Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Relating frame accuracy with word error in hybrid ANN-HMM ASR

Frame accuracy is a common and natural summary statistic to use in neural-network-based ASR. It is often used as an indication of the performance of the neural network probability estimator and in the stopping criterion during its training. Though considered an important factor for word recognition, the frame accuracy presents an incomplete and sometimes deficient indicator of performance for the overall task of word recognition, as with many such summary statistics. Many in the ASR community have seen instances where an improvement in the acoustic posterior probability estimation yielded a disappointing effect on word recognition. We conducted experiments in an effort to illustrate some of the variability in word-recognition performance associated with frame accuracy. Our experiments attempt to shed light on some of the factors that might give rise to instances where frame accuracy and word error correlate. Some of the results are confirmation of intuitive or commonly known trends.
Senescence and the Renal Vasculature in Normal Man

The xenon washout technique and the renal blood flow response to vasoactive agents or alterations in sodium intake were used to characterize the effect of aging on the renal vasculature in 207 normal human subjects ranging in age from 17 to 76 years. A highly significant, progressive reduction in the mean blood flow, the rapid-component flow rate, and the percent of flow into the rapid-flow (cortical) compartment accompanied advancing age. Because 133Xe measures flow per unit tissue mass, the results indicated a larger reduction in flow than in mass—the anticipated finding if flow reduction is primary in the genesis of atrophy. Age also reduced the vasodilation consequent to administration of acetylcholine or a sodium load; this finding is consistent with a fixed lesion of the vessels. Responses to angiotensin were not modified by age. Thus, offsetting factors of increased ratio of wall to lumen thickness and smooth muscle atrophy are precisely matched. The findings in this study agree with earlier hypotheses based on morphology that suggest a primary vascular process in the development of age-related renal changes.
Childhood Febrile Seizures: Overview and Implications

This article provides an overview of the latest knowledge and understanding of childhood febrile seizures. This review also discusses childhood febrile seizure occurrence, health services utilization and treatment costs. Parental reactions associated with its occurrence and how healthcare providers can assist parents with dealing effectively with this potentially frightening and anxiety-producing event are also discussed.
Significance testing of synergistic/antagonistic, dose level‐dependent, or dose ratio‐dependent effects in mixture dose‐response analysis

In ecotoxicology, the state of the art for effect assessment of chemical mixtures is through multiple dose—response analysis of single compounds and their combinations. Investigating whether such data deviate from the reference models of concentration addition and/or independent action to identify overall synergism or antagonism is becoming routine. However, recent data show that more complex deviation patterns, such as dose ratio—dependent deviation and dose level—dependent deviation, need to be addressed. For concentration addition, methods to detect such deviation patterns exist, but they are stand‐alone methods developed separately in literature, and conclusions derived from these analyses are therefore difficult to compare. For independent action, hardly any methods to detect such deviations from this reference model exist. This paper describes how these well‐established mixture toxicity principles have been incorporated in a coherent data analysis procedure enabling detection and quantification of dose level—and dose ratio—specific synergism or antagonism from both the concentration addition and the independent action models. Significance testing of which deviation pattern describes the data best is carried out through maximum likelihood analysis. This analysis procedure is demonstrated through various data sets, and its applicability and limitations in mixture research are discussed.
TCR Diversity of H60-Specific CD8 T Cells During the Response Evolution and Influence of CD4 Help

Backgrounds. H60 is a hematopoietic cell-specific dominant minor histocompatibility antigen that is considered to be ideal for modeling leukemia treatment after bone-marrow transplantation. We characterized the H60-specific CD8 T-cell response as CD4 help dependent. This study investigated the T-cell receptor (TCR) repertoires during the evolution of H60-specific CD8 T-cell responses and influence of CD4 help on the diversity. Methods. Ex vivo TCR Vβ and complementarity-determining region 3 length spectratypic and clonotypic analyses were performed using H60-tetramer-binding CD8 T cells purified from the mice undergoing the primary, secondary, and tertiary responses with cognate help, and the secondary response with noncognate separate CD4 help. Results. Involvement of a broad spectrum of TCRs was observed in the H60-specific primary response. With the involvement of diverse Vβ families in the secondary and tertiary responses, complementarity-determining region 3 length and clonotypic diversities within the Vβ subfamilies gradually decreased throughout the response evolution. In tertiary repertoires, the usage of Vβ8. 3 and focused clonal usage within each Vβ subfamily were prominent. When noncognate separate CD4 help was provided during the induction of H60-specific secondary responses, extremely limited TCRs constituted the repertoire of reactive CD8 T cells, and most of these TCRs coincided with those observed in the secondary or tertiary repertoires provided with cognate help. Conclusions. This study is the first to characterize the diversity of TCRs specific for hematopoietic cell-specific mouse minor H antigens and demonstrate the effect of CD4 help on CD8 TCR repertoire diversity. Our data provide a basis for modeling therapeutic applications.
Identification of Two Nervous System-Specific Members of theerg Potassium Channel Gene Family

Two new potassium channel genes, erg2 anderg3, that are expressed in the nervous system of the rat were identified. These two genes form a small gene family with the previously described erg1 (HERG) gene. Theerg2 and erg3 genes are expressed exclusively in the nervous system, in marked contrast toerg1, which is expressed in both neural and non-neural tissues. All three genes are expressed in peripheral sympathetic ganglia. The erg3 channel produces a current that has a large transient component at positive potentials, whereas the other two channels are slowly activating delayed rectifiers. Expression of theerg1 gene in the sympathetic nervous system has potential implications for the etiology of the LQT2 form of the human genetic disease long QT syndrome.
Remodeling of apolipoprotein E-containing spherical reconstituted high density lipoproteins by phospholipid transfer protein Published, JLR Papers in Press, October 5, 2007.

Phospholipid transfer protein (PLTP) transfers phospholipids between HDL and other lipoproteins in plasma. It also remodels spherical, apolipoprotein A-I (apoA-I)-containing HDL into large and small particles in a process involving the dissociation of lipid-free/lipid-poor apoA-I. ApoE is another apolipoprotein that is mostly associated with large, spherical HDL that do not contain apoA-I. Three isoforms of apoE have been identified in human plasma: apoE2, apoE3, and apoE4. This study investigates the remodeling of spherical apoE-containing HDL by PLTP and the ability of PLTP to transfer phospholipids between apoE-containing HDL and phospholipid vesicles. Spherical reconstituted high density lipoproteins (rHDL) containing apoA-I [(A-I)rHDL], apoE2 [(E2)rHDL], apoE3 [(E3)rHDL], or apoE4 [(E4)rHDL] as the sole apolipoprotein were prepared by incubating discoidal rHDL with low density lipoproteins and lecithin:cholesterol acyltransferase. PLTP remodeled the spherical, apoE-containing rHDL into large and small particles without the dissociation of apoE. The PLTP-mediated remodeling of apoE-containing rHDL was more extensive than that of (A-I)rHDL. PLTP transferred phospholipids from small unilamellar vesicles to apoE-containing rHDL in an isoform-dependent manner, but at a rate slower than that for spherical (A-I)rHDL. It is concluded that apoE enhances the capacity of PLTP to remodel HDL but reduces the ability of HDL to participate in PLTP-mediated phospholipid transfers.
The Upper Devonian Kellwasser event recorded in a regressive sequence from inner shelf to lagoonal pond, Catalan Coastal Ranges, Spain

This study, conducted in the Catalan Coastal Ranges, north‐east Spain, describes the Upper Devonian Kellwasser event in a shallowing‐upward sequence of black shales, siltstones and quartz arenites. This sequence was deposited in a progradational and regressive coastal system where the sedimentary environment evolved from the inner shelf to a lagoonal pond located landward of the shoreline. Three anomalous succeeding steps have been identified by geochemical analysis. The first one, detected on the inner shelf, was characterized by oxygen depletion and high organic productivity. The second, detected in the nearshore, was caused by hydrothermal activity occurring under normal oxic conditions. The third and most intense step was identified in the muds of the lagoonal pond and has been linked to strong anoxic conditions, elevated clastic input derived from changes in the weathering regime at the source area and moderate hydrothermal activity. The Kellwasser event is thus defined in the study area as stepwise and multi‐causal. This is the first time that the Kellwasser event has been identified in a sedimentary environment behind the shoreline. It is also the first time that it has been reported in the Catalan Coastal Ranges.
Psychological Characteristics of Male Youth Soccer Players: Specificity of Mental Attributes According to Age Categories

The psychological development of youth soccer players is limitedly understood and demands alternatives to gain entry in order to assist young players reaching elite levels. Distinguishing features of expertise and identifying factors that influence the player progression is highly recommended. Moreover, predicting success in youth soccer is a challenge at any age. The aim of this study is to investigate selected psychological skills of youth male Tunisian soccer players in different age categories. This study examines differences of 180 male youth soccer players between the ages of 15 and 19 years and from different youth class divisions. The subjects are divided into two groups, namely; U19 (n = 90) and U17 (n = 90), and are compared with regard to twelve psychological skills measured by means of the Ottawa Mental Skills Assessment Tool-3 (OMSAT-3) of Durand Bush et al. (2001). A significant difference in psychological skills is found in the various psychological skills. At the overall sample, U19 soccer players consistently outperform the U17 in term of confidence, stress reaction, activation and relaxation. The U19 soccer players belonging to the 1st youth class score higher values than the U17, in term of goal setting, confidence, stress reaction, activation, relaxation, focus, refocus and imagery. The results of the study provide support for the hypothesis that age differences in terms of psychological skills exist. More specifically, statistical evidence suggests that youth soccer players can be differentiated as a function of psychological skill and age category on the team.
Association between Homeostasis Model Assessment of Insulin Resistance (HOMA-IR) and Components of Metabolic Syndrome in Young Chinese Men

Background: To investigate the prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MetS) in young Chinese population and assess the association between HOMA-IR and different components of MetS in young Chinese men. Methods: Overall 5576 young Chinese subjects (age range [19–44 yr], 3636 men) were enrolled in, who visited our Health Care Center for a related health checkup from March to December 2008. The international diabetes federation (IDF) definition for MetS was used. The SPSS statistical package, version 11.5 was used for the statistical analysis. Results: The prevalence of MetS was 21.81% in young men and 5.62% in young women. According to suffering from different numbers of MetS components, the male subjects were divided into four groups. Numbers of MetS components were more and HOMA-IR values were significantly higher. In this male population, the quartile of HOMA-IR was higher, values of triglyceride (TG), fasting plasma glucose (FBG), systolic blood pressure(SBP), diastolic blood pressure(DBP) and waist circumference (WC) were all significantly higher, as well as high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) value was significantly lower (P= 0.000). In Spearman’s correlation analysis, HOMA-IR was positively correlated with TG, FBG, SBP, DBP and WC, and negatively correlated with HDL-C (r= 0.460, 0.464, 0.362, 0.346, 0.586, −0.357, respectively, all P value= 0.000). Conclusion: The prevalence of MetS in these young Chinese men was obviously high. Insulin resistance played an important role in occurrence and development of MetS. Waist circumference was the best correlation with HOMA-IR among all components of MetS.
A System-Level Modeling and Design for Cyber-Physical-Social Systems

The design of cyber-physical-social systems (CPSS) is a novel and challenging research field due that it emphasizes the deep fusion of cyberspace, physical space, and social space. In this article, we extend our previously proposed system-level design framework [Zeng et al. 2015] to tailor it to the needs of social scenario of multiple users. A hierarchical Petri net-based model and social flow are presented to extend the control flow and formally describe the social interactions of multiple users, respectively. By using the extended model, the system-level optimization for CPSS can be achieved by the improved design flow. Specifically, object emplacement and user satisfaction are further extended into the social environment. Also maximal power estimation algorithm is improved, leveraging the extended intermediate representation model. Finally, we use a smart office case to demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of our improved design approach for multiple users.
NIRFaceNet: A Convolutional Neural Network for Near-Infrared Face Identification

Near-infrared (NIR) face recognition has attracted increasing attention because of its advantage of illumination invariance. However, traditional face recognition methods based on NIR are designed for and tested in cooperative-user applications. In this paper, we present a convolutional neural network (CNN) for NIR face recognition (specifically face identification) in non-cooperative-user applications. The proposed NIRFaceNet is modified from GoogLeNet, but has a more compact structure designed specifically for the Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Automation (CASIA) NIR database and can achieve higher identification rates with less training time and less processing time. The experimental results demonstrate that NIRFaceNet has an overall advantage compared to other methods in the NIR face recognition domain when image blur and noise are present. The performance suggests that the proposed NIRFaceNet method may be more suitable for non-cooperative-user applications.
A COLQ Missense Mutation in Labrador Retrievers Having Congenital Myasthenic Syndrome

Congenital myasthenic syndromes (CMSs) are heterogeneous neuromuscular disorders characterized by skeletal muscle weakness caused by disruption of signal transmission across the neuromuscular junction (NMJ). CMSs are rarely encountered in veterinary medicine, and causative mutations have only been identified in Old Danish Pointing Dogs and Brahman cattle to date. Herein, we characterize a novel CMS in 2 Labrador Retriever littermates with an early onset of marked generalized muscle weakness. Because the sire and dam share 2 recent common ancestors, CMS is likely the result of recessive alleles inherited identical by descent (IBD). Genome-wide SNP profiles generated from the Illumina HD array for 9 nuclear family members were used to determine genomic inheritance patterns in chromosomal regions encompassing 18 functional candidate genes. SNP haplotypes spanning 3 genes were consistent with autosomal recessive transmission, and microsatellite data showed that only the segment encompassing COLQ was inherited IBD. COLQ encodes the collagenous tail of acetylcholinesterase, the enzyme responsible for termination of signal transduction in the NMJ. Sequences from COLQ revealed a variant in exon 14 (c.1010T>C) that results in the substitution of a conserved amino acid (I337T) within the C-terminal domain. Both affected puppies were homozygous for this variant, and 16 relatives were heterozygous, while 288 unrelated Labrador Retrievers and 112 dogs of other breeds were wild-type. A recent study in which 2 human CMS patients were found to be homozygous for an identical COLQ mutation (c.1010T>C; I337T) provides further evidence that this mutation is pathogenic. This report describes the first COLQ mutation in canine CMS and demonstrates the utility of SNP profiles from nuclear family members for the identification of private mutations.
A comparison of the “phrygian cap” deformity with bistable and gray scale ultrasound

Sixteen patients with a “phrygian cap” deformity of the gall bladder seen with oral cholecystography were further evaluated with both bistable and gray scale ultrasound. The bistable technique produced internal echoes that were suspicious of gall stones. When this same area was reevaluated with the more accurate gray scale technique, the folded‐fundus deformity was clearly visualized.
Diagnosis of Bovine Tuberculosis by PPD-ELISA and Sonication-ELISA

Mycobacterium bovis (M. bovis) infection in cattle remains a major zoonotic and economic problem in many countries. In addition, M. bovis is an important pathogen of both man and animals. The standard diag nostic test for this disease is the intradermal tuberculin test, one of the oldest immunological tests still in widespread use. However, this test can lack both sensitivity and specificity. Serological tests such as ELISA (Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay) have been suggested as an alternative method for the diagnosis of tuberculosis. In the present study, two serum ELISA’s, performed for the detection of M. bovis-specific antibodies, were evaluated against the culture of tissue samples from 135 slaughtered dairy cows, which were intradermal tuberculin-test-positive. ELISA plates were coated with Bovine Purified Protein Deriva tive (PPD B) and M. bovis-sonication antigen. Samples were taken from the bronchial (BLN), mesenteric (MLN) and prescapular (PLN) lymph nodes and tubercules (TB) of slaughtered cattle. Tissue samples were cultured in Lowenstein-Jensen medium. Blood samples, which were collected from the tuberculin-testpositive animals before slaughter, were tested by PPD B-ELISA (PPD-ELISA) and M. bovis sonicationELISA (sonication-ELISA). Mycobacterium spp. was isolated from 77 out of 135 cattle. Out of 135 cattle, 62 (45.9%) and 43 (31.8%) were determined to be positive for PPD-ELISA and sonication-ELISA, respec tively. Using culture-positive animals as a gold standard, the sensitivity and specificity of these two methods were detected as 48.2%-55.2% and 31.2%-44.5%, respectively.
Environmental correlates of phenotypic variation: do variable tidal regimes influence morphology in intertidal seaweeds?

Seaweed morphology is often shaped by the hydrodynamic environment. However, exposure to air at low tide represents an additional factor potentially affecting the morphology of intertidal species. Here, we examined the relationships between the morphology of Hormosira banksii, an important intertidal habitat‐forming seaweed in southern Australia, and environmental factors across multiple spatial scales around the island of Tasmania, Australia. Tasmania is surrounded by a diverse coastline with differences in wave exposure, tidal parameters, and temperature. We sampled Hormosira from four regions (100s km apart), three sites (10s km apart) within each region, and two zones (meters apart; eulittoral and sublittoral) at each site, and measured multiple morphological variables to test for differences in morphology at those different spatial scales. Thirteen environmental variables reflecting wave exposure, tidal conditions, and temperature for each site were generated to assess the relationship between Hormosira morphology and environmental variation. Morphology varied at all spatial scales examined. Most notably, north coast individuals had a distinct morphology, generally having smaller vesicles and shorter fronds, compared to other regions. Tidal conditions were the main environmental factors separating north coast sites from other sites and tidal regime was identified as the best predictor of morphological differences between regions. In contrast to other studies, we found little evidence that wave exposure was associated with morphological variation. Overall, our study emphasizes the role of tidal conditions, associated with emersion stress during low tide, in affecting the morphology of intertidal seaweeds.
Assessing the effects of cattle exclusion practices on water quality in headwater streams in the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia

Livestock best management practices (BMPs) such as streamside exclusion fencing are installed to reduce cattle impacts on stream water quality such as increases in bacteria through direct deposition and sediment through trampling. The main objective of this study is to assess the effects of different cattle management strategies on water quality. The project site was located near Keezletown, VA encompassing Cub Run and Mountain Valley Road Tributary streams. During two, one-week studies, eight automatic water samplers took two-hour composites for three periods: baseline, cattle access, and recovery. During the cattle access period, livestock were able to enter the riparian zone normally fenced off. Water samples were analyzed for E.coli, sediment, and nutrients to understand the short-term, high-density, or flash grazing, impact on water quality. Additional weekly grab and storm samples were collected. Results show that cattle do not have significant influence on pollutant concentrations except in stream locations where cattle gathered for an extensive period of time. Approximately three cattle in the stream created an increase in turbidity above baseline concentrations. E.coli and TSS concentrations of the impacted sites returned to baseline within approximately 6 to 20 hours of peak concentrations. Weekly samples show that flash grazing does not have a significant influence on pollutant concentrations over a two-year time frame. Sediment loads from storms and a flash grazing event showed similar patterns. Pollutant concentrations through the permanent exclusion fencing reach tended to decrease for weekly and flash grazing samples.