Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Regularized feature-space discriminative adaptation for robust ASR

Model-space adaptation techniques such as MLLR and MAP are often used for porting old acoustic models into new domains. Discriminative schemes for model adaptation based on MMI and MPE objective functions are also utilized. For feature-space adaptations, one extension to the well-known feature-space discriminative training (fMPE) algorithm, feature-space discriminative adaptation, was recently proposed to adapt fMPE transforms. Feature-space discriminative adaptation was shown to work well for some situations when sufﬁcient adaptation data is available. This paper improves the feature-space discriminative adaptation by introducing a regularization term for an indirect differential computation of the fMPE ob-jective function, and also by updating the acoustic models with MAP instead of ML criterion during the adaptation. The proposed method performed favorably for the adaptation conditions from general-purpose LVCSR to automotive environments with small amounts of adaptation data, and yielded 4.4% relative improvement as compared with MAP-adapted system without using the fMPE adaptation.
Longitudinal study of alzheimer's disease degeneration through EEG data analysis with a NeuCube spiking neural network model

Motivated by the dramatic rise of neurological disorders, we propose a SNN technique to model electroen-cephalography (EEG) data collected from people affected by Alzheimer's Disease (AD) and people diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). An evolving spatio-temporal data machine (eSTDM), named the NeuCube architecture, is used to analyse changes of neural activity across different brain regions. The model developed allows for studying AD progression and for predicting whether a patient diagnosed with MCI is more likely to develop AD.
Dynamic Infrared Imaging of Newly Diagnosed Malignant Lymphoma Compared with Gallium-67 and Fluorine-18 Fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) Positron Emission Tomography

Staging and therapy monitoring of malignant lymphomas relies heavily on imaging using arbitrary size criteria from computed tomography (CT) and sometimes non-specific radionuclide studies to assess the activity of the disease. Treatment decisions are based on early assessment of the response to therapy and the residual volume of the disease. Our initial experience is reported using a new noninvasive, inexpensive, and reproducible passive imaging modality, Dynamic Infrared Imaging (DIRI), which may add a new dimension to functional imaging. This system relies on its ability to filter the raw infrared signal using biological oscillatory behavior. It detects and analyzes minute oscillations of temperature and heat distribution in tumors.
Calcium‐magnesium interactions in pancreatic acinar cells

Although the role of calcium (Ca2+)in the signal transduction and pathobiology of the exo¬crine pancreas is firmly established, the role of magne¬sium (Mg2+) remains unclear. We have characterized the intracellular distribution of Mg2+ in response to hormone stimulation in isolated mouse pancreatic acinar cells and studied the role of Mg2+ in modulating Ca2+ signaling using microspectrofluorometry and dig¬ital imaging of Ca2+‐orMg2+‐sensitive fluorescent dyes as well as Mg2+‐sensitive intracellular microelectrodes. Our results indicate that an increase in intracellular Mg2+ concentrations reduced the cholecystokinin (CCK) ‐induced Ca2+ oscillations by inhibiting the capacitive Ca2+ influx. An intracellular Ca2+ mobiliza¬tion, on the other hand, was paralleled by a decrease in [Mg2+]i, which was reversible upon hormone with¬drawal independent of the electrochemical gradients for Mg2+,Ca2+,Na+, and K+, and not caused by Mg2+ efflux from acinar cells. In an attempt to characterize possible Mg2+ stores that would explain the reversible, hormone‐induced intracellular Mg2+ movements, we ruled out mitochondria or ATP as potential Mg2+ buffers and found that the CCK‐induced [Mg2+]i de¬crease was initiated at the basolateral part of the acinar cells, where most of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is located, and progressed from there toward the apical pole of the acinar cells in an antiparallel fashion to Ca2+ waves. These experiments represent the first characterization of intracellular Mg2+ movements in the exocrine pancreas, provide evidence for possible Mg2+ stores in the ER, and indicate that the spatial and temporal distribution of intracellular Mg concentra¬tions profoundly affects acinar cell Ca2+ signaling. — Mooren, F. C. , Turi, S. , Günzel, D. , Schlue, W. ‐R. , Domschke, W. , Singh, J., Lerch, M. M. Calcium‐mag¬nesium interactions in pancreatic acinar cells. FASEB J. 15, 659‐672 (2001)
An improving SRL model with word sense information using an improved synergetic neural network model

As a fundamental task of natural language processing, semantic role labeling (SRL) have attracted much attention of researchers in recent years. However, with increasing features being added into the studies, the performance growth trend of SRL is gradually slowing down. So new ways must be found to improve the performance of semantic analysis. Word sense information is useful for SRL task. But how to effectively make use of word sense information is a key issue. Referring to synergetics, we can regard semantic analysis process as competitive process of many semantics order parameters under coherent action and interactive collaboration of semantic role-related features and word sense-related features. Accordingly, we propose a semantic role labeling model with word sense information based on improved synergetic neural network (SNN). Our contributions are three-fold. Firstly, role-related features and word sense-related features are used to configure semantic order parameters of SNN. Secondly, network parameters are reconstructed which can reflect the relationship of driving and restraining each other between various linguistic features. Finally, we use an improved quantum particle swarm algorithm (QPSO) to realize the optimization of network parameter which has stronger search ability and faster convergence speed. By evaluating our model on the OntoNotes 2.0 corpus, the experiment results show the proposed model in this paper leads to a higher performance for SRL.
Targeting Protein Phosphatase 1 (PP1) to the Actin Cytoskeleton: the Neurabin I/PP1 Complex Regulates Cell Morphology

ABSTRACT Neurabin I, a neuronal actin-binding protein, binds protein phosphatase 1 (PP1) and p70 ribosomal S6 protein kinase (p70S6K), both proteins implicated in cytoskeletal dynamics. We expressed wild-type and mutant neurabins fused to green fluorescent protein in Cos7, HEK293, and hippocampal neurons. Biochemical and cellular studies showed that an N-terminal F-actin-binding domain dictated neurabin I localization at actin cytoskeleton and promoted disassembly of stress fibers. Deletion of the C-terminal coiled-coil and sterile alpha motif domains abolished neurabin I dimerization and induced filopodium extension. Immune complex assays showed that neurabin I recruited an active PP1 via a PP1-docking sequence,457KIKF460. Mutation of the PP1-binding motif or PP1 inhibition by okadaic acid and calyculin A abolished filopodia and restored stress fibers in cells expressing neurabin I. In vitro and in vivo studies suggested that the actin-binding domain attenuated protein kinase A (PKA) phosphorylation of neurabin I. Modification of a major PKA site, serine-461, impaired PP1 binding. Finally, p70S6K was excluded from neurabin I/PP1 complexes and required the displacement of PP1 for recruitment to neurabin I. These studies provided new insights into the assembly and regulation of a neurabin I/PP1 complex that controls actin rearrangement to promote spine development in mammalian neurons.
Combined Use of Rear Touch Gestures and Facial Feature Detection to Achieve Single-Handed Navigation of Mobile Devices

To improve single-handed operation of mobile devices, rear touch panel operation to control commands and facial feature detection to control cursor position are proposed. Operational control is achieved through finger chord gestures on a rear touch panel, and nose movement is used to control cursor movement. Zooming is achieved by detecting the apparent distance between the left and right eyes in conjunction with a finger chord gesture. We have evaluated movement time, error rates, and the throughputs of these techniques in comparison with the conventional single-handed front touch panel thumb operations using Fitts's law. Experiments have been conducted to evaluate two operation modes, selection and zooming, in the form of reciprocal 1-D pointing tasks with 12 participants. For the target selection task, the proposed technique achieved 12% (0.26 s) shorter movement time and 4.7% smaller error rate than the conventional method on average. Especially, for long distance targets, the performance of the conventional method became remarkably inferior due to the limit of reach of the thumb, whereas the proposed technique achieved much less deterioration and obtained expected performance because the cursor could reach anywhere on the display. For the target size adjustment task, the proposed technique achieved 9% (0.22 s) shorter movement time than the conventional method and obtained a comparable error rate of less than 4%. Consequently, we could demonstrate the techniques that make single-handed select and zoom operations available anywhere on a large-sized tablet device with no blockage of the display.
Ecological Robotics

There are striking parallels between ecological psychology and the new trends in robotics and computer vision, particularly regarding how agents interact with the environment. We present some ideas from ecological psychology, including control laws using optic flow, affordances, and action modes, and describe our implementation of these concepts in two mobile robots that can avoid obstacles and chase or flee moving targets solely by using optic flow. The properties of these methods were explored further in simulation. This work ties in with that of others who argue for a methodological approach in robotics that forgoes a central model or planner. Not only might ecological psychology contribute to robotics, but robotic implementations might, in turn, provide a test bed for ecological principles and a source of ideas that could be tested in animals and humans.
Systolic and diastolic time intervals during spontaneous angina

In 5 patients who suffered spontaneous angina during cardiac catheterization, aortic pressure and electrocardiographic lead (V5) were recorded at rest, at the onset of anginal pain, 5 and 10 min after 0.6 mg sublingual nitroglycerin (NTG). Heart rate, systemic arterial pressure, systolic, and diastolic time intervals were measured. Heart rate and systemic arterial pressure rose significantly immediately after the onset of angina and declined progressively within 10 min from NTG administration. Pre‐ejection period did not change during angina, while left ventricular ejection time and electromechanical systole lengthened. As a consequence, diastolic time, expressed as percent of cardiac cycle, shortened sharply. All parameters considered went back to basal values within 10 min from NTG administration, and were preceded by relief or reduction of anginal pain. We concluded that a fall in diastolic time, secondary to a prolongation of electromechanical systole occurring during angina, may further increase the degree of ischemia resulting in a vicious cycle that can be interrupted by NTG administration.
Structural Analysis of Charge Transfer Salts from Synchrotron X-ray and Neutron Powder Diffraction Data

This research work has been motivated by my interest in the chemical synthesis and study of the solid state properties of new materials. More specifically, two charge transfer salts of the electron donor tetrathiafulvalene (TTF) and chemical derivatives of benzoquinones (electron acceptors), have been studied. The materials were synthesized by mechanochemistry, grinding the powders of the reactants in presence of small quantities of different solvents. This synthesis method leads to different crystal structures (or polymorphs) of the products, which show different physical properties. The charge transfer salts under study were TTF-o-CA (o-CA is ochloranil) and TTF-2,5-dichloro-p-benzoquinone. The refined lattice parameters of the latter compound are a = 6.8418(2) Å, b = 7.21331(17) Å, c = 7.9348(2) Å, = 93.618(2) ̊, = 97.6267(19) ̊ and = 106.9407(19) ̊. The unit cell volume is 369.147(17) Å and the space group is 1 P (triclinic). TTF-2,5-dichloro-p-benzoquinone is made of columnar stacks of alternating TTF and 2,5-dichloro-p-benzoquinone molecules running along a direction parallel to the crystallographic b-axis. The combined analysis of the synchrotron X-ray and neutron powder diffraction data of this material resulted in a set of bond distances and bond angles for the TTF molecules, which gave rise to an estimated charge transferred () between donors and acceptors of ~0.36 e.
Comparison of Three Liquid Lures for Trapping Social Wasps (Hymenoptera: Vespidae)

Abstract Two citrus-based sodas and a known wasp attractant were compared in a field trial to assess their attractiveness to local nuisance wasp species. The wasps captured included Vespula germanica (F.), Vespula maculifrons (Buysson), Vespula vulgaris (L.), Vespula flavopilosa Jacobson, Vespula squamosa (Drury), Dolichovespula maculata (L.), Polistes fuscatus (L.), Polistes metricus Say, and Polistes dominulus (Christ). Wasps in the genus Vespula were present in significantly higher numbers in traps than Dolichovespula and Polistes. Both citrus soda products were superior to the isobutanol–acetic acid mixture as attractants for almost all of the wasp species.
UvA-DARE ( Digital Academic Repository ) Identifying Entity Aspects in Microblog Posts

Online reputation management is about monitoring and handling the public image of entities (such as companies) on the Web. An important task in this area is identifying aspects of the entity of interest (such as products, services, competitors, key people, etc.) given a stream of microblog posts referring to the entity. In this paper we compare different IR techniques and opinion target identification methods for automatically identifying aspects and find that (i) simple statistical methods such as TF.IDF are a strong baseline for the task, significantly outperforming opinion-oriented methods, and (ii) only considering terms tagged as nouns improves the results for all the methods analyzed.
Development and psychometric properties of the brief test of attention

Abstract The development and preliminary psychometric properties of a new instrument called the Brief Test of Attention (BTA) are described. In terms of the conceptual model proposed by Cooley and Morris (1990), the BTA is best described as a measure of auditory divided attention. The test consists of two parallel forms that require less than 5 minutes each to administer and score. The results of testing 926 patients and normal control subjects support the BTA's reliability, equivalence of forms, and construct validity. Coefficients alpha for the entire test range from . 82 to . 91, while between-form correlations range from . 69 to . 81. Neither practice nor interference effects were found to influence performance from the first to second form administered. Correlation and principal components analyses showed that the BTA correlates more strongly with widely accepted measures of attention than with other cognitive tasks, and more strongly with complex than simple attention tasks.
Qualitative concurrent parity games

We consider two-player games played on a finite state space for an infinite number of rounds. The games are concurrent: in each round, the two players (player 1 and player 2) choose their moves independently and simultaneously; the current state and the two moves determine the successor state. We consider ω-regular winning conditions specified as parity objectives. Both players are allowed to use randomization when choosing their moves. We study the computation of the limit-winning set of states, consisting of the states where the sup-inf value of the game for player 1 is 1: in other words, a state is limit-winning if player 1 can ensure a probability of winning arbitrarily close to 1. We show that the limit-winning set can be computed in O(n2d+2) time, where n is the size of the game structure and 2d is the number of priorities (or colors). The membership problem of whether a state belongs to the limit-winning set can be decided in NP ∩ coNP. While this complexity is the same as for the simpler class of turn-based parity games, where in each state only one of the two players has a choice of moves, our algorithms are considerably more involved than those for turn-based games. This is because concurrent games do not satisfy two of the most fundamental properties of turn-based parity games. First, in concurrent games limit-winning strategies require randomization; and second, they require infinite memory.
A blueprint of ectoine metabolism from the genome of the industrial producer Halomonas elongata DSM 2581T

The halophilic γ-proteobacterium Halomonas elongata DSM 2581T thrives at high salinity by synthesizing and accumulating the compatible solute ectoine. Ectoine levels are highly regulated according to external salt levels but the overall picture of its metabolism and control is not well understood. Apart from its critical role in cell adaptation to halophilic environments, ectoine can be used as a stabilizer for enzymes and as a cell protectant in skin and health care applications and is thus produced annually on a scale of tons in an industrial process using H. elongata as producer strain. This paper presents the complete genome sequence of H. elongata (4 061 296 bp) and includes experiments and analysis identifying and characterizing the entire ectoine metabolism, including a newly discovered pathway for ectoine degradation and its cyclic connection to ectoine synthesis. The degradation of ectoine (doe) proceeds via hydrolysis of ectoine (DoeA) to Nα-acetyl-l-2,4-diaminobutyric acid, followed by deacetylation to diaminobutyric acid (DoeB). In H. elongata, diaminobutyric acid can either flow off to aspartate or re-enter the ectoine synthesis pathway, forming a cycle of ectoine synthesis and degradation. Genome comparison revealed that the ectoine degradation pathway exists predominantly in non-halophilic bacteria unable to synthesize ectoine. Based on the resulting genetic and biochemical data, a metabolic flux model of ectoine metabolism was derived that can be used to understand the way H. elongata survives under varying salt stresses and that provides a basis for a model-driven improvement of industrial ectoine production.
Synoptic: Summarizing System Logs with Refinement

Distributed systems are often difficult to debug and understand. A typical way of gaining insight into system behavior is by inspecting execution logs. However, manual inspection of logs is an arduous process. To support this task we developed Synoptic. Synoptic outputs a concise graph representation of logged events that captures temporal invariants mined from the log. We applied Synoptic to synthetic and real distributed system logs and found that it augmented a distributed system designer's understanding of system behavior with reasonable overhead for an offline analysis tool. In contrast to prior approaches, Synoptic uses a combination of refinement and coarsening to explore the space of representations. Additionally, it infers temporal event invariants to capture distributed system semantics. These invariants drive the exploration process and are satisfied by the final representation.
The validity of retrospective recall in assessing practice regimes in golf

A criticism of the extant sports expertise literature has been the reliance placed upon retrospective methods to scrutinise the developments of elite sports performers. The aim of this study was to compare volumes and intensities of golf activities performed by nine aspiring elite adolescent golfers over a nine-month period with what they recalled once the study was terminated. Over a seven-day period on four separate occasions, participants recorded the participation trends and intensities of all golf activities undertaken in self-report diary logs. One week after the final data collection period, participants were guided through a retrospective interview schedule which focussed on retrieving data which highlighted patterns, volumes and intensities of golf activity undertaken throughout the previous nine months. Interview and diary data were compared to establish the accuracy of retrospective recall. Recalled and diary data were found to be very similar which supports the idea that retrospective recall is a dependable method to accurately determine the nature of golf activities undertaken over the course of a nine-month time frame. This finding has important practical implications for future talent development research which may wish to retrospectively examine the nature of developments on a more frequent basis as opposed to periods of 10 years and longer that are commonplace within the existing literature.
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in adults: Clinical issues. A report from the first NHS clinic in the UK

Since 1994 Maudsley hospital has offered the only NHS-service for adult Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in the United Kingdom. This paper reports on the development of this service, initial referral patterns and assessment issues. Data from a comparison of the first 96 referrals to the clinic are summarized. ADHD patients were more likely to be young men in their early twenties, to have personality disorder and abused psychoactive substances. Developmental milestones were delayed in the ADHD group. Comorbid anxiety and depression were common in both the ADHD group and non-ADHD group. It is clear that with maturity many ADHD adults have complex problems, yet the need for clinical services for this group is not commonly recognized.
Robust Transceiver for AF MIMO Relaying with Direct Link: A Globally Optimal Solution

We study the robust transceiver design for amplify-and-forward (AF) multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) relay systems with a direct link and imperfect channel state information (CSI). Under this circumstance, we aim at obtaining the globally optimal transceiver that minimizes the mean-squared error (MSE) of symbol detection. Specifically, given a source beamformer, we first derive closed-form expressions for the optimal relay precoder and destination receiver. Then, to tackle the intricate non-convex problem with respect to source beamformer, we develop an efficient approach involving one-dimensional search and semidefinite programming (SDP). We prove rigourously that the proposed method yields a globally optimal solution. Simulation results verify the pronounced performance provided by the proposed design.
On the Potential of Proactive Domain Blacklisting

In this paper we explore the potential of leveraging properties inherent to domain registrations and their appearance in DNS zone files to predict the malicious use of domains proactively, using only minimal observation of known-bad domains to drive our inference. Our analysis demonstrates that our inference procedure derives on average 3.5 to 15 new domains from a given known-bad domain. 93% of these inferred domains subsequently appear suspect (based on third-party assessments), and nearly 73% eventually appear on blacklists themselves. For these latter, proactively blocking based on our predictions provides a median headstart of about 2 days versus using a reactive blacklist, though this gain varies widely for different domains.