Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Learning factorized feature transforms for speaker normalization

This paper proposes an approach to improve automatic speech recognition (ASR) by normalizing the speaker variability of a well trained Deep Neural Network (DNN) acoustic model using i-vectors. Our approach learns a speaker dependent transformation of the acoustic features combined with the standard speaker dependent bias, to minimize the mismatch due to the inter-speaker variability. Speaker normalization experiments on the Aurora 4 task show 10.9% relative improvement over the baseline. Moreover, the proposed approach reported 4.5% relative improvement over the standard i-vector based method where only a speaker dependent bias is used. Furthermore, we report an analysis to compare our approach with the Constrained Maximum Likelihood Linear Regression (CMLLR) method.
Role of Temperature Stress on Chloroplast Biogenesis and Protein Import in Pea1[OA]

Modulation of photosynthesis and chloroplast biogenesis, by low and high temperatures, was studied in 12-d-old pea (Pisum sativum) plants grown at 25°C and subsequently exposed to 7°C or 40°C up to 48 h. The decline in variable chlorophyll a fluorescence/maximum chlorophyll a fluorescence and estimated electron transport rate in temperature-stressed plants was substantially restored when they were transferred to room temperature. The ATP-driven import of precursor of small subunit of Rubisco (pRSS) into plastids was down-regulated by 67% and 49% in heat-stressed and chill-stressed plants, respectively. Reduction in binding of the pRSS to the chloroplast envelope membranes in heat-stressed plants could be due to the down-regulation of Toc159 gene/protein expression. In addition to impaired binding, reduced protein import into chloroplast in heat-stressed plants was likely due to decreased gene/protein expression of certain components of the TOC complex (Toc75), the TIC complex (Tic20, Tic32, Tic55, and Tic62), stromal Hsp93, and stromal processing peptidase. In chill-stressed plants, the gene/protein expression of most of the components of protein import apparatus other than Tic110 and Tic40 were not affected, suggesting the central role of Tic110 and Tic40 in inhibition of protein import at low temperature. Heating of intact chloroplasts at 35°C for 10 min inhibited protein import, implying a low thermal stability of the protein import apparatus. Results demonstrate that in addition to decreased gene and protein expression, down-regulation of photosynthesis in temperature-stressed plants is caused by reduced posttranslational import of plastidic proteins required for the replacement of impaired proteins coded by nuclear genome.
A Consumer-Oriented Control Framework for Performance Analysis in Hybrid Electric Vehicles

Hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) have attracted considerable attention due to their potential to reduce fuel consumption and emissions. The objective of this paper is to enhance our understanding of the associated tradeoffs among the HEV subsystems, e.g., the engine, the motor, and the battery, and investigate the related implications for fuel consumption and battery capacity and lifetime. Addressing this problem can provide insights on how to prioritize these objectives based on consumers' needs and preferences. The results of the proposed optimization approach can also be used to investigate the implications for HEV costs related to ownership and warranty.
Caregiver Preferences Regarding Personal Health Records in the Management of ADHD

Objective. Personal health records (PHRs) may address the needs of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Among parents, we assessed acceptance, barriers, and intentions regarding use of PHR for their children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Methods. Survey of parents from 3 practices in Rochester, NY. Stepwise logistic regression analysis explored factors predicting respondents’ intentions for future use of PHR, accounting for care coordination needs, caregiver education, socioeconomic status, and satisfaction with providers. Results. Of 184 respondents, 23% had used the PHR for their child, 82% intended future use. No difference was observed between users and nonusers regarding gender, age, race, or education. Users were more likely than nonusers to reside in the suburbs (P = .03). Caregivers were more likely to plan future use of the PHR if they felt engaged as partners in their child’s care (adjusted odds ratio = 2.3, 95% confidence interval = 1.2, 4.5). Conclusions. Parents are enthusiastic about PHRs. Future work should focus on engaging them as members of the health care team.
A visualization platform for internet of things in manufacturing applications

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a visualization platform to control and monitor wireless sensor networks (WSNs) in manufacturing applications. Design/methodology/approach – To make the platform flexible and versatile, a modular framework is adopted in modeling and visualizing WSNs. The Eclipse programming environment is used to maximize the scalability and adaptability of the platform. A set of the core functional modules have been designed and implemented to support the system operation. The platform is validated through a case study simulation. Findings – The platform is capable of accommodating different operating systems such as Windows and Linux. It allows integrating new plug-ins developed in various languages such as Java, C, C++, and Matlab. The Graphic User Interface has been applied to process and visualize the acquired real-time data from a WSN, and the embodied methodologies can be used to predict the behaviors of objects in the network. Research limitations/implications – Th.
Identification of Genes Involved in the Glycosylation of Modified Viosamine of Flagellins in Pseudomonas syringae by Mass Spectrometry

Previously we revealed that flagellin proteins in Pseudomonas syringae pv. tabaci 6605 (Pta 6605) were glycosylated with a trisaccharide, modified viosamine (mVio)-rhamnose-rhamnose and that glycosylation was required for virulence. We further identified some glycosylation-related genes, including vioA, vioB, vioT, fgt1, and fgt2. In this study, we newly identified vioR and vioM in a so-called viosamine island as biosynthetic genes for glycosylation of mVio in Pta 6605 by the mass spectrometry (MS) of flagellin glycan in the respective mutants. Furthermore, characterization of the mVio-related genes and MS analyses of flagellin glycans in other pathovars of P. syringae revealed that mVio-related genes were essential for mVio biosynthesis in flagellin glycans, and that P. syringae pv. syringae B728a, which does not possess a viosamine island, has a different structure of glycan in its flagellin protein.
Phosphorylation of Osteopontin Peptides Mediates Adsorption to and Incorporation into Calcium Oxalate Crystals

Phosphorylated peptides of osteopontin (OPN) have been shown to inhibit the growth of the {100} face of calcium oxalate monohydrate (COM). The inhibitory potency has been shown to be dependent on the phosphate content of the peptide. The purpose of this study is to better understand the means by which phosphate groups promote crystal growth inhibition by OPN peptides. Peptides of rat bone OPN 220–235 peptides have been synthesized with zero (P0), 1 (P1) or 3 (P3) phosphate modifications. COM crystals were grown in the presence of 0.1–10 μg of P0, P1 or P3. P0 incorporation into COM crystals was evident at 10 μg/ml of peptide, whereas the phosphorylated peptides P1 and P3 were incorporated at all tested concentrations. At 5 μg/ml of P3, COM crystals exhibited a ‘dumbbell’ morphology. To study the peptide-mineral interaction, surface frequency plots were constructed from molecular dynamics simulations of OPN peptide adsorption. Carboxylate and phosphate groups were found to adsorb in specific orientations to the COM {100} surface. In conclusion, it appears that the phosphate groups on OPN peptides are capable of interacting with the COM {100} surface. This interaction appears to increase the adsorption energy of the peptide to the surface, thus enhancing its inhibitory potency.
Relative effects of plasma, fibrinogen concentrate, and factor XIII on ROTEM coagulation profiles in an in vitro model of massive transfusion in trauma

Abstract Massive traumatic haemorrhage is aggravated through the development of trauma-induced coagulopathy, which is managed by plasma transfusion and/or fibrinogen concentrate administration. It is yet unclear whether these treatments are equally potent in ensuring adequate haemostasis, and whether additional factor XIII (FXIII) administration provides further benefits. In this study, we compared ROTEM whole blood coagulation profiles after experimental massive transfusion with different transfusion regimens in an in vitro model of dilution- and transfusion-related coagulopathy. Healthy donor blood was mixed 1 + 1 with six different transfusion regimens. Each regimen contained RBC, platelet concentrate, and either fresh frozen plasma (FFP) or Ringer’s acetate (RA). The regimens were further augmented through addition of a low- or medium-dose fibrinogen concentrate and FXIII. Transfusion with FFP alone was insufficient to maintain tissue-factor activated clot strength, coincidental with a deficiency in fibrin-based clot strength. Fibrinogen concentrate conserved, but did not improve coagulation kinetics and overall clot strength. Only combination therapy with FFP and low-dose fibrinogen concentrate improved both coagulation kinetics and fibrin-based clot strength. Administration of FXIII did not result in an improvement of clot strength. In conclusion, combination therapy with both FFP and low-dose fibrinogen concentrate improved clotting time and produced firm clots, representing a possible preferred first-line regimen to manage trauma-induced coagulopathy when RBC and platelets are also transfused. Further research is required to identify optimal first-line transfusion fluids for massive traumatic haemorrhage.
University Ofhawaìi at Mānoa Department of Economics Working Paper Series Unemployment and Mortality: Evidence from the Psid by Unemployment and Mortality: Evidence from the Psid

We use micro-data to investigate the relationship between unemployment and mortality in the United States using Logistic regression on a sample of over 16,000 individuals. We consider baselines from 1984 to 1993 and investigate mortality up to ten years from the baseline. We show that poor local labor market conditions are associated with higher mortality risk for working-aged 1 men and, specifically, that a one percentage point increase in the unemployment rate increases their probability of dying within one year of baseline by 6%. There is little to no such relationship for people with weaker labor force attachments such as women or the elderly. Our results contribute to a growing body of work that suggests that poor economic conditions pose health risks and illustrate an important contrast with studies based on aggregate data.
Bringing Feedback in From the Outback via a Generic and Preference-Sensitive Instrument for Course Quality Assessment

Background Much effort and many resources have been put into developing ways of eliciting valid and informative student feedback on courses in medical, nursing, and other health professional schools. Whatever their motivation, items, and setting, the response rates have usually been disappointingly low, and there seems to be an acceptance that the results are potentially biased. Objective The objective of the study was to look at an innovative approach to course assessment by students in the health professions. This approach was designed to make it an integral part of their educational experience, rather than a marginal, terminal, and optional add-on as “feedback”. It becomes a weighted, but ungraded, part of the course assignment requirements. Methods A ten-item, two-part Internet instrument, MyCourseQuality (MCQ-10D), was developed following a purposive review of previous instruments. Shorthand labels for the criteria are: Content, Organization, Perspective, Presentations, Materials, Relevance, Workload, Support, Interactivity, and Assessment. The assessment is unique in being dually personalized. In part 1, at the beginning of the course, the student enters their importance weights for the ten criteria. In part 2, at its completion, they rate the course on the same criteria. Their ratings and weightings are combined in a simple expected-value calculation to produce their dually personalized and decomposable MCQ score. Satisfactory (technical) completion of both parts contributes 10% of the marks available in the course. Providers are required to make the relevant characteristics of the course fully transparent at enrollment, and the course is to be rated as offered. A separate item appended to the survey allows students to suggest changes to what is offered. Students also complete (anonymously) the standard feedback form in the setting concerned. Results Piloting in a medical school and health professional school will establish the organizational feasibility and acceptability of the approach (a version of which has been employed in one medical school previously), as well as its impact on provider behavior and intentions, and on student engagement and responsiveness. The priorities for future improvements in terms of the specified criteria are identified at both individual and group level. The group results from MCQ will be compared with those from the standard feedback questionnaire, which will also be completed anonymously by the same students (or some percentage of them). Conclusions We present a protocol for the piloting of a student-centered, dually personalized course quality instrument that forms part of the assignment requirements and is therefore an integral part of the course. If, and how, such an essentially formative Student-Reported Outcome or Experience Measure can be used summatively, at unit or program level, remains to be determined, and is not our concern here.
Retrieving electronic ink by content

This paper deals with a new emerging multimedia data, namely, electronic ink. As pen-based computers and personal digital assistants (PDAs) become more popular, searching electronic ink becomes an important issue. We treat the ink object as a one dimensional image which is described by a set of features. This is different from the traditional methods that use handwritten recognition techniques to convert it into ASCII. The search retrieves a set of ink objects that most resembles the query object. We describe a multi-stages filter for searching large repository of electronic ink. The first stage is an R-tree based index used to prune the search space. The output of the first stage is a set of words that have some common features with the query. A sequential search algorithm is then used to extract the most similar word to the query string. Our schema is 12 time faster than the sequential and improves the retrieval rate by up to 50%.
Performance Enhancement for T&#8211;S Fuzzy Control Using Neural Networks

A new control scheme is proposed to improve the system performance for Takagi-Sugeno (T-S) fuzzy system using control grade functions tuned by neural networks. First, systematic modeling method is introduced to construct the exact T-S fuzzy model for a nonlinear control system. For the T-S fuzzy model, the system uncertainty affects only the membership functions. To cope with this problem, the grade functions, resulting from the membership functions of the control rules, are tuned by a back-propagation network. On the other hand, the feedback gains of the control rules are determined by solving a set of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs) which satisfy sufficient conditions of the closed-loop stability. As a result, both stability guarantee and better performance are concluded. The scheme is applied to a ball-and-beam system example verified by numerical simulations
A hybrid simulation model of inbound logistics operations in regional food supply systems

Regional food hubs aggregate, distribute, and market local food, with a goal of promoting environmental and social sustainability. They provide an alternative distribution channel through which small-scale producers can access wholesale markets. However, food hubs face many barriers to growth and success. In particular, they are often unable to achieve the logistical and operational efficiencies that characterize conventional large-scale food distribution. One possible method of improving food hub efficiency targets inbound logistics operations - specifically, the scheduling of producer deliveries to the food hub. In this paper, we describe a hybrid simulation model of the inbound logistics operations of a food hub. Using this model, we observe the scheduling behavior of the producers under different conditions and explore the effectiveness of implementing incentives to encourage producers to schedule their deliveries in advance.
Towards the Effects of Initial Grain Temperature and Erosive Burning on the Solid Propellant Combustion

On the basis of an improved mathematical model it was explored how the derived nonlinear pressure coupling response function, depending on pressure and frequency, behaves at extreme initial grain temperatures. This is accomplished by extending the existing model QSHOD (Α Β) to incorporate the effects of nonlinearity. Pressure frequency analysis of nonlinear combustion response function at the pressure coupling is a relevant input of this paper and provides useful data on the occurrence of the combustion instability in the case of unsteady DB homogeneous solid propellant burning with and without erosion. A study concerning the combustion stability prediction based on the classical linear stability theory was also included in our paper. The model incorporates unsteady rotational sources and sinks in the acoustic energy assessment and thus a more accurate acoustic instability evaluation can be achieved. This method involves the computing of minimum 11 growth rate terms that arise in the dynamics of an oscillating complex flow. Finally, the paper gives an overview of some experimental results on combustion instabilities and pressure oscillations in DB solid propellant rocket motors (SPRM-01, 02 and 03). Some particular pressure-time traces, at extreme grain initial temperatures, with significant perturbed pressure signal were recorded and FFT analysed.
Can chronic multimorbidity explain the age-related differences in strength, speed and balance in older adults?

Background and aims: It is known that physical performance declines with age in general, however there remains much to be understood in terms of age-related differences amongst older adults across a variety of physical components (such as speed, strength and balance), and particularly in terms of the role played by multimorbidity of chronic diseases. We aimed to detect the age-related differences across four components of physical performance and to explore to what extent chronic diseases and multimorbidity may explain such differences. Methods: We analyzed cross-sectional data from a population-based sample of 3323 people, aged 60 years and older from the SNAC-K study, Stockholm, Sweden. Physical performance was assessed by trained nurses using several tests (grip strength, walking speed, balance and chair stands). Clinical diagnoses were made by the examining physician based on clinical history and examination. Results: Censored normal regression analyses showed that the 72–90+ year-old persons had 17–40% worse grip strength, 44–86% worse balance, 30–86% worse chair stand score, and 21–59% worse walking speed, compared with the 60–66 year-old persons. Chronic diseases were strongly associated with physical impairment, and this association was particularly strong among the younger men. However, chronic diseases explained only some of the age-related differences in physical performance. When controlling for chronic diseases in the analyses, the age-related differences in physical performance changed 1–11%. Conclusion: In spite of the strong association between multimorbidity and physical impairment, chronic morbidities explained only a small part of the age-related differences in physical performance.
Effects of Age and Gender on Hand Motion Tasks

Objective. Wearable and wireless motion sensor devices have facilitated the automated computation of speed, amplitude, and rhythm of hand motion tasks. The aim of this study is to determine if there are any biological influences on these kinematic parameters. Methods. 80 healthy subjects performed hand motion tasks twice for each hand, with movements measured using a wireless motion sensor device (Kinesia, Cleveland Medical Devices Inc., Cleveland, OH). Multivariate analyses were performed with age, gender, and height added into the model. Results. Older subjects performed poorer in finger tapping (FT) speed (r = 0.593, p < 0.001), hand-grasp (HG) speed (r = 0.517, p < 0.001), and pronation-supination (PS) speed (r = 0.485, p < 0.001). Men performed better in FT rhythm (p < 0.02), HG speed (p < 0.02), HG amplitude (p < 0.02), and HG rhythm (p < 0.05). Taller subjects performed better in the speed and amplitude components of FT (p < 0.02) and HG tasks (p < 0.02). After multivariate analyses, only age and gender emerged as significant independent factors influencing the speed but not the amplitude and rhythm components of hand motion tasks. Gender exerted an independent influence only on HG speed, with better performance in men (p < 0.05). Conclusions. Age, gender, and height are not independent factors influencing the amplitude and rhythm components of hand motion tasks. The speed component is affected by age and gender differences.
Autoantibodies to posttranslationally modified type II collagen as potential biomarkers for rheumatoid arthritis.

OBJECTIVE Type II collagen (CII) posttranslationally modified by reactive oxygen species (ROS-CII) that are present in the inflamed joint is an autoantigen in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The aim of this study was to investigate the potential use of anti-ROS-CII autoantibodies as a biomarker of RA. METHODS CII was exposed to oxidants that are present in the rheumatoid joint. Autoreactivity to ROS-CII was assessed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays in synovial fluid (SF) and serum samples obtained from patients during various phases of RA. This group included disease-modifying antirheumatic drug (DMARD)-naive patients with early RA (n = 85 serum samples) and patients with established RA (n = 80 serum and 50 SF samples), who were categorized as either DMARD responders or DMARD nonresponders. Control subjects included anti-citrullinated protein antibody (ACPA)-positive patients with arthralgia (n = 58 serum samples), patients with osteoarthritis (OA; n = 49 serum and 52 SF samples), and healthy individuals (n = 51 serum samples). RESULTS Reactivity to ROS-CII among DMARD-naive patients with early RA was significantly higher than that among patients with ACPA-positive arthralgia, patients with OA, and healthy control subjects (P < 0.0001), with 92.9% of serum samples from the patients with early RA binding to anti-ROS-II. There was no significant difference in anti-ROS-CII reactivity between ACPA-positive and ACPA-negative patients with RA, with 93.8% and 91.6% of serum samples, respectively, binding to ROS-CII. The sensitivity and specificity of binding to ROS-CII in patients with early RA were 92% and 98%, respectively. Among patients with established RA, serum reactivity in DMARD nonresponders was significantly higher than that in DMARD responders (P < 0.01); 58.3% of serum samples from nonresponders and 7.6% of serum samples from responders bound to HOCl-ROS, while the respective values for SF were 70% and 60%. In patients with longstanding RA, autoreactivity to ROS-CII changed longitudinally. CONCLUSION Autoantibodies to ROS-CII have the potential to become diagnostic biomarkers of RA.