Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Continuous speech recognition in the WAXHOLM dialogue system

This paper presents the status of the continuous speech recognition engine of the WAXHOLM project. The engine is a software only system written in portable C code. The design is flexible and different modes for phonetic pattern matching are available. In particular, artificial neural networks and standard multiple Gaussian mixtures are implemented for phone probability estimation, and for research purposes, a general mode where the input consists of a phone-graph also exists. A lexicon with multiple pronunciations for many words and a class bigram-grammar is used. The lexicon and grammar constraints are represented by a lexical graph, optimised for efficient lexical decoding. The decoding is performed in a two-pass search. The first pass is a Viterbi beam-search and the second is an A* stackdecoding search. Pruning-strategies and memory management in the two passes are discussed in the report. Several different output formats are available. Results can be reported either on the word or phoneme level with or without the time alignment information. Multiple hypotheses can be output either as standard Nbest lists or in a more compact word-graph format. Continuous speech recognition can be performed on a standard UNIX workstation in real-time with a lexicon of about 1000 words.
A Novel Camera Calibration Technique Based on a Rotating Planar Complex Object with a Fixed Point

In this paper, we propose the new technique that recovers camera parameters from images of orthogonal directions of a moving object, no metric information on the model plane requires. Our approach only requires four observations and each of them provides a vanishing point from its two parallel lines; such four vanishing points provide three independent constraints. Using these points and proposed close form solution, camera intrinsic parameters can be calculated. Our technique is valid though the calibrating object moves along X-Y axes. At the end, computer simulation technique are implemented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the algorithm.
Automatic vs manual categorisation of documents in Spanish

Automatic categorisation can be understood as a learning process during which a program recognises the characteristics that distinguish each category or class from others, i.e. those characteristics which the documents should have in order to belong to that category. As yet few experiments have been carried out with documents in Spanish. Here we show the possibilities of elaborating pattern vectors that include the characteristics of different classes or categories of documents, using techniques based on those applied to the expansion of queries by relevance; likewise, the results of applying these techniques to a collection of documents in Spanish are given. The same collection of documents was categorised manually and the results of both procedures were compared.
Non-convex P-Norm Projection for Robust Sparsity

In this paper, we investigate the properties of Lp norm (p ≤1) within a projection framework. We start with the KKT equations of the non-linear optimization problem and then use its key properties to arrive at an algorithm for Lp norm projection on the non-negative simplex. We compare with L1 projection which needs prior knowledge of the true norm, as well as hard thresholding based sparsification proposed in recent compressed sensing literature. We show performance improvements compared to these techniques across different vision applications.
Neuropeptides Amplify and Focus the Monoaminergic Inhibition of Nociception in Caenorhabditis elegans

Monoamines and neuropeptides interact to modulate most behaviors. To better understand these interactions, we have defined the roles of tyramine (TA), octopamine, and neuropeptides in the inhibition of aversive behavior in Caenorhabditis elegans. TA abolishes the serotonergic sensitization of aversive behavior mediated by the two nociceptive ASH sensory neurons and requires the expression of the adrenergic-like, Gαq-coupled, TA receptor TYRA-3 on inhibitory monoaminergic and peptidergic neurons. For example, TA inhibition requires Gαq and Gαs signaling in the peptidergic ASI sensory neurons, with an array of ASI neuropeptides activating neuropeptide receptors on additional neurons involved in locomotory decision-making. The ASI neuropeptides required for tyraminergic inhibition are distinct from those required for octopaminergic inhibition, suggesting that individual monoamines stimulate the release of different subsets of ASI neuropeptides. Together, these results demonstrate that a complex humoral mix of monoamines is focused by more local, synaptic, neuropeptide release to modulate nociception and highlight the similarities between the tyraminergic/octopaminergic inhibition of nociception in C. elegans and the noradrenergic inhibition of nociception in mammals that also involves inhibitory peptidergic signaling.
Reperfusion Promotes Mitochondrial Biogenesis following Focal Cerebral Ischemia in Rats

Background and Purpose Reperfusion after transient cerebral ischemia causes severe damage to mitochondria; however, little is known regarding the continuous change in mitochondrial biogenesis during reperfusion. Mitochondrial biogenesis causes an increase in the individual mitochondrial mass of neurons and maintains their aerobic set-point in the face of declining function. The aim of this study was to examine mitochondrial biogenesis in the cortex during reperfusion following focal cerebral ischemia. Methods Male Wistar rats were subjected to transient focal cerebral ischemia. The relative amount of cortical mitochondrial DNA was analyzed using quantitative real-time PCR at 0 h, 24 h, 72 h, and 7 d after reperfusion. Three critical transcriptional regulators of mitochondrial biogenesis were measured by semi-quantitative reverse-transcription PCR. The protein expression of cytochrome C oxidase subunits I and IV was detected by Western blotting. Results Evidence of increased mitochondrial biogenesis was observed after reperfusion. The cortical mitochondrial DNA content increased after 24 h, peaked after 72 h, and maintained a high level for 7 d. The cortical expression of three critical genes for the transcriptional regulation of mitochondrial biogenesis, namely, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor coactivator-1α, nuclear respiratory factor-1, and mitochondrial transcription factor A, also increased at 24 h and 72 h. The expression of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor coactivator-1α returned to the baseline level at 7 d, but two other factors maintained higher levels compared with the controls. Moreover, the expression of cytochrome C oxidase subunits I and IV was increased in the cortex. Conclusions These results indicate that reperfusion increased mitochondrial biogenesis following focal cerebral ischemia, and this tendency was exacerbated as the reperfusion time was extended. Reperfusion-induced mitochondrial biogenesis was mediated through up-regulation of critical transcriptional regulators of mitochondrial biogenesis.
Denitrification effects on air‐sea CO2 flux in the coastal ocean: Simulations for the northwest North Atlantic

The contribution of coastal oceans to the global air‐sea CO2 flux is poorly quantified due to insufficient availability of observations and inherent variability of physical, biological and chemical processes. We present simulated air‐sea CO2 fluxes from a high‐resolution biogeochemical model for the North American east coast continental shelves, a region characterized by significant sediment denitrification. Decreased availability of fixed nitrogen due to denitrification reduces primary production and incorporation of inorganic carbon into organic matter, which leads to an increase in seawater pCO2, but also increases alkalinity, which leads to an opposing decrease in seawater pCO2. Comparison of simulations with different numerical treatments of denitrification and alkalinity allow us to separate and quantify the contributions of sediment denitrification to air‐sea CO2 flux. The effective alkalinity flux resulting from denitrification is large compared to estimates of anthropogenically driven coastal acidification.
Cytotoxicity of Cyanoacrylate-Based Tissue Adhesives and Short-Term Preclinical In Vivo Biocompatibility in Abdominal Hernia Repair

Background Cyanoacrylate(CA)-based tissue adhesives, although not widely used, are a feasible option to fix a mesh during abdominal hernia repair, due to its fast action and great bond strength. Their main disadvantage, toxicity, can be mitigated by increasing the length of their alkyl chain. The objective was to assess the in vitro cytotoxicity and in vivo biocompatibility in hernia repair of CAs currently used in clinical practice (Glubran(n-butyl) and Ifabond(n-hexyl)) and a longer-chain CA (OCA(n-octyl)), that has never been used in the medical field. Methods Formaldehyde release and cytotoxicity of unpolymerized(UCAs) and polymerized CAs(PCAs) were evaluated by macroscopic visual assessment, flow cytometry and Alamar Blue assays. In the preclinical evaluation, partial defects were created in the rabbit abdominal wall and repaired by fixing polypropylene prostheses using the CAs. At 14 days post-surgery, animals were euthanized for morphology, macrophage response and cell damage analyses. Results Formaldehyde release was lower as the molecular weight of the monomer increased. The longest side-chain CA(OCA) showed the highest cytotoxicity in the UCA condition. However, after polymerization, was the one that showed better behavior on most occasions. In vivo, all CAs promoted optimal mesh fixation without displacements or detachments. Seroma was evident with the use of Glubran, (four of six animals: 4/6) and Ifabond (2/6), but it was reduced with the use of OCA (1/6). Significantly greater macrophage responses were observed in groups where Glubran and Ifabond were used vs. sutures and OCA. TUNEL-positive cells were significantly higher in the Glubran and OCA groups vs. the suture group. Conclusions Although mild formaldehyde release occurred, OCA was the most cytotoxic during polymerization but the least once cured. The CAs promoted proper mesh fixation and have potential to replace traditional suturing techniques in hernia repair; the CAs exhibited good tissue integration and effective short-term biocompatibility, with the slightest seroma and macrophage response induced by OCA.
The Effect of Non-Standard Employment on Mental Health in Britain

This paper explores the relationship between non-standard types of employment and mental health. The analysis uses data on workers from the first seven waves of the British Household Panel Study, 1991-97. Four different types of non-standard employment (non-standard ontracts, places, times, and weekly hours of work) are analysed and the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) index is used as the measure of mental health. We find evidence of only a modest effect of all types of flexible employment on the GHQ scores of men and women. Although the workers’ non-standard employment behaviour does not significantly vary with their endowments and unobserved inputs, population health heterogeneity may still have a critical effect on the observed changes in labour market behaviour. Finally, we find some significant effect of non-standard employment on mental health when the sample is stratified by age and education.
Reasoning about Changes of Corpus of Documents: Reasoning on Association Rules

Evaluating changes in documentation of technical products is a key issue in knowledge management. A product may be declined in different versions and one way to evaluate changes is to compare the sets of documents which describe each version. The aim of this paper is to propose a framework for exhibiting changes between sets of documents. This framework is based on the representation of the sets of documents in terms of association rules and on the definition of first order predicates for reasoning with these association rules. The aim of the reasoning stage is to exhibit the differences between the sets of documents. These predicates show what rules are specific to a corpus or how differs the usage of concepts appearing in the associations rules. The framework is experimented with the comparison of two corpuses of documents which describe documentation about two different versions of a spatial component.
A rapid, reusable polyaniline-impregnated nanocellulose composite-based system for enhanced removal of chromium and cleaning of waste water

ABSTRACT The need of rapid, biocompatible and reusable nanotechnology for water purification is a leading global priority. In this article, we have synthesized polyaniline-impregnated nanocellulose (PANI-NC) composites. It is used not only for the removal of hexavalent chromium in aqueous media but also for cleaning of industrial waste water. The synthesized PANI-NC composites were characterized by blend of characterization tools such as DLS, SEM and FTIR, while adsorption studies were recorded by flame AAS. The PANI-NC nanocomposite was used in different forms like powder and pebbles either in free form or packed in a tea bag or a continues column to make ready to use, user-friendly system. Our PANI-NC-based system provides the 92.59 mg/g (96.5%) removal of hexavalent chromium from chromium-spiked waste water along with 99.6% removal efficiency of toxic dyes from textile industrial waste water within only 60 min of incubation time at pH 6. The PANI-NC nanocomposite showed high chromium removal capacity along with complete cleaning of industrial waste water and provides a potential to fabricate in a reusable, cost-effective system for waste water cleaning.
Cryptocurrencies: Dust in the Wind?

Abstract Analogous to the way wind blows single grains of sand and the subsequent settling back atop sand dunes, we find statistical evidence to claim that the prices of cryptocurrencies exhibit similar unpredicted patterns, characterized by positive or negative jumps. Motivated by extant evidence of asset returns’ non-normality, we capture distributional properties of the log-returns of the Bitcoin and the following three cryptocurrencies in terms of market capitalization (Ethereum, Ripple and Bitcoin cash). The total error induced by the fitted distribution is remarkably decreased when the generalized hyperbolic distribution is used, a finding further validated by a series of goodness-of-fit type statistical tests. A complementary analysis for the foreign exchange market is conducted, with inherent similarities to that of cryptocurrencies. We reveal that the generalized hyperbolic distribution can also be used to model very widely traded currency pairs significantly more accurately than the log-normal.
Angularly continuous light‐field format: Concept, implementation, and evaluation

In this paper, we present the concept, the implementation, and the evaluation of our novel angularly continuous light‐field format. We compared the subjective visual performance of our format with the perspective camera format through a series of subjective and objective tests. In our extensive subjective study, we used multiple absolute and comparative rating scales and various visual stimuli with different contents and angular resolutions. The perceived quality was assessed by a total of 36 test participants, who were separated based on their scientific expertise. The objective quality was evaluated through the degradations caused by three well‐known compression methods. The obtained results indicate that our light‐field format may outperform the conventional format, and it generally can provide at least equivalent visual quality. Furthermore, these findings open the way for data size optimization, without compromising the achieved level of perceived quality.
Review of recent trends in Coarse Grain Reconfigurable Architectures for signal processing applications

Coarse grained reconfigurable architecture got the attention of researchers working in designing computing architectures for processing massive streaming data associated with the multimedia applications in portable entertainment and communication electronics. The algorithms for processing audio, video, and graphics are very complex in nature. These data intensive computation algorithms belong to the domain of signal processing. As the complexity of algorithms increases, a matching improvement in speed performance of the hardware becomes essential to maintain the quality of service. The observed growth of algorithmic complexity is much higher than the growth rate of integration density governed by Moore’s law. Also, the constraints on memory bandwidth in the traditional von Neumann architectures along with the slow growth in the battery capacity demands a paradigm shift in computer architecture design. Reconfigurable hardware architecture is proposed as a possible alternative in this regard. The reconfigurable architectures are designed to exploit the regular and repetitive structure of signal processing algorithms and the coarse grained processing elements are designed to match with the word level granularity of these complex algorithms. The research shows that the coarse grain reconfigurable architectures with heterogeneous processing elements are a better option for system design in DSP applications which exploit granularity matching between the algorithms and the processing hardware, and also the inherent parallelism of DSP algorithms for the realization of low power DSP systems.
Multi-connectivity functional architectures in 5G

Future mobile networks need to fulfill stringent requirements on data rates, reliability, and availability. In order to satisfy these requirements, heterogeneous radio access technologies and deployments need to be used. To make efficient use of these technologies, multi-connectivity has been proposed to connect to multiple different technologies simultaneously. In this paper, we discuss different options to connect to multiple radio access points. Each of these options is further detailed, novel functionality required for multi-connectivity is introduced, and expected benefits are explained.
Paradigms in tourism research: a trialogue

This paper analyzes the nature and consequences of paradigms in tourism studies. It is somewhat unconventional in that its co-authors have not sought to produce a synthesized finished product. Rather, they have rendered their different perspectives visible through the structuring of the paper as a trialogue. It commences with Tribe's thesis that tourism studies is not governed by a restrictive paradigm at the field level but that at a societal level neoliberalism may be viewed as a restricting paradigm. Jamal and Dann then each deepen and extend the analysis of the term ‘paradigm' as they engage with the thesis providing sometimes confirmatory and sometimes conflicting analyses. A final round of clarifications and comment concludes the piece.
Effect of Zn Application on Root Growth Parameters and Shoot Dry Matter Content of Some Cowpea Genotypes

Zinc is essential for the normal healthy growth and reproduction of plants. Plants absorb Zn as zinc ions (Zn +2 ). Zinc sufficient plants contain 27 to 150 ppm Zn in mature tissues. Zinc plays a key role as a structural constituent or regulatory co-factor of a wide range of different enzymes and proteins in many important biochemical pathways and these are mainly concerned with: carbohydrate metabolism, both in photosynthesis and in the conversion of sugars to starch, protein metabolism, auxin (growth regulator) metabolism, pollen formation, the maintenance of the integrity of biological membranes, the resistance to infection by certain pathogens. Alloway (2004) reported that zinc is one of the trace elements which are essential for the normal healthy growth and reproduction of crop plants.
Fuz-SVM Classifier Based Object Face Liveness Detection with Combined HOG-LPQ

In many real time security applications, the Object Liveness Detection and Spoof Face recognition became important. Past decades, the existing systems for Face recognition and anti-spoofing classifier is accomplished to detect object features and finds spoofing attacks on various types of objects/subjects. However, by considering the individual differences among several objects, most of the techniques were failed in finding of liveness of the test images especially in blur images. Here, we proposed a system Fuz-SVM Classifier based Object Face liveness Detection with combined HOG-LPQ which allows to select specific object based on Region of Interest (ROI) and extract features of ROI, then recognises face and later check for spoofing attacks. By considering all possible rare and uncommon fake samples like 2-D photographs, masks, reply video attacks for training, the proposed system which makes it practical to train well performed individual Object to its certain face with liveness detection and also includes not only processing of specific selected object and also extracts features of blur images. We performed experiments on various real time objects with exiting data base; the details are discussed in the prospect of the proposed approach.
Intellectual, Behavioral, and Social Outcomes of Accidental Traumatic Brain Injury in Early Childhood

OBJECTIVE: The intellectual, behavioral, and social function of children who sustained traumatic brain injury (TBI) before 3 years of age were compared with a group of uninjured children. The role of injury and environmental factors in recovery was examined. METHODS: A group of 53 children who sustained a TBI before 3 years of age (20 mild and 33 moderate/severe) and 27 uninjured children (control group) were assessed on an IQ measure and parent measures of behavior and social skills. Children were aged 4 to 6 years and were an average of 40 months since sustaining their injury. RESULTS: There were no demographic differences between the groups. Although all group scores were in the average range, children with moderate/severe TBI performed significantly below uninjured children on an IQ measure. No significant differences were found on parent behavior ratings, although effect sizes between groups were medium to large. No differences were found for social skills. All outcomes were significantly influenced by environmental but not injury factors. CONCLUSIONS: Moderate/severe TBI at an early age appears to be associated with lowered intellectual function and possibly behavior problems. A child’s environment influences cognitive and behavior function after TBI.