Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
On the Issue of Calibration in DNN-Based Speaker Recognition Systems

This article is concerned with the issue of calibration in the context of Deep Neural Network (DNN) based approaches to speaker recognition. DNNs have provided a new standard in technology when used in place of the traditional universal background model (UBM) for feature alignment, or to augment traditional features with those extracted from a bottleneck layer of the DNN. These techniques provide extremely good performance for constrained trial conditions that are well matched to development conditions. However, when applied to unseen conditions or a wide variety of conditions, some DNN-based techniques offer poor calibration performance. Through analysis on both PRISM and the recently released Speakers in the Wild (SITW) corpora, we illustrate that bottleneck features hinder calibration if used in the calculation of first-order Baum Welch statistics during i-vector extraction. We propose a hybrid alignment framework, which stems from our previous work in DNN senone alignment, that uses the bottleneck features only for the alignment of features during statistics calculation. This framework not only addresses the issue of calibration, but provides a more computationally efficient system based on bottleneck features with improved discriminative power.
Hydrogen peroxide as a signal controlling plant programmed cell death

Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) has established itself as a key player in stress and programmed cell death responses, but little is known about the signaling pathways leading from H2O2 to programmed cell death in plants. Recently, identification of key regulatory mutants and near-full genome coverage microarray analysis of H2O2-induced cell death have begun to unravel the complexity of the H2O2 network. This review also describes a novel link between H2O2 and sphingolipids, two signals that can interplay and regulate plant cell death.
Evaluation of PBL Parameterizations in WRF at Subkilometer Grid Spacings: Turbulence Statistics in the Dry Convective Boundary Layer

AbstractPlanetary boundary layer (PBL) parameterizations in mesoscale models have been developed for horizontal resolutions that cannot resolve any turbulence in the PBL, and evaluation of these parameterizations has been focused on profiles of mean and parameterized flux. Meanwhile, the recent increase in computing power has been allowing numerical weather prediction (NWP) at horizontal grid spacings finer than 1 km, at which kilometer-scale large eddies in the convective PBL are partly resolvable. This study evaluates the performance of convective PBL parameterizations in the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model at subkilometer grid spacings. The evaluation focuses on resolved turbulence statistics, considering expectations for improvement in the resolved fields by using the fine meshes. The parameterizations include four nonlocal schemes—Yonsei University (YSU), asymmetric convective model 2 (ACM2), eddy diffusivity mass flux (EDMF), and total energy mass flux (TEMF)—and one local scheme, the M.
First Steps Towards Translating HZD Control of Bipedal Robots to Decentralized Control of Exoskeletons

This paper presents preliminary results toward translating gait and control design for bipedal robots to decentralized control of an exoskeleton aimed at restoring mobility to patients with lower limb paralysis, without the need for crutches. A mathematical hybrid dynamical model of the human-exoskeleton system is developed and a library of dynamically feasible periodic walking gaits for different walking speeds is found through nonlinear constrained optimization using the full-order dynamical system. These walking gaits are stabilized using a centralized (i.e., full-state information) hybrid zero dynamics-based controller, which is then decentralized (i.e., control actions use partial state information) so as to be implementable on the exoskeleton subsystem. A control architecture is then developed so as to allow the user to actively control the exoskeleton speed through his/her upper body posture. Numerical simulations are carried out to compare the two controllers. It is found that the proposed decentralized controller not only preserves the periodic walking gaits but also inherits the robustness to perturbations present in the centralized controller. Moreover, the proposed velocity regulation scheme is able to reach a steady state and track desired walking speeds under both, centralized, and decentralized schemes.
Uncovering Strengths and Weaknesses of Radial Visualizations---an Empirical Approach

Radial visualizations play an important role in the information visualization community. But the decision to choose a radial coordinate system is rather based on intuition than on scientific foundations. The empirical approach presented in this paper aims at uncovering strengths and weaknesses of radial visualizations by comparing them to equivalent ones in Cartesian coordinate systems. We identified memorizing positions of visual elements as a generic task when working with visualizations. A first study with 674 participants provides a broad data spectrum for exploring differences between the two visualization types. A second, complementing study with fewer participants focuses on further questions raised by the first study. Our findings document that Cartesian visualizations tend to outperform their radial counterparts especially with respect to answer times. Nonetheless, radial visualization seem to be more appropriate for focusing on a particular data dimension.
Phosphorylation of paracellin-1 at Ser217 by protein kinase A is essential for localization in tight junctions

Although paracellin-1 (PCLN-1) is known to have a crucial role in the control of Mg2+ reabsorption in the kidney, the molecular pathways involved in the regulation of PCLN-1 have not been clarified. We used FLAG-tagged PCLN-1 to investigate these pathways further, and found that PCLN-1 is phosphorylated at Ser217 by protein kinase A (PKA) under physiological conditions in Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells. PCLN-1 expression decreased Na+ permeability, resulting in a decrease in the transepithelial electrical resistance (TER). By contrast, PCLN-1 enhanced transepithelial Mg2+ transport. PKA inhibitors, N-[2-(p-bromocinnamylamino)ethyl]-5-isoquinolinesulfonamide dihydrochloride (H-89) and myristoylated protein kinase A inhibitor 14-22 amide PKI, and an adenylate cyclase inhibitor, 2′,5′-dideoxy adenosine (DDA), reduced the phosphoserine level of PCLN-1. The inhibitory effect of DDA was rescued by 8-bromoadenosine-3′,5′-cyclic monophosphate (8-Br-cAMP). PKA and adenylate cyclase inhibitors decreased transepithelial Mg2+ transport and TER. Dephosphorylated PCLN-1 moved from detergent-insoluble to soluble fractions and was dissociated from ZO-1. A fusion protein of PCLN-1 with glutathione-S-transferase revealed that Ser217 was phosphorylated by PKA. Phosphorylated PCLN-1 was localized in the tight junction (TJ) along with ZO-1, whereas dephosphorylated PCLN-1 and the S217A mutant were translocated into the lysosome. The degradation of dephosphorylated PCLN-1 and S217A mutant was inhibited by chloroquine, a specific lysosome inhibitor. Thus, the PKA-dependent phosphorylation of Ser217 in PCLN-1 is essential for its localization in the TJ and transepithelial Mg2+ transport.
Immunological markers indicating the effectiveness of pharmacological treatment in human hydatid disease

The relation of interferon‐gamma (IFN‐γ), IL‐4, IL‐10 production and specific IgE, total IgG, IgG subclass expression to the effectiveness of pharmacological treatment in human hydatid disease (Echinococcus granulosus infection) was evaluated in 27 hydatid patients divided into four clinical groups according to their response to albendazole/mebendazole therapy (full, partial, low and non‐responders). After parasite antigen stimulation, peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from full responders produced significantly more IFN‐γ (P= 0·038), significantly less IL‐4 (P= 0·001) and less IL‐10 than PBMC from non‐responders. PBMC from partial and low responders produced intermediate cytokine concentrations. ELISA determining immunoglobulin production showed that sera from all non‐responders had IgE and IgG4 antibodies, both regulated by IL‐4. In contrast to IgG4, IgE decreased rapidly in full responders. Full responders also showed the highest percentage of IgG3 reactions. Qualitative analysis of total IgG responses in hydatid patients’ sera determined by immunoblotting showed that binding profiles to hydatid cyst fluid antigen differed in the four groups of treated patients. Non‐responders had the highest percentage of reactions to all subunits of antigens 5 and B, and full responders had the highest percentage of reactions to antigen 5 alone. The high IFN‐γ production associated with a lack of IL‐4 and low IL‐10 production in the full responders, and vice versa the high IL‐4 and IL‐10 production associated with lack of or low IFN‐γ production in the non‐responders implies Th1 cell activation in protective immunity and Th2 cell activation in susceptibility to hydatid disease. IgE may be a useful marker of therapeutic success in hydatid patients with pretreatment specific IgE antibodies. IgG subclass responses and differential immunoglobulin subclass binding pattern to hydatid antigens may also be useful in the immunosurveillance of hydatid disease.
The Role of No-Arbitrage on Forecasting: Lessons from a Parametric Term Structure Model

Parametric term structure models have been successfully applied to numerous problems in fixed income markets, including pricing, hedging, managing risk, as well as to the study of monetary policy implications. In turn, dynamic term structure models, equipped with stronger economic structure, have been mainly adopted to price derivatives and explain empirical stylized facts. In this paper, we combine flavors of those two classes of models to test whether no-arbitrage affects forecasting. We construct cross-sectional (allowing arbitrages) and arbitrage-free versions of a parametric polynomial model to analyze how well they predict out-of-sample interest rates. Based on US Treasury yield data, we find that no-arbitrage restrictions significantly improve forecasts. Arbitrage-free versions achieve overall smaller biases and root mean square errors for most maturities and forecasting horizons. Furthermore, a decomposition of forecasts into forward-rates and holding return premia indicates that the superior performance of no-arbitrage versions is due to a better identification of bond risk premium.
Warehouse-Retailer Network Design Problem

In this paper, we study the distribution network design problem integrating transportation and infinite horizon multiechelon inventory cost function. We consider the trade-off between inventory cost, direct shipment cost, and facility location cost in such a system. The problem is to determine how many warehouses to set up, where to locate them, how to serve the retailers using these warehouses, and to determine the optimal inventory policies for the warehouses and retailers. The objective is to minimize the total multiechelon inventory, transportation, and facility location costs. To the best of our knowledge, none of the papers in the area of distribution network design has explicitly addressed the issues of the 2-echelon inventory cost function arising from coordination of replenishment activities between the warehouses and the retailers. We structure this problem as a set-partitioning integer-programming model and solve it using column generation. The pricing subproblem that arises from the column generation algorithm gives rise to a new class of the submodular function minimization problem. We show that this pricing subproblem can be solved inO( n? log? n) time, wheren is the number of retailers. Computational results show that the moderate size distribution network design problem can be solved efficiently via this approach.
Analysis of distinct short and prolonged components in rebound spiking of deep cerebellar nucleus neurons

Deep cerebellar nucleus (DCN) neurons show pronounced post‐hyperpolarization rebound burst behavior, which may contribute significantly to responses to strong inhibitory inputs from cerebellar cortical Purkinje cells. Thus, rebound behavior could importantly shape the output from the cerebellum. We used whole‐cell recordings in brain slices to characterize DCN rebound properties and their dependence on hyperpolarization duration and depth. We found that DCN rebounds showed distinct fast and prolonged components, with different stimulus dependence and different underlying currents. The initial depolarization leading into rebound spiking was carried by hyperpolarization‐activated cyclic nucleotide‐gated current, and variable expression of this current could lead to a control of rebound latency. The ensuing fast rebound burst was due to T‐type calcium current, as previously described. It was highly variable between cells in strength, and could be expressed fully after short periods of hyperpolarization. In contrast, a subsequent prolonged rebound component required longer and deeper periods of hyperpolarization before it was fully established. We found using voltage‐clamp and dynamic‐clamp analyses that a slowly inactivating persistent sodium current fits the conductance underlying this prolonged rebound component, resulting in spike rate increases over several seconds. Overall, our results demonstrate that multiphasic DCN rebound properties could be elicited differentially by different levels of Purkinje cell activation, and thus create a rich repertoire of potential rebound dynamics in the cerebellar control of motor timing.
Evaluation of Candidate Stromal Epithelial Cross-Talk Genes Identifies Association between Risk of Serous Ovarian Cancer and TERT, a Cancer Susceptibility “Hot-Spot”

We hypothesized that variants in genes expressed as a consequence of interactions between ovarian cancer cells and the host micro-environment could contribute to cancer susceptibility. We therefore used a two-stage approach to evaluate common single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 173 genes involved in stromal epithelial interactions in the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium (OCAC). In the discovery stage, cases with epithelial ovarian cancer (n = 675) and controls (n = 1,162) were genotyped at 1,536 SNPs using an Illumina GoldenGate assay. Based on Positive Predictive Value estimates, three SNPs—PODXL rs1013368, ITGA6 rs13027811, and MMP3 rs522616—were selected for replication using TaqMan genotyping in up to 3,059 serous invasive cases and 8,905 controls from 16 OCAC case-control studies. An additional 18 SNPs with P per-allele<0.05 in the discovery stage were selected for replication in a subset of five OCAC studies (n = 1,233 serous invasive cases; n = 3,364 controls). The discovery stage associations in PODXL, ITGA6, and MMP3 were attenuated in the larger replication set (adj. P per-allele≥0.5). However genotypes at TERT rs7726159 were associated with ovarian cancer risk in the smaller, five-study replication study (P per-allele = 0.03). Combined analysis of the discovery and replication sets for this TERT SNP showed an increased risk of serous ovarian cancer among non-Hispanic whites [adj. ORper-allele 1.14 (1.04–1.24) p = 0.003]. Our study adds to the growing evidence that, like the 8q24 locus, the telomerase reverse transcriptase locus at 5p15.33, is a general cancer susceptibility locus.
Polydnaviral Ankyrin Proteins Aid Parasitic Wasp Survival by Coordinate and Selective Inhibition of Hematopoietic and Immune NF-kappa B Signaling in Insect Hosts

Polydnaviruses are mutualists of their parasitoid wasps and express genes in immune cells of their Lepidopteran hosts. Polydnaviral genomes carry multiple copies of viral ankyrins or vankyrins. Vankyrin proteins are homologous to IκB proteins, but lack sequences for regulated degradation. We tested if Ichnoviral Vankyrins differentially impede Toll-NF-κB-dependent hematopoietic and immune signaling in a heterologous in vivo Drosophila, system. We first show that hematopoiesis and the cellular encapsulation response against parasitoid wasps are tightly-linked via NF-κB signaling. The niche, which neighbors the larval hematopoietic progenitors, responds to parasite infection. Drosophila NF-κB proteins are expressed in the niche, and non cell-autonomously influence fate choice in basal and parasite-activated hematopoiesis. These effects are blocked by the Vankyrin I2-vank-3, but not by P-vank-1, as is the expression of a NF-κB target transgene. I2-vank-3 and P-vank-1 differentially obstruct cellular and humoral inflammation. Additionally, their maternal expression weakens ventral embryonic patterning. We propose that selective perturbation of NF-κB-IκB interactions in natural hosts of parasitic wasps negatively impacts the outcome of hematopoietic and immune signaling and this immune deficit contributes to parasite survival and species success in nature.
Models to Predict Potential Occurrence and Density of the Zebra Mussel, Dreissena polymorpha

Limnological features of different lakes may limit the density of, or even completely restrict, populations of the European zebra mussel, Dreissena polymorpha. We developed statistical models to predict the occurrence (presence or absence) and density (number per square metre) of Dreissena in lakes, based on multivariate correlations between the density of Dreissena populations and the limnological characteristics of the lakes they inhabit. We found that both occurrence and average density of Dreissena populations were highly correlated with water chemistry. Dreissena was not found in lakes with average pH values below 7.3 and concentrations of calcium ion below 28.3 mg∙L−1. Above these thresholds, Dreissena density was negatively related to concentration of the algal nutrients PO4 and NO3.
Modelling and control of an elastically joint-actuated cart-pole underactuated system

This paper investigates the modelling and closedloop tracking control issues of a novel elastic underactuated multibody system. A torsional inverted pendulum cart-pole system with a single rotary actuator at the pivot of the cart is proposed. The system dynamics which incorporates with motion planning is firstly described. An optimization procedure is then discussed to plan the feasible trajectories that not just meet the performance requirements but also obtain optimality with respect to the cart displacement and average velocity. A closed-loop tracking controller is designed under collocated partial feedback linearization (CPFL). Subsequent presentation of simulation demonstrates that the proposed system is promising as compared to the previous work. The paper concludes with the application of our novel scheme to the design and control of autonomous robot systems.
Assessing the Reproductive Health-Related Information-Seeking Behavior of Low-Income Women: Describing a Two-Step Information-Seeking Process

This paper explores the reproductive health-related information seeking of low-income women that has been found to be affected by digital divide disparities. A survey conducted with 70 low-income women explores what information sources women use for reproductive health-related information seeking, what process they go through to find information, and if they are using sources that they trust. The findings of this study detail a two-step information-seeking process that typically includes a preference for personal, informal sources. Women of this income group often rely upon sources that they do not consider credible. While there have been many studies on the end effects of a lack of accurate and accessible reproductive health information, little research has been conducted to examine the reproductive healthcare information-seeking patterns of women who live in poverty.
Topics in Semantic Representation

Processing language requires the retrieval of concepts from memory in response to an ongoing stream of information. This retrieval is facilitated if one can infer the gist of a sentence, conversation, or document and use that gist to predict related concepts and disambiguate words. This article analyzes the abstract computational problem underlying the extraction and use of gist, formulating this problem as a rational statistical inference. This leads to a novel approach to semantic representation in which word meanings are represented in terms of a set of probabilistic topics. The topic model performs well in predicting word association and the effects of semantic association and ambiguity on a variety of language-processing and memory tasks. It also provides a foundation for developing more richly structured statistical models of language, as the generative process assumed in the topic model can easily be extended to incorporate other kinds of semantic and syntactic structure. Many aspects of perception and cognition can be understood by considering the computational problem that is addressed by a particular human capacity to closely approximate optimal statistical inferences. Cognitive capacities such as memory and categorization can be seen as systems for efficiently making predictions about the properties of an organism's environment (e.g., Anderson, 1990). Solving problems of inference and prediction requires sensitivity to the statistics of the environment. Surprisingly subtle aspects of human vision can be explained in terms of the statistics of natural scenes (Geisler, Perry, Super, & Gallo-gly, 2001; Simoncelli & Olshausen, 2001), and human memory seems to be tuned to the probabilities with which particular events occur in the world (Anderson & Schooler, 1991). Sensitivity to relevant world statistics also seems to guide important classes of cognitive judgments, such as inductive inferences about the properties of categories (Kemp, Perfors, & Tenenbaum, 2004), predictions about the durations or magnitudes of events (Griffiths & Tenenbaum, 2006), and inferences about hidden common causes from patterns of coincidence (Griffiths & Tenenbaum, in press). In this article, we examine how the statistics of one very important aspect of the environment—natural language— influence human memory. Our approach is motivated by an analysis of some of the computational problems addressed by semantic memory, in the spirit of Marr (1982) and Anderson (1990). Under many accounts of language processing, understanding sentences requires retrieving a variety of concepts from memory in response to an ongoing stream of information. One way to do this is to use …
Validity of the tritiated thymidine method for estimating bacterial growth rates: measurement of isotope dilution during DNA synthesis

The rate of tritiated thymidine incorporation into DNA was used to estimate bacterial growth rates in aquatic environments. To be accurate, the calculation of growth rates has to include a factor for the dilution of isotope before incorporation. The validity of an isotope dilution analysis to determine this factor was verified in experiments reported here with cultures of a marine bacterium growing in a chemostat. Growth rates calculated from data on chemostat dilution rates and cell density agreed well with rates calculated by tritiated thymidine incorporation into DNA and isotope dilution analysis. With sufficiently high concentrations of exogenous thymidine, de novo synthesis of deoxythymidine monophosphate was inhibited, thereby preventing the endogenous dilution of isotope. The thymidine technique was also shown to be useful for measuring growth rates of mixed suspensions of bacteria growing anaerobically. Thymidine was incorporated into the DNA of a range of marine pseudomonads that were investigated. Three species did not take up thymidine. The common marine cyanobacterium Synechococcus species did not incorporate thymidine into DNA.