Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Improving parsing of spontaneous speech with the help of prosodic boundaries

Parsing can be improved in automatic speech understanding if prosodic boundary marking is taken into account, because syntactic boundaries are often marked by prosodic means. Because large databases are needed for the training of statistical models for prosodic boundaries, we developed a labeling scheme for syntactic-prosodic boundaries within the German Verbmobil project (automatic speech-to-speech translation). We compare the results of classifiers (multi-layer perceptrons and language models) trained on these syntactic-prosodic boundary labels with classifiers trained on perceptual-prosodic and purely syntactic labels. Recognition rates of up to 96% were achieved. The turns that we need to parse consist of 20 words on the average and frequently contain sequences of partial sentence equivalents due to restarts, ellipsis, etc. For this material, the boundary scores computed by our classifiers can successfully be integrated into the syntactic parsing of word graphs; currently, they improve the parse time by 92% and reduce the number of parse trees by 96%. This is achieved by introducing a special prosodic syntactic clause boundary (PSCB) symbol into our grammar and guiding the search for the best word chain with the prosodic boundary scores.
Fractal patch antenna for GPS application

Fractal patch antenna is proposed to reduce the size with miniaturization technique, not only for the single element structure, but also in an array design. This paper presents the design of fractal patch antenna based on the basic structure of square antenna operate at 1.575 GHz for global positioning system (GPS) application. The fractal design is introduced into the basic structure intended to reduce the frequency of operation. Hence, miniaturization can be achieved. Simulation has been performed on several sets of the design structures using ensemble SV software. The frequency imposed by the fractal structure is lower than the basic structure.
Fabrication of Al/Mg Bimetal Compound Casting by Lost Foam Technique and Liquid-Solid Process

Abstract In the present experimental study, bimetal aluminium/magnesium macro composites which contain magnesium core were fabricated via compound casting by lost foam casting process. AM50 Mg alloy prismatic core was placed into a cubic EPS foam pattern. Conventional process steps of lost foam casting were followed and A319 casting aluminium alloy was melted and poured. Experimental studies have shown that determination of casting temperature is very important to avoid melting of Mg alloy core. Microstructures of sectioned cast specimens were observed by light microscope and scanning electron microscope (SEM). Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) analysis and Brinell hardness tests were carried out. Especially, transition zone and Al/Mg interface were in the focus of research.
Debugging into Examples Leveraging Tests for Program Comprehension

Enhancing and maintaining a complex software system re- quires detailed understanding of the underlying source code. Gaining this understanding by reading source code is difficult. Since software systems are inherently dynamic, it is complex and time consuming to imagine, for example, the effects of a method's source code at run-time. The inspec- tion of software systems during execution, as encouraged by debugging tools, contributes to source code comprehension. Leveraged by test cases as entry points, we want to make it easy for developers to experience selected execution paths in their code by debugging into examples. We show how links between test cases and application code can be estab- lished by means of dynamic analysis while executing regular tests.
Fast object and pose recognition through minimum entropy coding

We present a pattern recognizer to classify a variety of objects and their pose on a table from real world images. Learning of weights in a linear discriminant is based on estimating the relative information contributed by a set of features to the final decision. Evaluation of the discriminant is very fast, allowing for about three decisions per second on datasets without segmentation difficulties like the COIL-100 database. Experiments on that database yield high recognition rates and good generalisation over pose.
Dispersion analysis of photonic crystal fiber using improved full-vectorial effective index method

The relation of normalized core radius ( p / Λ ) with hole-to-pitch ratio ( d / Λ ) and normalized frequency ( Λ / λ ) is obtained using full-vectorial effective index method. The illogical fixed valve of p / Λ is modified, and an improved full-vectorial effective index method is proposed. The modal properties computed using this method, such as the effective index and total dispersion, closely agree with those of the multi-pole method as well the experimental values, and the error of effective index was reduced by two to three orders. The dispersion of photonic crystal fiber is analyzed in detail, and the relations of dispersion with wavelength, hole pitch and d / Λ is obtained.
Two correlated measurement fusion Kalman filtering algorithms based on orthogonal transformation and their functional equivalence

For the multisensor linear discrete time-invariant systems with correlated measurement noises and with different measurement matrices, based on weighted least squares (WLS) method, applying orthogonal transformation, two weighted measurement fusion Kalman filtering algorithms are presented. Using information filter, it is proved that they are functionally equivalent to the centralized fusion Kalman filtering algorithm, i.e. the corresponding two weighted measurement fusion Kalman filtering algorithms are numerically identical to the centralized fusion Kalman filtering algorithm, so that they have global optimality. Compared with the centralized Kalman filtering algorithm, they can significantly reduce the computational load. A numerical simulation example in the tracking systems verifies their functional equivalence and gives the comparison of their operation counts.
Bacterial Contamination of Imported Bulls Frozen Semen

One hundred frozen semen straws (0.5 ml), have been taken from imported bulls, the frozen semen examination as well as evaluation in addition to bacteriological evaluation whether counting, isolation and antibiotic sensitivity, the results in current study showed all bacterial isolates were identified by using different biochemical tests and API–20 E system that used later to confirm identification, all isolated bacteria found in imported frozen semen were gram negative.45 bacterial isolates in imported frozen semen distributed in 42 isolates Stenotrophomonas maltophilia and 3 isolates Pseudomonas aeroginosa, antibiotic susceptibility test for isolated bacteria by using 14 single antibiotic discks of commonly used drugs, most isolated Steno. maltophilia was susceptible to Ceftazidime, Ciprofloxacin, Cefotaxime, Gentamicin, Amikacin, Vancomycin, Erythromycin, Chloramphenicol and Tetracyclin. The results of current study showed individual movement 61.3±2.00, viability of sperm 76.2±2.06, percentage of dead sperms 23.8±2.06, and abnormal sperms 13.54±0.67. تابصق يف يريتكبلا ثولتلا ناريثلل دروتسملا يونملا لئاسلا ،يجان يواعبأ ءافيه يواشلا دجام لمأ نمحرلا دبع سنوي ءاقلو يرطيبلا بطلا ةيلك / دادغب ةعماج
Cortisol Response to a Combined Dexamethasone‐Human Corticotrophin‐Releasing Hormone Challenge in Patients with Depression

We administered a combined dexamethasone‐human corticotrophin‐releasing hormone (hCRH) challenge test to 14 in‐patients with a major depressive episode and to 14 age‐matched controls. After pretreatment with 1.5 mg dexamethasone at 2300 h the day before, 100 μg hCRH was administered iv at 1500 h. Blood samples for cortisol determinations by radioimmunoassay were drawn at 1400 h, 1430 h and 1500 h before infusion of hCRH and thereafter every 15 min until 1700 h. Cortisol secretion after injection of hCRH assessed as area under the curve was significantly increased in patients with depression when compared to controls (14.5 ± 4.3 ng × min × 1,000/ml vs 3.1 ± 2.4 ng × min × 1,000/ml). Multiple regression analysis among patients revealed a significant impact of age and severity of depression upon hCRH‐induced cortisol secretion, whereas in normal controls no significant influence of age on cortisol secretion after hCRH emerged.
Does the wash-up and swim-up method of semen preparation play a role in sex selection?

Because of the higher built ratio of boys to girls (1.5 : 1) by in vitro fertilization (IVF) and gamete intrafallopian transfer (GIFT) at Tygerberg Hospital, the question arose as to whether the wash-up and swim-up method of semen preparation, used for our IVF procedure, plays a role in sex selection. Semen samples of 20 men were evaluated at different time intervals to determine the percentage of F-body-positive spermatozoa. It was found that the swim-up time affects the relationship between Y- and X-bearing spermatozoa, especially at time intervals of 30 and 45 min, where an optimum percentage of Y-bearing spermatozoa (p = 0.0039 and p = 0.0092, respectively) was found. Sperm obtained at these specific time intervals may influence the outcome of sex by IVF and GIFT in favor of males.
Ventricular Microaneurysms in Moyamoya Angiopathy Visualized with 7T MR Angiography

SUMMARY: The pathophysiologic role of hemodynamic alteration to peripheral vessels in Moyamoya angiopathy and the formation of microaneurysms remains unclear. The purpose of this study was to investigate microaneurysms in collateral Moyamoya vessels by using 7T ultra-high-field MR imaging. Ten patients with Moyamoya disease were evaluated with TOF-MRA at 7T acquired with 0.22 × 0.22 × 0.41 mm3 resolution. In 10 patients, 4 microaneuryms located in the ventricles were delineated. The mean diameters of collateral vessels and microaneurysms arising from those vessels were 0.87 mm (range, 0.79–1.07 mm) and 0.80 mm (range, 0.56–0.96 mm), respectively. In 1 case with follow-up scans 6 months after a direct extracranial-intracranial bypass operation, the microaneurysm disappeared. Ventricular microaneurysms in Moyamoya angiopathy collateral vessels, inaccessible by conventional imaging techniques, can be detected by 7T TOF-MRA.
Detecting High Log-Densities – an O ( n 1 / 4 ) Approximation for Densest k -Subgraph

In the Densest k -Subgraph problem, given a graph G and a parameter k , one needs to ﬁnd a subgraph of G induced on k vertices that contains the largest number of edges. There is a signiﬁcant gap between the best known upper and lower bounds for this problem. It is NP-hard, and does not have a PTAS unless NP has subexponential time algorithms. On the other hand, the current best known algorithm of Feige, Kortsarz and Peleg [FKP01], gives an approximation ratio of n 1 / 3 − ε for some speciﬁc ε > 0 (estimated by those authors at around ε = 1 / 60). We present an algorithm that for every ε > 0 approximates the Densest k -Subgraph problem within a ratio of n 1 / 4+ ε in time n O (1 /ε ) . If allowed to run for time n O (log n ) , our algorithm achieves an approximation ratio of O ( n 1 / 4 ). Our algorithm is inspired by studying an average-case version of the problem where the goal is to distinguish random graphs from random graphs with planted dense subgraphs – the approximation ratio we achieve for the general case matches the “distinguishing ratio” we obtain for this planted problem. Achieving a distinguishing ratio of o ( n 1 / 4 ) for the planted problem (in polynomial time) is beyond the reach of our current techniques. Atahigh level, our algorithms involve cleverly counting appropriately deﬁned trees of constant size in G , and using these counts to identify the vertices of the dense subgraph. Our algorithm is based on the following principle. We say that a graph G ( V, E ) has log-density α if its average degree is Θ( | V | α ). The algorithmic core of our result is a family of algorithms that
Cooperative positioning using angle of arrival and time of arrival

Localization has been one of the most highly researched topics in wireless communications in the past decade. Localization of wireless nodes can be achieved using a variety of techniques, in which range measurement and angle measurement are most commonly used. In the presence of both angle and range measurement, a hybrid model can be developed. In this paper we analyze a hybrid angle of arrival-time of arrival (AoA-ToA) model for localization of wireless nodes, the model is modified to remove the bias from the estimated positions. We also explore the idea of cooperative localization using both angle and range measurements and develop a linear least squares (LLS) scheme. It is shown via simulation that the modified model is unbiased and that the performance of the proposed cooperative LLS is superior to its non-cooperative counterpart.
Functional GluR6 Kainate Receptors in the Striatum: Indirect Downregulation of Synaptic Transmission

Kainate receptors (KARs) are abundantly expressed in the basal ganglia, but their function in synaptic transmission has not been established. In the present study, we show that the GluR6 subunit of KARs is expressed in both substance P- and enkephalin-containing GABAergic projection neurons of the mouse striatum. Using whole-cell voltage-clamp recordings in brain slices, we demonstrate the presence of functional KARs in the dorsal striatum activated by low concentrations of the AMPA/KAR agonist domoate in wild-type but not GluR6-deficient mice. Despite the abundance of KARs, we found no evidence for synaptic activation of these receptors after single or repetitive stimulation of glutamatergic afferents. Domoate induces a transient increase in the frequency of spontaneous IPSCs of small amplitude and a sustained depression of large IPSCs evoked by minimal electrical stimulation within the striatum in wild-type mice but not in GluR6-deficient mice. This depressant effect is inhibited in presence of adenosine A2A receptor antagonists, ZM-241385 and SCH-58261. These data strongly suggest that, in striatal neurons, KARs depress GABAergic synaptic transmission indirectly via release of adenosine acting on A2A receptors.
Lexical Stress and Linguistic Predictability Influence Proofreading Behavior

There is extensive evidence that the segmental (i.e., phonemic) layer of phonology is routinely activated during reading, but little is known about whether phonological activation extends beyond phonemes to subsegmental layers (which include articulatory information, such as voicing) and suprasegmental layers (which include prosodic information, such as lexical stress). In three proofreading experiments, we show that spelling errors are detected more reliably in syllables that are stressed than in syllables that are unstressed if comprehension is a goal of the reader, indicating that suprasegmental phonology is both active during silent reading and can influence orthographic processes. In Experiment 1, participants received instructions to read for both errors and comprehension, and we found that the effect of lexical stress interacted with linguistic predictability, such that detection of errors in more predictable words was aided by stress but detection of errors in less predictable words was not. This finding suggests that lexical stress patterns can be accessed prelexically if an upcoming word is sufficiently predictable from context. Participants with stronger vocabularies showed decreased effects of stress on task performance, which is consistent with previous findings that more skilled readers are less swayed by phonological information in decisions about orthographic form. In two subsequent experiments, participants were instructed to read only for errors (Experiment 2) or only for comprehension (Experiment 3); the effect of stress disappeared when participants read for errors and reappeared when participants read for comprehension, reconfirming our hypothesis that predictability is a driver of lexical stress effects. In all experiments, errors were detected more reliably in words that were difficult to predict from context than in words that were highly predictable. Taken together, this series of experiments contributes two important findings to the field of reading and cognition: (1) The prosodic property of lexical stress can influence orthographic processing, and (2) Predictability inhibits the detection of errors in written language processing.
The Src Homology 2 Domain of Vav Is Required for Its Compartmentation to the Plasma Membrane and Activation of C-Jun Nh2-Terminal Kinase 1

Vav is a hematopoietic cell–specific guanine nucleotide exchange factor (GEF) whose activation is mediated by receptor engagement. The relationship of Vav localization to its function is presently unclear. We found that Vav redistributes to the plasma membrane in response to Fc∈ receptor I (Fc∈RI) engagement. The redistribution of Vav was mediated by its Src homology 2 (SH2) domain and required Syk activity. The Fc∈RI and Vav were found to colocalize and were recruited to glycosphingolipid-enriched microdomains (GEMs). The scaffold protein, linker for activation of T cells (LAT), and Rac1 (a target of Vav activity) were constitutively present in GEMs. Expression of an SH2 domain–containing COOH-terminal fragment of Vav inhibited Vav phosphorylation and movement to the GEMs but had no effect on the tyrosine phosphorylation of the adaptor protein, SLP-76 (SH2 domain–containing leukocyte protein of 76 kD), and LAT. However, assembly of the multiprotein complex containing these proteins was inhibited. In addition, Fc∈RI-dependent activation of c-Jun NH2-terminal kinase 1 (JNK1) was also inhibited. Thus, Vav localization to the plasma membrane is mediated by its SH2 domain and may serve to regulate downstream effectors like JNK1.
Detecting Periodic Genes from Irregularly Sampled Gene Expressions: A Comparison Study

Time series microarray measurements of gene expressions have been exploited to discover genes involved in cell cycles. Due to experimental constraints, most microarray observations are obtained through irregular sampling. In this paper three popular spectral analysis schemes, namely, Lomb-Scargle, Capon and missing-data amplitude and phase estimation (MAPES), are compared in terms of their ability and efficiency to recover periodically expressed genes. Based on in silico experiments for microarray measurements of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Lomb-Scargle is found to be the most efficacious scheme. 149 genes are then identified to be periodically expressed in the Drosophila melanogaster data set.
Wide-Range Time-to-Digital Converter With 1-ps Single-Shot Precision

A high-resolution time-to-digital converter (TDC) was designed and tested. The converter is based on the fundamental method of counting the full clock cycles of a low-phase-noise reference clock and using a single-stage interpolating method employing time-to-amplitude converters that are based on Miller integrators. Counters and other control logic were implemented on a field-programmable gate array, and the interpolation units were constructed using discrete components. The single-shot precision of the uncompensated converter is about 1.8 ps over a time interval range of 0 to 328 μs. Single-shot precision is limited by the nonlinearities of the interpolators. These measurement errors caused by the nonlinearities are systematic, and thus, precision can be improved to 1 ps by a simple integral nonlinearity compensation. Other important factors that contribute to single-shot precision are the N -cycle jitter of the reference clock and the noise generated by the TDC circuit itself. By careful design, these errors can be made small enough to achieve picosecond-level precision.
Detection of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 DNA in Dried Blood Spots by a Duplex Real-Time PCR Assay

ABSTRACT A dried blood spot (DBS) is a well-accepted means for the collection, transport, and storage of blood samples for various epidemiologic, serologic, and molecular assays for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) studies. It is particularly important for mother-to-infant-transmission studies of affected individuals living in remote areas. We have developed a real-time PCR method to detect HIV type 1 (HIV-1) DNA in dried blood spots. A cellular gene, RNase P, was coamplified with the HIV-1 DNA in the same tube to monitor the DNA extraction efficiency and the overall assay performance. Our assay is a one-tube, single-step closed-system assay and uses a dUTP/uracil DNA glycosidase anti-PCR contamination control. The HIV-1 primers and probe were derived from a conserved region of the long terminal repeat. The detection of RNase P is attenuated by lowering the forward and reverse primer concentrations so that its amplification will not overwhelm the HIV-1 amplification and yet will provide a semiquantitative measurement of the quality of the isolated DBS DNA. We examined 103 HIV-1-seropositive and 56 seronegative U.S. adults and found that our assay has a sensitivity of 98.1% (95% confidence interval [CI], 95.5% to 100%) and specificity of 100% (95% CI, 99% to 100%). The positive and negative predictive values are 100% and 96.6%, respectively. This duplex PCR assay may be useful in identifying HIV-1-infected persons, particularly infants born to seropositive mothers in remote areas of the world.
Towards plant monitoring through Next Best View

Monitoring plants using leaf feature detection is a challenging perception task because different leaves, even from the same plant, may have very different shapes, sizes and deformations. In addition, leaves may be occluded by other leaves making it hard to determine some of their characteristics. In this paper we use a Time-of-Flight (ToF) camera mounted on a robot arm to acquire the depth information needed for plant leaf detection. Under a Next Best View (NBV) paradigm, we propose a criterion to compute a new camera position that offers a better view of a target leaf. The proposed criterion exploits some typical errors of the ToF camera, which are common to other 3D sensing devices as well. This approach is also useful when more than one leaf is segmented as the same region, since moving the camera following the same NBV criterion helps to disambiguate this situation.
Biomechanics of a lumbar section after disc arthroplasty

Total replacement of degenerated intervertebral disc (IVD) is preferable to vertebral bone fusion due to the possible restoration of near normal physiological function of the spinal column after surgery. The replacement usually involves implantation of metallic endplates with a bearing liner made of polymeric material sandwiched in between the endplates to allow easy motion of the replaced vertebral section. In this paper, the biomechanics of a lumbar vertebral section was analysed before and after total disc replacement. Finite element model of an L3-L4 segment was developed from computed tomography image datasets. Disc implant was modelled and placed in between the vertebral segment to simulate disc arthroplasty. Another model with an intact IVD was also analysed for comparison. Loads simulating the physiological flexion, extension and lateral bendings were applied to the superior surface of L3. Nonlinear contact analysis was used in the analysis of the replaced IVD. Results showed that the replaced IVD managed to restore the relevant functionalities with regard to the range of motion of the vertebral section.