Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A novel prosodic-information synthesizer based on recurrent fuzzy neural network for the Chinese TTS system

In this paper, a new technique for the Chinese text-to-speech (TTS) system is proposed. Our major effort focuses on the prosodic information generation. New methodologies for constructing fuzzy rules in a prosodic model simulating human's pronouncing rules are developed. The proposed recurrent fuzzy neural network (RFNN) is a multilayer recurrent neural network (RNN) which integrates a self-constructing neural fuzzy inference network (SONFIN) into a recurrent connectionist structure. The RFNN can be functionally divided into two parts. The first part adopts the SONFIN as a prosodic model to explore the relationship between high-level linguistic features and prosodic information based on fuzzy inference rules. As compared to conventional neural networks, the SONFIN can always construct itself with an economic network size in high learning speed. The second part employs a five-layer network to generate all prosodic parameters by directly using the prosodic fuzzy rules inferred from the first part as well as other important features of syllables. The TTS system combined with the proposed method can behave not only sandhi rules but also the other prosodic phenomena existing in the traditional TTS systems. Moreover, the proposed scheme can even find out some new rules about prosodic phrase structure. The performance of the proposed RFNN-based prosodic model is verified by imbedding it into a Chinese TTS system with a Chinese monosyllable database based on the time-domain pitch synchronous overlap add (TD-PSOLA) method. Our experimental results show that the proposed RFNN can generate proper prosodic parameters including pitch means, pitch shapes, maximum energy levels, syllable duration, and pause duration. Some synthetic sounds are on-line available for demonstration.
Energy and Throughput Trade-Offs in Cellular Networks Using Base Station Switching

Base station operation consumes a lot of energy, a considerable amount of which can be saved by switching off base stations during low user demand (for example, at night). Base station switching (BSS) can result in loss in coverage if not performed properly. We show that coverage is closely related to scheduling via power management and that the bottleneck is typically the uplink. To save energy, we propose a set of BSS patterns, at a global system-level, that have the potential to provide full coverage if the appropriate schedulers are used. We further show that the existing benchmark uplink scheduling schemes do not provide full coverage when BSS is used in urban as well as rural macro-cell environments (the downlink benchmark scheduling scheme provides full coverage only for some of the BSS patterns). Hence, we propose novel scheduling schemes for both uplink and downlink that realistically model interference, ensure full coverage, and provide good energy-performance trade-offs for the proposed BSS patterns. We also present a low complexity high performance heuristic for the proposed uplink scheduler. Finally, we show the presented models and results can be used to quantify, offline, the energy-performance trade-offs under different operating scenarios.
Immunoelectron microscopic localization of acidic intracellular compartments in hepatoma cells.

Using protein A‐colloidal gold immunoelectron microscopy and monospecific antibodies to the weak base primaquine, we have delineated acidic intracellular compartments in the human hepatoma cell line, HepG2. Primaquine specifically accumulated within endocytotic compartments (including CURL vesicles, multivesicular bodies and lysosomes). In addition, the Golgi cisternae were positive. However, the CURL tubules, which contain recycling asialoglycoprotein receptor, did not accumulate primaquine. Thus, there may be a gradient of acidification within the endocytotic pathway.
Prediction And Modelling Of Ligand-Binding Sites Using An Integrated Voxel Method

The interaction between proteins and their binding agents take place on surfaces and involve factors such as chemical and shape complementarity. It was shown in past studies that protein-protein interactions involve flatter regions whereas protein-ligand bindings are associated with crevices. Many approaches have been implemented which focus on the identification of such sites using various measures. Here we present an integrated method based on the use of voxels and computer-vision in the search for ligand-binding areas. Each identified site is modeled and analysed in 2D with the corresponding residues listed out. We carried out our experiment on a set of 3 FK506-bound proteins and 2 heme-bound proteins and showed that the integrated method is capable of identifying correctly the sites of interest.
Positive and negative work‐home interaction: prevalence and correlates

This study conducted among 751 employees of the Dutch Postal Service examined (1) the prevalence of various types of work‐home interaction, (2) the relationships of (these various types of) work‐home interaction with selected work and home characteristics, and (3) the relationships of (these various types of) work‐home interaction with two health indicators (i.e., fatigue and health complaints). Results supported our assumption that workhome interaction is best characterized by a four‐dimensional structure crossing the distinction between the direction of influence (work → home influence (WHI) vs. Home → work influence (HWI)) and the quality of influence (negative vs. positive). The results further supported our hypotheses, derived from the Demand‐Control‐Support Model and the Effort‐Recovery Model: job demands were most strongly related to negative influence from work (negative WHI), and home demands were primarily (albeit weakly) related to negative influence from home (negative HWI). In accordance with our expectation, job control and particularly job support were associated with positive WHI. There was no support, however, for a similar facilitating process originating in the home situation: home control and home support were not related to any type of interaction. Furthermore, particularly negative WHI was associated with fatigue and health complaints. These findings add to the existing knowledge about possible antecedents and consequences of the interaction between work and private life.
Flt-1-positive cells are cancer-stem like cells in colorectal carcinoma

Recent evidence demonstrates an essential role of cancer stem cells (CSCs) in cancer initiation, progression, migration, metastasis as well as chemo-resistance. Nevertheless, identification of CSCs in different cancers has not been succeeded, since such CSCs are typically lack of a specific and unique marker. Therefore, the current strategy is basically using one or several markers to enrich CSCs, or to isolate CSC-like cells. Here, we showed that in clinically obtained colorectal carcinoma (CRC) specimens, Flt-1, the type 1 receptor for vascular endothelial growth factor A, was significantly upregulated. Moreover, more distal metastasis and poorer patient survival were detected in Flt-1high CRC, compared to Flt1low subjects. Two CRC cell lines were then labeled with both luciferase and red fluorescent protein (RFP) reporters. We found that in both lines, compared to Flt-1- CRC cells, Flt-1+ CRC cells generated significantly more tumor spheres in culture, appeared to be more resistant to fluorouracil-induced apoptosis, were more detectable in the circulation after subcutaneous transplantation, and had a higher chances to generate tumor after serial adoptive transplantation. Thus, we conclude that Flt-1 may be used as a surface marker to enrich CSC in CRC. Selective elimination of Flt-1+ CRC cells may improve the therapeutic outcome.
Pelvic rotations: a pelvic phantom study

Background: Radiographic measurements made on standard pelvic radiographs are commonly used in studying conditions related to the hip joints. Effects caused by variations in pelvic orientation may be a source of error in comparing measurements between sequential radiographs. Purpose: To define and characterize parameters able to measure rotational differences separately around two axes and altered radiographic focusing along two axes when sequential standard anteroposterior (AP) pelvic radiographs are compared. Material and Methods: A pelvic phantom was constructed based on direct three-dimensional measurements of five defined landmarks in a pelvic model. Two ratios, the vertical and transversal rotation ratios, were defined using radiographs of the phantom. The phantom was radiographed in 33 different orientations and with 16 different radiographic focuses using a specially constructed tilt table. On each radiograph, measurements were made and the two rotation ratios were calculated using a measurement program. Results: Linear correlations between pelvic rotations around one axis and the corresponding rotation ratio were found with almost no influence of simultaneous rotation around the other axis. Also, linear correlations were found between altered radiographic focusing along one axis and the non-corresponding rotation ratio. Conclusion: Rotational differences around two axes or altered radiographic focusing along two axes can be measured independently. Effects caused by rotations cannot be distinguished from effects caused by altered radiographic focusing.
Cognitive Mechanisms Underlying the Emotional Effects of Bias Modification

In this study we assessed the cognitive mechanisms underlying the affective consequences of modifying emotional processing biases. During ‘active’ training participants selected either threatening or non-threatening meanings of emotionally ambiguous words, in contrast to ‘passive’ conditions in which participants read unambiguous words with equivalent valenced meanings. Both methods enhanced access to training-congruent primed emotional meanings, as assessed in a lexical decision task, although neither method displayed evidence of an induced interpretive bias as it is usually understood. However, consistent with previous research, the methods differed in their emotional consequences: Active training had greater effects on anxiety while viewing an accident video than did passive exposure. We interpret these results to suggest that both forms of training enhance priming of a valenced category, but only active conditions induce an implicit production rule to generate and/or select emotional meanings, and that it is this latter process that is critical to the modification of emotionality. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
THE EFFECT OF VENESECTION AND THE POOLING OF BLOOD IN THE EXTREMITIES ON THE ATRIAL PRESSURE AND CARDIAC OUTPUT IN NORMAL SUBJECTS WITH OBSERVATIONS ON ACUTE CIRCULATORY COLLAPSE IN THREE INSTANCES.

The mechanisms by which the body compensates for a decrease in blood volume have not been thoroughly studied in man. All physicians are aware that from 500 to 1000 ml. of blood can be removed from a person of average size without producing any symptoms, if the body is horizontal. If the blood is removed rapidly, hemodilution plays little part in the immediate adjustment. Do the arterioles constrict, maintaining the arterial pressure at a normal level at the expense of blood flow to the tissues? Is the atrial pressure maintained at the normal level by venous constriction? Or is it possible that up to a certain point, the heart can function effectively with a falling atrial pressure so that the circulation can be maintained without either arteriolar or venous constriction in spite of a moderate decrease in blood volume? The purpose of this paper is to describe the changes in the circulation in normal subjects caused by moderate loss of blood from the body, either as the result of venesection or by pooling blood in the extremities through the application of venous tourniquets. During the experiments, acute circulatory collapse (primary shock) occurred in three instances and quantitative observations were made on the changes occurring in the circulation.
The rapamycin analogue SDZ RAD attenuates bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis in rats

Pulmonary fibrosis is characterized by excessive deposition of extracellular matrix proteins within the pulmonary interstitium. The new macrolide immunosuppressant SDZ RAD, a rapamycin analogue, inhibits growth-factor dependent proliferation of mesenchymal cells and might therefore be of therapeutic interest for the treatment of fibrotic lung disease. In this study the effect of SDZ RAD on lung-collagen accumulation in the bleomycin model of pulmonary fibrosis in rats was investigated. SDZ RAD (2.5 mg·kg−1·day−1) or drug vehicle were administered orally by daily gavage. Successful dosing was confirmed by measuring splenic weight. Total lung-collagen content was measured by high-performance liquid chromatographic quantitation of hydroxyproline. In animals given bleomycin and drug vehicle, total lung collagen was increased by 182±11% (mean±sem) compared with saline controls at 14 days (p<0.001). The increase in lung-collagen accumulation was reduced by 75±12% (p<0.01) in animals given SDZ RAD and was accompanied by a concomitant 56±6% (p<0.001) reduction in lung weight. SDZ RAD is currently in clinical trials for the prevention of solid organ graft rejection, another condition characterized by excessive extracellular matrix production. The authors propose that SDZ RAD warrants evaluation as a novel therapeutic agent for fibrotic lung disease.
Jurisdictional, socioeconomic and gender inequalities in child health and development: analysis of a national census of 5-year-olds in Australia

Objectives Early child development may have important consequences for inequalities in health and well-being. This paper explores population level patterns of child development across Australian jurisdictions, considering socioeconomic and demographic characteristics. Design Census of child development across Australia. Setting and participants Teachers complete a developmental checklist, the Australian Early Development Index (AEDI), for all children in their first year of full-time schooling. Between May and July 2009, the AEDI was collected by 14 628 teachers in primary schools (government and non-government) across Australia, providing information on 261 147 children (approximately 97.5% of the estimated 5-year-old population). Outcome measures Level of developmental vulnerability in Australian children for five developmental domains: physical well-being, social competence, emotional maturity, language and cognitive skills and communication skills and general knowledge. Results The results show demographic and socioeconomic inequalities in child development as well as within and between jurisdiction inequalities. The magnitude of the overall level of inequality in child development and the impact of covariates varies considerably both between and within jurisdiction by sex. For example, the difference in overall developmental vulnerability between the best-performing and worst-performing jurisdiction is 12.5% for males and 7.1% for females. Levels of absolute social inequality within jurisdictions range from 8.2% for females to 12.7% for males. Conclusions The different mix of universal and targeted services provided within jurisdictions from pregnancy to age 5 may contribute to inequality across the country. These results illustrate the potential utility of a developmental census to shed light on the impact of differences in universal and targeted services to support child development by school entry.
Functional mixed effects models

Functional mixed effects model (FMM) is a mixed effects modeling framework that both the fixed effects and the random effects are modeled by nonparametric curves. The combination of mixed effects model and nonparametric smoothing enables FMMs to handle outcomes with complex profiles and at the same time to incorporate complex experimental designs and include covariates. Estimation and inference can be performed either using techniques from linear mixed effects models or using fully Bayesian approaches. As in functional data analysis, inference in FMMs is preliminary and needs to be further investigated. Several software packages have been developed to implement FMMs, although computational challenges do exist no matter which smoothing method is used. WIREs Comput Stat 2012, 4:527–534. doi: 10.1002/wics.1226
Attributes Scaling for K-means Algorithm Controlled by Misclassification of All Clusters

K-means clustering is one of the well-known distance-based clustering methods which partitions data into distinct groups. To implement an automatic attribute-scaled K-mean algorithm, the concept of classification has been integrated. Data points which belong to the same target class are considered similar in K-means clustering. In this paper, we explore and determine the optimal attribute-scaled vector that minimizes misclassification error of the target class. This paper uses the non-linear unconstrained optimization technique in attribute-scaled space, called the cyclic coordinate method together with the golden section line search to find the optimal vector. Our experiments show that the methods can provide the optimal scaling vectors which effectively reduce the misclassification error of supervised K-means clustering and lead to the effective supervised clustering in some data sets.
Quantitative Analysis and Comparison Study of [18F]AlF-NOTA-PRGD2, [18F]FPPRGD2 and [68Ga]Ga-NOTA-PRGD2 Using a Reference Tissue Model

With favorable pharmacokinetics and binding affinity for αvβ3 integrin, 18F-labeled dimeric cyclic RGD peptide ([18F]FPPRGD2) has been intensively used as a PET imaging probe for lesion detection and therapy response monitoring. A recently introduced kit formulation method, which uses an 18F-fluoride-aluminum complex labeled RGD tracer ([18F]AlF-NOTA-PRGD2), provides a strategy for simplifying the labeling procedure to facilitate clinical translation. Meanwhile, an easy-to-prepare 68Ga-labeled NOTA-PRGD2 has also been reported to have promising properties for imaging integrin αvβ3. The purpose of this study is to quantitatively compare the pharmacokinetic parameters of [18F]FPPRGD2, [18F]AlF-NOTA-PRGD2, and [68Ga]Ga-NOTA-PRGD2. U87MG tumor-bearing mice underwent 60-min dynamic PET scans following the injection of three tracers. Kinetic parameters were calculated using Logan graphical analysis with reference tissue. Parametric maps were generated using voxel-level modeling. All three compounds showed high binding potential (BpND = k3/k4) in tumor voxels. [18F]AlF-NOTA-PRGD2 showed comparable BpND value (3.75±0.65) with those of [18F]FPPRGD2 (3.39±0.84) and [68Ga]Ga-NOTA-PRGD2 (3.09±0.21) (p>0.05). Little difference was found in volume of distribution (VT) among these three RGD tracers in tumor, liver and muscle. Parametric maps showed similar kinetic parameters for all three tracers. We also demonstrated that the impact of non-specific binding could be eliminated in the kinetic analysis. Consequently, kinetic parameter estimation showed more comparable results among groups than static image analysis. In conclusion, [18F]AlF-NOTA-PRGD2 and [68Ga]Ga-NOTA-PRGD2 have comparable pharmacokinetics and quantitative parameters compared to those of [18F]FPPRGD2. Despite the apparent difference in tumor uptake (%ID/g determined from static images) and clearance pattern, the actual specific binding component extrapolated from kinetic modeling appears to be comparable for all three dimeric RGD tracers.
Effects of tapering on physical match activities in professional soccer players

ABSTRACT This study aimed to examine: (i) the effect of decreasing training load (TL) during taper weeks on physical match activities in professional soccer players, and (ii) to disclose the relationship between weekly TL and physical match activities. Rating of perceived exertion was collected after each training session and match to quantify the TL in 19 professional players over 17 standard and 7 taper weeks during the season. Physical match activities were quantified by a computerised match analysis system and compared between standard training and taper weeks. Compared to standard weeks, the duration and frequency of training sessions during the taper weeks decreased (−21.7% and −18.8%, respectively; P < 0.01) with no change in intensity (−4.8%; P = 0.09). Consequently, the weekly TL decreased during the taper weeks (−25.5%; P < 0.01). Increases in distance covered by intense running (+15.1%; P < 0.05), high-intensity running (HIR) (+15.7%; P < 0.01), number of sprints (+17.8%; P < 0.05) and number of high-speed runs (+15.7%; P < 0.05) were observed during the seven matches played after the taper weeks. High relationships were observed between TL and HIR distance covered, number of HIR and number of sprints (r = −0.53; r = −0.55; r = −0.65, respectively; P < 0.01). Decreasing TL during taper weeks by reducing training duration and frequency but maintaining intensity was associated with an increase in physical activities during matches. However, it needs to be determined whether tapering or other match factors led to the changes in match activity.
Role expansion as a persuasion process The interpersonal influence dynamics of role redefinition

Evidence establishes that employees often expand their roles to take on broader responsibilities in response to direct requests from others. However, surprisingly little research has investigated the interpersonal influence processes through which individuals convince others to expand their roles. We develop a conceptual framework to explain how senders persuade receivers to accept role expansion requests. Our framework describes why senders often fail to tailor their requests to receivers’ values, identifies the conditions under which this systematic bias is eliminated, and suggests strategies for senders to tailor their requests more effectively. Our perspective highlights how role expansion is often a reactive—rather than proactive—process in which interpersonal influence is a key building block.