1,860 research outputs found
Improving parsing of spontaneous speech with the help of prosodic boundaries
Parsing can be improved in automatic speech understanding if prosodic boundary marking is taken into account, because syntactic boundaries are often marked by prosodic means. Because large databases are needed for the training of statistical models for prosodic boundaries, we developed a labeling scheme for syntactic-prosodic boundaries within the German VERBMOBIL project (automatic speech-to-speech translation). We compare the results of classifiers (multi-layer perceptrons and language models) trained on these syntactic-prosodic boundary labels with classifiers trained on perceptual-prosodic and purely syntactic labels. Recognition rates of up to 96% were achieved. The turns that we need to parse consist of 20 words on the average and frequently contain sequences of partial sentence equivalents due to restarts, ellipsis, etc. For this material, the boundary scores computed by our classifiers can successfully be integrated into the syntactic parsing of word graphs; currently, they improve the parse time by 92% and reduce the number of parse trees by 96%. This is achieved by introducing a special Prosodic Syntactic Clause Boundary symbol (PSCB) into our grammar and guiding the search for the best word chain with the prosodic boundary scores
Localization of a 64-kDa phosphoprotein in the lumen between the outer and inner envelopes of pea chloroplasts
The identification and localization of a marker protein for the intermembrane space between the outer and inner chloroplast envelopes is described. This 64-kDa protein is very rapidly labeled by [γ-32P]ATP at very low (30 nM) ATP concentrations and the phosphoryl group exhibits a high turnover rate. It was possible to establish the presence of the 64-kDa protein in this plastid compartment by using different chloroplast envelope separation and isolation techniques. In addition comparison of labeling kinetics by intact and hypotonically lysed pea chloroplasts support the localization of the 64-kDa protein in the intermembrane space. The 64-kDa protein was present and could be labeled in mixed envelope membranes isolated from hypotonically lysed plastids. Mixed envelope membranes incorporated high amounts of 32P from [γ-32P]ATP into the 64-kDa protein, whereas separated outer and inner envelope membranes did not show significant phosphorylation of this protein. Water/Triton X-114 phase partitioning demonstrated that the 64-kDa protein is a hydrophilic polypeptide. These findings suggest that the 64-kDa protein is a soluble protein trapped in the space between the inner and outer envelope membranes. After sonication of mixed envelope membranes, the 64-kDa protein was no longer present in the membrane fraction, but could be found in the supernatant after a 110000 × g centrifugation
Analytic models and forward scattering from accelerator to cosmic-ray energies
Analytic models for hadron-hadron scattering are characterized by analytical
parametrizations for the forward amplitudes and the use of dispersion relation
techniques to study the total cross section and the
parameter. In this paper we investigate four aspects related to the application
of the model to and scattering, from accelerator to cosmic-ray
energies: 1) the effect of different estimations for from
cosmic-ray experiments; 2) the differences between individual and global
(simultaneous) fits to and ; 3) the role of the
subtraction constant in the dispersion relations; 4) the effect of distinct
asymptotic inputs from different analytic models. This is done by using as a
framework the single Pomeron and the maximal Odderon parametrizations for the
total cross section. Our main conclusions are the following: 1) Despite the
small influence from different cosmic-ray estimations, the results allow us to
extract an upper bound for the soft pomeron intercept: ;
2) although global fits present good statistical results, in general, this
procedure constrains the rise of ; 3) the subtraction constant as
a free parameter affects the fit results at both low and high energies; 4)
independently of the cosmic-ray information used and the subtraction constant,
global fits with the odderon parametrization predict that, above GeV, becomes greater than , and
this result is in complete agreement with all the data presently available. In
particular, we infer at GeV and
at 500 GeV (BNL RHIC energies).Comment: 16 pages, 7 figures, aps-revtex, wording changes, corrected typos, to
appear in Physical Review
Survival probability for exclusive central diffractive production of colorless states at the LHC
In this paper we discuss the survival probability for exclusive central
diffractive production of a colorless small size system at the LHC. This
process has a clear signature of two large rapidity gaps. Using the eikonal
approach for the description of soft interactions, we predict the value of the
survival probability to be about 5~6% for single channel models, while for a
two channel model the survival probability is about 3%. The dependence of the
survival probability factor (damping factor) on the transverse momenta of the
recoiled protons is discussed, and we suggest it be measured at the Tevatron so
as to minimize the possible ambiguity in the calculation of survival
probability at the LHC.Comment: 33 pages, 26 figure
Effects of thermal fluctuation and the receptor-receptor interaction in bacterial chemotactic signalling and adaptation
Bacterial chemotaxis is controlled by the conformational changes of the
receptors, in response to the change of the ambient chemical concentration. In
a statistical mechanical approach, the signalling due to the conformational
changes is a thermodynamic average quantity, dependent on the temperature and
the total energy of the system, including both ligand-receptor interaction and
receptor-receptor interaction. This physical theory suggests to biology a new
understanding of cooperation in ligand binding and receptor signalling
problems. How much experimental support of this approach can be obtained from
the currently available data? What are the parameter values? What is the
practical information for experiments? Here we make comparisons between the
theory and recent experimental results. Although currently comparisons can only
be semi-quantitative or qualitative, consistency is clearly shown. The theory
also helps to sort a variety of data.Comment: 26 pages, revtex. Journal version. Analysis on another set of data on
adaptation time is adde
Dust in Spiral Galaxies: Comparing Emission and Absorption to Constrain Small-Scale and Very Cold Structures
The detailed distribution of dust in the disks of spiral galaxies is
important to understanding the radiative transfer within disks, and to
measuring overall dust masses if significant quantities of dust are either very
opaque or very cold. We address this issue by comparing measures of dust
absorption, using the galaxy-overlap technique in the optical, with measures of
the dust grains' thermal emission from 50-2000 micron using ISOPHOT on board
ISO and SCUBA at the JCMT. We examine three spiral galaxies projected partially
in front of E/S0 galaxies --- AM1316-241, NGC 5545, and NGC 5091 (for NGC 5091
we have only optical and ISO data). Adopting an empirical exponential model for
the dust distribution, we compare column densities and dust masses derived from
the absorption and emission techniques. This comparison is sensitive to the
amount of dust mass in small, opaque structures, which would not contribute
strongly to area-weighted absorption measures, and to very cold dust, which
would contribute to optical absorption but provide only a small fraction of the
sub-mm emission. In AM1316-241, we find global dust masses of 2-5 x 10^7
M_solar, both techniques agreeing at the 50% level. NGC 5545 has about half
this dust mass. The concordance of dust masses is well within the errors
expected from our knowledge of the radial distribution of dust, and argues
against any dominant part of the dust mass being so cold or opaque. The 50-2000
micron data are well fitted by modified Planck functions with an emissivity law
beta=-2, at 21 +/- 2 K. We also present 12 micron ISOCAM observations of these
pairs.Comparison of H-alpha and 12 micron images of NGC 5545 indicate that
ISOCAM images are reliable tracers of star formation.Comment: 16 pages, 4 tables, 8 figures, in press for October Astronomical
Journa
Personhood, consciousness, and god : how to be a proper pantheist
© Springer Nature B.V. 2018In this paper I develop a theory of personhood which leaves open the possibility of construing the universe as a person. If successful, it removes one bar to endorsing pantheism. I do this by examining a rising school of thought on personhood, on which persons, or selves, are understood as identical to episodes of consciousness. Through a critique of this experiential approach to personhood, I develop a theory of self as constituted of qualitative mental contents, but where these contents are also capable of unconscious existence. On this theory, though we can be conscious of our selves, consciousness turns out to be inessential to personhood. This move, I then argue, provides resources for responding to the pantheist’s problem of God’s person.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio
NS1 Specific CD8(+) T-Cells with Effector Function and TRBV11 Dominance in a Patient with Parvovirus B19 Associated Inflammatory Cardiomyopathy
Background: Parvovirus B19 (B19V) is the most commonly detected virus in endomyocardial biopsies (EMBs) from patients with inflammatory cardiomyopathy (DCMi). Despite the importance of T-cells in antiviral defense, little is known about the role of B19V specific T-cells in this entity.
Methodology and Principal Findings: An exceptionally high B19V viral load in EMBs (115,091 viral copies/mg nucleic acids), peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and serum was measured in a DCMi patient at initial presentation, suggesting B19V viremia. The B19V viral load in EMBs had decreased substantially 6 and 12 months afterwards, and was not traceable in PBMCs and the serum at these times. Using pools of overlapping peptides spanning the whole B19V proteome, strong CD8(+) T-cell responses were elicited to the 10-amico-acid peptides SALKLAIYKA (19.7% of all CD8(+) cells) and QSALKLAIYK (10%) and additional weaker responses to GLCPHCINVG (0.71%) and LLHTDFEQVM (0.06%). Real-time RT-PCR of IFN gamma secretion-assay-enriched T-cells responding to the peptides, SALKLAIYKA and GLCPHCINVG, revealed a disproportionately high T-cell receptor Vbeta (TRBV) 11 expression in this population. Furthermore, dominant expression of type-1 (IFN gamma, IL2, IL27 and Tbet) and of cytotoxic T-cell markers (Perforin and Granzyme B) was found, whereas gene expression indicating type-2 (IL4, GATA3) and regulatory T-cells (FoxP3) was low.
Conclusions: Our results indicate that B19V Ag-specific CD8(+) T-cells with effector function are involved in B19V associated DCMi. In particular, a dominant role of TRBV11 and type-1/CTL effector cells in the T-cell mediated antiviral immune response is suggested. The persistence of B19V in the endomyocardium is a likely antigen source for the maintenance of CD8(+) T-cell responses to the identified epitopes
SPITZER SAGE Observations of Large Magellanic Cloud Planetary Nebulae
We present IRAC and MIPS images and photometry of a sample of previously
known planetary nebulae (PNe) from the SAGE survey of the Large Magellanic
Cloud (LMC) performed with the Spitzer Space Telescope. Of the 233 known PNe in
the survey field, 185 objects were detected in at least two of the IRAC bands,
and 161 detected in the MIPS 24 micron images. Color-color and color-magnitude
diagrams are presented using several combinations of IRAC, MIPS, and 2MASS
magnitudes. The location of an individual PN in the color-color diagrams is
seen to depend on the relative contributions of the spectral components which
include molecular hydrogen, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), infrared
forbidden line emission from the ionized gas, warm dust continuum, and emission
directly from the central star. The sample of LMC PNe is compared to a number
of Galactic PNe and found to not significantly differ in their position in
color-color space. We also explore the potential value of IR PNe luminosity
functions (LFs) in the LMC. IRAC LFs appear to follow the same functional form
as the well-established [O III] LFs although there are several PNe with
observed IR magnitudes brighter than the cut-offs in these LFs.Comment: 18 pages, 10 figures, 3 tables, to be published in the Astronomical
Journal. Additional online data available at
http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/irac/publications
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