Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A comparative study of voice conversion techniques: A review

Speaker identity, the sound of a person's voice, is one of the most important characteristics in human communication. Voice conversion (VC) is an emergent problem in voice and speech processing that deals with the process of modifying a speaker's identity. More particularly, the speech signal spoken by the source speaker is modified to sound a sifit had been pronounced by another speaker, referred to as the target speaker. A variety of VC techniques has been proposed since the first appearance of the voice conversion problem. The choice among those techniques represents a compromise between the similarity of the converted voice to the target voice and the quality of the output speech signal, both rated by the used technique. In this paper, we review a comprehensive state-of-the-art of voice conversion techniques while pointing out their advantages and disadvantages. These techniques will be applied in significant and most versatile areas of speech technology; applications that are far beyond speech synthesis.
Adaptación para niños de la prueba de amplitud lectora de Daneman y Carpenter (PAL-N)

Resumen La Memoria operativa se ha considerado como uno de los componentes básicos de la cognición y la medida de su amplitud muy relevante para el estudio de las diferencias individuales en tareas cognitivas complejas. El objetivo de este trabajo es realizar una adaptación para niños de 10–11 años de la Prueba de Amplitud para la Lectura de Daneman y Carpenter (1980) a partir de la adaptación realizada para adultos por Elosúa et al. (1996). Para ello se llevaron a cabo tres estudios diferentes. En el primer estudio adaptamos la dificultad de las frases al nivel de comprensión de los niños. En el segundo estudio elaboramos y administramos la nueva prueba de Memoria Operativa. En el tercer estudio analizamos las relaciones entre la nueva prueba de Amplitud para la Lectura para Niños (PAL-N) y una nueva prueba de memoria operativa para el razonamiento (Ramos y Gutiérrez, 2008), así como su capacidad predictiva con respecto a las diferencias individuales en comprensión lectora y en inteligencia fluida. Los resultados mostraron que PAL-N es discriminativa para medir la amplitud de MO y predice las diferencias individuales.
Management of Obstructive Sleep Apnea in Adults: A Clinical Practice Guideline From the American College of Physicians

DESCRIPTION The American College of Physicians (ACP) developed this guideline to present the evidence and provide clinical recommendations on the management of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in adults. METHODS This guideline is based on published literature from 1966 to September 2010 that was identified by using MEDLINE, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. A supplemental MEDLINE search identified additional articles through October 2012. Searches were limited to English-language publications. The clinical outcomes evaluated for this guideline included cardiovascular disease (such as heart failure, hypertension, stroke, and myocardial infarction), type 2 diabetes, death, sleep study measures (such as the Apnea-Hypopnea Index), measures of cardiovascular status (such as blood pressure), measures of diabetes status (such as hemoglobin A1c levels), and quality of life. This guideline grades the evidence and recommendations using ACP's clinical practice guidelines grading system. RECOMMENDATION 1 ACP recommends that all overweight and obese patients diagnosed with OSA should be encouraged to lose weight. (Grade: strong recommendation; low-quality evidence) RECOMMENDATION 2 ACP recommends continuous positive airway pressure treatment as initial therapy for patients diagnosed with OSA. (Grade: strong recommendation; moderate-quality evidence) RECOMMENDATION 3 ACP recommends mandibular advancement devices as an alternative therapy to continuous positive airway pressure treatment for patients diagnosed with OSA who prefer mandibular advancement devices or for those with adverse effects associated with continuous positive airway pressure treatment. (Grade: weak recommendation; low-quality evidence).
Host cell invasion by trypanosomes requires lysosomes and microtubule/kinesin-mediated transport

Invasion of mammalian cells by the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi occurs by an actin-independent mechanism distinct from phagocytosis. Clusters of host lysosomes are observed at the site of parasite attachment, and lysosomal markers are detected in the vacuolar membrane at early stages of the entry process. These observations led to the hypothesis that the trypanosomes recruit host lysosomes to their attachment site, and that lysosomal fusion serves as a source of membrane to form the parasitophorous vacuole. Here we directly demonstrate directional migration of lysosomes to the parasite entry site, using time-lapse video-enhanced microscopy of L6E9 myoblasts exposed to T. cruzi trypomastigotes. BSA-gold-loaded lysosomes moved towards the cell periphery, in the direction of the parasite attachment site, but only when their original position was less than 11-12 microns from the invasion site. Lysosomes more distant from the invasion area exhibited only the short multi-directional saltatory movements previously described for lysosomes, regardless of their proximity to the cell margins. Specific depletion of peripheral lysosomes was obtained by microinjection of NRK cells with antibodies against the cytoplasmic domain of lgp 120, a treatment that aggregated lysosomes in the perinuclear area and inhibited T. cruzi entry. The microtubule- binding drugs nocodazole, colchicine, vinblastine, and taxol also inhibited invasion, in both NRK and L6E9 cells. Furthermore, microinjection of antibodies to the heavy chain of kinesin blocked the acidification-induced, microtubule-dependent redistribution of lysosomes to the host cell periphery, and reduced trypomastigote entry. Our results therefore demonstrate that during T. cruzi invasion of host cells lysosomes are mobilized from the immediately surrounding area, and that availability of lysosomes at the cell periphery and microtubule/kinesin-mediated transport are requirements for parasite entry.
Long‐term outcome following pediatric liver transplantation for metabolic disorders

Stevenson T, Millan MT, Wayman K, Berquist WE, Sarwal M, Johnston EE, Esquivel CO, Enns GM. Long‐term outcome following pediatric liver transplantation for metabolic disorders. Pediatr Transplant 2010:14:268–275. © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, A/S.
Strategies for the targeted delivery of therapeutics for osteosarcoma

Background: Conventional therapy for osteosarcoma has reached a plateau of 60 – 70%, a 5-year survival rate that has changed little in two decades, highlighting the need for new approaches. Objective: To review the alternative means of delivering effective therapy for osteosarcoma that reach beyond the central venous catheter. Methods: Drawing on the author's own experiences providing care to high-risk osteosarcoma patients and reviewing the last two decades of literature describing sarcoma therapy, available information is summarized about potential osteosarcoma treatments that deliver therapy by a less conventional route. Results/conclusions: Intra-arterial chemotherapy has a limited impact on survival, but may help to achieve a better limb salvage. Intrapleural chemotherapy is important for managing malignant effusions. The development of inhalation therapies, treatments that target new bone formation such as bisphosphonates, chemically targeted radiation and antibody-based therapies all have potential to improve osteosarcoma therapy.
Mothers’ reports of infant crying and soothing in a multicultural population

OBJECTIVES To investigate the prevalence of infant crying and maternal soothing techniques in relation to ethnic origin and other sociodemographic variables. DESIGN A questionnaire survey among mothers of 2–3 month old infants registered at six child health clinics in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. SUBJECTS A questionnaire on sociodemographic characteristics and crying behaviour was completed for 1826 of 2180 (84%) infants invited with their parents to visit the child health clinics. A questionnaire on soothing techniques was also filled out at home for 1142 (63%) of these infants. RESULTS Overall prevalences of “crying for three or more hours/24 hour day”, “crying a lot”, and “difficult to comfort” were 7.6%, 14.0%, and 10.3%, respectively. Problematic infant crying was reported by 20.3% of the mothers. Of these infants, only 14% met all three inclusion criteria. Problematic crying occurred less frequently among girls, second and later born children, Surinamese infants, and breast fed infants. Many mothers used soothing techniques that could affect their infant’s health negatively. Shaking, slapping, and putting the baby to sleep in a prone position were more common among non-Dutch (especially Turkish) mothers than among Dutch mothers. Poorly educated mothers slapped their baby more often than highly educated mothers. CONCLUSIONS Mothers’ reports of infant crying and soothing varied sociodemographically. Much harm may be prevented by counselling parents (especially immigrants) on how and how not to respond to infant crying. Health education should start before the child’s birth, because certain soothing techniques could be fatal, even when practised for the first time. Key messages Problematic infant crying was reported by 20.3% of mothers Many mothers used soothing techniques that could affect their infant’s health negatively Undesirable soothing techniques were more prevalent among immigrant mothers Much harm might be prevented by counselling parents (especially immigrants) on how and how not to respond to infant crying
Single‐species dynamic site selection

Methods for designing regional reserve networks mostly concentrate on pro- viding maximal representation of species occurring in the region. Representation-based methods, however, typically consider a static snapshot of species incidences, and the spatial dynamics of the species are ignored. It has been empirically demonstrated that reserves designed using representation do not guarantee another important goal of reserve design: long-term persistence. The question studied here is the following: Which subset of sites do you select to maximize the long-term persistence of a species living in a metapopulation, given that each site has a cost and the amount of resource (e.g., money) available is limited? We present an optimization method, which uses a combination of evolutionary optimization (a genetic algorithm) and local search to find the optimal selection of sites. The quality of each candidate solution is evaluated using a spatially realistic metapopulation model, the incidence function model. The proposed method is applied to a metapopulation of the false heath fritillary butterfly, an endangered species in Finland. With this data set, the proposed estimation method produces intuitively acceptable and consistent results within minutes of computation time. Sites favored by the algorithm are located in three patch clusters, and they tend to be inexpensive and initially occupied. Expensive and/or very isolated patches are rarely selected into the optimal site selection.
Error Monitoring Using External Feedback: Specific Roles of the Habenular Complex, the Reward System, and the Cingulate Motor Area Revealed by Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging

The dopaminergic system has been shown to be involved in the processing of rewarding stimuli, specifically of errors in reward prediction, in animal studies as well as in recent neuroimaging studies in humans. Furthermore, a specific role of dopamine in the human homolog of the rostral cingulate motor area (rCMA) was proposed in a recent model of error detection. Negative feedback as well as self-detected errors elicit a negative event-related brain potential probably generated in the rCMA. We performed two experiments using functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate the brain activity related to negative and positive feedback in a dynamically adaptive motion prediction task. Whereas positive feedback raised hemodynamic activity in the ventral striatum (nucleus accumbens), negative feedback activated the rCMA, the inferior anterior insula, and the epithalamus (habenular complex). These data demonstrate the role of the habenular complex in the control of the human reward system, a function previously hypothesized on the basis of animal research. The rCMA reacted only to errors with negative feedback but not to errors without feedback, which ruled out an influence of response conflict or uncertainty on its role in error detection by external signals.
Overview of Fiber Optic Sensor Technologies for Strain/Temperature Sensing Applications in Composite Materials

This paper provides an overview of the different types of fiber optic sensors (FOS) that can be used with composite materials and also their compatibility with and suitability for embedding inside a composite material. An overview of the different types of FOS used for strain/temperature sensing in composite materials is presented. Recent trends, and future challenges for FOS technology for condition monitoring in smart composite materials are also discussed. This comprehensive review provides essential information for the smart materials industry in selecting of appropriate types of FOS in accordance with end-user requirements.
The influence of temperament and character dimensions on marital satisfaction

Objective: The purpose of the present study was to explore the relations between temperament and character dimensions of personality and marital satisfaction. Methods: More specifically, the present study investigated the relationship between the Temperament and Character Inventory and the Dyadic Adjustment Scale in a sample of 55 married couples. Results: The temperament scale reward dependence correlated significantly with the satis-faction, consensus of opinion, and marital adjustment scores. The temperament scale persistence correlated significantly with the attachment score. The temperament scale harm avoidance negatively correlated significantly with the attachment score. The character scale cooperativeness correlated significantly with the satisfaction score. Conclusion: High ‘reward dependence’ is probably a basic factor in marital satisfaction.
Glycolipid-Dependent, Protease Sensitive Internalization of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Into Cultured Human Respiratory Epithelial Cells

Internalization of PAK strain Pseudomonas aeruginosa into human respiratory epithelial cell lines and HeLa cervical cancer cells in vitro was readily demonstrable via a gentamycin protection assay. Depletion of target cell glycosphingolipids (GSLs) using a glucosyl ceramide synthase inhibitor, P4, completely prevented P. aeruginosa internalization. In contrast, P4 treatment had no effect on the internalization of Salmonella typhimurium into HeLa cells. Internalized P. aeruginosa were within membrane vacuoles, often containing microvesicles, between the bacterium and the limiting membrane. P. aeruginosa internalization was markedly enhanced by target cell pretreatment with the exogenous GSL, deacetyl gangliotetraosyl ceramide (Gg4). Gg4 binds the lipid raft marker, GM1 ganglioside. Target cell pretreatment with TLCK, but not other (serine) protease inhibitors, prevented both P. aeruginosa host cell binding and internalization. NFkB inhibition also prevented internalization. A GSL-containing lipid-raft model of P. aeruginosa host cell binding/internalization is proposed
Reliable and Cost Efficient Passive Optical Interconnects for Data Centers

To address the sustainability, scalability, and reliability problems that data centers are currently facing, we propose three passive optical interconnect (POI) architectures on top of the rack. The evaluation results show that all three architectures offer high reliability performance (connection availability for intra-rack interconnections higher than 99.999%) in a cost-efficient way.
Timing, energy, and thermal performance of three-dimensional integrated circuits

We examine the performance of custom circuits in an emerging technology known as three-dimensional integration. By combining multiple device layers with a high-density inter-layer interconnect, 3D integration of a given circuit is expected to provide better timing and energy performance relative to a single-wafer implementation of the same circuit. In this paper, we show that by using our performance-driven design tool for 3D ICs, the interconnect energy dissipation of standard-cell circuits can be reduced by 24% to 42% using two to five device layers respectively. Similarly, the interconnect energy-delay product can be reduced by 30% to 50%. At the same time, thermal performance in 3D ICs is expected to be a critical issue. By incorporating thermal management and analysis into our placement tool, we may investigate the thermal scalability of 3D integration. We find that the thermal performance actually can be improved with the use of a modest number of additional device layers. Also, we show that the absolute die temperature can be controlled through the use of extra silicon.
Dimerization Is Essential for 14-3-3ζ Stability and Function in Vivo*

Members of the conserved 14-3-3 protein family spontaneously self-assemble as homo- and heterodimers via conserved sequences in the first four (αA-αD) of the nine helices that comprise them. Dimeric 14-3-3s bind conserved motifs in diverse protein targets involved in multiple essential cellular processes including signaling, intracellular trafficking, cell cycle regulation, and modulation of enzymatic activities. However, recent mostly in vitro evidence has emerged, suggesting functional and regulatory roles for monomeric 14-3-3s. We capitalized on the simplicity of the 14-3-3 family in Drosophila to investigate in vivo 14-3-3ζ monomer properties and functionality. We report that dimerization is essential for the stability and function of 14-3-3ζ in neurons. Moreover, we reveal the contribution of conserved amino acids in helices A and D to homo- and heterodimerization and their functional consequences on the viability of animals devoid of endogenous 14-3-3ζ. Finally, we present evidence suggesting endogenous homeostatic adjustment of the levels of the second family member in Drosophila, D14-3-3ϵ, to transgenic monomeric and dimerization-competent 14-3-3ζ.
The Disconnected Values Model: Intervention Strategies for Exercise Behavior Change

This article proposes a new approach to health behavior change, the disconnected values (intervention) model (DVM). The DVM consists of predetermined cognitive-behavioral strategies for initiating and maintaining changes in health behavior, such as the implementation of an exercise program. The model consists of helping clients (a) examine the benefits, in contrast to the costs and long-term consequences, of the habit they most want to change; (b) identify their deepest values and beliefs (e.g., health, family, faith, integrity); (c) detect a “disconnect” between the negative habit and the identified values; and (d) conclude whether the disconnect is acceptable, given its costs and long-term consequences. The client’s conclusion that the disconnect is unacceptable creates incentive and commitment for health behavior change. The theoretical foundations of the DVM are explained, and its specific application for exercise behavior change is described. Three outcome studies also are reported, as well as a brie.
A stopping criterion for the conjugate gradient algorithm in the framework of anisotropic adaptive finite elements

We propose a simple stopping criterion for the conjugate gradient (CG) algorithm in the framework of anisotropic, adaptive finite elements for elliptic problems. The goal of the adaptive algorithm is to find a triangulation such that the estimated relative error is close to a given tolerance TOL. We propose to stop the CG algorithm whenever the residual vector has Euclidian norm less than a small fraction of the estimated error. This stopping criterion is based on a posteriori error estimates between the true solution u and the computed solution u(h)(n) (the superscript n stands for the CG iteration number, the subscript It for the typical mesh size) and on heuristics to relate the error between u(h) and u(h)(n) to the residual vector.
Efficacy and safety of retapamulin ointment as treatment of impetigo: randomized double‐blind multicentre placebo‐controlled trial

Summary Background Impetigo is a common skin infection, primarily caused by Staphylococcus aureus and mainly occurring in children. It is usually treated topically with antibiotics to achieve a quick cure and prevent spread of the infection. Worldwide, resistance rates of S. aureus against commonly used antibiotics are rising. Retapamulin belongs to a newly developed class of antibiotics for the treatment of uncomplicated skin infections.
ISO 24617-2: A semantically-based standard for dialogue annotation

This paper summarizes the latest, final version of ISO standard 24617-2 ``Semantic annotation framework, Part 2: Dialogue acts"""". Compared to the preliminary version ISO DIS 24617-2:2010, described in Bunt et al. (2010), the final version additionally includes concepts for annotating rhetorical relations between dialogue units, defines a full-blown compositional semantics for the Dialogue Act Markup Language DiAML (resulting, as a side-effect, in a different treatment of functional dependence relations among dialogue acts and feedback dependence relations); and specifies an optimally transparent XML-based reference format for the representation of DiAML annotations, based on the systematic application of the notion of `ideal concrete syntax'. We describe these differences and briefly discuss the design and implementation of an incremental method for dialogue act recognition, which proves the usability of the ISO standard for automatic dialogue annotation.
Characterization of a CREB Gain-of-Function Mutant with Constitutive Transcriptional Activity In Vivo

ABSTRACT The cyclic AMP (cAMP)-responsive factor CREB promotes cellular gene expression, following its phosphorylation at Ser133, via recruitment of the coactivator paralogs CREB-binding protein (CBP) and p300. CBP and p300, in turn, appear to mediate target gene induction via their association with RNA polymerase II complexes and via intrinsic histone acetyltransferase activities that mobilize promoter-bound nucleosomes. In addition to cAMP, a wide variety of stimuli, including hypoxia, UV irradiation, and growth factor addition, induce Ser133 phosphorylation with stoichiometry and kinetics comparable to those induced by cAMP. Yet a number of these signals are incapable of promoting target gene activation via CREB phosphorylation per se, suggesting the presence of additional regulatory events either at the level of CREB-CBP complex formation or in the subsequent recruitment of the transcriptional apparatus. Here we characterize a Tyr134Phe CREB mutant that behaves as a constitutive activator in vivo. Like protein kinase A (PKA)-stimulated wild-type CREB, the Tyr134Phe polypeptide was found to stimulate target gene expression via the Ser133-dependent recruitment of CBP and p300. Biochemical studies reveal that mutation of Tyr134 to Phe lowers the Km for PKA phosphorylation and thereby induces high levels of constitutive Ser133 phosphorylation in vivo. Consistent with its constitutive activity, Tyr134Phe CREB strongly promoted differentiation of PC12 cells in concert with suboptimal doses of nerve growth factor. Taken together, these results demonstrate that Ser133 phosphorylation is sufficient for cellular gene activation and that additional signal-dependent modifications of CBP or p300 are not required for recruitment of the transcriptional apparatus to the promoter.