Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Incorporating language constraints in sub-word based speech recognition

In large vocabulary continuous speech recognition (LVCSR) for agglutinative and inflectional languages, we encounter problems due to theoretically infinite full-word lexicon size. Sub-word lexicon units may be utilized to dramatically reduce the out-of-vocabulary rate in test data. One can develop language models based on sub-word units to perform LVCSR. However, it has not always been beneficial to use sub-word lexicon units, since shorter units have higher acoustic confusability among them and language model history is effectively shorter as compared to the history in full-word language models. To reduce the aforementioned problems, we propose using the longest possible sub-word units in our lexicon, namely half-words and full-words only. We also incorporate linguistic rules of half-word combination into our statistical language model. The language constraints are represented with a rule-based WFSM which can be combined with an N-gram language model to yield a better and smaller language model. We study the performance of the proposed system for Turkish LVCSR, when the language constraint takes the form of enforcing vowel harmony between stems and endings. We also introduce novel error-rate metrics that are more appropriate than word-error-rate for agglutinative languages. Using half-words with a bi-gram model yields a significant reduction in word-error-rate as compared to a bi-gram full-word model. In addition, combining a tri-gram half-word language model with the vowel-harmony WFSM improves the accuracy further when rescoring the bi-gram lattices
Spirometry centile charts for young Caucasian children: the Asthma UK Collaborative Initiative.

RATIONALE Advances in spirometry measurement techniques have made it possible to obtain measurements in children as young as 3 years of age; however, in practice, application remains limited by the lack of appropriate reference data for young children, which are often based on limited population-specific samples. OBJECTIVES We aimed to build on previous models by collating existing reference data in young children (aged 3-7 yr), to produce updated prediction equations that span the preschool years and that are also linked to established reference equations for older children and adults. METHODS The Asthma UK Collaborative Initiative was established to collate lung function data from healthy young children aged 3 to 7 years. Collaborators included researchers with access to pulmonary function test data in healthy preschool children. Spirometry centiles were created using the LMS (lambda, micro, sigma) method and extend previously published equations down to 3 years of age. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS The Asthma UK centile charts for spirometry are based on the largest sample of healthy young Caucasian children aged 3-7 years (n = 3,777) from 15 centers across 11 countries and provide a continuous reference with a smooth transition into adolescence and adulthood. These equations improve existing pediatric equations by considering the between-subject variability to define a more appropriate age-dependent lower limit of normal. The collated data set reflects a variety of equipment, measurement protocols, and population characteristics and may be generalizable across different populations. CONCLUSIONS We present prediction equations for spirometry for preschool children and provide a foundation that will facilitate continued updating.
Comparative visual analysis of vector field ensembles

We present a new visual analysis approach to support the comparative exploration of 2D vector-valued ensemble fields. Our approach enables the user to quickly identify the most similar groups of ensemble members, as well as the locations where the variation among the members is high. We further provide means to visualize the main features of the potentially multimodal directional distributions at user-selected locations. For this purpose, directional data is modelled using mixtures of probability density functions (pdfs), which allows us to characterize and classify complex distributions with relatively few parameters. The resulting mixture models are used to determine the degree of similarity between ensemble members, and to construct glyphs showing the direction, spread, and strength of the principal modes of the directional distributions. We also propose several similarity measures, based on which we compute pairwise member similarities in the spatial domain and form clusters of similar members. The hierarchical clustering is shown using dendrograms and similarity matrices, which can be used to select particular members and visualize their variations. A user interface providing multiple linked views enables the simultaneous visualization of aggregated global and detailed local variations, as well as the selection of members for a detailed comparison.
Endothelial cell confluence regulates Weibel-Palade body formation

Secretory granules called Weibel-Palade bodies (WPBs) containing Von Willebrand factor (VWF) are characteristic of the mammalian endothelium. We hypothesized that vascular-specific antigens such as VWF are linked to endothelial identity and proliferation in vitro. To test this idea, the cellular accumulation of VWF in WPBs was monitored as a function of cell proliferation, confluence and passage number in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). We found that as passage number increased the percentage of cells containing VWF in WPBs was reduced significantly, whilst the protein was still detected within the secretory pathway at all times. However, the endothelial-specific marker protein, PECAM-1, is present on all cells even when WPBs are absent, indicating partial maintenance of endothelial identity. Biochemical studies show that a significant pool of immature pro-VWF can be detected in sub-confluent HUVECs; however, a larger pool of mature, processed VWF is detected in confluent cells. Newly synthesized VWF must thus be differentially sorted and packaged along the secretory pathway in semi-confluent versus confluent endothelial cells. Our studies thus show that WPB formation is linked to the formation of a confluent endothelial monolayer.
The BCR/ABL Transgene Causes Abnormal NK Cell Differentiation and Can Be Found in Circulating NK Cells of Advanced Phase Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia Patients1

NK cells from the blood of chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) patients are progressively decreased in number as the disease progresses from chronic phase to blast crisis. We hypothesize that BCR/ABL may be directly responsible by interfering with NK cell differentiation. CD34+HLA-DR+ cells from CML patients were studied for their capacity to differentiate into NK cells. The NK cell cloning frequency was significantly decreased from CML CD34+HLA-DR+ cells compared with cells from normal donors, yet CD34+HLA-DR+ cells gave rise to BCR/ABL+ NK cells in some patients. This finding prompted us to further investigate circulating NK cells from the blood of CML patients. CD56+CD3− NK cells were sorted from CML patients and examined by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). In contrast to chronic phase CML, significant numbers of NK cells from advanced phase CML patients were BCR/ABL+, whereas T cells were always BCR/ABL− regardless of the disease stage. To test the effects of BCR/ABL as the sole genetic abnormality, BCR/ABL was transduced into umbilical cord blood CD34+ cells, and NK development was studied. p210-enhanced green fluorescence protein-transduced cells gave rise to significantly decreased numbers of NK cells compared with enhanced green fluorescence protein transduction alone. In addition, the extrinsic addition of BCR/ABL-transduced autologous CD34+ cells suppressed the NK cell differentiation of normal umbilical cord blood CD34+CD38− cells. This study provides the first evidence that BCR/ABL is responsible for the altered differentiation of NK cells and that the NK cell lineage can be involved with the malignant clone in advanced stage CML.
Non-destructive analysis of sensory traits of dry-cured loins by MRI-computer vision techniques and data mining.

BACKGROUND Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) combined with computer vision techniques have been proposed as an alternative or complementary technique to determine the quality parameters of food in a non-destructive way. The aim of this work was to analyze the sensory attributes of dry-cured loins using this technique. For that, different MRI acquisition sequences (spin echo, gradient echo and turbo 3D), algorithms for MRI analysis (GLCM, NGLDM, GLRLM and GLCM-NGLDM-GLRLM) and predictive data mining techniques (multiple linear regression and isotonic regression) were tested. RESULTS The correlation coefficient (R) and mean absolute error (MAE) were used to validate the prediction results. The combination of spin echo, GLCM and isotonic regression produced the most accurate results. In addition, the MRI data from dry-cured loins seems to be more suitable than the data from fresh loins. CONCLUSIONS The application of predictive data mining techniques on computational texture features from the MRI data of loins enables the determination of the sensory traits of dry-cured loins in a non-destructive way. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry.
Marked Variation in Peritoneal Insulin Absorption in Peritoneal Dialysis

Objective To assess both peritoneal insulin absorption and adsorption of insulin to the plastic delivery system, and to assess whether variation in peritoneal absorption is related to transport status. Design Eight insulin-dependent diabetic patients on continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis were studied. Insulin was added to the dialysate. The amount adsorbed by the bag tubing was determined; peritoneal absorption was measured by complete spent dialysate collection. Results Only 14% ± 5% of added insulin was adsorbed onto the dialysate delivery system. Marked variation in peritoneal absorption occurred (38% ± 14%, range 17% – 66%). Variations in membrane transport status did not account for variation in absorption. Conclusion Marked variation in peritoneal absorption of insulin occurs, accounting for some of the variation in intraperitoneal insulin requirements. This is not related to membrane transport status.
Topic modeling and hypergraph mining to analyze the EGC conference history

Each year the EGC conference gathers researchers and practitioners from the knowledge discovery and management domain to present their latest advances. This year’s edition features an open challenge that encourages participants to leverage the EGC rich anthology which spans from 2004 to 2015. The ultimate goal is to highlight the dynamics of the conference history and to try to get a glimpse of the coming years. In this context, we first describe our methodology for inferring latent topics that pervade this corpus using non-negative matrix factorization. Based on the discovered topics and other properties of the articles (e.g., authors, affiliations) we shed light on interesting facts on both the topical and collaborative structures of the EGC society. Secondly, we employ a hypergraph itemset extraction process to discover existent but latent relations between authors or between topics. We also propose topic-author and author-author recommendations with a content-based approach. Lastly, we describe a Web interface for browsing this collection of articles complemented with the discovered knowledge.
Applications of cellulases.

Acto 523, 133-146 Shoemaker, S. P. & Brown, R. D. , Jr. (1978b) Biochim. Biophys. Acra 523. 147-161 Shoemaker, S. , Schweickart, V. , Ladner, M. , Gelfand, D. , Kwok, S. , Myambo, K. & Innis, M. (1983) Biofechnology October issue, 69 1 6 9 6 Sternberg, D. & Mandels, G . R. (1979) J . Bacteriol. 139, 761769 Stewart, B. J . & Leatherwood, J . M. (1976) J. Bacteriol. 129,609615 Teeri, T. , Salovuori, 1. & Knowles, J . (1983) Biofechnology October issue, 696699 Vaheri, M. P., Vaheri, M. E. 0. & Kauppinen, V. S. (1979) Eur. J. Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 8, 73-80 Weber, M. , Foglietti, M. J. & Percheron, F. (1980) J. Chromatogr.
Exposure to MnCl2 · 4H2O during development induces activation of microglial and perivascular macrophage populations in the hippocampal dentate gyrus of rats

Developmental exposure to Mn caused Mn accumulation in the brain tissue and transient disruption of granule cell neurogenesis, targeting the late stage differentiation of progenitor cells in the subgranular zone of the hippocampal dentate gyrus of rats. Because neurogenesis is influenced by proinflammatory responses, this study was performed to determine whether Mn exposure causes microglial activation in the dentate hilus, a region anatomically close to the subgranular zone of the dentate gyrus. Pregnant rats were treated with dietary MnCl2 · 4H2O at 32, 160 or 800 ppm from gestational day 10 to day 21 after delivery. An immunohistochemical analysis revealed increases in Iba1+ microglia in the hilus on postnatal day 21 following exposure to MnCl2 · 4H2O in a dose‐unrelated manner at 32 and at 800 ppm and an increase in CD163+ macrophage at 800 ppm in the hilus. Real‐time reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction analysis revealed increases in the mRNA levels of Il1α, Il6, Nos2 and Tnf after 800 ppm MnCl2 · 4H2O. These results suggest that activation of microglia and perivascular macrophages occurs in the hilus after developmental exposure to MnCl2 · 4H2O at 800 ppm, and probably involves the disruption of neurogenesis through the accumulation of Mn in the brain tissue. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Une nouvelle mesure pour l'évaluation des méthodes d'extraction de thématiques : la Vraisemblance Généralisée

Les methodes dediees a l'extraction automatique de thematiques sont issues de domaines varies : linguistique computationnelle, TAL, algebre lineaire, statistique, etc. A ces methodes specifiques, peuvent s'ajouter des methodes adaptees d'autres domaines, notamment de l'apprentissage automatique non supervise. Les resultats produits par l'ensemble de ces methodes prennent des formes heterogenes : partitions de documents, distributions de probabilites sur les mots, matrices. Cela pose clairement un probleme pour les comparer de maniere uniforme. Dans cet article, nous proposons une nouvelle mesure de qualite, intitulee Vraisemblance Generalisee, pour permettre une evaluation et ainsi la comparaison de differentes methodes d'extraction de thematiques. Les resultats, obtenus sur un corpus de documents Web autour des elections presidentielles francaises de 2012, ainsi que sur le corpus Associated Press, montrent la pertinence de la mesure proposee.
Effect of optical feedback on 60-GHz colliding-pulse semiconductor mode-locked lasers

We have experimentally investigated on the effects of optical feedback on the performance of monolithic colliding-pulse passively mode-locked semiconductor lasers operating at 60 GHz, designed to be efficient sources of millimeter-wave electrical signals. The characteristics of the optical-to-electrical converted signal are investigated for a long and a short external cavity by means of an external photodiode and by using the saturable absorber of the device as an intracavity photodetector. For a power feedback ratio larger than 10/sup -3/, the linewidth of the millimeter-wave signal is severely broadened with respect to the value of 230 kHz measured in unperturbed conditions. We also report that optical feedback causes central frequency shift and instability, and a reduction of the useful colliding-pulse mode-locked operating region in the biasing parameters of the device.
Labor Force Activities and Income among Young Guatemalan Adults

This paper considers labor force activities among adults (26 to 41 years of age in 2003) who participated as children in a nutrition supplementation trial in Guatemala. The vast majority of men are engaged in some type of income-generating activity in 2002–04. However, unlike their fathers, these men are much more likely to be engaged in wage labor, even if they remain in the original study villages. Those engaged in wage employment appear to do so steadily. Women are much more likely to be engaged in some type of income-generating activity than their mothers. For both men and women, there appears to be considerable movement in and out of own business activities. In Guatemala City, wage work is the predominant economic activity with more than half of the women interviewed working for wages; elsewhere operating non-farm businesses is the most often cited activity. For both men and women, agriculture now appears to be very much a secondary activity.
Improving performance in public services: Tools and implications of multiple criteria staff scheduling and ranking

Given the pressure on improving performance of labor-intensive services in the public sector, systematic decision support approaches for work planning within a field of a pertinent process and operations management have met with increasing success. However, due to a complex work pattern and multiple conflicting attributes, the issue has proven difficult to solve. In the face of those complications, we propose a holistic decision support approach comprising fundamental elements of staff scheduling, optimization, and operations management-concepts. For daily scheduling, monitoring, and developing organizational efficiency on continuous manner, an automated system comprising a functional interface and on-line database tools is also developed. The system tool is applied to a case organization in the public administration and the results from tangible examples are evaluated by comparing with observed data.
The use of quick-brain magnetic resonance imaging in the evaluation of shunt-treated hydrocephalus.

OBJECT Children with shunt-treated hydrocephalus are exposed to serious amounts of radiation when undergoing computerized tomography (CT) scanning. The authors report their clinical experience with single-shot fast-spin echo (SSFSE) (quick-brain) magnetic resonance (MR) imaging as the modality of choice for the workup and follow up of patients in whom a shunt has been placed to treat hydrocephalus. METHODS A retrospective chart review was performed to obtain data on all cases in which a quick-brain MR image was acquired for either symptomatic workup or asymptomatic follow-up examination of shunt-treated hydrocephalus. Data regarding demographics, origin of hydrocephalus, MR imaging indications and findings, use of sedation, imaging-related complications, use of adjunctive CT scanning, details of shunt revision, and cause of shunt malfunction were collected. The authors found that SSFSE MR imaging is a sufficient, radiation-free diagnostic alternative to CT scanning that minimizes movement artifact and duration of scanning and eliminates the need for sedation. CONCLUSIONS In light of these findings, the authors propose that quick-brain MR imaging replace CT scanning as the diagnostic modality of choice in examining and following shunt-treated patients because it offers significant advantages.
Fungal communities of young and mature hypersaline microbial mats

Microbial mats are a laminated organic-sedimentary ecosystem, found in a wide range of habitats. Fluctuating diel and seasonal physicochemical gradients characterize these ecosystems, resulting in both strata and microenvironments that harbor specific microbial communities. This study was undertaken to compare two types of microbial mats across seasons to further understand the structure of fungal communities in hypersaline microbial mats and their seasonal dynamics. The structure and diversity of fungal communities was documented in young transient and mature hypersaline microbial mats from a tropical region (Puerto Rico) using one culture-dependent and three culture-independent molecular techniques based on the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of ribosomal DNA: terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (TRFLP), denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) and clone libraries. Two microbial mats (one young and transient, one mature) were sampled in Nov 2007 (wet season), Jan 2008 (intermediate season) and Mar 2008 (dry season) in the Cabo Rojo Solar Salterns on the southwestern coast of Puerto Rico. Traditional and molecular techniques revealed strong spatial and temporal heterogeneities in both microbial mats. Higher abundance of isolates and phylotypes were observed during the wet season, and diversity decreased from the top (oxic) to the bottom (anoxic) layers in both seasons. Some of the species isolated belong to the genera Aspergillus, Cladosporium, Hortaea, Pichia and Wallemia, which often are isolated from hypersaline environments. The most abundant clones belong to Acremonium strictum and Cladosporium halotolerans, which were not isolated in pure culture. The differences observed using culture-based and molecular techniques demonstrates the need of combining methods to study the diversity of fungi in a given substrate.
Parameters' sensitivity analysis of grid-connected photovoltaic power generation model under different kinds of disturbances

Establishment of accurate model of photovoltaic power station is the foundation for analyzing the security and stability of the electricity grid and photovoltaic power station. There are still difficulties to identify all the parameters of photovoltaic power stations accuracy. First establish simulation model of grid-connected photovoltaic system. Then analyze the parameters of inverter and filter, which influence the photovoltaic system tendencies, by the track sensitivity analysis method. Analyze sensitivity in the situations of three-phase fault, irradiance step-down, and DC voltage-drop. It proves that parameters of the outer voltage loop control and filter parameter have higher sensitivity than other inverter control parameters on the active and reactive power.
The Ross procedure: suitable for everyone?

In 1967, Donald Ross transferred the patient’s own pulmonary valve into the aortic root. Although results of this technique were encouraging, the Ross procedure did not gain widespread popularity until the late 1980s when surgeons started to implant the pulmonary autograft as a freestanding full root replacement with reimplantation of the coronary arteries. However, frequent dilatation of the pulmonary autograft was observed using the freestanding full root replacement technique. In contrast, the original subcoronary implantation technique and aortic root inclusion technique prevented dilatation in the long-term. Through advancing know-how in aortic root surgery and confidence, the Ross procedure has also been used in combined procedures and complex clinical presentations with good long-term results, which encourage continual use. However, the Ross procedure is a complex operation; careful patient selection and experience of the surgeon are mandatory requirements to achieve satisfactory results.
Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation for Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

Hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation (HSCT) refers to a procedure in which hematopoietic stem cells are infused to restore bone marrow function in cancer patients who receive bone-marrowtoxic doses of cytotoxic drugs, with or without whole-body radiation therapy. Bone marrow stem cells may be obtained from the transplant recipient (i.e., autologous HSCT) or from a donor (i.e., allogeneic HSCT). They can be harvested from bone marrow, peripheral blood, or umbilical cord blood and placenta shortly after delivery of neonates. Although cord blood is an allogeneic source, the stem cells in it are antigenically “naïve” and thus are associated with a lower incidence of graftversus-host disease (GVHD).