Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Automatic punctuation annotation in czech broadcast news speech

This paper reports our initial experiments with automatic punctuation annotation from speech. We have focused on Czech broadcast news speech. We employed two statistical models - prosodic model and language model. The prosodic model expresses relationships between prosodic quantities (such as pitch, speaking rate or loudness) and punctuation marks. We tested two implementations of this model -- decision tree and multi-layer perceptron. Hidden-event N-gram models were employed for language modeling. Instead of using an ordinary word-based model, we replaced infrequent word forms by their morphological tags and trained a mixed model. Scores from both models can be combined. The model combining language model with the decision tree yielded superior results. Testing on true words we achieved classification accuracy 95.2% and F-measure 78.2%.
Production of Biocalcium from Fermented Fish Bone Residue for Fish Emulsion Sausage Fortification

Fermented fish bone residue (FFBR) is an underused by-product of the industrial-scale production of fermented fish sauce. Subjecting FFBR to proper alkaline treatment can transform FFBR into biocalcium, which can be added to fish emulsion sausage (FES) to increase its calcium content. This study comprised two experiments. First, we aimed to find the most suitable alkaline treatment conditions for preparing biocalcium from FFBR. Alkaline treatments combining three sodium hydroxide (NaOH) concentrations (0%, 3%, and 6%) and three soaking times (0, 1, and 2 h) were tested. Quality parameters of alkaline-treated biocalcium (crude protein, crude fat, ash content, calcium, phosphorus, crude fiber, salt content, CIE color values, morphology of biocalcium particles, and the intensity of the fermented fish smell) were assessed. Second, we fortified FES with the properly treated biocalcium (0, 12, 24, or 36 g) and evaluated the sausage’s calcium, phosphorus, crude fiber, salt content, pH, CIE color values, texture profile analysis (TPA), emulsion stability, and sensory criteria. It was found that treatment with 3% or 6% NaOH produced better crude protein, ash content, calcium, and CIE color value results than no alkaline treatment. These two NaOH concentrations effectively lowered the salt content and the intensity of the fermented fish smell. However, 3% and 6% NaOH produced similar results. A soaking time of 1 h or 2 h produced better results than no soaking in terms of crude protein, crude fat, ash content, calcium, phosphorus, CIE color values, and the intensity of fermented fish smell. However, 1 h and 2 h produced similar results. It is concluded that 3% NaOH and soaking for 1 h would be the most suitable alkaline treatment to prepare biocalcium from FFBR. Fortifying FES with biocalcium from FFBR increased the calcium and phosphorus contents but slightly reduced TPA. The other FES quality parameters were unaffected by biocalcium fortification.
Impact of Imperfect Information on the Optimal Exercise Strategy for Warrants

In this paper, we determine the optimal exercise strategy for corporate warrants if investors suffer from imperfect information and we evaluate the impact of this friction on the value of a warrant. For this purpose, we address both exercises at maturity, where imperfect information about the firm value is present, and exercises before maturity which are impacted by imperfect information about the size of the dividend. We model imperfect information so that all warrant holders know that they obtain biased signals of the true state without observing the signals of other warrant holders. The optimal exercise strategy follows from a complex game among warrant holders in which every individual warrant holder must account for the potential signals of the other warrant holders and their resulting exercise decisions. The main findings are that due to imperfect information warrant holders optimally start to exercise their warrants later than without imperfect information. Moreover, a simple block exercise strategy is always an equilibrium strategy for a high degree of imperfect information before maturity, even though a partial exercise can be the unique strategy without imperfect information. Remarkably, imperfect information does not necessarily result in a lower warrant value. As long as a warrant holder has a signal that allows for correct exercise decisions, then imperfect information enhances the warrant value due to suboptimal exercises by other investors.
Stability of long circular tunnels in sloping ground

ABSTRACT Assessment of tunnel stability has become increasingly crucial as more and more tunnels are built in difficult terrains such as sloping ground. The required support pressure on the tunnel walls associates both tunnel stability and liner design considerations. The present analysis attempts to find a uniform internal pressure which can support a circular tunnel built in a sloping ground with a particular level of stability in cohesive-frictional soils. The lower bound finite element limit analysis has been applied to find the required minimum uniform internal support pressure presented as a non-dimensional term p/c; where p is the minimum normal internal pressure on the tunnel boundary to avoid collapse and c is the cohesion of soil. The variation of p/c is presented for a range of normalised embedment depth of tunnel (H/D), stability number (γD/c), internal friction angle of soil (ϕ) and slope angle (β); where H is the crown depth of the tunnel, D is the tunnel diameter and γ is the unit weight of soil. Appropriate comparisons have been carried out with available literature. Failure patterns of the tunnel have also been studied to understand the extent and the type of failure zone which may generate during the collapse.
Changes in activities of several enzymes for carbohydrate metabolism in the rat submaxillary gland in response to experimental diabetes and insulin treatment.

It is well known that polydipsia related with hyperglycemia is commonly found under the diabetic condition. It may reasonably be assumed that such a situation has a marked influence on the function of the salivary gland, since fluid with the volume almost comparable to that of the urine is excreted from the salivary gland in the case of healthy human subjects. However, only a few studies have been made on the function of the salivary gland in relation with diabetes [1, 2, 3]. In the present study, the author examined the activity of several enzymes for carbohydrate metabolism in the rat submaxillary gland under the experimental diabetic condition. In vitro study was also performed if insulin had a direct effect on the salivary gland.
Family and psychosocial risk factors in a longitudinal epidemiological study of adolescents.

OBJECTIVE To study the association of family and social risk factors with psychopathology in a longitudinal study of adolescents. METHOD From 1986 to 1988, 3,419 seventh through ninth graders were screened with the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. The top decile scorers and a random sample of the remainder were interviewed using the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Age Children (n = 581). Follow-up interviews were completed 6 years later (mean age = 18.65; n = 490). Baseline variables are associated with baseline and follow-up diagnoses. Diagnoses are grouped by affective, disruptive, and anxiety disorders. RESULTS The frequency of psychiatric diagnosis decreased from 19.9% (baseline) to 5.7% (follow-up). In multivariable logistic regression analyses controlling for race, gender, and socioeconomic status, baseline undesirable life events and low family cohesion are associated with any disorder and affective disorder at baseline. Not living with both biological parents at baseline increases the odds ratio (OR) for affective disorder at baseline (OR 3.45; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.68-7.08) and follow-up (OR 4.40; CI = 1.26-15.40). At baseline and follow-up, anxiety and affective disorders are associated with being white and anxiety disorder with being female. CONCLUSIONS Family structure and cohesion and stressful life events are associated with affective disorders in adolescents.
Effect of right ventricular function and tricuspid regurgitation on outcomes after transcatheter aortic valve implantation: forgotten side of the heart.

Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) has rapidly evolved during the past decade and is now well established for the treatment of patients with severe, symptomatic stenosis at increased surgical risk. Results from randomized clinical trials reported long-term outcomes, which were comparable or superior to surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) among patients at intermediate to high surgical risk.1,2 Over the years, technological advancement in valve design and delivery, optimized peri-interventional medical management, and, not least, improved patient selection have led to breathtaking improvements in periprocedural outcomes. This development has been recently highlighted by the report of the 30-day results of the Placement of Aortic Transcatheter Valve (PARTNER) II S3 trial performed in high (Society of Thoracic Surgeons [STS] score, 8.6%) and intermediate risk (mean STS score, 5.3%) patients. Using the Edwards Sapien 3 system (Edwards Lifesciences, Irvine, CA), the investigators reported exceedingly low rates of mortality (2.2% and 1.1% in the high- and intermediate-risk cohort, respectively), with an observed to estimated (STS score based) ratio of mortality of 0.26 in the high-risk cohort and 0.21 in the intermediate-risk cohort. For the purpose of comparison, the 30-day mortality in the transcatheter group of the PARTNER A trial amounted to 5.2% with an observed to estimated mortality ratio of 0.44. 3 Notwithstanding, despite the indisputable benefits of TAVI, the recently published long-term data from the PARTNER B trial highlighted the high mortality (72%) and readmission rates (48%) within 5 years of follow-up among inoperable TAVI patients.4 Ideally, improvements in clinical outcomes after TAVI should go beyond a reduction in mortality and also address improvements in quality of life. Therefore, it is of pivotal importance for the Heart Team to identify patients and lesions who benefit most from this intervention. See Article by Lindman et al Several independent predictors of …
BEAR, a Novel Virtual Screening Methodology for Drug Discovery

BEAR (binding estimation after refinement) is a new virtual screening technology based on the conformational refinement of docking poses through molecular dynamics and prediction of binding free energies using accurate scoring functions. Here, the authors report the results of an extensive benchmark of the BEAR performance in identifying a smaller subset of known inhibitors seeded in a large (1.5 million) database of compounds. BEAR performance proved strikingly better if compared with standard docking screening methods. The validations performed so far showed that BEAR is a reliable tool for drug discovery. It is fast, modular, and automated, and it can be applied to virtual screenings against any biological target with known structure and any database of compounds.
Plant lignin content altered by soil microbial community.

Questions have been raised in various fields of research about the consequences of plants with modified lignin production. As a result of their roles in nutrient cycling and plant diversity, plant-soil interactions should be a major focus of ecological studies on lignin-modified plants. However, most studies have been decomposition studies conducted in a single soil or in sterile soil. Thus, we understand little about plant-soil interactions in living lignin-modified plants. In lignin mutants of three different barley (Hordeum vulgare) cultivars and their corresponding wild-types associated with three different soil microbial communities, we asked: do plant-soil microbiome interactions influence the lignin content of plants? ; does a mutation in lignin production alter the outcome of plant-soil microbiome interactions? ; does the outcome of plant-soil microbiome interactions depend on host genotype or the presence of a mutation altering lignin production? In roots, the soil community explained 6% of the variation in lignin content, but, in shoots, the soil community explained 21% of the variation in lignin content and was the only factor influencing lignin content. Neither genotype nor mutations in lignin production explained associations with fungi. Lignin content changes in response to a plant's soil microbial community, and may be a defensive response to particular components of the soil community.
What is your response? It’s time to get personal

This paper describes a study which used a personal response system (PRS) for formative assessment and feedback during taught sessions. The aim of the study being to see whether there was a positive impact on the students‟ final grades in the end of module summative multiple choice question assessment. Previous research into the use of a PRS demonstrated the effectiveness of the tool to increase classroom interactivity. On evaluation, 98.5% of students identified the PRS as being easy to use, 92.5% perceived that the PRS was beneficial to their learning and 86.5% stated that it was a useful tool for preparation for examination. At the beginning of the module each student was issued with an individual, identifiable handset, which was programmed with a unique code. During the module delivery, six to eight multiple choice questions were given to the students each week as formative assessment on the topic covered. The data was saved and collated. The formative scores were then made available to the students to enable them to monitor their own progress. Each handset was linked to a database which contained the students‟ demographic details. This process allowed the module leader to identify individual student achievement. Student confidentiality was maintained, as the formative scores were released only using the unique code. The aim of the study is to identify whether the teaching and learning strategy improved overall cohort achievement in comparison to the previous cohort. Additional objectives being to discern whether the individual PRS scores can be used to predict individual student performance at summative MCQ examination, and whether attendance at the PRS sessions was in itself an indicator of success.
EVALUATION OF EFFICACY OF CHLORHEXIDINE AND A HERBAL MOUTHWASH ON DENTAL PLAQUE: AN INVITRO COMPARATIVE STUDY

An invitro study to compare the efficacy, safety and antimicrobial properties of a herbal mouthwash with chlorhexidine mouthwash invitro in patients with established plaque was conducted. A total of 20 plaque samples were collected from periodontitis patients and healthy patients and were streaked on blood agar plate. Well Diffusion method was used to compare chlorhexidine gluconate, herbal mouthwash and normal saline. The streaked blood agar plate was incubated at 37° for 24 h and examined for the zones of inhibition. There was no statistically significant difference P=0.062(P>0.05) in the antimicrobial property between the two mouthwashes (Chlorhexidine and Herbal). It was concluded that the herbal and chlorhexidine mouthwash were equally effective invitro suggesting that the herbal mouthwash may be used therapeutically in the future to inhibit oral microbial growth.
Storyboard sketches for Content Based Video Retrieval

We present a novel Content Based Video Retrieval (CBVR) system, driven by free-hand sketch queries depicting both objects and their movement (via dynamic cues; streak-lines and arrows). Our main contribution is a probabilistic model of video clips (based on Linear Dynamical Systems), leading to an algorithm for matching descriptions of sketched objects to video. We demonstrate our model fitting to clips under static and moving camera conditions, exhibiting linear and oscillatory motion. We evaluate retrieval on two real video data sets, and on a video data set exhibiting controlled variation in shape, color, motion and clutter.
Noncoherent MMSE interference suppression for DS-CDMA

In this paper, a novel robust noncoherent receiver for MMSE interference suppression for DS-CDMA is proposed. The receiver consists of an MMSE filter and a decision-feedback differential detector (DF-DD). The performance of the proposed scheme is investigated analytically and by computer simulations. It is shown that the loss compared to coherent MMSE interference suppression is limited and can be made arbitrarily small by increasing the observation window used for calculation of the reference symbol of the DF-DD. For adjustment of the MMSE filter coefficients a noncoherent normalized least-mean-square (NC-NLMS) algorithm is proposed which is robust against channel phase variations.
‐Dynamic representation of whisker deflection by synaptic potentials in spiny stellate and pyramidal cells in the barrels and septa of layer 4 rat somatosensory cortex

Whole‐cell voltage recordings were made in vivo from excitatory neurons (n= 23) in layer 4 of the barrel cortex in urethane‐anaesthetised rats. Their receptive fields (RFs) for a brief whisker deflection were mapped, the position of the cell soma relative to barrel borders was determined for 15 cells and dendritic and axonal arbors were reconstructed for all cells. Three classes of neurons were identified: spiny stellate cells and pyramidal cells located in barrels and pyramidal cells located in septa. Dendritic and, with some exceptions, axonal arborisations of barrel cells were mostly restricted to the borders of a column with a cross sectional area of a barrel, defining a cytoarchitectonic barrel‐column. Dendrites and axons of septum cells, in contrast, mostly extended across barrel borders. The subthreshold RFs measured by evoked postsynaptic potentials (PSPs) comprised a principal whisker (PW) and several surround whiskers (SuWs) indicating that deflection of a single whisker is represented in multiple barrels and septa. Barrel cells responded with larger depolarisation to stimulation of the PW (13.7 ± 4.6 mV (mean ±S.D.), n= 10) than septum cells (5.7 ± 2.4 mV, n= 5), the gradient between peak responses to PW and SuW deflection was steeper and the latency of depolarisation onset was shorter (8 ± 1.4 ms vs. 11 ± 2 ms). In barrel cells the response onset and the peak to SuW deflection was delayed depending on the distance to the PW thus indicating that the spatial representation of a single whisker deflection in the barrel map is dynamic and varies on the scale of milliseconds to tens of milliseconds. Septum cells responded later and with comparable latencies to PW and SuW stimulation. Spontaneous (0.053 ± 0.12 action potentials (APs) s−1) and evoked APs (0.14 ± 0.29 APs per principal whisker (PW) stimulus) were sparse. We conclude that PSPs in ensembles of barrel cells represent dynamically the deflection of a single whisker with high temporal and spatial acuity, initially by the excitation in a single PW‐barrel followed by multi‐barrel excitation. This presumably reflects the divergence of thalamocortical projections to different barrels. Septum cell PSPs preferably represent multiple whisker deflections, but less dynamically and with less spatial acuity.
Unraveling Light-Activated Insulin Action in Regulating Blood Glucose: New Photoactivatable Insight as a Novel Modality in Diabetes Management

Diabetes, particularly type 2 diabetes (T2D), is the main component of metabolic syndrome. It is highly prevalent and has drastically increased with sedentary lifestyles, notably behaviors linked to ease of access and minimal physical activity. Central to this condition is insulin, which plays a pivotal role in regulating glucose levels in the body by aiding glucose uptake and storage in cells, and what happens to diabetes? In diabetes, there is a disruption and malfunction in insulin regulation. Despite numerous efforts, effectively addressing diabetes remains a challenge. This article explores the potential of photoactivatable drugs in diabetes treatment, with a focus on light-activated insulin. We discuss its advantages and significant implications. This article is expected to enrich the existing literature substantially, offering a comprehensive analysis of potential strategies for improving diabetes management. With its minimal physical intrusion, light-activated insulin promises to improve patient comfort and treatment adherence. It offers precise regulation and localized impact, potentially mitigating the risks associated with conventional diabetes treatments. Additionally, light-activated insulin is capable of explicitly targeting RNA and epigenetic factors. This innovative approach may pave the way for more personalized and effective diabetes treatments, addressing not only the symptoms but also the underlying biological causes of the disease. The advancement of light-activated insulin could revolutionize diabetes management. This study represents a pioneering introduction to this novel modality for diabetes management.
Genetic diversity and the reproductive system in related species of antirrhinum.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Seven related species of Antirrhinum (A. siculum, A. majus, A. latifolium, A. linkianum, A. litigiosum, A. cirrhigherum and A. tortuosum) were studied in order to compare levels of genetic variation and its partitioning in them, and to check relationships between genetic patterns and the reproductive system. METHODS Eight hundred and fifty-one plants were screened for variability at 13 allozyme loci by means of horizontal starch gel electrophoresis. Parameters of genetic diversity and its partitioning, the inbreeding coefficient as well as an indirect estimate of gene flow based on the equation: Nm = (1 - G(ST))/4G(ST), were calculated. KEY RESULTS Genetic variability in A. siculum was found to be the lowest known in the genus. Mean values of F(IT) and F(IS) were mostly positive and not significantly different from zero. Population differentiation (F(ST)) ranged between 6.1 in A. tortuosum and 17.6 in A. linkianum. The inbreeding coefficient within populations ranged between F(IS) = -0.5 in A. tortuosum and F(IS) = 1 in A. siculum. Estimates of gene flow ranged between Nm = 15 in A. majus (considered as very high) to Nm = 0.42 in A. siculum (considered as low). CONCLUSIONS Correlation was found between levels of diversity and differentiation on one hand, and the reproductive system of the studied taxa on the other. Striking differences among species in the inbreeding coefficient (F(IS)) show different reproductive systems, which mostly support previous reports. Strategies for the conservation of A. siculum are recommended, such as preservation of natural populations as well as ex situ preservation of seeds from different populations.
Metabolic Flux Analysis of Escherichia coli creB and arcA Mutants Reveals 1 Shared Control of Carbon Catabolism under Microaerobic Growth 2 Conditions

17 Abbreviations: PEP, phosphoenolpyruvate; Pyr, pyruvate; G6P, glucose 6-phosphate; F6P, 18 fructose 6-phosphate; GAP, glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate; 3PG, 3-phosphoglycerate; P5P, 19 pentoses 5-phosphate; E4P, erythrose 4-phosphate; S7P, sedoheptulose 7-phosphate; OAA, 20 oxaloacetate; ICT, isocitrate; α-AKG, α-ketoglutarate; SUC, succinate; SUCex, extracellular 21 succinate; MAL, malate; Gly, glyoxylate. 22 Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology and/or the Listed Authors/Institutions. All Rights Reserved. J. Bacteriol. doi:10.1128/JB.00174-09 JB Accepts, published online ahead of print on 26 June 2009