Validating the Beck Depression Inventory-II for Hong Kong Community Adolescents

published_or_final_versio

Autoregressive clustering for HMM speech synthesis

The autoregressive HMM has been shown to provide efficient parameter estimation and high-quality synthesis, but in previous experiments decision trees derived from a non-autoregressive system were used. In this paper we investigate the use of autoregressive clustering for autoregressive HMM-based speech synthesis. We describe decision tree clustering for the autoregressive HMM and highlight differences to the standard clustering procedure. Subjective listening evaluation results suggest that autoregressive clustering improves the naturalness of the resulting speech. We find that the standard minimum description length (MDL) criterion for selecting model complexity is inappropriate for the autoregressive HMM. Investigating the effect of model complexity on naturalness, we find that a large degree of overfitting is tolerated without a substantial decrease in naturalness.This research was funded by the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013), grant agreement 213845 (EMIME)

Autoregressive HMMs for speech synthesis

We propose the autoregressive HMM for speech synthesis. We show that the autoregressive HMM supports efficient EM parameter estimation and that we can use established effective synthesis techniques such as synthesis considering global variance with minimal modification. The autoregressive HMM uses the same model for parameter estimation and synthesis in a consistent way, in contrast to the standard HMM synthesis framework, and supports easy and efficient parameter estimation, in contrast to the trajectory HMM. We find that the autoregressive HMM gives performance comparable to the standard HMM synthesis framework on a Blizzard Challenge-style naturalness evaluation.This research was funded by the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013), grant agreement 213845 (EMIME)

On what scales can GOSAT flux inversions constrain anomalies in terrestrial ecosystems?

This is the final version. Available on open access from European Geosciences Union via the DOI in this recordData availability. CarbonTracker CT2016 results were provided by NOAA ESRL, Boulder, Colorado, USA, from the website at https://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/ccgg/carbontracker/ (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Earth System Laboratory (ESRL), 2019a). CASA GFED 4.1 and CASA CMS NEE fluxes were also downloaded from the CT2016 website. The GOSAT L4 product and VISIT NEE were downloaded from the GOSAT Data Archive Service (https://data2.gosat.nies.go.jp; NIES, 2019). The Dai Global Palmer Drought Severity Index was downloaded from the Research Data Archive at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, Computational and Information Systems Laboratory (https://doi.org/10.5065/D6QF8R93; Dai, 2017). NASA GOME-2 SIF products were obtained from the Aura Validation Data Center (https://avdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/; Aura Validation Data Center, 2019). FLUXCOM products were obtained from the data portal of the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry (https://www.bgc-jena.mpg.de/geodb/projects/Home.php.; Max Plank Institue for Biogeochemistry, 2019). MERRA-2 products were downloaded from MDISC (https://gmao.gsfc.nasa.gov/reanalysis/MERRA-2/; Global Modeling and Assimilation Office, 2019), managed by the NASA Goddard Earth Sciences (GES) Data and Information Services Center (DISC). The GEOS-Chem forward and adjoint models are freely available to the public. Instructions for downloading and running the models can be found at http://wiki.seas.harvard.edu/geos-chem (Atmospheric Chemistry Modeling Group at Harvard University , 2019). ACOS GOSAT lite files were obtained from the CO2 Virtual Science Data Environment (https://co2.jpl.nasa.gov/; Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 2019). The SST anomalies were downloaded from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL) website (https://www.esrl.noaa.gov; National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Earth System Laboratory (ESRL), 2019b).Interannual variations in temperature and precipitation impact the carbon balance of terrestrial ecosystems, leaving an imprint in atmospheric CO2. Quantifying the impact of climate anomalies on the net ecosystem exchange (NEE) of terrestrial ecosystems can provide a constraint to evaluate terrestrial biosphere models against and may provide an emergent constraint on the response of terrestrial ecosystems to climate change. We investigate the spatial scales over which interannual variability in NEE can be constrained using atmospheric CO2 observations from the Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite (GOSAT). NEE anomalies are calculated by performing a series of inversion analyses using the GEOS-Chem adjoint model to assimilate GOSAT observations. Monthly NEE anomalies are compared to "proxies", variables that are associated with anomalies in the terrestrial carbon cycle, and to upscaled NEE estimates from FLUXCOM. Statistically significant correlations (P<0.05) are obtained between posterior NEE anomalies and anomalies in soil temperature and FLUXCOM NEE on continental and larger scales in the tropics, as well as in the northern extratropics on subcontinental scales during the summer (R2≥0.49), suggesting that GOSAT measurements provide a constraint on NEE interannual variability (IAV) on these spatial scales. Furthermore, we show that GOSAT flux inversions are generally better correlated with the environmental proxies and FLUXCOM NEE than NEE anomalies produced by a set of terrestrial biosphere models (TBMs), suggesting that GOSAT flux inversions could be used to evaluate TBM NEE fluxes.Environment and Climate Change CanadaNatural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of CanadaCanadian Space Agenc

Spanish medical students’ attitudes and views towards Mental Health and Psychiatry: a multicentric cross-sectional study.

Objective The aim of this study is to investigate the attitudes towards mental illness and psychiatry among fifth year Spanish medical students. Methods The study included 171 students from three medical schools located in different areas of Spain: Cádiz; UCA (n= 113), Madrid; San Pablo-CEU (n=22), and Barcelona; UAB (n=36). They responded, prior to their undergraduate medical course in psychiatry, to the AMI questionnaire to measure the attitudes towards mental illness and to Balon’s adapted questionnaire to investigate their view towards psychiatry. Results The students (93.4 %) had a positive attitude towards mental illness (AMI). Attitudes towards psychiatry were fairly positive with a few negative views, specifically regarding the role of psychiatrists (items 11 and 13) and the prestige of the specialty (item 16). There were some statistically significant differences between the three medical schools in the perception of psychiatry as a medical discipline. A better attitude towards mental illness was associated with a better view of the overall merits of psychiatry. Conclusions Findings suggest that Spanish medical students do not have a negative attitude towards mental illness and they have a good perception of psychiatry, although there are still some misconceptions about this specialty. These student’s attitudes could favor an appropriate management of patients suffering from mental illness

Solar photocatalysis for water disinfection: Materials and reactor design

As of 2010, access to clean drinking water is a human right according to UN regulations. Nevertheless, the number of people living in areas without safe drinking water is predicted to increase by three billion by the end of this decade. Several recent cases of E. coli and Cryptosporidium contamination in drinking water are also reported in a number of advanced countries. Therefore ensuring the potability of drinking water is urgent, but highly challenging to both the developing and developed world in the future. A combination of solar disinfection and photocatalysis technology offers real possibilities for removing lethal pathogenic microroganisms from drinking water. The time taken for the conventional SODIS process can be greatly reduced by semiconductor (e.g. TiO2, ZnO, nano-heterojunctions) based photocatalysis. This review addresses the fundamental reaction mechanism, advances in materials synthesis and selection and recent developments in the reactor design for solar energy driven photocatalysis using titanium dioxide. The major advantage of using photo-reactors is that they enhance disinfection by increasing photon flux into the photocatalyst. Other major factors affecting such efficiency of solar-based photocatalysis such as the illuminated volume/total volume ratio, catalyst load and flow rate, are discussed in detail. The significance of using immobilised catalysts over the catalyst powder in slurries is also highlighted. It is noted that, despite encouraging early field studies, the commercialisation and mass production of solar photocatalysis systems remains highly challenging. Recommendations for future directions for addressing issues such as mass transfer, requirement of a standard test method, photo-reactors design and visible light absorption by TiO2 coatings are also discussed

On the PATHGROUPS approach to rapid small phylogeny

We present a data structure enabling rapid heuristic solution to the ancestral genome reconstruction problem for given phylogenies under genomic rearrangement metrics. The efficiency of the greedy algorithm is due to fast updating of the structure during run time and a simple priority scheme for choosing the next step. Since accuracy deteriorates for sets of highly divergent genomes, we investigate strategies for improving accuracy and expanding the range of data sets where accurate reconstructions can be expected. This includes a more refined priority system, and a two-step look-ahead, as well as iterative local improvements based on a the median version of the problem, incorporating simulated annealing. We apply this to a set of yeast genomes to corroborate a recent gene sequence-based phylogeny

Fine sediment reduces vertical migrations of Gammarus pulex (Crustacea: Amphipoda) in response to surface water loss

Surface and subsurface sediments in river ecosystems are recognized as refuges that may promote invertebrate survival during disturbances such as floods and streambed drying. Refuge use is spatiotemporally variable, with environmental factors including substrate composition, in particular the proportion of fine sediment (FS), affecting the ability of organisms to move through interstitial spaces. We conducted a laboratory experiment to examine the effects of FS on the movement of Gammarus pulex Linnaeus (Crustacea: Amphipoda) into subsurface sediments in response to surface water loss. We hypothesized that increasing volumes of FS would impede and ultimately prevent individuals from migrating into the sediments. To test this hypothesis, the proportion of FS (1–2 mm diameter) present within an open gravel matrix (4–16 mm diameter) was varied from 10 to 20% by volume in 2.5% increments. Under control conditions (0% FS), 93% of individuals moved into subsurface sediments as the water level was reduced. The proportion of individuals moving into the subsurface decreased to 74% at 10% FS, and at 20% FS no individuals entered the sediments, supporting our hypothesis. These results demonstrate the importance of reducing FS inputs into river ecosystems and restoring FS-clogged riverbeds, to promote refuge use during increasingly common instream disturbances

TDP-43 as a potential biomarker for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis:a systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract Background Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) are incurable, progressive and fatal neurodegenerative diseases with patients variably affected clinically by motor, behavior, and cognitive deficits. The accumulation of an RNA-binding protein, TDP-43, is the most significant pathological finding in approximately 95% of ALS cases and 50% of FTD cases, and discovery of this common pathological signature, together with an increasing understanding of the shared genetic basis of these disorders, has led to FTD and ALS being considered as part of a single disease continuum. Given the widespread aggregation and accumulation of TDP-43 in FTD-ALS spectrum disorder, TDP-43 may have potential as a biomarker in these diseases. Methods We therefore conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the diagnostic utility of TDP-43 detected in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of patients with FTD-ALS spectrum disorder. Results From seven studies, our results demonstrate that patients with ALS have a statistically significantly higher level of TDP-43 in CSF (effect size 0.64, 95% CI: 0.1–1.19, p = 0.02). Conclusions These data suggest promise for the use of CSF TDP-43 as a biomarker for ALS