Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Using Unsupervised Feature-Based Speaker Adaptation for Improved Transcription of Spoken Archives

This paper deals with unsupervised feature-based speaker adaptation techniques. The goal is to design an optimal adaptation approach for improving the recognition accuracy of a LVCSR system developed for automatic transcription of large archives of spoken Czech (e.g. the archive of the parliament talks, historical archives of Czech broadcast stations, etc.) For this purpose, several modiﬁcations of VTLN and CMLLR techniques were investigated and combined together. Our study focuses on the application of the adaptation methods in the recognition process as well as in building a normalized acoustic model within the speaker adaptive training scheme. The methods were evaluated experimentally on a large amount of various data (with total number 93k words). The resulting two-step adaptation scheme yields a signiﬁcant WER reduction from 17.8 % to 14.8 %.
Optimisation global d'un système de génération électrique hybride dans le but de réduire sa consommation de carburant

Cet article propose une methode pour dimensionner de maniere optimale un systeme de generation electrique hybride avec l'objectif de reduire la consommation de carburant. Dans un tel systeme, le benefice apporte par l'hybridation est fortement dependant du dimensionnement du systeme en lui-meme mais aussi de la strategie de gestion energetique qui sera utilisee. Le choix de la strategie influencant fortement le dimensionnement et inversement. Ce phenomene n'est pas toujours pris en compte ce qui conduit a un dimensionnement du systeme non optimal. Cet article propose donc une nouvelle methode pour dimensionner un systeme hybride en prenant en compte cette interaction. L'idee principale est de calculer dans un premier temps la strategie de gestion des flux d'energie optimale pour une structure donnee. On peut alors, pour un profil de charge defini, effectuer une optimisation de la structure du systeme pour le dimensionner au plus juste.
Ból przewlekły - problemy kliniczne i terapeutyczne

Jest wiele roznic miedzy bolem ostrym, trwającym krotko, a przewleklym, ktory moze trwac od 3 miesiecy do wielu lat. Bol przewlekly rozni sie od bolu ostrego takze patofizjologią i cechami klinicznymi, co powoduje, ze moze byc uwazany za samodzielną chorobe, ktorej wyleczenie polega na usunieciu bolu. Bol powoduje zmiany w zachowaniu sie chorego, upośledza jakośc jego zycia, funkcje poznawcze oraz ubytek neuronow w mozgu i zmniejszenie przeplywu mozgowego. Przyczyna bolu przewleklego w wiekszości przypadkow zostaje ujawniona w okresie ostrym. Klinicznymi postaciami bolu przewleklego, z ktorymi najcześciej styka sie neurolog, są: niespecyficzne bole krzyza, bole glowy, nerwobole i neuropatie roznego pochodzenia oraz mieśniobole, szczegolnie fibromialgia. Problemem jest kliniczna ocena skali natezenia bolu i cierpienia, co nie zawsze koreluje ze stopniem uszkodzenia i zmian morfologicznych. Najwiekszym problemem dla lekarza jest terapia bolu przewleklego. Wynika to nie tylko z braku odpowiednio skutecznych metod leczenia, ale takze z niedostatecznej wiedzy na temat bolu. O sukcesie decyduje postawa lekarza, wlaściwy dobor lekow, odpowiednie dawkowanie i czas stosowania. Wymaga to podstawowych wiadomości o bolu oraz znajomości farmakodynamiki i farmakokinetyki podawanych preparatow. Duze znaczenie w leczeniu bolu przewleklego mają czynniki genetyczne determinujące cechy osobnicze i biochemie bolu. Polski Przegląd Neurologiczny 2008; 4 (1): 1-8
Image Classification through Text Mining techniques : a Research Proposal

Image classification is an important task for the organization and analysis of visual information. According to the literature one of the most important concepts is the visual word ; a visual element that represents a set of visual-similar regions. The Bag-of-Visual Words (BoVW) is one of the most widely used approaches in High Level Computer Vision (HLCV). The BoVW is an histogram of the occurrence of visual words in each image, which is in some way inspired by the Bag-of-Words (BoW) used in Natural Language Processing (NLP). In spite of the success of BoVW, it has the same limitations of BoW (e.g., the overlook of the spatial context). In this research proposal we bear in mind the successful evidence of visual words in HLCV, and we take the analogy of visual-textual words to a new higher level. This is, by designing methods inspired in NLP, we aim to consider contextual (e.g., spatial, sequential), and high level (e.g., semantic) information among visual words. However, bringing NLP like approaches pose several nontrivial problems, for example: i) the definition of analogous attributes (visual-textual), ii) a suitable strategy to interpret images; documents can be read only in one direction, but in images we have a 2D plane without an specific way to read them, iii) the way to extract high level information (e.g., semantic). This paper presents the proposed research methodology and through preliminary results, we provide strong evidence of the feasibility of this research. For this, a popular NLP technique is used to improve the BoVW; the Bag-of-Visual n-grams (BoVN). The idea is evaluated in the challenging task of Histopathology image classification overcoming the BoVW and an state-of-the-art approach based in language models.
Velocity measurement method for PMSMs through external stray magnetic field sensing

This paper presents a method to measure the velocity of permanent magnet synchronous motors (PMSMs) by sensing the external stray magnetic field (SMF) outside the stator surface. First, a magnetic circuit model of PMSM was developed to analyze the distribution of SMF. The key is to sense the SMF by a magnetic sensor and extract the frequency through a zero-crossing comparison to obtain the velocity. Then, the proposed method was validated by the finite-element-method (FEM). Moreover, a 5.5 kW three-phase PMSM testbed was built up for experimental verification. A triaxial tunneling magnetoresistive (TMR) sensor was utilized to sense the SMF in the testbed. The experimental results demonstrate that the measurement accuracy is less than ±0.15% in the range from 100 rpm to 1000 rpm. Thus, it verifies the proposed methodology can provide a cost-effective and high-accuracy alternative to the velocity measurement for PMSMs.
Kim on Events

Abstract According to Kim, events are constituted by objects exemplifying property(ies) at a time. In this paper I wish to defend Kim’s theory of events from one source of criticism, extending it by taking into account a number of ideas developed by Davidson. In particular, I shall try to avoid events proliferation – one of the most serious problems in Kim’s theory – by using a suggestion Kim himself advances, that is, by taking adverbs and the like to be events’ rather than properties’ modifiers.
Superoxide potently induces ceramide formation in glomerular endothelial cells.

Recent evidence suggests that the sphingolipid-derived second messenger ceramide and oxidative stress are intimately involved in apoptosis induction. Here we report that exposure of microcapillary glomerular endothelial cells to superoxide-generating substances, including hypoxanthine/xanthine oxidase and the redox cyclers DMNQ and menadione results in a dose-dependent and delayed increase in the lipid signaling molecule ceramide. Long-term incubation of endothelial cells for 2-30 h with either DMNQ or hypoxanthine/xanthine oxidase leads to a continuous increase in ceramide levels. In contrast, short-term stimulation for 1 min up to 1 h had no effect on ceramide formation. The DMNQ-induced delayed ceramide formation is dose-dependently inhibited by reduced glutathione, whereas oxidized glutathione was without effect. Furthermore, N-acetylcysteine completely blocks DMNQ-induced ceramide formation. All superoxide-generating substances were found to dose-dependently trigger endothelial cell apoptosis. In addition, glutathione and N-acetylcysteine also prevented superoxide-induced apoptosis and implied that ceramide represents an important mediator of superoxide-triggered cell responses like apoptosis.
Characterization of Transporters in the Hepatic Uptake of TAK-475 M-I, a Squalene Synthase Inhibitor, in Rats and Humans

Abstract TAK-475 (lapaquistat acetate) is a squalene synthase inhibitor and M-I is a pharmacologically active metabolite of TAK-475. Preclinical pharmacokinetic studies have demonstrated that most of the dosed TAK-475 was hydrolyzed to M-I during the absorption process and the concentrations of M-I in the liver, the main organ of cholesterol biosynthesis, were much higher than those in the plasma after oral administration to rats. In the present study, the mechanism of the hepatic uptake of M-I was investigated. The uptake studies of 14C-labeled M-I into rat and human hepatocytes indicated that the uptakes of M-I were concentrative, temperature-dependent and saturable in both species with Km values of 4.7 and 2.8 μmol/L, respectively. M-I uptake was also inhibited by cyclosporin A, an inhibitor for hepatic uptake transporters including organic anion transporting polypeptide (OATP). In the human hepatocytes, M-I uptake was hardly inhibited by estrone 3-sulfate as an inhibitor for OATP1B1, and most of the M-I uptake was Na+-independent. Uptake studies using human transporter-expressing cells revealed the saturable uptake of M-I for OATP1B3 with a Km of 2.13 μmol/L. No obvious uptake of M-I was observed in the OATP1B1-expressing cells. These results indicated that M-I was taken up into hepatocytes via transporters in both rats and humans. OATP1B3 would be mainly involved in the hepatic uptake of M-I in humans. These findings suggested that hepatic uptake transporters might contribute to the liver-selective inhibition of cholesterol synthesis by TAK-475. This is the first to clarify a carrier-mediated hepatic uptake mechanism for squalene synthase inhibitors.
The exaggerated death of geography: learning, proximity and territorial innovation systems

Globalization and digitalization have been presented as ineluctable forces which signal the 'death of geography'. The paper takes issue with this fashionable narrative. The argument that 'geography matters' is pursued in three ways: first, by questioning the 'distance-destroying' capacity of information and communication technologies where social depth is conflated with spatial reach; second, by arguing that physical proximity may be essential for some forms of knowledge exchange; and third, by charting the growth of territorial innovation systems. Copyright 2004, Oxford University Press.
Traitement des Mots Hors Vocabulaire pour la Traduction Automatique de Document OCRisés en Arabe (This article presents a new system that automatically translates images of arabic documents)

Cet article présente un système original de traduction de documents numérisés en arabe. Deux modules sont cascadés : un système de reconnaissance optique de caractères (OCR) en arabe et un système de traduction automatique (TA) arabe-français. Le couplage OCR-TA a été peu abordé dans la littérature et l’originalité de cette étude consiste à proposer un couplage étroit entre OCR et TA ainsi qu’un traitement spécifique des mots hors vocabulaire (MHV) engendrés par les erreurs d’OCRisation. Le couplage OCR-TA par treillis et notre traitement des MHV par remplacement selon une mesure composite qui prend en compte forme de surface et contexte du mot, permettent une amélioration significative des performances de traduction. Les expérimentations sont réalisés sur un corpus de journaux numérisés en arabe et permettent d’obtenir des améliorations en score BLEU de 3,73 et 5,5 sur les corpus de développement et de test respectivement.
Designing small-sided games for training tactical aspects in soccer: Extrapolating pitch sizes from full-size professional matches

Abstract The aims of this study were to examine the 1) individual playing area, 2) length and width of the rectangle encompassing the individual playing area and 3) distance between the goalkeepers and their nearest team-mates during professional soccer matches and compare these to previously reported pitch sizes for small-sided games (SSGs). Data were collected from four Spanish La Liga matches of the 2002–03 season, and notated post-event using the Amisco® system. The pitch sizes obtained from real matches were smaller and different from those used previously for SSGs. In addition, the current pitch sizes show significant (P < 0.001) effect of ball location in all variables examined. For example, overall individual playing area (F [5, 2562] = 19.99, P < 0.001, η2 = 0.04) varied significantly across six different zones of the pitch. Based on these empirical results, pitch sizes with individual playing areas ranging from 65 m2 to 110 m2 and length to width ratio of 1:1 and 1:1.3 are generally recommended for training tactical aspects according to different phases of play. It is possible to design SSGs with a more valid representation of the tactical conditions experienced in full-size matches and their use may improve the training effect of tactical aspects of match performance in soccer.
Homologies between salmolysin and some bacterial regulatory proteins

A Salmoneiia gene slyA, reported to encode a cytolysin named salmolysin, has recently been identified by screening a Salmonella typhimurium bank in Escherichia coii for haemolysis on blood agar (Libby etai., 1994, Proc Nati Acad Sci USA 91: 489-493), The gene was present in evefy strain of Salmonella examined, in Shigella, and in enteroinvasive E. coii but not in other members of the Enterobacteriaceae. The predicted amino acid sequence did not revea! any homology with any toxin of the data bank. Gene disruption led to attenuation of the virulence of the mutated strain when tested in the mouse model. In elicited macrophages, the mutant exhibited reduced survival relative to the wild-type strain. Intriguingiy, complementation of the mutant with the cloned siyA restored survival in the macrophages but failed to restore virulence in mice. Puzzied by the absence of homologies between the 146amino-acid protein encoded by slyA and other haemolysins, we searched data banks by using the BLASTP program (Alstchui etai, 1990, JMoiBio^2^5: 403-410)The protein encoded by slyA shares homologies with several known bacterial regulatory proteins. The best alignments were obtained with ihe MprA protein of E. co//which regulates the syntiiesis of microcins Bl 7 and C7 (del Castiilo ê a/., 1991, J Bacterion73: 3924-3929; Lomovskaya and Lewis, 1992, Proc Nati Acad Sci USA 89: 8938-8942) (28% identity, 51% similarity) and with PecS, a regulatory protein of Erwinia chrysanthemi (Reverchon ef ai., unpublished) (30% identity, 49% similarity) (Fig. 1). To clarify the significance of this relationship, the sequence profile of a multiple alignment of the three sequenoes was searched against protein databases using the program PROFILSEARCH of the UWGCG Package (Devereux el ai. 1984, Nucl Acids Res 12: 387-395). This search yielded a significant alignment score wilh two other regulatory proteins: MarR, a repressor of the marAB operon of E. coli which is invoived in chromosome-mediated muitipie antibiotic resistance (Cohen et ai., 1993, J Bacterioi 175: 1484-1492; Ariza et ai, 1994, J Bacterioi 176: 143-148) and Hpr, a negative regulator of sporulation and protease production in Bacillus subtilis (Perego and Hoch, 1988, J Bacteriol 170:2560-2567). These alignments suggest that slyA could encode a regulatory protein. Thus, the hypothesis that SlyA is a positive regulator of a cryptic E, coli K-12 haemolysin activated during the screening procedure, which was not completely ruled out by (he authors (Libby ef ai., 1994, Proc Nati Acad Sci USA 91: 489-493), is highly plausible.
Improving malignancy prediction through feature selection informed by nodule size ranges in NLST

Computed tomography (CT) is widely used during diagnosis and treatment of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC). Current computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) models, designed for the classification of malignant and benign nodules, use image features, selected by feature selectors, for making a decision. In this paper, we investigate automated selection of different image features informed by different nodule size ranges to increase the overall accuracy of the classification. The NLST dataset is one of the largest available datasets on CT screening for NSCLC. We used 261 cases as a training dataset and 237 cases as a test dataset. The nodule size, which may indicate biological variability, can vary substantially. For example, in the training set, there are nodules with a diameter of a couple millimeters up to a couple dozen millimeters. The premise is that benign and malignant nodules have different radiomic quantitative descriptors related to size. After splitting training and testing datasets into three subsets based on the longest nodule diameter (LD) parameter accuracy was improved from 74.68% to 81.01% and the AUC improved from 0.69 to 0.79. We show that if AUC is the main factor in choosing parameters then accuracy improved from 72.57% to 77.5% and AUC improved from 0.78 to 0.82. Additionally, we show the impact of an oversampling technique for the minority cancer class. In some particular cases from 0.82 to 0.87.
AUTOMEDICAÇÃO ENTRE ACADÊMICOS DE ENFERMAGEM EM UMA INSTITUIÇÃO PARTICULAR DE ENSINO

A automedicacao tem representado um importante problema de saude. Sua pratica pode levar a intoxicacao, interacoes medicamentosas, dependencia de medicamentos e resistencia microbiana. Objetivou-se determinar a prevalencia da pratica de automedicacao entre estudantes de enfermagem. O estudo transversal, foi realizado com 50 estudantes de enfermagem da Faculdade Sao Carlos, Bom Jesus do Itabapoana, Rio de Janeiro, com a aplicacao de instrumento estruturado com perguntas fechadas. A prevalencia de automedicacao foi de 82,0%, e o problema de saude mais referido foi a dor (85,5%). O motivo comumente relatado como gerador da pratica da automedicacao foi a percepcao de que nao seria preciso ir ao medico (61,0%). Entre os principais grupos terapeuticos, destacaram-se os analgesicos e antipireticos 43,1%. O periodo em curso na graduacao associou-se com a pratica da automedicacao (p=0,050). Conclusao: Nosso estudo apontou alta prevalencia da automedicacao em relacao as demais pesquisas realizadas sobre o tema. Consideramos necessario, a partir destes achados, a insercao de conteudos acerca do uso racional de medicamentos, sobretudo os riscos da automedicacao, nas diferentes disciplinas que compoe a grade curricular do curso de enfermagem.
A comparison of motoric and verbal responses on a Piagetian rate-time task.

LONGOBARDI, ELLEN T. , and WOLFF, PETER. A Comparison of Motoric and Verbal Responses on a Piagetian Rate-Time Task. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1973, 44, 433-437. While Piaget discusses extensively the centrality of the motor system as a basis for the development of logical structures, this discussion is limited almost exclusively to the first 2 years of life, or the sensory-motor period. The purpose of the present experiment was to extend Piaget's thoughts on sensory-motor development to the preoperational child's performance of a Piagetian ratetime task. Specifically, the ability to imitate motorically the experimenter's performance of the task was compared with the ability to give conceptually correct verbal replies to questions about the task. It was found that second-grade children were indeed able to imitate a given rate-time relationship whereas their verbal (symbolic) conceptualization remained as inadequate as that of nursery schoolers, who were unable to imitate these relationships. The differential development of rate-time relationships in the 2 response modes suggests the need for, in Piaget's terms, "a logic of coordination of actions" which may exist in the absence of any indication of the symbolic understanding of logical or infralogical relations in the child.
The relationship of proliferating cell density at the invasive tumour front with prognostic and risk factors in human oral squamous cell carcinoma.

BACKGROUND We hypothesise that the density of proliferating cells at the invasive tumour front (ITF) has a positive relationship with prognostic and risk factors in human oral squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). METHODS Tissues from 47 human oral SCC specimens were collected and stained with a monoclonal antibody directed against the Ki-67 antigen using a horseradish peroxidase based two-step immunostaining method. Counting was performed on two parallel sections at the ITF using an image analyser. The Ki-67 labelling index (LI) was determined by measuring the number of nuclei/mm(2) of epithelium. RESULTS Our results show that the density of proliferating cells is related to clinical staging, with advanced stage of disease having a significantly higher Ki-67 LI compared with early stage of disease (2111 +/- 905 vs. 1908 +/- 913; P = 0.03). Importantly, this study shows that tumours that have metastasised have a significantly higher Ki-67 LI than tumours where distant metastasis was not detected (3257 +/- 650 vs. 1966 +/- 881; P < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS Cell proliferation, as measured by the Ki-67 LI at the ITF, has a positive relationship with clinical staging, tumour thickness, smoking status of the patient and alcohol consumption. Further, we suggest that a multicenter study with a large cohort of patients is indicated to fully elucidate whether cell proliferation at the ITF is directly related to patient survival.
Fulminant Clostridium difficile: An Underappreciated and Increasing Cause of Death and Complications

ObjectiveTo review the epidemiology and characteristics of patients who died or underwent colectomy secondary to fulminant Clostridium difficile colitis. Summary Background DataIn patients with C. difficile colitis, a progressive, systemic inflammatory state may develop that is unresponsive to medical therapy; it may progress to colectomy or death. MethodsThe authors reviewed 2,334 hospitalized patients with C. difficile colitis from January 1989 to December 2000. Sixty-four patients died or underwent colectomy for pathologically proven C. difficile colitis. ResultsIn 2000, the incidence of C. difficile colitis in hospitalized patients increased from a baseline of 0.68% to 1.2%, and the incidence of patients with C. difficile colitis in whom life-threatening symptoms developed increased from 1.6% to 3.2%. Forty-four patients required a colectomy and 20 others died directly from C. difficile colitis. Twenty-two percent had a prior history of C. difficile colitis. A recent surgical procedure and immunosuppression were common predisposing conditions. Lung transplant patients were 46 times more likely to have C. difficile colitis and eight times more likely to have severe disease. Abdominal computed tomography scan correctly diagnosed all patients, whereas 12.5% of toxin assays and 10% of endoscopies were falsely negative. Patients undergoing colectomy for C. difficile colitis had an overall death rate of 57%. Significant predictors of death after colectomy were preoperative vasopressor requirements and age. ConclusionsC. difficile colitis is a significant and increasing cause of death. Surgical treatment of C. difficile colitis has a high death rate once the fulminant expression of the disease is present.