Improving the automatic segmentation of subtitles through conditional random field

[EN] Automatic segmentation of subtitles is a novel research field which has not been studied extensively to date. However, quality automatic subtitling is a real need for broadcasters which seek for automatic solutions given the demanding European audiovisual legislation. In this article, a method based on Conditional Random Field is presented to deal with the automatic subtitling segmentation. This is a continuation of a previous work in the field, which proposed a method based on Support Vector Machine classifier to generate possible candidates for breaks. For this study, two corpora in Basque and Spanish were used for experiments, and the performance of the current method was tested and compared with the previous solution and two rule-based systems through several evaluation metrics. Finally, an experiment with human evaluators was carried out with the aim of measuring the productivity gain in post-editing automatic subtitles generated with the new method presented.This work was partially supported by the project CoMUN-HaT - TIN2015-70924-C2-1-R (MINECO/FEDER).Alvarez, A.; Martínez-Hinarejos, C.; Arzelus, H.; Balenciaga, M.; Del Pozo, A. (2017). Improving the automatic segmentation of subtitles through conditional random field. Speech Communication. 88:83-95. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.specom.2017.01.010S83958

Active commuting is associated with a lower risk of obesity, diabetes and metabolic syndrome in Chilean adults

Background: There is limited evidence on how active commuting is associated with health benefits in developing countries. The aim of this study therefore was to investigate the associations between active commuting and markers of adiposity and cardiometabolic risk in the Chilean adult population. Methods: In total, 5157 participants from the Chilean National Health Survey 2009–10 were included in this cross-sectional study. Active commuting was measured using the Global Physical Activity Questionnaire (GPAQ v2). Body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC) were measured and used to define obesity and central obesity. Type 2 diabetes (T2D) and metabolic syndrome were determined using WHO and updated ATPIII-NCEP criteria, respectively. Results: The main finding of this study is that a 30 min increase in active commuting is associated with lower odds for BMI > 25.0 kg m−2 (0.93 [95% CI: 0.88–0.98, P = 0.010]). Similarly, the odds for central obesity was 0.87 [0.82–0.92, P < 0.0001]. Similar associations were found for T2D (0.81 [0.75–0.88], P < 0.0001) and metabolic syndrome (OR: 0.86 [0.80–0.92], P < 0.0001). Conclusion: Our findings show that active commuting is associated with lower adiposity and a healthier metabolic profile including lower risk for obesity, diabetes and metabolic syndrome

Bone health in children and youth with Cystic Fibrosis: a systematic review and meta-analysis of matched cohort studies

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Elsevier via the DOI in this recordObjective To assess the evidence regarding the differences in areal bone mineral density (aBMD) between children and adolescents with cystic fibrosis (CF) compared with their healthy peers, based on data from longitudinal studies. Study design We searched MEDLINE, SPORTDiscus, the Cochrane Library, PEDro (Physiotherapy Evidence Database), and Embase databases. Observational studies addressing the change of aBMD in children with CF and healthy children and adolescents were eligible. The DerSimonian and Laird method was used to compute pooled estimates of effect sizes (ES) and 95% CIs for the change of whole body (WB), lumbar spine (LS), and femoral neck (FN) aBMD. Results Six studies with participants with CF and 26 studies with healthy participants were included in the systematic review and meta-analysis. For the analysis in children with CF, the pooled ES for the change of WB aBMD was 0.29 (95% CI –0.15 to 0.74), for the change of LS aBMD was 0.13 (95% CI –0.16 to 0.41), and for the change of FN aBMD was 0.09 (95% CI –0.39 to 0.57). For the analysis in healthy children, the pooled ES for the change of WB aBMD was 0.37 (95% CI 0.26-0.49), for the change of LS aBMD was 0.13 (95% CI –0.16 to 0.41), and for the change of FN aBMD was 0.52 (95% CI 0.19-0.85). Conclusions aBMD development might not differ between children and adolescents with CF receiving medical care compared with their healthy peers. Further longitudinal studies in a CF population during growth and development are required to confirm our findings

Acoustic parametric techniques for neutrino telescopes

[EN] In this work, we present a compact transmitter array based on the parametric acoustic sources effect able to reproduce the acoustic signature of an Ultra-High Energy neutrino interaction in water. We also propose to use directive transducers using the parametric technique for the characterization of piezo-ceramic sensors contained in the KM3NeT DOMs. This technique can minimize the need for an anechoic tank.Ardid Ramírez, M.; Tortosa, DD.; Llorens Alvarez, CD.; Martínez Mora, JA.; Saldaña-Coscollar, M. (2019). Acoustic parametric techniques for neutrino telescopes. EPJ Web of Conferences (Online). 216:1-3. https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/201921604001S13216Saldana M., PhD Thesis, Acoustic System Development for Neutrino Underwater Detectors. Gandia: Universitat Politecnica de Valencia (2017)Buis E.J.; et al. Characterization of the KM3NeT hydrophone. ARENA2018 this issue

Testing postcombustion CO2 capture with CaO in a 1.7 MWt pilot facility

AbstractCalcium looping, CaL, is a new and rapidly developing technology that makes use of CaO as a high temperature regenerable sorbent of CO2. Previous theoretical and lab scale studies have shown that this technology could lead to a substantial reduction in the cost of CO2 capture and energy penalties because heat can be effectively recovered from this high temperature solid looping system. We report in this paper on the first results from a pilot plant designed to demonstrate the viability of postcombustion capture of CO2 using CaL under conditions comparable to those expected in a large scale plant. The pilot includes two interconnected circulating fluidized bed reactors of 15 m height: a CO2 absorber (carbonator) able to treat up to 2400kg/h (equivalent to about 1.7 MWth), and an oxy-fired CFB calciner with a firing power between 1-3 MWth. CO2 capture efficiencies over 90% have been experimentally observed, including continuous operation with highly cycled solids in the system (i.e. with modest CO2 carrying capacities). SO2 capture is shown to be extremely high, with concentrations of SO2 well below 10 ppmv at the exit of the carbonator. Closure of carbon and sulfur balances is satisfactory. These results should be valuable base for model validation and scaling up purposes in future stages of the EU FP7 “CaOling” project, under which this investigation has been carried out

Joint effect of physical activity and sedentary behaviour on cardiovascular risk factors in Chilean adults

Background: To investigate the associations between combined categories of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and sedentary behaviour (SB) with markers of adiposity and cardiovascular risk in adults. Methods: Overall, 5040 participants (mean age 46.4 years and 59.3% women) from the cross-sectional Chilean National Health Survey 2009–2010 were included in this study. MVPA and SB were measured using the Global Physical Activity questionnaire. Four categories were computed using MVPA- and SB-specific cut-offs (‘High-SB & Active’, ‘Low-SB & Active’, ‘High-SB & Inactive’ and ‘Low-SB & Inactive’). Results: Compared to the reference group (‘High-SB & Inactive’), those in ‘High-SB & Active’ and ‘Low-SB & Active’ were less likely to have an obese BMI (OR: 0.67 [0.54; 0.85], P = 0.0001 and 0.74 [0.59; 0.92] P = 0.0007, respectively) and less likely to have metabolic syndrome (OR: 0.63 [0.49; 0.82], P < 0.0001 and 0.72 [0.57; 0.91], P = 0.007), central obesity (OR: 0.79 [0.65; 0.96], P = 0.016 and 0.71 [0.59; 0.84], P < 0.0001), diabetes (OR: 0.45 [0.35; 0.59], P < 0.0001 and 0.44 [0.34; 0.56], P < 0.0001) and hypertension (OR: 0.52 [0.43; 0.63], P < 0.0001 and 0.60 [0.50; 0.72], P < 0.0001), respectively. Conclusions: Being physically active and spending less time in SBs was associated with lower adiposity and improvements in cardiovascular risk factors

Underwater Communication Using Acoustic Parametric Arrays

[EN] This paper presents a study of different types of parametric signals with application to submarine acoustic telecommunications. In all of them, the carrier frequency is 200 kHz, which corresponds to that resonation of the transducer under study, while they differ by the different modulations they present. In this sense, we study modulations with sweeps (4 to 40 kHz), in which represent binary codes (zeros and ones), getting closer to the application in acoustic telecommunications. The different properties of the transmitting signals in terms of communication speed, directivity, efficiency and power needed are discussed as well.We acknowledge the financial support of Plan Estatal de Investigación, ref. FPA2015-65150-C3-2-P (MINECO/FEDER), and of the Generalitat Valenciana, Grant PrometeoII/2014/079.Ardid Ramírez, M.; Campo-Valera, MM.; Tortosa, DD.; Felis-Enguix, I.; Llorens Alvarez, CD.; Martínez Mora, JA. (2018). Underwater Communication Using Acoustic Parametric Arrays. Proceedings. 2(139):1-7. https://doi.org/10.3390/ecsa-4-04907S17213

Band termination in the N=Z Odd-Odd Nucleus 46V

High spin states in the odd-odd N=Z nucleus 46V have been identified. At low spin, the T=1 isobaric analogue states of 46Ti are established up to I = 6+. Other high spin states, including the band terminating state, are tentatively assigned to the same T=1 band. The T=0 band built on the low-lying 3+ isomer is observed up to the 1f7/2-shell termination at I=15. Both signatures of a negative parity T=0 band are observed up to the terminating states at I = 16- and I = 17-, respectively. The structure of this band is interpreted as a particle-hole excitation from the 1d3/2 shell. Spherical shell model calculations are found to be in excellent agreement with the experimental results.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Excited States in 52Fe and the Origin of the Yrast Trap at I=12+

Excited states in 52Fe have been determined up to spin 10\hbar in the reaction 28Si + 28Si at 115 MeV by using \gamma-ray spectroscopy methods at the GASP array. The excitation energy of the yrast 10+ state has been determined to be 7.381 MeV, almost 0.5 MeV above the well known \beta+-decaying yrast 12+ state, definitely confirming the nature of its isomeric character. The mean lifetimes of the states have been measured by using the Doppler Shift Attenuation method. The experimental data are compared with spherical shell model calculations in the full pf-shell.Comment: 9 pages, RevTeX, 7 figures include

The effect of neoadjuvant chemotherapy among patients undergoing radical cystectomy for variant histology bladder cancer: A systematic review

Objective: To systematically review the evidence about the effect of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) for muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) with pure urothelial carcinoma (pUC) in radical cystectomy (RC) candidates affected by variant histology (VH) bladder cancer. Methods: A review of the current literature was conducted through the Medline and National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) PubMed, Scopus databases in May 2020. The updated Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines were followed for this systematic review. Keywords used were ‘bladder cancer’, ‘bladder carcinoma’, ‘bladder tumour’ and ‘bladder cancer variants’ and ‘neoadjuvant chemotherapy’. Only original articles in English published after 2000 and reporting oncological outcomes a series of more than five patients with VH were included. We excluded series in which the oncological outcomes of patients with pUC and VH were undistinguishable. Results: The literature search identified 2231 articles. A total of 51 full-text articles were assessed for eligibility, with 17 eventually considered for systematic review, for a cohort of 450,367 patients, of which 5010 underwent NAC + RC. The median age at initial diagnosis ranged from 61 to 71 years. Most patients received cisplatin-gemcitabine, methotrexate-vinblastine-adriamycin-cisplatin, or carboplatin-based chemotherapy. Only one study reported results of neoadjuvant immunotherapy. The median follow-up ranged from 1 to 120 months. The results showed that squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is less sensitive to NAC than pUC and that SCC predicts poorer prognosis. NAC was found to be a valid approach in treating small cell carcinoma and may have potential benefit in micropapillary carcinoma. Conclusions: NAC showed the best oncological outcomes in small cell variants and micropapillary carcinoma, while NAC survival benefit for SCC and adenocarcinoma variants needs further studies. Drawing definite considerations on the efficacy of NAC in VH is complicated due to the heterogeneity of present literature. Present results need to be confirmed in randomised controlled trial