Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Learning sub-word units and exploiting contextual information for open vocabulary speech recognition

Large vocabulary continuous speech recognition (LVCSR) systems fail to recognized words beyond their vocabulary, many of which are information rich terms such as named entities, technical terms, or foreign words. Mis-recognizing these Out-of-Vocabulary (OOV) words can have a disproportionate impact in transcript coherence, and cause recognition failures which propagate through pipeline systems, impacting the performance of downstream applications. Ideally, a speech recognition system would be able to recognize arbitrary, even previously unseen, words. This dissertation presents an approach to recover from failures caused by OOVs by automatically identifying when OOVs are spoken and transcribing them using sub-lexical units. This results in a hybrid word/sub-word system which predicts full-words for in-vocabulary terms and sub-lexical units for OOVs. We first present an approach to model OOVs using sub-lexical units automatically learned from data. The learned units are variable-length phone sequences, which are included in the recognizer's vocabulary and language model. Previous work heuristically creates the sub-word lexicon from phonetic representations of text using simple statistics to select common phone sequences. Instead, we propose a novel unsupervised approach to learn the sub-word lexicon optimized for a given task. This approach employs a log-linear model with overlapping features to learn multi-phone units obtained by segmenting the phonetic representation of a corpus. OOV Detection is the task of identifying regions in the recognizer's output where out-of-vocabulary words were uttered. The detection of OOV regions is helpful to avoid error propagation to downstream applications such as machine translation, named entity recognition, and spoken document retrieval. We combine the proposed hybrid system with confidence based metrics to improve OOV detection performance. Previous work address OOV detection as a binary classification task, where each region is independently classified using local information. This dissertation treats this problem as a sequence labeling problem, and shows that (1) jointly predicting out-of-vocabulary regions, (2) including contextual information from each region, and (3) learning sub-lexical units optimized for this task, leads to substantial improvements with respect to state-of-the-an systems. The resulting sub-word representation and OOV detector is helpful to recover the correct spelling of new words, resulting in an open-vocabulary system; and improves performance in downstream applications strongly affected by out-of-vocabulary terms, such as: spoken term detection and named entity recognition in speech.
Circuit model of microstrip patch antenna on ceramic land grid array package for antenna-chip codesign of highly integrated RF transceivers

This paper presents the circuit model of a microstrip patch antenna on a ceramic land grid array (CLGA) package for the antenna-chip codesign of a highly integrated radio-frequency (RF) transceiver. The microstrip patch antenna is fed by packaging interconnect components such as bond wires, signal traces, and vias in a ground-signal-ground (G-S-G) configuration from the carried chip. The circuit model that consists of RLC lumped elements of both microstrip patch antenna and feeding interconnect components has been developed with an emphasis on verifying existing or deriving analytical formulas. The RLC values of the microstrip patch antenna are calculated with our improvements to existing computer-aided design formulas, while the RLC values of the feeding interconnect components are calculated with more efforts. In particular the C values related to the vias and signal traces require to be calculated numerically and they are calculated here with the method of moments and the conformal mapping method, respectively. The circuit model is validated with numerical simulations (High Frequency Structure Simulator) and network analyzer measurements.
Sound Fields in Complex Listening Environments

The conditions of sound fields used in research, especially testing and fitting of hearing aids, are usually simplified or reduced to fundamental physical fields, such as the free or the diffuse sound field. The concepts of such ideal conditions are easily introduced in theoretical and experimental investigations and in models for directional microphones, for example. When it comes to real-world application of hearing aids, however, the field conditions are more complex with regard to specific stationary and transient properties in room transfer functions and the corresponding impulse responses and binaural parameters. Sound fields can be categorized in outdoor rural and urban and indoor environments. Furthermore, sound fields in closed spaces of various sizes and shapes and in situations of transport in vehicles, trains, and aircrafts are compared with regard to the binaural signals. In laboratory tests, sources of uncertainties are individual differences in binaural cues and too less controlled sound field conditions. Furthermore, laboratory sound fields do not cover the variety of complex sound environments. Spatial audio formats such as higher-order ambisonics are candidates for sound field references not only in room acoustics and audio engineering but also in audiology.
Assessing Theory and Practice in Competitive Strategy: Challenges and Future Directions

Competitive strategy scholars seek to answer three important questions: (a) what constitutes an effective strategy and how is it crafted, (b) how are strategies implemented in an organization, and (c) how can a strategy’s effectiveness be evaluated? Three corresponding themes, namely, strategy formulation, execution or implementation, and evaluation or control, permeate the competitive strategy literature. In this paper, nine issues of scholarly and practical relevance in the competitive strategy domain are reviewed and assessed. Collectively, the nine issues reflect the significant progress made in competitive strategy research in recent years and opportunities for further development in the field. Directions for future research are discussed.
Maternal "junk food" diet during pregnancy as a predictor of high birthweight: findings from the healthy beginnings trial.

BACKGROUND A high infant birthweight is associated with future risk of a range of adverse health consequences. This study sought to determine whether maternal "junk food" diet (energy-dense, nutrient-poor) predicts high birthweight in first-time mothers in southwest Sydney, Australia. METHODS A community-based longitudinal study was conducted with a total of 368 first-time mothers and their newborns. Information about maternal "junk food" diet, including high consumption of soft drink, fast food, and/or processed meat and chips, and self-reported prepregnant weight and height of first-time mothers was collected by a face-to-face interview with mothers between 24 and 34 weeks of pregnancy. Birthweight was measured in hospital and reported by the mother, together with gestational age, when the baby was 6 months old. Logistic regression modeling was used to determine the factors predicting birthweight greater than 4.0 kg. RESULTS Eleven percent of newborns weighed more than 4.0 kg (12% boys, 9% girls). Compared with mothers who had a "junk food" diet, mothers who had not consumed "junk food" during pregnancy were significantly less likely to have a newborn weighing more than 4.0 kg, with adjusted odds ratio (AOR) 0.36, 95 percent confidence interval (CI) 0.14-0.91, p = 0.03, after adjusting for maternal weight status and gestational age. Compared with healthy and underweight mothers, overweight or obese mothers were more likely to have a newborn weighing more than 4.0 kg (AOR overweight 3.03, 95% CI 1.35-6.80; obese 3.79, 95% CI 1.41-10.25) after allowing for "junk food" diet and gestational age. CONCLUSIONS Maternal "junk food" diet during pregnancy and prepregnant overweight and obesity were independent predictors of high infant birthweight. Early childhood obesity interventions should consider addressing these factors.
Age influences the outcome of a slipping perturbation during initial but not repeated exposures.

BACKGROUND Fall incidence in older adults might be reduced through learning to better recover from or adjust to perturbations. Extents of age-related declines and limitations in the ability to recover are not well established, however. METHODS Slips were induced, using bilateral low-friction platforms, during a sit-to-stand task in 60 young and 41 older, healthy, safety-harnessed adults. Subjects underwent five slips, a block of nonslipping trials, then two reexposures to the slip. The first slip was novel and unexpected. Age-group and trial effects on fall incidence (evidenced by excessive hip descent) and on the direction of the initial protective step were examined. RESULTS More older than young adults fell upon the first slip (73% vs 28%; p <.001). With repeated exposure, fall incidence decreased at similar exponential rates in both age groups. All but one subject eventually learned to slip without falling, and two-thirds of fallers fell only once. Repeat fallers fell without stepping in 63% of falls. Upon later slip reexposure, more older than young adults fell (20% vs 2%), but fewer falls occurred than did originally (p =.001). Likelihoods of forward and backward stepping during successful recovery changed with repeated slip exposure and upon reexposure, but did not differ between age groups. CONCLUSIONS Older adults are more likely to fall upon initial, unexpected perturbation exposure, but, upon repeated exposure, healthy young and older adults rapidly learn to avoid falling at a similar rate. Healthy older adults appear fully capable of learning to better recover from or adjust to a perturbation through repeated exposure.
Optoelectronic-based high-efficiency quasi-CW terahertz imaging

We demonstrate an optoelectronic-based high-efficiency terahertz (THz) imaging system. Based on a micron-sized photonic transmitter operating at room temperature, an improved signal-to-noise ratio with a reasonable spatial resolution can be achieved. Biomedical THz imaging was demonstrated with a dried seahorse and a fresh flower, which were hidden in plastic sample holders and were invisible. Tissue and water distributions of distinct regions of the bio-samples were clearly resolved, showing the high imaging contrasts of the demonstrated system. These results reveal the possibility to construct a high-sensitivity THz imaging system with less than 1-mW optical excitation.
Endodontic treatment of experimental root perforations in dog teeth.

Experimental root perforations were made in 131 teeth of 5 mongrel dogs. The perforations were treated according lo five different endodontic techniques and the results were observed after 3 weeks, 3 months and 1 year. The histologic reaction was dominated by inflammation and downgrowth of gingival epithelial tissue, regardless of observation time, technique or material Used. The epithelial downgrowth resulted in the formation of periodontal pockets with the epithelial attachment apical to the perforation. The frequency of the periodontal pockets increased with increasing observation time and after 1 year 75% of the perforations were lined with epithelium. The inflammation at the perforation site apparently was maintained by irritants from the periodontal pockets.
Towel mark recognition based on HOG for cloth handling robot system

To automate linen supply factories completely, we are developing a flexible objects handling robot system. The purpose of this system is to input washing clothes to the pressing and folding line which is still operated by human operators. Now its targets are rectangular clothes as a first step. In order to handle towels, the system has to recognize which client's towel is it and which side up is it. Therefore, we studied about towel mark recognition, and adopted the feature descriptors based on Histograms of Oriented Gradients (HOG). The results of experiment show the success rate is almost 100%.
ESTROGENS IMPROVE THE CARDIOVASCULAR ALTERATIONS IN FRUCTOSE-INDUCED INSULIN RESISTANT OVARIECTOMIZED RATS

Objective: The present study aimed to investigate the possible improving effects of 17-β estradiol (EST) and genistein (GEN) on the cardiovascular changes associated with fructose (21% in drinking water for 8 weeks)-induced insulin resistance. Methods : Sham-operated and ovariectomized mature female rats were included in this study. Insulin-resistant ovariectomized animals were sc treated with EST (100 µg/kg) or GEN (1 mg/kg) on the daily basis for 21 consecutive days. Results: Induction of insulin resistance in both sham-operated and ovariectomized rats decreased the vascular responsiveness of isolated aortic rings towards the vasoconstrictor norepinephrine and the vasodilator acetylcholine (Ach) with no changes towards the vasodilator sodium nitroprusside. Fructose-induced insulin resistance was also associated with an elevation in the blood pressure (BP) with decreased serum level of nitric oxide (NO). Treatment of insulin-resistant ovariectomized rats with either EST or GEN improved the vascular responsiveness of isolated aortic rings towards Ach and succeeded to reduce the elevated BP. Moreover, both EST and GEN decreased the insulin resistance/compensatory hyper insulinaemia. Treatment with EST increased serum NO level. Conclusion: EST and GEN have the ability to improve the endothelium-dependent relaxation in insulin-resistant ovariectomized rats and modulate the elevated BP.
GAP-REACH: A Checklist to Assess Comprehensive Reporting of Race, Ethnicity, and Culture in Psychiatric Publications

Abstract Growing awareness of health and health care disparities highlights the importance of including information about race, ethnicity, and culture (REC) in health research. Reporting of REC factors in research publications, however, is notoriously imprecise and unsystematic. This article describes the development of a checklist to assess the comprehensiveness and the applicability of REC factor reporting in psychiatric research publications. The 16-item GAP-REACH© checklist was developed through a rigorous process of expert consensus, empirical content analysis in a sample of publications (N = 1205), and interrater reliability (IRR) assessment (N = 30). The items assess each section in the conventional structure of a health research article. Data from the assessment may be considered on an item-by-item basis or as a total score ranging from 0% to 100%. The final checklist has excellent IRR (&kgr; = 0.91). The GAP-REACH may be used by multiple research stakeholders to assess the scope of REC reporting in a research article.
haracterization and metal-induced gene transcription of two new opper zinc superoxide dismutases in the solitary ascidian Ciona ntestinalis

Antioxidant enzymes are known to protect living organisms against the oxidative stress risk, also induced by metals. In the present study, we describe the purification and molecular characterization of two Cu,Zn superoxide dismutases (SODs), referred to as Ci-SODa and Ci-SODb, from Ciona intestinalis, a basal chordate widely distributed in temperate shallow seawater. The putative amino acid sequences were compared with Cu,Zn SODs from other metazoans and phylogenetic analyses indicate that the two putative Ci-SODs are more related to invertebrate SODs than vertebrate ones. Both phylogenetic and preliminary homology modeling analyses suggest that Ci-SODa and Ci-SODb are extracellular and intracellular isoform, respectively. The mRNA of the two Cu,Zn SODs was localized in hemocytes and in ovarian follicular cells, as revealed by in situ hybridization. The time course of SOD mRNA levels in the presence of three different metals showed upregulation of ci-soda and inhibition of ci-sodb. Spectrophotometric admium analysis confirms the presence of SOD activity in Ciona tissues. Our in silico analyses of the ci-soda promoter region revealed putative consensus sequences similar to mammalian metal-responsive elements (MRE), suggesting that the transcription of these genes directly depends on metals. These data emphasize the importance of complex metal regulation of ci-soda and ci-sodb transcription, as components of an efficient detoxification pathway allowing the survival of C. intestinalis in continued, elevated presence of metals in the environment.
Dextran sulfate inhibits IFN-gamma-induced Jak-Stat pathway in human vascular endothelial cells.

Human vascular endothelial cells can be induced by IFN-gamma to express class II MHC proteins. Previously, dextran sulfate was shown to selectively inhibit expression of class II MHC by preventing transcription of the gene encoding CIITA, a transactivator protein required for IFN-gamma-inducible expression of class II genes. In this study we characterized the effects of dextran sulfate on the intracellular events occurring prior to CIITA activation. Immunoprecipitation and Western blot analyses indicated that IFN-gamma-induced phosphorylation of Stat1 and Jak2 was blocked by dextran sulfate. In addition, electron micrographs showing the large accumulation of dextran sulfate particles in the cytoplasms of endothelial cells demonstrated that Stat and Jak proteins may directly interact with dextran sulfate. Binding of radiolabeled IFN-gamma to cells indicated that dextran sulfate may also modulate IFN-gamma interactions with the cell surface. Thus, dextran sulfate is capable of interfering with the IFN-gamma-induced expression of class II MHC genes at multiple sites.
Protein-protein interaction analysis to identify biomarker networks for endometriosis

The identification of biomarkers and their interaction network involved in the processes of endometriosis is a critical step in understanding the underlying mechanisms of the disease. The aim of the present study was to construct biomarker networks of endometriosis that integrated human protein-protein interactions and known disease-causing genes. Endometriosis-associated genes were extracted from Genotator and DisGeNet and biomarker network and pathway analyses were constructed using atBioNet. Of 100 input genes, 96 were strongly mapped to six major modules. The majority of the pathways in the first module were associated with the proliferation of cancer cells, the enriched pathways in module B were associated with the immune system and infectious diseases, module C included pathways related to immune and metastasis, the enriched pathways in module D were associated with inflammatory processes, and the majority of the pathways in module E were related to replication and repair. The present approach identified known and potential biomarkers in endometriosis. The identified biomarker networks are highly enriched in biological pathways associated with endometriosis, which may provide further insight into the molecular mechanisms underlying endometriosis.
Codes and iterative decoding on general graphs

Until recently, most known decoding procedures for error-correcting codes were based either on algebraically calculating the error pattern or on some sort of tree or trellis search. With the advent of turbo coding, a third decoding principle has finally had its breakthrough: iterative decoding. With respect to Viterbi decoding, a code is most naturally described by means of a trellis diagram. The main thesis of the present paper is that, with respect to iterative decoding, the natural way of describing a code is by means of a Tanner graph, which may be viewed as a generalized trellis. More precisely, it is the "time axis" of a trellis that is generalized to a Tanner graph.
Cardiorespiratory Fitness Is Strongly Related to the Metabolic Syndrome in Adolescents

We respectfully disagree with both issues raised by Shaibi, Cruz, and Goran (1). First, we will address the comment that “associations between fitness and activity are weak at best. ” The review article referenced by Shaibi, Cruz, and Goran was based on observational studies published before 1995, a time at which physical activity was measured almost exclusively by questionnaire. Since 1995, several studies have …
Online supplement for the manuscript: Matrix Metalloproteinase II Activation of TGF-b1 and TbRII Signaling within the Aged Art

Animals Male Fisher 344 crossbred Brown Norway rats (FXBN), 8-month-old (8mo) and 30month-old (30mo), were obtained from the National Institute on Aging Contract Colonies (Harlan Sprague Dawley, Inc, Indianapolis, IN). The animal protocol used was approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of the Gerontology Research Center and complied with the guide for the care and use of laboratory animals (NIH publication No. 3040-2, revised 1999).
Validity of Rating of Perceived Exertion Ranges in Individuals in the Subacute Stage of Stroke Recovery

Abstract Background: Rating of perceived exertion (RPE) is used to monitor or prescribe workload of exercise, but its utility among individuals with a stroke remains in question. Objective: To examine the validity of RPE at multiple percentages of peak aerobic capacity (Vo2peak) in individuals in the subacute stage of stroke recovery. Methods: Thirty-seven patients with stroke in the subacute stage of recovery from an inpatient rehabilitation institute completed a graded maximal exercise test on a semi-recumbent cycle ergometer. Respiratory gas exchange was monitored for analysis of Vo2, while heart rate and RPE (Borg CR10 Scale) were measured at the end of each minute. RPE was compared with expected ranges when at 60%, 70%, and 80% of Vo2peak. Post hoc analyses were performed to determine whether patient characteristics differed between participants who fell within and outside the expected RPE range at 80% of Vo2peak. Results: Median (interquartile range) RPE at 60%, 70%, and 80% Vo2peak were 3.0 (3.0-3.5), 3.0 (3.0-5.0), and 4.75 (3.0-5.75), respectively; 76.2%, 69.0%, and 38.9% of participants fell into the expected RPE range at each intensity. Patient characteristics were similar between participants who fell within and outside the expected RPE range at 80% Vo2peak. Conclusion: RPE appears to be a reasonable indicator of exercise intensity after stroke at moderate (60%-70% Vo2peak) but not high-intensity exercise (80% Vo2peak). This conclusion is based on the high degree of between-subject variability in RPE at 80% Vo2peak. Future research should identify whether RPE can be adapted to accurately capture exertion during high-intensity exercise after stroke.
Association of DOA Estimation From Two ULAs

In this paper, we consider the problem of associating estimated direction-of-arrival (DOA) angles of multiple targets using two uniform linear arrays (ULAs) of sensors. It is categorized as a multisource information aggregation problem, in which we devise our algorithm in the following two steps: (1) Estimate two sets of DOA angles from two ULAs, respectively, and (2) associate estimated DOA angles with the targets. Note, however, that the primary focus of this paper is the second step, i.e., association of DOA angles with the corresponding targets, whereas for the first step, we use the well-known improved polynomial rooting method. Generally speaking, if there are q targets, we have q! possible association pairs, among which, there is only one set corresponding to the correct association. Since target signals must be correlated in the observations of two ULAs, we can determine how to associate the DOA angles computed from step 1 by evaluating the covariance matrix of the data received at the two ULAs. The algorithm is effective, robust, and accurate in classifying the DOA angles into the correct association.