Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Phoneme-based or isolated-word modeling speech recognition system? An overview

In this paper speech theories and some methodological concerns about feature extraction and classification techniques widely used in speech recognition system are surveyed and discussed. The shortage of isolated word speech recognition is addressed as compared to its phoneme-based counterpart. This paper could be regarded as a very early stage towards methodology establishment in searching for better accuracy and less complexity system which has more generic properties. It is hoped that the system can classify speech regardless of the varieties across languages or accents. Speaker independency (SI) manner speech recognition system is required for this application and in fact, in many other potential applications as much as a telephonic network (large database consists of many different speakers) is a primary requirement. Isolated-word ASR for fixed vocabularies has been successfully implemented using HMM, ANN and SVM but suffers from lack of adaptability to other languages and increase in complexity as number of vocabularies increases. Conversely, phonemes, the smallest unit of human speech sounds are apparently more feasible to represent the basic building block for cross-language mapping. In fact, the phonetic transcription systems such as IPA and SAMPA are widely recognized and standardized for several languages in the world. This paper intends to investigate the phoneme-based potential as language independent phonetic units to overcome the lack of available training data so as to achieve a more generic speech recognizer.
The Epidemiology of Mental Illness

as a technique for discovering the causes of disease were laid down over 100 years ago. The investigations of John Snow and William Budd, which showed that cholera and typhoid fever were conveyed by sewage-contaminated drinking-water, are classic examples of this technique and indeed rank among the greatest triumphs of medicine. It was quickly realized, of course, that the same method might prove useful in studying the causes of mental illness. In 1873 Dr. Maury Deasi, the Medical Superintendent of Macclesfield Asylum, read a paper to the Medico-Psychological Association in which he showed that admission rates to his hospital were higher from towns than from the countryside. He cautiously concluded that perhaps urban conditions were conducive to insanity. (He was right to be cautious, for another explanation is possible. As Hack Tuke pointed out, the Act of 1862 which made pauper lunatics chargeable to a common fund and not, as hitherto, to their own parish led the Boards of Guardians of workhouses-more numerous in the town than in the country-to appreciate that many of the paupers under their care ought, properly, to be described as pauper lunatics. This meant that they should be transferred to the country asylums, where, incidentally, they would cease to be a burden on the rates.) Speaking of &dquo; the modern science of preventive medicine,&dquo; Dr. Deas concluded his address with these words: &dquo; May we not hope that some day the knowledge of such differences (in the distribution of insanity) as I have noticed may lead to the discovery of its causes ? Thus would be laid the foundations of a noble branch of preventive medicine which would have for its object, not only to check the ravages of that social scourge, insanity, but to help people to develop their moral as well as their physical nature in accordance with the laws of health and the facts of physiology. &dquo; His was not a voice crying in the wilderness. A few years earlier the Lunacy Commissioners, in their Annual Report, expressed the view that &dquo; the prevention of insanity is a far nobler object than the provision of accommodation after mischief has been done. &dquo; They endorsed this sentiment by adding &dquo; for there is reason to hope that the prevention of insanity would greatly contribute to sap the sources of pauperism &dquo;-
Effekte des adaptiven Testens auf die Motivation zur Testbearbeitung am Beispiel des Frankfurter Adaptiven Konzentrationsleistungs-Tests

Zusammenfassung. Seit den 1970er Jahren wird weithin angenommen, dass adaptives Testen im Vergleich zu nicht-adaptivem Testen eine motivationssteigernde Wirkung hat. In den letzten Jahren wurde jedoch wiederholt auch die gegensatzliche Sichtweise vertreten, dass sich adaptives Testen motivationsmindernd auswirken kann. Zur Klarung dieser Kontroverse wurde der Effekt adaptiven Testens mit dem Frankfurter Adaptiven Konzentrationsleistungs-Test (FAKT; Moosbrugger & Heyden, 1997) auf die Motivation zur Testbearbeitung experimentell untersucht (N = 79). Zwei unabhangige Stichproben bearbeiteten entweder eine adaptive oder eine nicht-adaptive Testform des FAKT. Die Motivation zur Testbearbeitung fiel in der adaptiven Versuchsbedingung signifikant niedriger aus als in der nicht-adaptiven Versuchsbedingung, p = . 045, η2 = . 051. Das Ergebnis widerspricht dem seit drei Dekaden weitgehend als Faktum angenommenen motivationssteigernden Effekt adaptiven Testens. Weitere Analysen zeigen, dass der motivationsmindernde E.
Is 3D chip technology the next growth engine for performance improvement?

The semiconductor industry is reaching a fascinating confluence in several evolutionary trends that will likely lead to a number of revolutionary changes in how computer systems are designed, implemented, scaled, and used. Since Moore's Law, which has driven the evolution in systems for the last several decades, is imminently approaching real and severe limitations, the ability to create three-dimensional (3D) device stacks appears promising as a way to continue to integrate more devices into a "chip. " While on the one hand, this nascent ability to make "3D technology" can be interpreted as merely an extension of Moore's Law, on the other hand, the fact that systems can now be integrated across multiple planes poses some novel opportunities, as well as serious challenges and questions. In this paper, we explore these various challenges and opportunities and discuss structures and systems that are likely to be facilitated by 3D technology. We also describe the ways in which these systems are likely to change. Since 3D technology offers some different value propositions, we expect that some of the most important ways in which 3D technology will likely impact our approach to future systems design, implementation, and usage are not yet obvious to most system designers, and we outline several of them.
Student Beliefs About the Causes of Success and Failure in Music: A Study of Achievement Motivation

Elementary and secondary music students' achievement motivation was characterized by the reasons they cited for success and failure in music. The students' free responses were classified according to the two-dimensional model of Attribution Theory in which the causes of success and failure are categorized by locus of control, internal or external, and stability through time, stable or unstable. The major findings of the study were that 80% of the reasons cited for success and failure in music were internal in nature, a greater number of stable reasons were cited for success while more external-unstable reasons were cited for failure, females cited more internal-stable reasons than males, the frequency of internal-stable reasons increased with grade level while internal-unstable reasons declined, and the school attended significantly influenced the type of reasons students provided. The importance of these findings to music education practice and their relationship to previous research in achievement motivation was discussed.
Multiobjective Optimization of Expensive Black-Box Functions via Expected Maximin Improvement

Many engineering design optimization problems contain multiple objective functions all of which it is desired to minimize, say. One approach to solving this problem is to identify those inputs to the objective functions that produce an output (vector) on the Pareto Front; the inputs that produce outputs on the Pareto Front form the Pareto Set. This paper proposes a method for identifying the Pareto Front and the Pareto Set when the objective functions are expensive to compute. The method replaces the objective function evaluations by a rapidly computable approximator based on an interpolating Gaussian process (GP) model. It sequentially selects new input sites guided by an improvement function; the next input to evaluate each output is that vector which maximizes the conditional expected value of this improvement function given the current data. The method introduced in this paper provides two advances within this framework. First, it proposes an improvement function based on the modified maximin fitness function. Second, it uses a family of GP models that allow for dependent output functions but which permits zero covariance should the data be consistent with a model of no association. GP models with dependent component functions have the potential to provide more precise predictions of competing objectives than independent GPs. A closed-form expression is derived for the conditional expectation of the proposed improvement function when there are two objective functions; simulation is used to evaluate this expectation when there are three or more objectives. Examples from the multiobjective optimization literature are presented to show that the proposed procedure can improve substantially previously proposed statistical improvement criteria for the computationally intensive multiobjective optimization setting.
Professionalism, Educated Labour and the State: Hospital Medicine and the New Managerialism

This article examines the degree to which doctors, as members of an autonomous profession, function as organic intellectuals within capitalist society (Abercrombie and Urry, 1983) and, more generally, the complex and ambivalent relations that sustain their role within a ‘service class’. It is in this context that the organization of medical care and its delivery in Britain will be addressed. In particular, the current and intended changes in the organization and control of hospital medicine within the NHS, notably the issues of medical audit, clinical budgeting and the role of the ‘internal market’.
Effects of Partner Support on Resting Oxytocin, Cortisol, Norepinephrine, and Blood Pressure Before and After Warm Partner Contact

Objective: We examined whether the magnitude of plasma oxytocin (OT), norepinephrine (NE), cortisol, and blood pressure (BP) responses before and after a brief episode of warm contact (WC) with the spouse/partner may be related to the strength of perceived partner support. Methods: Subjects were 38 cohabiting couples (38 men, 38 women) aged 20 to 49 years. All underwent 10 minutes of resting baseline alone, 10 minutes of WC together with their partner, and 10 minutes of postcontact rest alone. Results: Greater partner support (based on self-report) was related to higher plasma oxytocin in men and women across the protocol before and after WC. In women, higher partner support was correlated with lower systolic blood pressure (SBP) during solitary rest after WC but not before. Also, higher OT in women was linked to lower BP at baseline and to lower NE at all 4 measurements. Conclusion: Greater partner support is linked to higher OT for both men and women; however, the importance of OT and its potentially cardioprotective effects on sympathetic activity and BP may be greater for women. ABP = ambulatory blood pressure; BMI = body mass index; BP = blood pressure; CVD = cardiovascular disease; DBP = diastolic blood pressure; HPA = hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal; HR = heart rate; IV = intravenous; MI = myocardial infarction; NE = norepinephrine; OT = oxytocin; SBP = systolic blood pressure; SNS = sympathetic nervous system; SRI = Social Relationships Index; WC = warm contact.
REPORTED INCIDENCE RATES OF WORK‐RELATED SEXUAL HARASSMENT IN THE UNITED STATES: USING META‐ANALYSIS TO EXPLAIN REPORTED RATE DISPARITIES

This study presents a meta-analytic review of the incidence of sexual harassment in the U.S. The impact of 3 main moderator variables (type of survey used, sampling technique, and the type of work environment in which the study was conducted) on the reported incidence rate was estimated by cumulating incidence rates reported in the literature. Results show that directly querying the respondents about whether or not they experienced sexual harassment (vs. using questionnaires that listed behaviors believed to constitute sexual harassment), and employing probability-sampling techniques (vs. convenience sampling), led to substantially lower estimates of sexual harassment incidence. In addition, the results suggest that sexual harassment is more prevalent in organizations characterized by relatively large power differentials between organizational levels. Based on more than 86,000 respondents from 55 probability samples, on average, 58% of women report having experienced potentially harassing behaviors and 24% report having experienced sexual harassment at work.
Influence behaviors and organizational commitment: A comparative study

Purpose – Prior research has identified the outcomes of influence tactics as short-term task commitment, compliance and resistance. This paper argues that leaders’ downward influence behaviors should also have an impact on followers’ organizational commitment. The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of three influence strategies (11 downward influence tactics) on organizational commitment, and the moderating effect of national culture. Design/methodology/approach – The study draws on survey data (n=185) and follow-up interviews (n=19) from Hong Kong Chinese employees who work for Hong Kong Chinese or Japanese managers. Findings – The quantitative results show that all rational tactics, the inspirational appeal and pressure tactics had effects on organizational commitment. Drawing on the survey and follow-up interview data, three specific factors in the use of influence tactics on organizational commitment are identified. Results suggest that some tactics are more universal and able to provide .
Inhibiting expression of specific genes in mammalian cells with 5′ end-mutated U1 small nuclear RNAs targeted to terminal exons of pre-mRNA

Reducing or eliminating expression of a given gene is likely to require multiple methods to ensure coverage of all of the genes in a given mammalian cell. We and others [Furth, P. A. , Choe, W. T. , Rex, J. H. , Byrne, J. C. , and Baker, C. C. (1994) Mol. Cell. Biol. 14, 5278–5289] have previously shown that U1 small nuclear (sn) RNA, both natural or with 5′ end mutations, can specifically inhibit reporter gene expression in mammalian cells. This inhibition occurs when the U1 snRNA 5′ end base pairs near the polyadenylation signal of the reporter gene's pre-mRNA. This base pairing inhibits poly(A) tail addition, a key, nearly universal step in mRNA biosynthesis, resulting in degradation of the mRNA. Here we demonstrate that expression of endogenous mammalian genes can be efficiently inhibited by transiently or stably expressed 5′ end-mutated U1 snRNA. Also, we determine the inhibitory mechanism and establish a set of rules to use this technique and to improve the efficiency of inhibition. Two U1 snRNAs base paired to a single pre-mRNA act synergistically, resulting in up to 700-fold inhibition of the expression of specific reporter genes and 25-fold inhibition of endogenous genes. Surprisingly, distance from the U1 snRNA binding site to the poly(A) signal is not critical for inhibition, instead the U1 snRNA must be targeted to the terminal exon of the pre-mRNA. This could reflect a disruption by the 5′ end-mutated U1 snRNA of the definition of the terminal exon as described by the exon definition model.
El impacto del uso del correo electrónico en el profesorado de las universidades públicas madrileñas

El correo electrónico es uno de los medios de comunicación que se perfila como fundamentalen las comunicaciones en los próximos años. El ámbito universitario no puede ser ajeno a estarealidad, por sus características propias, tanto en la faceta docente como investigadora.Con el fin de comprobar la implantación real del correo electrónico en las universidades públicasmadrileñas, hemos diseñado y realizado una encuesta que trata de recoger la opinión de los docentesen torno a su propio uso y conocimiento del correo electrónico y otros medios informáticos, asícomo su actitud hacia los mismos. Igualmente, nos hemos interesado por algunas cuestiones relevantesen torno al correo, como son su grado de satisfacción y las expectativas que genera.Se ha contrastado empíricamente la existencia de diversas relaciones, destacando la influenciade las actitudes previas en los niveles de conocimiento de las herramientas, y la de dicho conocimientoen la posterior utilización de las mismas. Del mismo modo, hemos podido constatar laexistencia de notables diferencias entre las diversas áreas de conocimiento, categorías profesionalesy universidades.
Bromuconazole-induced hepatotoxicity is accompanied by upregulation of PXR/CYP3A1 and downregulation of CAR/CYP2B1 gene expression

Abstract Despite widespread use of bromuconazole as a pesticide for food crops and fruits, limited studies have been done to evaluate its toxic effects. Here, we evaluated the hepatotoxic effect of bromuconazole using classical toxicological (biochemical analysis and histopathological examination) and gene-based molecular methods. Male rats were treated either orally or topically with bromuconazole at doses equal to no observed adverse effect level (NOAEL) and 1/10 LD50 for 90 d. Bromuconazole increased activities of liver enzymes (ALT, AST, ALP, and ACP), and levels of bilirubin. It also induced hepatic oxidative stress as evidenced by significant decrease in the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), and significant increase in levels of malondialdehyde (MDA) in liver. In addition, bromuconazole caused an increase in liver weights and necrobiotic changes (vacuolation and hepatocellular hypertrophy). It also strongly induced the expression of PXR and its downstream target CYP3A1 gene as well as the activity of CYP3A1. However, it inhibited the expression of CAR and its downstream target CYP2B1 gene without significant changing in CYP2B1 activity. Overall, the oral route showed higher hepatotoxic effect and molecular changes than the dermal route and all changes were dose dependent. This is the first investigation to report that bromuconazole-induced liver oxidative damage is accompanied by upregulation of PXR/CYP3A1 and downregulation of CAR/CYP2B1.
Correlation of time course of blood cholinesterase activity and toxic manifestations of acute methylparathion in antidote treated rats.

Study was conducted to find out the correlation between red blood cholinesterase (RBC ChE) and plasma butyryl cholinesterase (BuChE) activities and toxic signs of oral methylparathion (MPT) and their recovery pattern with or without atropine treatment in female rats. Enzyme activity was estimated before and after an oral dose of MPT (7.5 mg/kg-1) at various time intervals upto 120 hr. Antidote groups received atropine (10 mg/kg-1, i.p.), either alone or with diazepam (2.5 mg/kg-1, i.p.), at the onset of toxic signs. Inhibition of enzyme activity served as definite index of acute toxicity of MPT. RBC ChE activity correlated with the intensity of toxic signs in no-antidote rats, while in atropine treated groups, there was no correlation. BuChE levels did not correlate with toxic signs in any of the groups except in the fatal group. The resynthesis of both the enzymes was complete in 120 hr study and did not synchronize with the recovery pattern of animals from toxic signs. Compared to BuChE, RBC ChE activity was found to be a more sensitive indicator for the diagnosis of severity of MPT toxicity.
A Scientific Revolution that Made Life Longer, Schooling and the Decline of Infant Mortality in Europe

This paper addresses the decline in infant mortality that occurred with a remarkable synchronization across Europe around the turn of the century 1900. It is the argument of this paper that this development is not just, as in the conventional view, the side effect of economic growth but could be derived through a cumulative chain of events, starting with the discovery of the germ theory. Mokyr has argued, that notwithstanding the ubiquitous impact of the germ theory in several fields, its first big effect, as a decline in mortality, came through changed behaviour in the household. What makes this plausible is that the turn-down occurred at the about the same time irrespective of the wide variations in levels of infant mortality, and irrespective of levels of aggregate income and economic growth. Growth was certainly crucial for sustaining the decline in mortality but the synchronized change of the trend draws attention to a shift in behaviour. A critical question for this argument is if the germ theory and its implications were so quickly and widely diffused. Schooling was an instrument for this diffusion and could be so since there existed an international movement around school hygiene which made the impact of the germ theory more pervasive than if it had only influenced via the curriculum. This hypothesis is supported by a cross-country model which singles out the enrolment in primary schools as an explanatory factor for the decline in infant mortality 1890-1910, and the more so when female enrolment is considered.
Effects of oregano essential oil and attapulgite on growth performance, intestinal microbiota and morphometry in broilers

Two experiments were conducted to study the effects of a blend of oregano essential oil (OEO) (as a source of natural antibacterial growth-promoting substances) and attapulgite (as a source of toxin-binder and as an antidiarrhoeal agent) on growth performance, intestinal microbiota, and intestinal morphometry in broiler chickens (Ross-308). In the first trial, the control group was fed a basal diet without antibiotic growth promoters, and the experimental group was fed the basal diet supplemented with 5% OEO (OEO) (Ecodiar ® powder at 150 g/tn) and 80% attapulgite 80% (Ultrafed ® at 6 kg/tn) blend. In the second trial, the experimental group was given the basal diet supplemented with 5% OEO (Ecodiar ® powder at 300 g/tn) and 80% attapulgite (Ultrafed ® at 3 kg/tn) blend. Intestinal microbiota was enumerated by conventional techniques with selective agar media at the end of the trial at both ileum and caecum, and intestinal morphology was assessed in the duodenum, jejunum and ileum. Results showed that in the first trial, despite the positive impact on daily gain and feed-to-gain ratio, growth performance was not affected by the blend with OEO and attapulgite. Furthermore, no effect was found on intestinal morphometry. However, the counts of lactic acid bacteria were increased significantly, and coliforms were decreased in caecal contents. In the second trial, a positive impact was noticed on daily gain and feed-to-gain ratio by the high OEO and low attapulgite blend. Dietary supplementation of OEO and attapulgite increased ileal villus height and lactic acid bacteria significantly and reduced coliforms in ileal and caecal contents compared with the control group. In conclusion, the combination of OEO at 15 mg/kg and attapulgite at 2.4 g/kg exerted a positive effect on growth performance, ileal villus height and intestinal microbiota of broilers. Keywords: Gut microflora, intestinal architecture, magnesium aluminium silicate, oregano