Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of Duration, Locality, and Surprisal in Speech Disfluency Prediction in English Spontaneous Speech

This study examines the role of two influential theories of language processing, Surprisal Theory and Dependency Locality Theory (DLT), in predicting disfluencies (fillers and reparandums) in the Switchboard corpus of English conversational speech. Using Generalized Linear Mixed Models for this task, we incorporate syntactic factors (DLT-inspired costs and syntactic surprisal) in addition to lexical surprisal and duration, thus going beyond the local lexical frequency and predictability used in previous work on modelling word durations in Switchboard speech (Bell et al., 2003, 2009). Our results indicate that compared to fluent words, words preceding disfluencies tend to have lower lexical surprisal (hence higher activation levels) and lower syntactic complexity (low DLT costs and low syntactic surprisal except for reparandums). Disfluencies tend to occur before upcoming difficulties, i.e., high lexical surprisal words (low activation levels) with high syntactic complexity (high DLT costs and high syntactic surprisal). Further, we see that reparandums behave almost similarly to disfluent fillers with differences possibly arising due to effects being present in the word choice of the reparandum, i.e., in the disfluency itself rather than surrounding it. Moreover, words preceding disfluencies tend to be function words and have longer durations compared to their fluent counterparts, and word duration is a very effective predictor of disfluencies. Overall, speakers may be leveraging the differences in access between content and function words during planning as part of a mechanism to adapt for disfluencies while coordinating between planning and articulation as suggested by Bell et al. (2009).
Income Risk, Precautionary Saving, and Loss Aversion – An Empirical Test

This paper empirically examines the behavioral precautionary saving hypothesis by Koszegi and Rabin (2009) stating that uncertainty about future income triggers saving because of loss aversion. We extend their theoretical analysis to also consider the internal margin, i.e., the strength, of loss aversion, and empirically study the relation between income risk, experimentally elicited loss aversion and precautionary savings. We do so using a sample of 640 individuals from the low-income population of Bogota, characterized by limited financial education and subject to substantial income risk. In line with the theoretical predictions, we find that an increase in income risk is associated with higher savings for loss-averse individuals, and that this increase in savings grows with the degree of loss aversion. Thus, as suggested by Koszegi and Rabin (2009), but contrarily to common assumptions, our findings establish that loss aversion is not necessarily an obstacle to saving, and thus identify new approaches of increasing saving among individuals with low financial education.
Development of nucleic acid aptamer-based lateral flow assays: A robust platform for cost-effective point-of-care diagnosis

Lateral flow assay (LFA) has made a paradigm shift in the in vitro diagnosis field due to its rapid turnaround time, ease of operation and exceptional affordability. Currently used LFAs predominantly use antibodies. However, the high inter-batch variations, error margin and storage requirements of the conventional antibody-based LFAs significantly impede its applications. The recent progress in aptamer technology provides an opportunity to combine the potential of aptamer and LFA towards building a promising platform for highly efficient point-of-care device development. Over the past decades, different forms of aptamer-based LFAs have been introduced for broad applications ranging from disease diagnosis, agricultural industry to environmental sciences, especially for the detection of antibody-inaccessible small molecules such as toxins and heavy metals. But commercial aptamer-based LFAs are still not used widely compared with antibodies. In this work, by analysing the key issues of aptamer-based LFA design, including immobilization strategies, signalling methods, and target capturing approaches, we provide a comprehensive overview about aptamer-based LFA design strategies to facilitate researchers to develop optimised aptamer-based LFAs.
Mid-infrared vibrational spectrum of CO after photodissociation from heme: Evidence for a ligand docking site in the heme pocket of hemoglobin and myoglobin

Time‐resolved mid‐ir absorption spectra of CO at 283 K have been measured 100 ps after photodissociation from human hemoglobin A, horse myoglobin, and sperm whale myoglobin. The spectra reveal two vibrational features that are narrower than any reported for CO in the condensed phase near room temperature, indicating that CO becomes localized in a rotationally constrained environment. The integrated absorbance under these narrow features is 0.53±0.05 times that found for sperm whale myoglobin in low temperature glasses. A model is developed that relates this reduction of integrated absorbance to molecular motion in a rotationally constrained environment. From this model, the barrier to CO rotation is found to be 1.5±0.25 kcal/mol. The two vibrational features are tentatively assigned to CO oriented oppositely in the same site within the heme pocket. Evidently, the residues circumscribing the heme pocket in hemoglobin and myoglobin fashion a cavity near the binding site that accommodates the dissociated CO and restricts its rotational motion. This ‘‘docking’’ site mediates ligand transport to and from the active binding site and may be important to the function of ligand‐binding heme proteins.
Effect of Atmosphere on Surface Tension of Glass

The surface tension of a commercial soda-lime-silica glass was measured in various atmospheres in the temperature range 500° to 700° C. The method of fiber elongation was used and its usefulness is illustrated. Water vapor was found to exhibit the most pronounced effect, causing a lowering from 315 to 205 dynes cm. −1 for a vapor pressure of 16 mm. Hg.
Real-world data combined with studies on Regulatory B Cells for newly diagnosed Multiple Myeloma from a tertiary referral Hospital in South-Western China

Multiple myeloma (MM) is a heterogeneous disease that remains incurable with significant interpatient variability in outcomes. Regulatory B cells (Bregs) were observed to be involved into specific defects in MM. Here, we provide our risk-adapted approach to newly diagnosed MM (NDMM), combining with the fundamental dysfunction of Bregs. We reported one hundred consecutive patients with NDMM from South-Western China, primarily treated with bortezomib plus dexamethasone with or without a 3rd agent, were enrolled from 2017. Bone marrow aspirates were obtained and flow cytometry (FCM) was used to quantify the percentage of Bregs from the bone marrow. The correlation between Bregs and clinical characters were further analyzed. This study found using bortezomib plus dexamethasone as backbone showed promising efficacy with acceptable tolerability in NDMM. The relatively compromised progression free survival (PFS) points to the essential synergy of bortezomib and lenalidomide here. This study also found that altered proportions of Bregs were closely correlated with treatment efficacy and prognosis in MM. Further understanding of Bregs biology might provide new opportunities to develop immunotherapy, which could prove beneficial in treating MM.
Polar Dyes in Solution: A Joint Experimental and Theoretical Study of Absorption and Emission Band Shapes

Absorption and steady-state emission spectra of two fluorescent dyes are measured in a series of aprotic solvents with similar refractive index and different polarity. The spectra are interpreted in terms of a two-state electronic model accounting for the coupling to internal vibrations and to an effective solvation coordinate. The proposed approach naturally accounts not only for solvatochromic shifts of absorption and emission bands but also for the evolution of band shapes with solvent polarity and for the observation of nonspecular absorption and fluorescence bands. The good agreement between experimental and calculated spectra confirms the validity of a two-state picture for the low-energy spectral properties of these donor−acceptor molecules, provided that the molecular polarizability is fully accounted for. The role of conformational degrees of freedom in flexible chromophores is also addressed.
An Observational Study in the UK Comparing the Safety and Cost-Effectiveness of Intravenous Iron Preparations Monofer to Venofer for the Treatment of Iron Deficiency Anaemia in Pregnancy

Iron deficiency anaemia (IDA) is common in pregnancy, the World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates a global prevalence of 40% [1]. Maternal implications are grave, IDA increases risk of pre-eclampsia, placental abruption, preterm birth, and postpartum haemorrhage [2, 3]. Moreover, poor foetal outcomes are associated with anaemia; low birth weight, long-term cognitive and behavioural problems [4, 5].
Deep Learning Based Regression Approach for Algorithmic Stock Trading: A Case Study of the Bist30

Today, one of the common uses of artificial intelligence is financial markets. In these markets, which are known as stock market, making price predictions for the future using machine learning and deep learning, making the rise and fall forecasts of indices, sectors and stocks are the main approaches used in this field. In the near future in the financial markets, artificial intelligence based software robots are expected to operate instead of people. For this purpose, learning models are developed by using trend and stock price movements. Validation studies such as accuracy, error value and portfolio simulation are performed to demonstrate the performance of the developed models. In this study, a regression model using deep learning was developed to make adaptive buy-sell operations on the time series consisting of closing prices using data from Borsa İstanbul (BIST). The 2006-2015 range of the BIST30 index was used for training, the 2015-2018 range was used for testing, and the model portfolio value gained 39% on the test data for 694 trading days and the trend direction was estimated with 82% accuracy.
the Performance of Parallel Tasking Runtimes for an Irregular Fast Multipole Method Application

This paper will present our work on optimising and comparing the performance of an irregular algorithm for the increasingly important fast multipole method with the use of tasks. Our aim is to provide insight into how diﬀerent methods of synchronisation can affect the performance of tree-based particle methods, ﬁnding that performance can be improved by 21% on some platforms. We also compare the performance of the chosen application between diﬀerent OpenMP implementations and to other task-parallel programming models, ﬁnding that signiﬁcant performance diﬀerences can be observed on both NUMA and Many Integrated Core architectures.
Сoagulation hemostasis indices after hemorrhagic stroke, developed as a complication of essential hypertension

The aim: to determine the peculiarities of the indices of coagulation hemostasis in patients with the former occurrence of hemorrhagic stroke, developed as a complication of essential hypertension, in comparison to the hypertensive patients without complications. Materials and methods. There were formed 2 groups of patients: the main group and the comparison group. The main group included 20 patients (10 women and 10 men, middle age 52.9±1.7 (M±m) years old) who had undergone hemorrhagic stroke as a complication of essential hypertension 6 months and more previously, had no normalization of blood pressure over this period of time. The comparison group included 20 patients (10 women and 10 men, middle age 52.5±1.7 years old) suffered from essential hypertension without complications. They were matched groups according to key indicators. All the above-mentioned people underwent fasted analysis of venous blood with detection of coagulation hemostasis indices. Results. In the main and the comparison group the indices of coagulation hemostasis were the following ones, respectively: thrombin time 10.6±0.6 and 11.5±0.8 s, international normalized ratio 1.0±0.1 and 1.0±0.1, activated partial thromboplastin time 50.4±2.1 and 44.7±1.8 s (p<0.05), protein C 139.2±8.0 and 143.8±10.2 %, fibrinogen 2,4±0.4 and 2.6±0.3 g/l, soluble fibrin-monomer complexes 3.9±0.2 and 3.7±0.1 μg/mL, XIIa-dependent fibrinolysis 6.3±0.9 and 10.2±0.6 min (p<0.05), antithrombin-III 90.0±6.6 and 76.1±6.8 %. Conclusions. In the main group relatively to the comparison group there was slowing of the internal pathway of coagulation hemostasis with the quicker fibrinolysis. There was detected that 100 % of patients from the main group had at least one of the following factors out of normal values and with predisposition to bleeding: activated partial thromboplastin time >48 s, XIIa-dependent fibrinolysis <5 min, fibrinogen <2 g/l, or antithrombin-III >120 %. This information should be taken into account while prescribing the treatment, influencing hemostasis indices, in a category of hypertensive patients after hemorrhagic stroke
Genetic inactivation of SARM1 axon degeneration pathway improves outcome trajectory after experimental traumatic brain injury based on pathological, radiological, and functional measures

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) causes chronic symptoms and increased risk of neurodegeneration. Axons in white matter tracts, such as the corpus callosum (CC), are critical components of neural circuits and particularly vulnerable to TBI. Treatments are needed to protect axons from traumatic injury and mitigate post-traumatic neurodegeneration. SARM1 protein is a central driver of axon degeneration through a conserved molecular pathway. Sarm1 −/− mice with knockout (KO) of the Sarm1 gene enable genetic proof-of-concept testing of the SARM1 pathway as a therapeutic target. We evaluated Sarm1 deletion effects after TBI using a concussive model that causes traumatic axonal injury and progresses to CC atrophy at 10 weeks, indicating post-traumatic neurodegeneration. Sarm1 wild-type (WT) mice developed significant CC atrophy that was reduced in Sarm1 KO mice. Ultrastructural classification of pathology of individual axons, using electron microscopy, demonstrated that Sarm1 KO preserved more intact axons and reduced damaged or demyelinated axons. Longitudinal MRI studies in live mice identified significantly reduced CC volume after TBI in Sarm1 WT mice that was attenuated in Sarm1 KO mice. MR diffusion tensor imaging detected reduced fractional anisotropy in both genotypes while axial diffusivity remained higher in Sarm1 KO mice. Immunohistochemistry revealed significant attenuation of CC atrophy, myelin loss, and neuroinflammation in Sarm1 KO mice after TBI. Functionally, Sarm1 KO mice exhibited beneficial effects in motor learning and sleep behavior. Based on these findings, Sarm1 inactivation can protect axons and white matter tracts to improve translational outcomes associated with CC atrophy and post-traumatic neurodegeneration.
Restricted Boltzmann Machines for Fundus Image Reconstruction and Classification of Hypertension Retinopathy

Conventionally classification of hypertensive retinopathy through analysis of fundus images by experts, but this method the results are highly dependent on the accuracy of observations and expert experience. In this study, we propose a fundus image reconstruction and Hypertensive retinopathy classification model using Restricted Boltzmann Machines (RBM), as well as the Messidor database that has been labeled as a dataset. The experimental results show that the performance of the model produces an accuracy level of 99.05% where the model can generalize image input into one of the nine classes of the severity of hypertension retinopathy.
Laurea Magistrale Reduced Order Methods For Hemodynamics Modelling Advisors : Candidate

Left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) are used to provide haemodynamic support to patients with critical cardiac failure. Severe complications can occur because of the modifications of the blood flow in the aortic region. In this work, the effect of a continuous flow LVAD device on the aortic flow is investigated by means of a non-intrusive reduced order model (ROM) built using the proper orthogonal decomposition with interpolation (PODI) method. The full order model (FOM) is represented by the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations discretized by using Finite Volume (FV) and Finite Element (FE) techniques, coupled with three-element Windkessel models to enforce outlet boundary conditions in a multi-scale approach. A patientspecific framework is proposed: a personalized geometry reconstructed from Computed Tomography (CT) images is used and the individualisation of the coefficients of the three-element Windkessel models is based on experimental data provided by the Right Heart Catheterization (RCH) and Echocardiography (ECHO) tests. Pre-surgery configuration is also considered at FOM level in order to further validate the model. A parametric study with respect to the LVAD flow rate is considered. The accuracy of the reduced order model is assessed against results obtained with the full order model. We can split the reduced order model (ROM) methods in two stages: the first one, named offline phase, is the most expensive one it is the phase in which the so called full order solutions (or snapshots) are computed. Afterwards, in the online phase, the solution of the discrete problem is sought in a low-dimensional space in which all the mathemat objects as matrices and vectors are simply assembled with the objects computed in the offline phase and, for this reason, the computation is much faster. The idea behind this project is to try to shift, thanks to proper algorithms, the computing power of a supercomputer on tablets and laptops with important national and international collaborations between mathematics, engineering and medicine. If a surgeon could have a supercomputer available in the operating room, then the reading of a patient’s ”vascular geometry” could be absolutely immediate, however this is not the case today. The basis of the work consists in creating computer simulations of mathematical models, i.e. reconstructing the portion of the cardiovascular system
Oral allergy syndrome amongst young Mexicans: prevalence and associated factors

Doi 10.23822/EurAnnACI.1764-1489.59 Summary Background. Oral allergy syndrome (OAS) is the most common food allergy manifestation amongst adults. However, population studies aimed at estimating its prevalence and associated factors are scarce in Mexico. Objectives. To establish the prevalence of OAS in a sample of university students and to describe their clinical characteristics and its associated factors. Methods. From a sample group made up of 25,269 university students, the data corresponding to 1,200 students aged 18 to 25 was analyzed with a crosssectional approach. A structured questionnaire was used to identify OAS, its symptoms and related foods, and the personal history of atopic diseases. The associations between variables were calculated through logistical regression analysis. Results. The prevalence of OAS was 3.4%, with a 95% confidence interval (95% CI) of 2.5 to 4.6. The main oral symptoms reported were lip pruritus, edema and the sensation of pharyngeal oppression. Among the extra-oral complaints were: reddish coloration of the skin, body pruritus, abdominal pain, and abdominal bloating. The foods that were most frequently associated with OAS were fruits (68.5%), vegetables (22.0%) and seafood (19.3%). Through multivariate analyses, allergy to pollen and latex were found to be associated with OAS, OR 3.29; 95%: CI 1.53 to 7.10 and OR 5.53; 95% CI: 1.08 to 28.2, respectively. Conclusions. Notably, the prevalence of OAS varies according to the geographic area. Personal histories of allergy to pollen or latex were the main factors linked to OAS.
Impact of Climate Change Hazard: Carbon Risk on Stock Returns and Asset Pricing

In this study, I extend the Fama and French five-factor asset pricing model with a sixth factor, namely, carbon risk, to investigate its impact on equity returns. To measure carbon risk, a new factor ‘pollutant minus green,’ is developed using the difference between the weighted average returns of pollutant and green firms across 51 developed and emerging countries across four categories—North America, Europe, Emerging Markets, and the Asia Pacific. The results reveal that North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific markets have a carbon risk premium that gets eliminated in small-cap firms. The carbon risk factor is further tested in left-hand side (LHS) test asset portfolios and found to be more pronounced with size-effect anomaly; specifically, small stock firms report greater declining average returns because of more exposure than the mega-cap stocks to carbon dioxide emissions. Furthermore, size-effect anomaly prevails with profitability and investment factors across firms. Therefore, high profitability, as well as high investment small firms, show a greater decline than the big stock firms in average returns when their carbon dioxide emissions increase. The asset pricing model evaluation is carried out through the Gibbons, Ross, and Shanken test. The six-factor model directed at capturing carbon risk patterns in average equity returns performs better than the three-factor and five-factor models of Fama and French (1993 and 2015) in the majority of categories under 3x3 sorting and compete with both Fama and French model under 2x4x4 sorted LHS portfolios. The finding of this study offers various useful applications for investors, policymakers, brokers, corporations, governmental pollution abatement institutions, and other stakeholders who wish to obtain carbon risk premium.
TOWARDS DO-IT-YOURSELF DEVELOPMENT OF COM-POSITE WEB APPLICATIONS

Different tools and platforms support mashing up web-based resources to build applications by utilising development techniques suitable for end users. Those approaches are often based on simple predefined building parts and either constrain application complexity or require detailed knowledge of data types and communication paradigms. This paper proposes a novel approach of semantically connecting mashup components at an end user abstraction level. To provide immediate feedback and instant payoff from development effort, mashup development, usage, and reconfiguration tasks are seamlessly interwoven.