A speaker adaptive DNN training approach for speaker-independent acoustic inversion

We address the speaker-independent acoustic inversion (AI) problem, also referred to as acoustic-to-articulatory mapping. The scarce availability of multi-speaker articulatory data makes it difficult to learn a mapping which generalizes from a limited number of training speakers and reliably reconstructs the articulatory movements of unseen speakers. In this paper, we propose a Multi-task Learning (MTL)-based approach that explicitly separates the modeling of each training speaker AI peculiarities from the modeling of AI characteristics that are shared by all speakers. Our approach stems from the well known Regularized MTL approach and extends it to feed-forward deep neural networks (DNNs). Given multiple training speakers, we learn for each an acoustic-to-articulatory mapping represented by a DNN. Then, through an iterative procedure, we search for a canonical speaker-independent DNN that is "similar" to all speaker-dependent DNNs. The degree of similarity is controlled by a regularization parameter. We report experiments on the University of Wisconsin X-ray Microbeam Database under different training/testing experimental settings. The results obtained indicate that our MTL-trained canonical DNN largely outperforms a standardly trained (i.e., single task learning-based) speaker independent DNN

Acute diarrhea in dogs: Current management and potential role of dietary polyphenols supplementation

Acute diarrhea is one of the most common reasons why pet owners seek veterinary care for their canine companions. In many cases, signs resolve spontaneously or with symptomatic therapy without a specific cause being discovered. However, life-threatening cases can occur. The etiology is complex, including infectious diseases (endoparasites, virus, bacteria, protozoa, fungal agents) by both zoonotic and non-zoonotic pathogens, dietary indiscretion, endocrine diseases, and stress (e.g., travel or environmental changes). In the last years, the role played by oxidative stress in the pathogenesis of acute and chronic enteropathies, independently from the initial noxa, has been highlighted by many researches in both humans and animals. As a result, a series of dietary antioxidant compounds have been studied for their potential use in the treatment of intestinal inflammation. This review summarizes the traditional therapeutic and nutritional options to manage canine acute diarrhea, highlighting the need to explore the role of oxidative stress and potential antioxidant supplementation, especially polyphenols, during acute diarrheic episodes

Fluctuations of Atmospheric Pressure and the Sound of Underground Karst Systems: The Antro del Corchia Case (Apuane Alps, Italy)

Mountains that contain subterranean voids can inhale fresh and clean air, and their breath is a fascinating natural phenomenon that speleologists know very well. Air flow through the entrances of underground systems is also an interesting geophysical problem. Basically it is caused by temperature and pressure gradients between the internal and external atmospheres, but the dynamic interplay between these two driving forces is still not well understood. We contribute to dissect out the physics of underground winds. Wind velocity, internal and external temperature and pressure have been measured synchronously at two entrances of the vast (~64 km) underground system beneath the Mount Corchia, Apuane Alps, Italy. The data show that, within time scales of minutes to days, pressure fluctuations of the external atmosphere primarily force air to flow underground, whereas temperature gradients play only a minor role. We model the cave as a system that takes the external atmospheric pressure as the input signal and outputs wind from its entrances. This wind, on its turn, contain information about the system's response, and hence on the structure of the subterranean voids. This information can be extracted by standard signal processing techniques, and using deconvolution methods we identify the same infrasound resonances in signals sampled at both entrances. These are the characteristic frequencies of the cave, and by using the Helmholtz resonance formalism it can be estimated that the explored volume of this important underground system is less than a half of its probable real extension

Secretome Data from Trichoderma Reesei and Aspergillus Niger Cultivated in Submerged and Sequential Fermentation Methods

The cultivation procedure and the fungal strain applied for enzyme production may influence levels and profile of the proteins produced. The proteomic analysis data presented here provide critical informa- tion to compare proteins secreted by Trichoderma reesei and Aspergillus niger when cultivated through submerged and sequential fermenta- tion processes, using steam-explosion sugarcane bagasse as inducer for enzyme production. The proteins were organized according to the families described in CAZy database as cellulases, hemicellulases, proteases/peptidases, cell-wall-protein, lipases, others (catalase, ester- ase, etc.), glycoside hydrolases families, predicted and hypothetical proteins. Further detailed analysis of this data is provided in “Secre- tome analysis of Trichoderma reesei and Aspergillus niger cultivated by submerged and sequential fermentation process: enzyme production for sugarcane bagasse hydrolysis” C. Florencio, F.M. Cunha, A.C Badino, C.S. Farinas, E. Ximenes, M.R. Ladisch (2016) [1]

Management of feline hyperthyroidism and the need to prevent oxidative stress: What can we learn from human research?

Feline hyperthyroidism is a clinical syndrome related to an excessive production of thyroid hormones, and it is considered as a spontaneous animal model for human thyrotoxicosis. Many shared features between the feline and the human disease have been identified so far, including pathogenesis, clinical signs, and treatment options. Although methimazole is considered the first-choice drug in both species, several side effects have been described. Furthermore, methimazole could interfere with the oxidative status, already perturbated by the disease. It has been reported in humans that dietary management, mainly through antioxidant supplementation, could mitigate this oxidative burden. The purpose of the review is to describe current therapeutic options in the course of feline hyperthyroidism and to summarize the state of the art relationship between dietary antioxidants administration and the reduction of methimazole side-effects in humans to support the use of this approach also in cats

Effects of competition on acute phase proteins and lymphocyte subpopulations - oxidative stress markers in eventing horses

The aim of the study was to evaluate markers of the acute phase response (APR) in eventing horses by measuring acute phase proteins (APP) (haptoglobin, Hp, and serum amyloid A, SAA), lysozyme, protein adducts such as pentosidine‐like adducts (PENT), malondialdehyde adducts (MDA), hydroxynonenal adducts (HNE) and total advanced glycation/glycoxidation end products (AGEs), complete blood count and lymphocyte subpopulations (CD4+, CD8+ and CD21+) both at rest and at the end of an eventing competition. Blood samples were collected from eight Warmblood horses (medium age 10 ± 3) during an official national 2‐day event competition at rest (R) and 10 min after the arrival of the cross‐country test on the second day. Exercise caused a significant increase in red blood cell number, haemoglobin, packed cell volume, neutrophils, white blood cell and lymphocyte number; however, these values remained within the normal range. The CD4+ and CD8+ cells significantly increased, whereas the CD21+ lymphocytes decreased; a significant increase in serum SAA, lysozyme and protein carbonyl derivates was also observed. Two‐day event causes significant changes in APR markers such as lysozyme, protein carbonyl derivates (HNE, AGEs, PENT) and lymphocyte subpopulations. The data support the hypothesis that 2‐day event may alter significantly APR markers. Limitations of the study were the relatively small sample size and sampling time conditioned by the official regulations of the event. Therefore, further studies are needed to investigate the time required for recovery to basal values in order to define the possible effects on the immune function of the athlete horse