful avenues for fostering more sustainable consumption, compared to dominant approaches that are founded within ‘deficit models’ of action.
Range estimation from a moving camera: An Immersion and Invariance approach

The paper proposes an original solution to the range identification problem for perspective dynamical systems. The depth of a static point observed by a pinhole camera undergoing a predefined 3-D motion, is estimated from its 2-D projection on the image plane. The proposed nonlinear observer relies on the Immersion and Invariance (I&I) methodology and offers several advantages over the existing range estimators. The paper also provides an analytical study of nonlinear observability performed with the Extended Output Jacobian. Extensive simulation experiments illustrate the theory and show the effectiveness of the proposed design.
Expression of Annexin A1 in Esophageal and Esophagogastric Junction Adenocarcinomas: Association with Poor Outcome

Purpose: Annexin A1 (ANXA1) is a calcium-binding protein involved in arachidonic acid metabolism and epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase pathway. ANXA1 has been implicated in early squamous cell carcinogenesis of esophagus and correlates with degree of tumor differentiation. However, the role of ANXA1 in esophageal adenocarcinoma is unclear. Our goal was to evaluate ANXA1 expression and determine its prognostic significance in adenocarcinoma of the esophagus and esophagogastric junction. Experimental Design: This study included 104 consecutive patients with primary resected esophageal and esophagogastric junction adenocarcinomas (11 stage I, 24 stage II, 53 stage III, and 16 stage IV). ANXA1 protein expression in each tumor was assessed by immunohistochemical staining of tissue microarrays. ANAX1 expression level was classified as high (≥25% of tumor cells with cytoplasmic staining), low (<25% of tumor cells with cytoplasmic staining), or negative; and was correlated with clinicopathologic features and patients' outcomes. Results: High ANXA1 expression was present in 39% (41 of 104) of tumors and was associated with higher pathologic T stage (P = 0.03) and distant metastasis (P = 0.04). High ANXA1 expression correlated with increased recurrence rate (P = 0.004) and decreased overall survival (P = 0.003) in univariate analysis. In multivariate analysis, ANXA1 expression and pN stage significantly correlated with recurrence rate (P = 0.008 and P < 0.001, respectively) and overall survival (P = 0.02 and P < 0.001, respectively) independent of T stage. Conclusion: Our results indicate that high ANXA1 expression is frequent in esophageal and esophagogastric junction adenocarcinomas, correlates with more advanced pathologic T stage and the presence of distant metastasis, and is an independent prognostic factor for patient survival.
Characteristics of KIT-negative gastrointestinal stromal tumours and diagnostic utility of protein kinase C theta immunostaining

Aims: To characterise KIT-negative gastrointestinal stromal tumours (GISTs) clinically, pathologically, immunohistochemically and genetically, and to establish the usefulness of protein kinase C theta (PKCθ) as a diagnostic marker in KIT-negative GIST. Methods: 252 consecutive cases of GIST were evaluated for clinicopathological characteristics and immunostained for various antibodies. Mutational analyses of KIT and platelet-derived growth factor receptor α (PDGFRA) were also performed in 62 cases. Results: 20 (7.9%) GISTs showed negative immunostaining for KIT. KIT-negative GISTs were more likely to originate from omentum or peritoneum, have an epithelioid histology, and be classified as high risk. The overall survival rate of patients with KIT-negative GISTs (5-year survival rate 68.7% (SD 10.7%)) was lower than that of patients with KIT-positive GISTs (5-year survival rate, 79.9% (3.0%)) (p = 0.042, log-rank test). Negative KIT expression was an independent prognostic factor in multivariate Cox regression analysis when the risk of aggressive behaviour and the status of imatinib treatment were adopted as covariates. KIT-negative GISTs also showed lower expression rates of CD34, Bcl-2, and PKCθ than KIT-positive GISTs; mutational analysis revealed that 30% of KIT-negative GISTs harboured a PDGFRA exon 18 mutation. Immunostaining on PKCθ showed that 93.9% of all GISTs expressed PKCθ protein. However, 21.9% of 64 mesenchymal tumours other than GIST also showed positivity on PKCθ. Conclusions: KIT-negative GISTs had characteristics that differ from those of KIT-positive GISTs, and negative KIT expression was an independent prognostic indicator for overall survival of patients. Although PKCθ is a sensitive diagnostic marker for GIST, its usefulness is limited because of low sensitivity and low specificity in KIT-negative GISTs.
Flights in my hands: coherence concerns in designing Strip'TIC, a tangible space for air traffic controllers

We reflect upon the design of a paper-based tangible interactive space to support air traffic control. We have observed, studied, prototyped and discussed with controllers a new mixed interaction system based on Anoto, video projection, and tracking. Starting from the understanding of the benefits of tangible paper strips, our goal is to study how mixed physical and virtual augmented data can support the controllers' mental work. The context of the activity led us to depart from models that are proposed in tangible interfaces research where coherence is based on how physical objects are representative of virtual objects. We propose a new account of coherence in a mixed interaction system that integrates externalization mechanisms. We found that physical objects play two roles: they act both as representation of mental objects and as tangible artifacts for interacting with augmented features. We observed that virtual objects represent physical ones, and not the reverse, and, being virtual representations of physical objects, should seamlessly converge with the cognitive role of the physical object. Finally, we show how coherence is achieved by providing a seamless interactive space.