Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Latent perceptual mapping: a new acoustic modeling framework for speech recognition

While hidden Markov modeling is still the dominant paradigm for speech recognition, in recent years there has been re-newed interest in alternative, template-like approaches to acoustic modeling. Such methods sidestep usual HMM limitations as well as inherent issues with parametric statistical distributions, though typically at the expense of large amounts of memory and computing power. This paper introduces a new framework, dubbed latent perceptual mapping , which naturally leverages a reduced dimensionality description of the observations. This allows for a viable parsimonious template-like so-lution where models are closely aligned with perceived acoustic events. Context-independent phoneme classiﬁcation experiments conducted on the TIMIT database suggest that latent perceptual mapping achieves results comparable to conventional acoustic modeling but at potentially signiﬁcant savings in on-line costs.
A Ranking of European Veterinary Medicines Based on Environmental Risks

ABSTRACT The most likely entry pathways of veterinary pharmaceuticals to the environment are via slurry or manure from intensively reared animals to soil and via dung or urine from animals grazing on pasture. These pathways may result in contamination of surface water via runoff or leaching and drainage. Direct entry into water may occur by defecation by pasture animals or by companion animals. In addition, application of medicines for aquaculture is important for a limited number of veterinary medicinal products. For a large number of veterinary medicinal products, consistent data on the environmental risk have never been generated. In this project, a simple risk-based ranking procedure was developed that should allow assessing the potential for environmental risks of active substances of veterinary medicinal products. In the European Union approximately 2000 products containing 741 active substances were identified. In the prescreening step and in agreement with the technical guidelines released by the European Medicines Agency, 294 natural substances, complex mixtures, and substances with low expected exposure were exempted from the ranking procedure. For 233 active substances, sufficient information was collated on 4 exposure scenarios: Intensively reared animals, pasture animals, companion animals, and aquaculture. The ranking approach was performed in 4 phases: 1) usage estimation; 2) characterization of exposure to soil, dung, surface water, and aquatic organisms depending on exposure scenarios; 3) characterization of effects based on therapeutical doses; and 4) risk characterization, which is the ratio of exposure to effects (risk index), and ranking. Generally, the top-ranked substances were from the antibiotic and parasiticide groups of veterinary medicines. Differences occurred in the ranking of substances in soil via application to either intensively reared or pasture animals. In intensive rearing, anticoccidia, for example, are used as feed-administered medicines (feed additives) in comparatively large doses over a long time. For pasture animals, these substances are used less, if at all, and therefore receive lower ranks. Besides that, the risk indices for the aquatic compartment are large for substances used in aquaculture or applied to companion animals. In conclusion, the ranking scheme developed for this project provided a scientifically based and pragmatic means of assessing the relative priority of veterinary medicines for further detailed risk assessment. The outcome of this project will support pharmaceutical industries and competent authorities when seeking authorization for market applications of veterinary pharmaceutical products.
Head models and dynamic causal modeling of subcortical activity using magnetoencephalographic/electroencephalographic data

Abstract Cognitive functions involve not only cortical but also subcortical structures. Subcortical sources, however, contribute very little to magnetoencephalographic (MEG) and electroencephalographic (EEG) signals because they are far from external sensors and their neural architectonic organization often makes them electromagnetically silent. Estimating the activity of deep sources from MEG and EEG (M/EEG) data is thus a challenging issue. Here, we review the influence of geometric parameters (location/orientation) on M/EEG signals produced by the main deep brain structures (amygdalo-hippocampal complex, thalamus and some basal ganglia). We then discuss several methods that have been utilized to solve the issues and localize or quantify the M/EEG contribution from deep neural currents. These methods rely on realistic forward models of subcortical regions or on introducing strong dynamical priors on inverse solutions that are based on biologically plausible neural models, such as those used in dynamic causal modeling (DCM) for M/EEG.
High cumulative incidence of uterine leiomyoma in black and white women: ultrasound evidence.

OBJECTIVE Uterine leiomyoma, or fibroid tumors, are the leading indication for hysterectomy in the United States, but the proportion of women in whom fibroid tumors develop is not known. This study screened for fibroid tumors, independently of clinical symptoms, to estimate the age-specific proportion of black and white women in whom fibroid tumors develop. STUDY DESIGN Randomly selected members of an urban health plan who were 35 to 49 years old participated (n = 1364 women). Medical records and self-report were used to assess fibroid status for those women who were no longer menstruating (most of whom had had hysterectomies). Premenopausal women were screened by ultrasonography. We estimated the age-specific cumulative incidence of fibroid tumors for black and white women. RESULTS Thirty-five percent of premenopausal women had a previous diagnosis of fibroid tumors. Fifty-one percent of the premenopausal women who had no previous diagnosis had ultrasound evidence of fibroid tumors. The estimated cumulative incidence of tumors by age 50 was >80% for black women and nearly 70% for white women. The difference between the age-specific cumulative incidence curves for black and white women was highly significant (odds ratio, 2.9; 95% CI, 2.5-3.4; P <.001). CONCLUSION The results of this study suggest that most black and white women in the United States develop uterine fibroid tumors before menopause and that uterine fibroid tumors develop in black women at earlier ages than in white women.
Molluscan biological and chemical diversity: secondary metabolites and medicinal resources produced by marine molluscs

The phylum Mollusca represents an enormous diversity of species with eight distinct classes. This review provides a taxonomic breakdown of the published research on marine molluscan natural products and the medicinal products currently derived from molluscs, in order to identify priority targets and strategies for future research. Some marine gastropods and bivalves have been of great interest to natural products chemists, yielding a diversity of chemical classes and several drug leads currently in clinical trials. Molluscs also feature prominently in a broad range of traditional natural medicines, although the active ingredients in the taxa involved are typically unknown. Overall secondary metabolites have only been investigated from a tiny proportion (<1%) of molluscan species. At the class level, the number of species subject to chemical studies mirrors species richness and our relative knowledge of the biology of different taxa. The majority of molluscan natural products research is focused within one of the major groups of gastropods, the opisthobranchs (a subgroup of Heterobranchia), which are primarily comprised of soft‐bodied marine molluscs. Conversely, most molluscan medicines are derived from shelled gastropods and bivalves. The complete disregard for several minor classes of molluscs is unjustified based on their evolutionary history and unique life styles, which may have led to novel pathways for secondary metabolism. The Polyplacophora, in particular, have been identified as worthy of future investigation given their use in traditional South African medicines and their abundance in littoral ecosystems. As bioactive compounds are not always constitutively expressed in molluscs, future research should be targeted towards biosynthetic organs and inducible defence reactions for specific medicinal applications. Given the lack of an acquired immune system, the use of bioactive secondary metabolites is likely to be ubiquitous throughout the Mollusca and broadening the search field may uncover interesting novel chemistry.
Cloning and characterization of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 variants diminished in the ability to induce syncytium-independent cytolysis

The phenomenon of interference was exploited to isolate low-abundance noncytopathic human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) variants from a primary HIV-1 isolate from an asymptomatic HIV-1-seropositive hemophiliac. Successive rounds of virus infection of a cytolysis-susceptible CD4+ cell line and isolation of surviving cells resulted in selective amplification of an HIV-1 variant reduced in the ability to induce cytolysis. The presence of a PvuII polymorphism facilitated subsequent amplification and cloning of cytopathic and noncytopathic HIV-1 variants from the primary isolate. Cloned virus stocks from cytopathic and noncytopathic variants exhibited similar replication kinetics, infectivity, and syncytium induction in susceptible host cells. The noncytopathic HIV-1 variant was unable, however, to induce single-cell killing in susceptible host cells. Construction of viral hybrids in which regions of cytopathic and noncytopathic variants were exchanged indicated that determinants for the noncytopathic phenotype map to the envelope glycoprotein. Sequence analysis of the envelope coding regions indicated the absence of two highly conserved N-linked glycosylation sites in the noncytopathic HIV-1 variant, which accompanied differences in processing of precursor gp160 envelope glycoprotein. These results demonstrate that determinants for syncytium-independent single-cell killing are located within the envelope glycoprotein and suggest that single-cell killing is profoundly influenced by alterations in envelope sequence which affect posttranslational processing of HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein within the infected cell.
Structural Changes: The International Hospitality Industry and Firm

Increasing competition in the hospitality industry in Europe and downsizing of head‐office staff in corporate firms will require the development of new unit‐level management skills. The change needed is from an operations orientation to strategic thinking – a difficult management development task for this industry and one that is lagging behind other changes. Competition increasingly looks like a question of who can best time the matching of the necessary internal structural changes to the implementation of the strategies chosen to deal with increasing buyer power and the profitable use of new technology.
Is the Private Rented Sector an Efficient Producer of Housing Service? Private Landlords in Denmark and their Economic Strategies

Abstract The private rented sector varies much in size and character between European countries. Several studies from different countries have shown that investors in the sector are a very heterogenous group with many different motives for buying and letting out residential property. This has much importance for the efficiency of the sector. This paper reports the result of a Danish study on private landlords: their background and financial situation, their motives for buying and selling property, their business strategies and their economic return from running properties.
The Comparative Efficiency of Small-Firm Bankruptcies: A Study of the Us and Finnish Bankruptcy Codes

We use a sample of small firms to compare efficiency aspects of the creditor oriented old (pre-1993) Finnish bankruptcy code and the debtor oriented US code. We find that although the same economic factors affect liquidations in both the US and Finland, under the Finnish code firms are somewhat more likely to be liquidated piecemeal. We also find that the costs of going concern sales and of liquidations under the Finnish code tend to go toward the higher end of the range found in US studies; and that payments to creditors in the US reorganizations are higher than the payoffs under the Finnish bankruptcy regime.
THE NATURE OF THE UNCONVENTIONAL SLOW INFECTION AGENTS REMAINS A PUZZLE

Unconventional slow infections are progressive transmissible degenerative disorders of the central nervous system. The human diseases belonging to this group are Creutz-feld-Jakob disease, kuru, and Gerstmann-Straussler syndrome. Scrapie, transmissible mink encephalopathy, chronic wasting disease of mule deer and elk, and the recently discovered bovine spongiform encephalopathy are similar diseases found in animals. Unusual characteristics of the unconventional slow infections clearly distinguish these disorders from conventional infections. These include: unusually long incubation periods (from months to years); progressive CNS degeneration with characteristic histopathological lesions; the lack of an immune or inflammatory response; unconventional biological and physical properties of the etiologic agents. There has been considerable controversy concerning the nature of the causative agent. The 3 main hypotheses, virus, virino, and modified host protein, are reviewed relative to their ability to explain the properties of the agent and the unusual characteristics of the disease process.The discovery of an abnormal structure, termed scrapie associated fibrils (SAF) and an abnormally modified 33–37 kDa host-encoded glycoprotein unique to unconventional slow infections opened new areas of intense interest and investigation. SAF are abnormal filamentous structures which copurify with infectivity and possess characteristics of “amyloids. ” The major component of SAF is the host-encoded scrapie-specific protease resistant glycoprotein. Considerable data has accumulated on the biochemistry, immunology and molecular biology of this host coded scrapie protein. The relationship of SAF and the scrapie-specific protein to the infectious agent is discussed in the context of each of the “nature of the agent” hypotheses.
Statistical Models and Causal Inference: A Dialogue with the Social Sciences

Editors' introduction: inference and shoe leather Part I. Statistical Modeling: Foundations and Limitations: 1. Some issues in the foundations of statistics: probability and model validation 2. Statistical assumptions as empirical commitments 3. Statistical models and shoe leather Part II. Studies in Political Science, Public Policy, and Epidemiology: 4. Methods for Census 2000 and statistical adjustments 5. On 'solutions' to the ecological inference problem 6. Rejoinder to King 7. Black ravens, white shoes, and case selection: inference with categorical variables 8. What is the chance of an earthquake? 9. Salt and blood pressure: conventional wisdom reconsidered 10. The Swine Flu vaccine and Guillain-Barre Syndrome: relative risk and specific causation 11. Survival analysis: an epidemiological hazard? Part III. New Developments: Progress or Regress? : 12. On regression adjustments in experiments with several treatments 13. Randomization does not justify logistic regression 14. The grand leap 15. On specifying graphical models for causation, and the identification problem 16. Weighting regressions by propensity scores 17. On the so-called 'Huber sandwich estimator' and 'robust standard errors' 18. Endogeneity in probit response models 19. Diagnostics cannot have much power against general alternatives Part IV. Shoe Leather, Revisited: 20. On types of scientific inquiry: the role of quantitative reasoning.
The employment and output effects of changing patterns of afforestation in Scotland

This paper considers the economy‐wide output and employment effects of the shift in forest expansion away from coniferous plantations towards broadleaf and native species. Four different woodland types are distinguished within a Scottish input‐output table and demand and supply multipliers estimated to show the total effects on the economy of a 100 hectare increase in the land area devoted to each type as well as a switch in land from agriculture. Results suggest that the output and employment effects of new native woodlands and farm woodlands are greater than those generated by planting additional coniferous woodlands of equivalent size. In addition, an increase in the area of these policy‐driven woodland types is likely to have positive effects, even when the expansion impinges onto agricultural land of average productivity. It is thus argued that the traditional economic objectives of forestry policy have not been compromised in the drive towards multi‐benefit woodlands.
Can Local Governments in Croatia Cope with more Responsibilities

The decentralization process started in 2001 by broadening the responsibilities of local self-government units and changing the sources of financing public functions. In spite of these steps toward decentralization, today Croatia exhibits low level of fiscal decentralization compared to EU and SEE countries. In the paper we show that large differences in fiscal capacity between local government units and their large reliance on received grants represent one of the main barriers for further decentralization process. Based on the analysis of the results of conducted interviews with representatives of local and regional units, we present recommendations for further process of decentralization.
RamA, a Protein Required for Reductive Activation of Corrinoid-dependent Methylamine Methyltransferase Reactions in Methanogenic Archaea*

Archaeal methane formation from methylamines is initiated by distinct methyltransferases with specificity for monomethylamine, dimethylamine, or trimethylamine. Each methylamine methyltransferase methylates a cognate corrinoid protein, which is subsequently demethylated by a second methyltransferase to form methyl-coenzyme M, the direct methane precursor. Methylation of the corrinoid protein requires reduction of the central cobalt to the highly reducing and nucleophilic Co(I) state. RamA, a 60-kDa monomeric iron-sulfur protein, was isolated from Methanosarcina barkeri and is required for in vitro ATP-dependent reductive activation of methylamine:CoM methyl transfer from all three methylamines. In the absence of the methyltransferases, highly purified RamA was shown to mediate the ATP-dependent reductive activation of Co(II) corrinoid to the Co(I) state for the monomethylamine corrinoid protein, MtmC. The ramA gene is located near a cluster of genes required for monomethylamine methyltransferase activity, including MtbA, the methylamine-specific CoM methylase and the pyl operon required for co-translational insertion of pyrrolysine into the active site of methylamine methyltransferases. RamA possesses a C-terminal ferredoxin-like domain capable of binding two tetranuclear iron-sulfur proteins. Mutliple ramA homologs were identified in genomes of methanogenic Archaea, often encoded near methyltrophic methyltransferase genes. RamA homologs are also encoded in a diverse selection of bacterial genomes, often located near genes for corrinoid-dependent methyltransferases. These results suggest that RamA mediates reductive activation of corrinoid proteins and that it is the first functional archetype of COG3894, a family of redox proteins of unknown function.
Serum pyruvate kinase and its relation to stress susceptibility in pigs.

SUMMARY Four blood tests, complementary to the halothane test, have been screened for their capacity to discriminate between homozygous and heterozygous stress resistant and stress susceptible pigs: TBARS in plasma, lipid peroxides from erythrocytes and plasma creatine and pyruvate kinase activity. Blood samples were collected from homozygous (NN) and heterozygous (Nn) stress resistant and homozygous stress susceptible (nn) pigs, while subjected to the halothane test. Serum creatine kinase and pyruvate kinase tests were retained for a more elaborated study. Pyruvate kinase appears to be a more reliable indicator of stress susceptibility than the well-known creatine kinase. However both parameters display a considerable standard deviation. Consecutive assays show the pyruvate kinase activity to be dependent on age (weight), which accounts for part of the variation; other sources of variation are the conditions of the exeriment and the way the imposed stress is perceived by the animal. During this experiment a rapid and accurate DNA-test for HAL-genotype detection has been developed (Fujii et al. 1991; Otsu et al. 1991; Coppieters et al. 1992). In spite of this, the pyruvate kinase parameter is a much more discriminating and remarkable indicator for stress susceptibility than the, in previous years, widely used creatine kinase test. ZUSAMMENFASSUNG: Serum Pyruvat Kinase und seine Relation mit Streβanfälligkeit bei Schweinen Vier Blutteste, komplementär dem HAL-Test, wurden in einem Screening-Verfahren untersucht um homozygote und heterozygote streßresistente und streßanfällige Schweine zu differenzieren: TBARS in Plasma, Lipid Peroxyde von Erythrocyten und Plasma Kreatine und Pyruvat Kinase Aktivität. Während des Halothantestes wurde Blut entnommen von homozygoten (NN) und heterozygoten (Nn) streßresistenten und homozygoten streßanfälligen Schweinen (nn). Mit Serum Kreatine Kinase und Pyruvat Kinase Aktivität Tests wurden eine umfassende Überprüfung durchgeführt. Letztere zeigt sich als ein zuverlässiger Indikator der Streßanfälligkeit als die wohl bekanntere Kreatine Kinase. Mehrmalige Analysen zeigen, daß Pyruvat Kinase Aktivität vom Alter (Gewicht) abhängig ist, was teilweise die Variabilität verursacht; andere Quellen der Variabilität sind die experimentellen Umstände und die Weise, wie der auferlegte Streß durch das Tier erfahren wird. Während der Durchführung dieses Experimentes wurde ein schneller und akkurater DNA-Test für HAL-Genotyp Detektion entwickelt (Fujii et al. 1991; Otsu et al. 1991; Coppieters et al. 1992). Im Vergleich mit dem, in vorgehenden Jahren, häufig angewendeten Kreatine Kinase Test, ist der Pyruvat Kinase Parameter trotzdem ein bemerkenswerter und diskriminierender Indikator für Streßanfälligkeit.
Search for New PR Instructors Getting Tougher

WANTED: Full-time public relations teacher to carry 9 to 12 hours a semester and serve as liaison to the local public relations community, as a general adviser to public relations majors, as adviser for the PRSSA chapter and as coordinator of public relations internship program. Terminal degree in journalism/mass communications and 5 or more years of professional public relations experience required. Salary negotiable, but around $20,000 for nine months.
ELEVES: A NEW SOFTWARE TOOL FOR ELECTRIC VEHICLE MODELING AND SIMULATION

Vehicle simulation software is essential to vehicle design and development. Most current vehicle software simulations, however, require that components be specified prior to running the simulations. Within this context, this paper presents a simulator offering to users flexibility enough to add new component and use different level of accuracy. Thus a first version of a new software tool, in order to assist in developing technologies for Electric Vehicle (EV), is described. The ELEctric VEhicle Simulator (ELEVES) is currently being developed as a research project in the University of Technology of Belfort-Montbeliard (UTBM) by our laboratory Systems and Transportations (SeT). This simulator is developed on the base of the Component Hybrid Dynamic Nets (CHDN). As application, the proposed software tool has been used to modeling and simulation of four motorized wheels electric vehicle. Finally, a comparison between the results obtained by ELEVES with those obtained by Matlab/ Simulink software tool has been included.