Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Detecting Strong Prosodic Events

This work presents an approach for detecting strong prosodic events (i.e. emphasized words) in speech signals. The detection of emphasis is useful in speech-to-speech translation. It helps to ensure that post-translation prosody reflects speakers’ original intentions, i.e. translated words corresponding to emphasized words in the input signal are also emphasized in the translated signal. The steps taken in this work were split into three parts. Firstly, intensity, phone duration and fundamental frequency were extracted from input audio signals. Secondly, more compact features were derived from these three quantities. Finally, the derived features were utilized to train different classifiers, which were then evaluated. The necessary speech samples were taken form the multilingual SIWIS corpus. This work’s evaluation shows the best performing classifiers in combination with the chosen feature extraction are random forests for the languages German and English and support vector machines for French. Random forests achieved F1 scores of 0.607 for German and 0.613 for English in out-of-bag classification. For French, an F1 score of 0.606 was achieved by support vector machines in cross-validation tests.
Molecular Imaging Reveals Trastuzumab-Induced Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Downregulation In Vivo

Previous in vitro studies demonstrated that treating tumors expressing both epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 with trastuzumab resulted in increased EGFR homodimerization and subsequent rapid downregulation of EGFR. We investigated whether molecular imaging using near-infrared fluorescence (NIRF) imaging and PET probes could sensitively detect trastuzumab-induced EGFR downregulation in vivo. Methods: The F(ab′)2 antibody fragment PaniF(ab′)2 was generated by digesting the anti-EGFR monoclonal antibody panitumumab. PaniF(ab′)2 was labeled with either a NIRF dye or 68Ga, and optical imaging and small-animal PET imaging of Dye-PaniF(ab′)2 and 68Ga-PaniF(ab′)2, respectively, were performed in HT-29 tumor–bearing nude mice treated with trastuzumab or untreated control. Results: Longitudinal NIRF imaging studies revealed significantly reduced tumor uptake of Dye-PaniF(ab′)2 on days 5 and 7 in trastuzumab-treated HT-29 tumors, compared with control. Western blotting confirmed the downregulation of EGFR after treatment with trastuzumab. Small-animal PET on day 5 after trastuzumab treatment also demonstrated decreased 68Ga-PaniF(ab′)2 uptake in trastuzumab-treated HT-29 tumors. The tumor uptake value of 68Ga-PaniF(ab′)2 obtained from PET imaging had an excellent linear correlation with the uptake value measured using biodistribution. Conclusion: The downregulation of EGFR induced by trastuzumab treatment could be detected noninvasively using optical and PET imaging. This molecular imaging strategy could provide a dynamic readout of changes in the tumor signaling and may facilitate the noninvasive monitoring of the early tumor response to drug treatment.
Psychiatric Symptoms of Lobotomized and Non-Lobotomized Chronic Schizophrenics

The present investigation was conducted to determine differences in psychiatric functioning between lobotomized and non-lobotomized long-term hospitalized chronic schizophrenic patients which might have implications in determining response to a behavior modification-step-system method of rehabilitation. ' Considering the need for employing such a treatment technique, the authors needed to address the question of whether the lcbotomized patients differ from their long-term hospitalized counterparts in their psychiatric symptomatology. Twenty-eight state hospital patients who had a bilateral prefrontal lobotomy (M,) about 1 yr. after hospital admission between the years of 1948 and 1954 and 28 nonlobotomized state hospital patients (MI) were controlled for sex (MI = 18 males, 10 females; Mn = 21 males, 7 females), age (MI = 60.1 yr.; M2 = 61.4 yr.), formal education (MI = 11.6 yr.; M3 = 8.9 yr.), length of hospitalization (MI = 34.1 yr.; M2 = 33.9 yr.) , and psyihiatric diagnosis (chronic schizophrenia). Each subject was given a brief unstructured interview by six raters (five psychologists, one psychiatric social worker) who had no knowledge of whether the subject was assigned to the lobotomy or nonlobotomy group. A11 subjects were independently rated on the Brief Psychiarric Rating Scale (3) following on the average a 20-min. interview. The raters' averages of the 16 individual rated symptom constructs of the two groups of subjects were compared by r tests. Statistically significant differences between means were obtained on three of the rated constructs. The lobotomy group averaged significantly lower on the Depressive Mood (MI = 2.00, M2 = 2.56, t = -2.55, p < .05), Anxiety (MI = 2.22, MS = 2.70, r = -2.18, p < .05), and Blunted Affect (MI = 3.20, Ma = 3.83, t = -2.10, p < .05) symptom constructs. The three symptom constructs where statistically significant differences were obtained are more affective than cognitive and behavioral in description. The results suggest that, compared with the non-lobotomized subjects, the lobotomized group was significantly less despondent, emotionally flat, worried, fearful, and anxious. Even though longitudinal studies on comparable patient samples treated by comparable methods are not yet available (1. 2), ir still might be concluded that after long-term hospitalizatior, lobotomized chronic schizophrenics show affect reduced below that of their counterparts.
Age-related differences in pulmonary effects of acute and subchronic episodic ozone exposures in Brown Norway rats

Abstract Ozone (O3) is known to induce adverse pulmonary and systemic health effects. Importantly, children and older persons are considered at-risk populations for O3-induced dysfunction, yet the mechanisms accounting for the age-related pulmonary responses to O3 are uncertain. In this study, we examined age-related susceptibility to O3 using 1 mo (adolescent), 4 mo (young adult), 12 mo (adult) and 24 mo (senescent) male Brown Norway rats exposed to filtered air or O3 (0.25 and 1.00 ppm), 6 h/day, two days/week for 1 week (acute) or 13 weeks (subchronic). Ventilatory function, assessed by whole-body plethysmography, and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) biomarkers of injury and inflammation were used to examine O3-induced pulmonary effects. Relaxation time declined in all ages following the weekly exposures; however, this effect persisted only in the 24 mo rats following a five days recovery, demonstrating an inability to induce adaptation commonly seen with repeated O3 exposures. PenH was increased in all groups with an augmented response in the 4 mo rats following the subchronic O3 exposures. O3 led to increased breathing frequency and minute volume in the 1 and 4 mo animals. Markers of pulmonary permeability were increased in all age groups. Elevations in BALF γ-glutamyl transferase activity and lung inflammation following an acute O3 exposure were noted in only the 1 and 4 mo rats, which likely received an increased effective O3 dose. These data demonstrate that adolescent and young adult animals are more susceptible to changes in ventilation and pulmonary injury/inflammation caused by acute and episodic O3 exposure.
The Distribution of Firm Start-Up Size across Geographic Space

A growing body of literature shows that geographic location plays an important role in influencing economic phenomena. Despite the renewed interest in economic geography, the existing literature on the firm size distribution (FSD) has ignored the impact of geographic location. A wave of recent studies has examined the determinants and evolution of FSD (Cabral and Mata, 2003; Angelini and Generale 2008, AER) and a component of this literature has focused on the size of the new firm start-ups. However, while the impact of firm-specific and industry-specific characteristics on size of new firms has been analyzed, the role of geographic location has been largely neglected. Using Bayesian semi-parametric geoadditive models, we estimate geographic location as a micro-determinant of firm start-up size. The estimations based on a comprehensive database of firm start-ups in India suggest that the size distribution of new firms exhibits distinct regional patterns, even after controlling for firm and industry characteristics. These residual spatial patterns are found to be attributable, to some extent, to the level of economic and financial development in the regions.
Simulation of a model-based optimal controller for heating systems under realistic hypothesis

An optimal controller for auxiliary heating of passive solar buildings and commercial buildings with high internal gains is tested in simulation. Some of the most restrictive simplifications that were used in previous studies of that controller (Kummert et al., 2001) are lifted: the controller is applied to a multizone building, and a detailed model is used for the HVAC system. The model-based control algorithm is not modified. It is based on a simplified internal model. It is shown that the optimal controller's performance varies strongly with the zone that is considered and the reference zone that is used. However, it is never worse than the performance of a reference controller. The global performance at the building level depends on the selected reference zone and on the building sensitivity to overheating.
Macrophytes as indicators of land‐derived wastewater: Application of a δ15N method in aquatic systems

We measured δ15N signatures of macrophytes and particulate organic matter (POM) in six estuaries and three freshwater ponds of Massachusetts to assess whether the signatures could be used as indicators of the magnitude of land‐derived nitrogen loads, concentration of dissolved inorganic nitrogen in the water column, and percentage of N loads contributed by wastewater disposal. The study focused specifically on sites on Cape Cod and Nantucket Island, in the northeastern United States. There was no evidence of seasonal changes in δ15N values of macrophytes or POM. The δ15N values of macrophytes and POM increased as water column dissolved inorganic nitrogen concentrations increased. We found that δ15N of macrophytes, but not of POM, increased as N load increased. The δ15N values of macrophytes and groundwater NO3 tracked the percent of wastewater contribution linearly. This research confirms that δ15N values of macrophytes and NO3 can be excellent indicators of anthropogenic N in aquatic systems.
Rapid Phosphorylation of a Syntaxin during the Avr9/Cf-9-Race-Specific Signaling Pathway1

The tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) resistance (R) gene Cf-9 is required for resistance to races of the fungal pathogen Cladosporium fulvum expressing the elicitor Avr9 and also confers responsiveness to Avr9 in Cf-9-containing transgenic tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum; Cf9 tobacco). Although protein phosphorylation is required for many early Avr9/Cf-9-signaling events, so far the only phosphorylation targets known in this race-specific signaling pathway are three kinases: the two mitogen-activated protein kinases, wound-induced protein kinase and salicylic acid-induced protein kinase, and the calcium-dependent protein kinase NtCDPK2. Here, we provide evidence that a tobacco syntaxin is rapidly and transiently phosphorylated after Avr9 elicitation. The syntaxin was detected with an antibody against NtSyp121, a plasma membrane-localized syntaxin implicated in abscisic acid responses and secretion. Consistent with the gene-for-gene hypothesis, syntaxin phosphorylation required the presence of both Avr9 and Cf-9. This phosphorylation event occurred either upstream of the pathway leading to reactive oxygen species production or in a parallel pathway. Interestingly, rapid syntaxin phosphorylation was triggered by the race-specific elicitor Avr9 but not by flg22P.aer, a general elicitor capable of inducing other defense-related signaling events in Cf9 tobacco such as reactive oxygen species production, mitogen-activated protein kinase activation, and PR5 transcript up-regulation. Furthermore, NtSyp121 transcript levels were increased at 24 h after elicitation with Avr9 but not with flg22P.aer. Because most other previously described Avr9- and flg22P.aer-elicited responses are similar, syntaxin phosphorylation and NtSyp121 transcript up-regulation may serve as novel early biochemical and late molecular markers, respectively, to elucidate further differences in the signaling responses between these two elicitors.
Changes in the incidence of tuberculosis in a cohort of HIV-seroconverters before and after the introduction of HAART

Objective:To analyse incidence and determinants of tuberculosis in HIV-seroconverters before and after the introduction of HAART. Methods:Data from a multicenter cohort study of 2238 HIV-seroconverters between the 1980s and 2004 were analysed and censored by December 2004. Calendar year at risk intervals were pre-1992, 1992–1996 and 1997–2004. Incident tuberculosis was calculated as cases per 1000 person-years (p-y). Survival analyses using Kaplan–Meier and multivariate Cox regression allowing for late-entry were used. Proportional hazards assumptions were checked with tests based on Schoenfeld residuals. Results:Overall, 173 (7.7%) patients developed tuberculosis over 23 698 p-y at a rate of 7.3 cases per 1000 p-y [95% confidence interval (CI), 6.3–8.5]. Incident tuberculosis was higher in intravenous drug-users (IDUs), 12.3 per 1000 p-y compared with persons infected sexually, 3.8 per 1000 p-y (P < 0.001), and persons with clotting disorders (PCD), 2.7 per 1000 p-y (P < 0.001). A decreasing tuberculosis incidence trend was observed from 1995 in all categories. Highest tuberculosis rates, 44 per 1000 p-y, were observed prior to 1997 in IDUs infected with HIV for 11 years. In multivariable analyses women were less likely to develop tuberculosis [relative hazard (RH), 0.62; 95% CI, 0.41–0.96; P < 0.05) and IDUs were more likely to develop tuberculosis (RH, 3.0; 95% CI, 1.72–5.26, P < 0.001). In the HAART era, the hazard of developing tuberculosis was 70% lower (RH, 0.31; 95% CI, 0.17–0.54; P < 0.001). Before 1997, the risk of tuberculosis increased with time since HIV seroconversion, whereas it remained nearly constant in the HAART era. Conclusions:Since the mid-1990s important decreases in tuberculosis have been observed in HIV-seroconverters that probably reflect the impact of both HAART and tuberculosis control programmes.
PO and UTD solutions for multiple-diffraction analysis in radiowave propagation prediction

Prof. Bertoni's contributions in over-building radiowave propagation in urban environments have been used by other researchers to compare or introduce new formulations, either based on PO or the UTD. In this paper, a review of various PO and UTD solutions, used to analyze multiple-diffraction over buildings, is presented.
Intranasal vaccination with killed Leishmania amazonensis promastigotes antigen (LaAg) associated with CAF01 adjuvant induces partial protection in BALB/c mice challenged with Leishmania (infantum) chagasi.

SUMMARY The CAF01 adjuvant has previously been shown to be safe for human use and to be a potent adjuvant for several vaccine antigens. In the present work, we sought to optimize the Leishmania amazonensis antigens (LaAg) intranasal vaccine in an attempt to enhance the protective immune responses against Leishmania (infantum) chagasi by using the CAF01 association. LaAg/CAF01 vaccinated mice that were challenged 15 days after booster dose with L. (infantum) chagasi showed a significant reduction in their parasite burden in both the spleen and liver, which is associated with an increase in specific production of IFN-γ and nitrite, and a decrease in IL-4 production. In addition, LaAg/CAF01 intranasal delivery was able to increase lymphoproliferative immune responses after parasite antigen recall. These results suggest the feasibility of using the intranasal route for the delivery of crude antigens and of a human-compatible adjuvant against visceral leishmaniasis.
The application of finite element analysis in the design of high intensity ultrasonic systems

This paper describes the application of a noninvasive field measurement approach linked with FE design techniques to optimise the identification and control of pressure node locations (associated with regions of cavitation) within small liquid filled vessels (e.g. 100mm diameter, 150mm height). The measurement technique is based on the interferometric detection of refractive index changes in transparent media due to pressure, coupled with modified tomographic scanning routines, to allow the reconstruction of a three-dimensional map of pressure within cylindrical vessels. Importantly, an adaptive algorithm was developed to control the firing angle of the interferometer in order to compensate for the refractional effects introduced by arbitrary cell structures and hence, maintain the parallel projections essential for reconstruction accuracy. These systems were simulated in the FE domain with good correspondence between the optically measured profiles and theoretical profiles established. The validated virtual prototyping platform was then used to design systems with specific field characteristics for increased probability of cavitational effects. Examples of improved designs utilising variations in cell arrangements and characteristics are presented.
Noise-induced contrast enhancement of dark images using non-dynamic stochastic resonance

In this paper, a nonlinear non-dynamic stochastic resonance-based technique has been proposed for enhancement of dark and low contrast images. A low contrast image is treated as a subthreshold signal and noise-enhanced signal processing is applied to improve its contrast. The proposed technique uniquely utilizes addition of external noise to neutralize the effect of internal noise (due to insufficient illumination) of a low contrast image. Random noise is added repeatedly to an image and is successively hard-thresholded followed by overall averaging. By varying the noise intensities, noise induced resonance is obtained at a particular optimum noise intensity. Performance of the proposed technique has been investigated for four types of noise distributions - gaussian, uniform, poisson and gamma. Quantitative evaluation of their performances have been done in terms of contrast enhancement factor, color enhancement and perceptual quality measure. Comparison with other existing spatial domain techniques shows that the proposed technique gives remarkable enhancement while ascertaining good perceptual quality.
Radioactive Nanomaterials for Multimodality Imaging

Nuclear imaging techniques, primarily including positron emission tomography and single-photon emission computed tomography, can provide quantitative information for a biological event in vivo with ultrahigh sensitivity; however, the comparatively low spatial resolution is their major limitation in clinical application. With the convergence of nuclear imaging with other imaging modalities like computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, and optical imaging, the hybrid imaging platforms can overcome the limitations of each individual imaging technique. Possessing versatile chemical linking ability and good cargo-loading capacity, radioactive nanomaterials can serve as ideal imaging contrast agents. Here, we provide a brief overview about the current state-of-the-art applications of radioactive nanomaterials in multimodality imaging. We present strategies for incorporation of radioisotope(s) into nanomaterials with the applications of radioactive nanomaterials in multimodal imaging. Advantages and limitations of radioactive nanomaterials for multimodal imaging applications are discussed. Finally, a future perspective of possible radioactive nanomaterial utilization is presented for improving diagnosis and patient management in a variety of diseases.
Incidence and persistence of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in whirlpools

Pseudomonas aeruginosa was isolated from seven commercial and two residential whirlpools that were treated with halogens. None of the commercial whirlpools was constantly maintained at appropriate disinfection levels. Superchlorination or the draining, cleaning, disinfection, and refilling of whirlpools markedly reduced densities of P. aeruginosa in whirlpool water, but the bacterial populations were rapidly reestablished (less than 10(3) cells per ml) when disinfectant concentrations decreased below recommended levels (chlorine, 3.0 ppm [3.0 micrograms/ml]; bromine, 6.0 ppm). P. aeruginosa in the water was replenished from various sources, such as hoses used to fill the whirlpool and the biofilm in the filter and piping of the whirlpool systems. Daily monitoring and adjustment of chemical characteristics (regardless of bather load) were essential for controlling densities of P. aeruginosa.
Nearest-Neighbor Sample Compression: Efficiency, Consistency, Infinite Dimensions

We examine the Bayes-consistency of a recently proposed 1-nearest-neighbor-based multiclass learning algorithm. This algorithm is derived from sample compression bounds and enjoys the statistical advantages of tight, fully empirical generalization bounds, as well as the algorithmic advantages of a faster runtime and memory savings. We prove that this algorithm is strongly Bayes-consistent in metric spaces with finite doubling dimension --- the first consistency result for an efficient nearest-neighbor sample compression scheme. Rather surprisingly, we discover that this algorithm continues to be Bayes-consistent even in a certain infinite-dimensional setting, in which the basic measure-theoretic conditions on which classic consistency proofs hinge are violated. This is all the more surprising, since it is known that $k$-NN is not Bayes-consistent in this setting. We pose several challenging open problems for future research.
Reducing Spreadsheet Risk with FormulaDataSleuth

A new MS Excel application has been developed which seeks to reduce the risks associated with the development, operation and auditing of Excel spreadsheets. FormulaDataSleuth provides a means of checking spreadsheet formulas and data as they are developed or used, enabling the users to identify actual or potential errors quickly and thereby halt their propagation. In this paper, we will describe, with examples, how the application works and how it can be applied to reduce the risks associated with Excel spreadsheets.
Predicting large‐scale conformational changes in proteins using energy‐weighted normal modes

We report the development of a method to improve the sampling of protein conformational space in molecular simulations. It is shown that a principal component analysis of energy‐weighted normal modes in Cartesian coordinates can be used to extract vectors suitable for describing the dynamics of protein substructures. The method can operate with either atomistic or user‐defined coarse‐grained models of protein structure. An implicit reverse coarse‐graining allows the dynamics of all‐atoms to be recovered when a coarse‐grained model is used. For an external test set of four proteins, it is shown that the new method is more successful than normal mode analysis in describing the large‐scale conformational changes observed on ligand binding. The method has potential applications in protein–ligand and protein–protein docking and in biasing molecular dynamics simulations. Proteins 2011; © 2011 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.