Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
FeasPar - a feature structure parser learning to parse spontaneous speech

Traditionally, automatic natural language parsing and translation have been performed with various symbolic approaches. Many of these have the advantage of a highly speciic output formalism, allowing ne-grained parse analyses and, therefore, very precise translations. Within the last decade, statistical and connectionist techniques have been proposed to learn the parsing task in order to avoid the tedious manual modeling of grammar and malformation. How to learn a detailed output representation and how to learn to parse robustly even ill-formed input, has until now remained an open question. This thesis provides an answer to this question by presenting a connectionist parser that needs a small corpus and a minimum of hand modeling, that learns, and that is robust towards spontaneous speech and speech recognizer eeects. The parser delivers feature structure parses, and has a performance comparable to a good hand modeled uniication based parser. The connectionist parser FeasPar consists of several neural networks and a Consistency Checking Search. The number of, architecture of, and other parameters of the neural networks are automatically derived from the training data. The search nds the combination of the neural net outputs that produces the most probable consistent analysis. To demonstrate learnability and robustness, FeasPar is trained with transcribed sentences from the English Spontaneous Scheduling Task and evaluated for network, overall parse, and translation performance, with transcribed and speech data. The latter contains speech recognition errors. FeasPar requires only minor human eeort and performs better or comparable to a good symbolic parser developed with a 2 year, human expert eeort. A key result is obtained by using speech data to evaluate the JANUS speech-to-speech translation system with diierent parsers. With FeasPar, acceptable translation performance is 60.5 %, versus 60.8 % with a GLR* parser. FeasPar requires two weeks of human labor to prepare the lexicon and 600 sentences of training data, whereas the GLR* parser required signiicant human expert grammar modeling. Presented in this thesis are the Chunk'n'Label Principle, showing how to divide the entire parsing tasks into several small tasks performed by neural networks , as well as the FeasPar architecture, and various methods for network performance improvement. Further, a knowledge analysis and two methods for improving the overall parsing performance are presented. Several evaluations and comparisons with a GLR* parser, producing exactly the same output formalism , illustrate FeasPar's advantages. Ausgabeformalismus produzieren, zeigen deutlich die Vorteile von FeasPar.
Prototyping in game design: externalization and internalization of game ideas

Prototyping is a well-studied activity for interaction designers, but its role in computer game design is relatively unexplored. The aim of this study is to shed light on prototyping in game design. Interviews were conducted with 27 game designers. The empirical data was structured using qualitative content analysis and analysed using the design version of The Activity Checklist. The analysis indicated that six categories of the checklist were significant for the data obtained. These categories are presented in relation to the data. The roles of externalization and internalization are specifically highlighted.
Diseño, simulación e implementación de un esquema de detección de trama y de corrección del desplazamiento de frecuencia en un sistema de comunicación inalámbrico de una sola portadora

Basado en el desarrollo de la practica 5 del manual de laboratorio [1] de los equipos USRP, sobre sincronizacion de trama, buscamos la vialidad de adaptar un metodo, aplicado para OFDM, al sistema propuesto por el manual. Lo que nos permitio conocer mas acerca de los equipos, desarrollar diferentes esquemas de modulacion, canales de propagacion. Se analiza los cambios necesarios para adaptar el algoritmo Schmild & Cox, disenado para sistemas OFDM, a sistemas de portadora unica. Por lo que se hace una revision completa y sencilla de todos los bloques involucrados en el sistema de una sola portadora. Asi como la descripcion de los metodos de sincronizacion de trama implementados tanto en la practica como el que se busca adaptar. Se utilizara metodos de observacion para visualizar la efectividad de los sincronizadores y realizar un efectivo analisis de los mismos, comparacion y funcionalidad. Se vera como afecta la modulacion a los dos sistemas de sincronizacion, asi como el cambio de ambiente de propagacion.
Why it is so difficult for persons with schizophrenia living in the community to achieve an adequate quality of life

Myers & Diener (1996) in collating data from almost 1000 surveys of 1.1 million people around the globe found that contrary to what psychiatrists might think most people are happy and satisfied with their lives. In fact, on a zero to ten scale (with 0 meaning most unhappy and ten most happy) the modal value was between 7 and 8. What is even more surprising is that most sociodemographic variables, which usually make a difference when mental disorders are considered, do not seem to be related to the degree of happiness. These variables include sex, age, economic class, ethnicity and educational level, with the notable exception of marital status with the married being more happy than the never married. Possible explanations for these astonishing findings are that people in disadvantaged situations might value things at which they excel, make comparisons within their own group and, speaking more generally, lower their level of aspiration. The last of these explanation is in accordance with Caiman's (1984) definition of a person's subjective quality of life, which he considers to be equivalent to the narrowness of the gap between a person's expectations and achievements ('Caiman's gap'). There are two ways of keeping this gap narrow: being successful in arriving at one's aims on the one hand, and lowering one's level of aspiration on the other. It is quite obvious that, in view of the low chance for most people to change their life circumstances to a substantial degree, the second mechanism is the most commonly employed in order to maintain their psychological equilibrium. People cut their coat to their cloth. The fable of the fox and the grapes is precisely reflecting this idea. QUALITY OF LIFE IN SCHIZOPHRENIA
Effects of dietary methylmercury on reproductive behavior of fathead minnows (Pimephales promelas)

We examined the effects of dietary methylmercury on the production of testosterone in and the reproductive behavior of male fish. Juvenile fathead minnows (Pimephales promelas) were fed one of three diets contaminated with methylmercury at concentrations of 0.06 (control), 0.87 (low), and 3.93 (medium) μg Hg/g dry weight. After attaining sexual maturity, fish were paired for mating, and male behaviors were recorded. Carcass mercury and plasma testosterone concentrations also were measured. No significant differences were found in the amount of time spent by male fish in nest preparation or courtship activities, but dietary methylmercury suppressed mating behavior. Fish that were fed control diets spent approximately 5% of their time spawning; fish that were fed methylmercury‐contaminated diets spent approximately 0.5% of their time spawning. Total mercury concentration in the carcass was not correlated with any individual reproductive behavior but was correlated with hypoactivity. Fish that were fed the low‐ and medium‐methylmercury diets and with mean carcass concentrations of 0.71 to 4.2 μg Hg/g dry weight spent an average of 19 to 26% of their time being inactive; control fish with an average of 0.07 μg Hg/g dry weight spent only 8% of their time being inactive. No significant difference was found in testosterone concentrations among dietary treatments; however, testosterone was positively correlated with individual nest preparatory, courtship, and spawning behaviors and negatively correlated with the total amount of time spent in all nonreproductive behaviors. The relation between testosterone, reproductive behavior, and spawning success suggests that altered behavior is, in part, responsible for suppression of reproduction in methylmercury‐exposed fish. Moreover, reproductive behavior may be more sensitive than steroid hormones to alteration by dietary methylmercury.
Évaluation d'une architecture de stockage RDF distribuée

Stocker des informations du web semantique implique d'etre capable de pouvoir potentiellement gerer de tres importants volumes de donnees. D'ou le besoin d'opter pour une solution forcement distribuee, entre autres de type pair-a-pair, pour pouvoir passer a l'echelle. Un systeme de stockage RDF reparti requiert de mettre en place un algorithme particulier pour la resolution des requetes SPARQL. Les donnees etant distribuees a travers un reseau de pairs, il est necessaire d'executer une partie de la requete sur certains de ces pairs, puis d'agreger et d'appliquer d'eventuelles conditions de filtrage sur les differents resultats intermediaires obtenus, avant de pouvoir retourner les resultats finaux. Il existe actuellement une douzaine de benchmarks pour le RDF, mais aucun d'entre eux ne se presente comme etant pense pour s'adapter a une architecture de stockage reparti. Dans cet article, nous mettons en evidence le nombre de resultats intermediaires generes par les requetes SPARQL, un aspect important dans un contexte distribue, et qui nous semble a l'heure actuelle neglige par les benchmarks pour le RDF.
A model to predict lexical complexity and to grade words (Un modèle pour prédire la complexité lexicale et graduer les mots) [in French]

Analyser la complexite lexicale est une tâche qui, depuis toujours, a principalement retenu l’attention de psycholinguistes et d’enseignants de langues. Plus recemment, cette problematique a fait l’objet d’un interet grandissant dans le domaine du traitement automatique des langues (TAL) et, en particulier, en simplification automatique de textes. L’objectif de cette tâche est d’identifier des termes et des structures difficiles a comprendre par un public cible et de proposer des outils de simplification automatisee de ces contenus. Cet article aborde la question lexicale en identifiant un ensemble de predicteurs de la complexite lexicale et en evaluant leur efficacite via une analyse correlationnelle. Les meilleures de ces variables ont ete integrees dans un modele capable de predire la difficulte lexicale dans un contexte d’apprentissage du francais.
Kinematic Analysis of Cursor Trajectories Controlled With a Touchpad

To investigate the characteristics of a computer touchpad as a pointing device, 14 participants used their right hand to manipulate the touchpad on a laptop computer. They were required to move a cursor over different distances (7.5 cm, 15 cm) from a home location to targets of different diameters (8 mm, 16 mm), situated to the upper left, middle, or right of a computer screen. A kinematic analysis of movement onsets and cursor trajectories indicated the nature of inefficiencies of the touchpad compared with other devices, primarily excessive submovements. Upper leftward movements were poorer, which can be explained by asymmetries in the finger-wrist system. This result implies that screen accessibility can vary as a function of users' interaction with cursor controllers and that the default placements of key icons might need to vary as a consequence.
Measuring the I-V curve of PV generators

This article discusses a new experimental way to measure the I-V characteristic curve of photovoltaic (PV) generators based on DC-DC converters. The obtained results show that the classical buck and boost converters are not capable of reproducing the whole I-V curve of PV generators and that the single-ended primary inductance converter (SEPIC) is optimal for this application. We propose a method based on SEPIC converters in parallel connection, operating in an interleaved mode. This method gives advantages with respect to the use of conventional methods.
Gap junctions and cell polarity: connexin32 and connexin43 expressed in polarized thyroid epithelial cells assemble into separate gap junctions, which are located in distinct regions of the lateral plasma membrane domain.

Epithelial cells of the thyroid gland present an uncommon connexin expression pattern, they coexpress connexin32 and connexin43. In the present work, we have analyzed the membrane distribution of these two connexins to determine: (i) whether they co-assemble in the same gap junctions or form separate gap junctions; and (ii) whether their location is somehow related to the thyroid cell polarity. Immunofluorescence analyses of the localization of the two connexins in thyroid tissue sections revealed that connexin32 and connexin43 are located in different regions of the plasma membrane. We further analyzed the location of each of the two connexins with regard to that of the tight junction-associated protein, ZO1. Laser scanning confocal microscope observations of connexin32 or connexin43 and ZO1 double-immunolabelled thyroid cells, gave evidence for a separate localization of gap junctions made of each of these two connexins. Connexin32 gap junctions appeared as fluorescent spots scattered over the lateral membrane domain, while connexin43 gap junctions formed a meshed network superimposable with that of tight junctions in the subapical region of the cells. Western blot analyses of the distribution of connexins in thyroid plasma membrane subfractions obtained by ultracentrifugation on a sucrose gradient led to the identification of membrane sub-populations enriched in either connexin32 gap junctions or connexin43 gap junctions. Connexin32 gap junctions and connexin43 gap junctions were found to differ in their resistance to solubilization by N-lauroylsarcosine. Increasing concentrations of this detergent from 0.12% to 0.42% caused a progressive solubilization of connexin43 while connexin32 remained membrane-bound. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Anti-anginal Effect of Fasudil, a Rho-Kinase Inhibitor, in Patients With Stable Effort Angina: A Multicenter Study

Rho-kinase plays an important role in calcium sensitization for vascular smooth muscle (VSMC) contraction and may be involved in the inappropriate coronary vasoconstriction during exercise-induced myocardial ischemia. In this multicenter phase II study, the anti-anginal effect of fasudil, which is metabolized to a specific Rho-kinase inhibitor hydroxyfasudil after oral administration, was examined in patients with stable effort angina. In the phase IIa trial, after a 2-week washout period of anti-anginal drugs, 45 patients received increasing doses of fasudil (5, 10, and 20 mg TID for every 2 weeks). The fasudil treatment significantly prolonged the maximum exercise time and the time to the onset of 1-mm ST segment depression on treadmill exercise test (both p < 0.01), whereas blood pressure and heart rate during exercise were unchanged before and after the treatment. Higher doses of fasudil (20 and 40 mg TID) were subsequently tested in 22 patients in the same manner with similar positive results. In the phase IIb trial, after a 2-week washout period of anti-anginal drugs, 125 patients were assigned, in a double-blind manner, to a 4-week oral treatment with a different dose of fasudil (5, 10, 20, or 40 mg TID) and treadmill exercise test was performed before and after the treatment. Again, both maximum exercise time and time to the onset of 1-mm ST segment depression were prolonged in all groups. A significant dose-response relation was noted across the treatment groups for the exercise tolerance index that was determined by the combined effect of exercise time and ST segment depression (p = 0.006). Fasudil was well tolerated in both trials without any serious adverse reactions. These results suggest the efficacy and adequate safety profile of fasudil, the first drug in a novel class of vasodilators, for the treatment of stable effort angina.
High efficiency Cu2ZnSn(SxSe1−x)4 thin film solar cells by thermal co-evaporation

We report on the device results of thermally evaporated high efficiency Cu2ZnSn(SxSe1−x)4 (CZTSSe) thin film solar cells with power conversion efficiencies of 7.1% (x=1.0) and 7.5% (x=0.34). We have carried out extensive electrical and structural characterization of CZTSSe solar cells to identify major factors that limit the efficiency. Bias-dependent quantum efficiency measurements revealed ineffective collection of charge carriers photo-generated deep in the absorber layer suggesting a short minority carrier diffusion length, which was confirmed by time-resolved photoluminescence measurements. Temperature-dependence of the series resistance of the devices is consistent with the presence of a Schottky-type barrier in the back contact, likely caused by secondary phases near the CZTS/Mo interface and/or an interfacial MoSx layer.
Insulin attenuates the insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I)-Akt pathway, not IGF-I-extracellularly regulated kinase pathway, in luteinized granulosa cells with an increase in PTEN.

CONTEXT Insulin resistance is considered as part of the pathogenesis of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), and PCOS patients often show hyperinsulinemia. The influence of insulin on folliculogenesis in women with PCOS has not been fully investigated. OBJECTIVE Our objective was to assess the induction of phosphatase and tensin homolog deleted on chromosome 10 (PTEN) expression with insulin treatment and effects of PTEN on IGF-I-induced granulosa cell proliferation as well as the correlation of PTEN levels with the concentration of insulin in follicular fluid in PCOS and non-PCOS patients. DESIGN, SETTING, PATIENTS, AND MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: A cell proliferation assay, real-time RT-PCR, and Western blotting for PTEN, Akt, and ERK1/2 were conducted in primary cultured granulosa cells under IGF-I stimulation with or without insulin pretreatment. Phosphorylation of Akt and ERK1/2 was also determined by Western blotting. We also measured the insulin concentration in follicular fluid and the levels of PTEN expression in granulosa cells collected at the time of oocyte retrieval of in vitro fertilization in PCOS (n = 13) and non-PCOS patients (n = 37). RESULTS PTEN expression was induced by insulin. Pretreatment with insulin attenuated the IGF-I-induced Akt phosphorylation and cell proliferation but not ERK1/2 phosphorylation. A phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase inhibitor, LY294002, inhibited the IGF-I-induced cell proliferation. Suppression of insulin-induced PTEN expression using small interfering RNA recovered IGF-I-induced Akt phosphorylation. PTEN levels in granulosa cells, which tended to be higher in PCOS patients, were correlated with the insulin concentration in follicular fluid. CONCLUSIONS PTEN may influence the proliferation of human granulosa cells as well as disturbance of follicular growth in PCOS patients.
Copper status of exposed microorganisms influences susceptibility to metallic nanoparticles

Although interactions of metallic nanoparticles (NPs) with various microorganisms have been previously explored, few studies have examined how metal sensitivity impacts NP toxicity. The present study investigated the effects of copper NPs (Cu‐NP) exposure on the model alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii in the presence and absence of the essential micronutrient copper. The toxic ranges for Cu‐NPs and the ionic control, CuCl2, were determined using a high‐throughput adenosine triphosphate (ATP)‐based fluorescence assay. The Cu‐NPs caused similar mortality in copper‐replete and copper‐deplete cells (median inhibitory concentration [IC50]: 14–16 mg/L) but were less toxic than the ionic control, CuCl2 (IC50: 7 mg/L). Using this concentration range, the Cu‐NP impacts on cell morphology, copper accumulation, chlorophyll content, and expression of stress genes under both copper supply states were assessed. Osmotic swelling, membrane damage, and chloroplast and organelle disintegration were observed by transmission electron microscopy at both conditions. Despite these similarities, copper‐deplete cells showed greater accumulation of loosely bound and tightly bound copper after exposure to Cu‐NPs. Furthermore, copper‐replete cells experienced greater loss of chlorophyll content, 19% for Cu‐NPs, compared with only an 11% net decrease in copper‐deplete cells. The tightly bound copper was bioavailable as assessed by reverse‐transcriptase quantitative polymerase chain reaction analysis of CYC6, a biomarker for Cu deficiency. The increased resistance of copper‐deplete cells to Cu‐NPs suggests that these cells potentially metabolize excess Cu‐NPs or better manage sudden influxes of ions. The results suggest that toxicity assessments must account for the nutritional status of impacted organisms and use toxicity models based on estimations of the bioavailable fractions. Environ Toxicol Chem 2016;35:1148–1158. © 2015 SETAC
Bryophyllum pinnatum and Related Species Used in Anthroposophic Medicine: Constituents, Pharmacological Activities, and Clinical Efficacy

Abstract Bryophyllum pinnatum (syn. Kalanchoe pinnata) is a succulent perennial plant native to Madagascar that was introduced in anthroposophic medicine in the early 20th century. In recent years, we conducted a large collaborative project to provide reliable data on the chemical composition, pharmacological properties, and clinical efficacy of Bryophyllum. Here, we comprehensively review the phytochemistry, as well as the pharmacological and clinical data. As to the pharmacology, special emphasis is given to properties related to the use in anthroposophic medicine as a treatment for “hyperactivity diseases”, such as preterm labor, restlessness, and sleep disorders. Studies suggesting that B. pinnatum may become a new treatment option for overactive bladder syndrome are also reviewed. Tolerability is addressed, and toxicological data are discussed in conjunction with the presence of potentially toxic bufadienolides in Bryophyllum species. The few data available on two related species with medicinal uses, Bryophyllum daigremontianum and Bryophyllum delagoense, have also been included. Taken together, current data support the use of B. pinnatum for the mentioned indications, but further studies are needed to fully understand the modes of action, and to identify the pharmacologically active constituents.