Permutational Grammar for free word order languages

Permutational Grammar, PG, is a grammar inspired by the Free Word Order grammar, FOG, presented in Vladimir Pericliev & Alexander Grigorov 1992. Some languages, notably Latin, are said to have free word order, see e.g. Siewierska 1988. The name Permutational Grammar is derived from the use of permutations in order to generate order variation. The general problem to be solved by FOG and PG is the generation and analysis of a great number of word order variants with (roughly) the same meaning. PG accomplishes this by specifying some basic phrase structure orders with their functional (and semantic) representations, and then permuting the corresponding sequences of constituents to obtain all the other sequences with the same meaning. Permutational Grammar can be regarded as a generative phrase structure grammar with transformations represented by permutations. It is developed from SWETRA grammar (see Sigurd 1994). The constituent parsing trees are not represented explicitly. PG is written with generative rewrite rules and implemented in Prolog via the Definite Clause Grammar (DCG) formalism. The Prolog implementation used here is LPAProlog. The rules state that permutations of the constituents to the right of the rewrite symbol have the functional representation given as an argument to the left of the rewrite symbol. These rewrite rules can be compiled into rules that generate all possible permutations of the basic word order ‘on the fly’. It is possible to apply constraints to the permutations generated. One may, for example, introduce an order constraint like imbefore(C1,C2,M), which states that a constituent matching the description C1 must occur immediately before another constituent matching C2 in the list of constituents M. Another example is last(C,M), which states that a C must occur last in the list

Testing for Discrimination in Employment Practices

Hypothesis: The velocity response at the contralateral cochlea from bone-conducted (BC) stimulation depends on the stimulation position. Background: BC sound transmission in the human skull is complex and differs from air-conducted sound. BC sound stimulates both cochleae with different amplitudes and time delays influencing hearing perception in a way that is not completely understood. One important parameter is the stimulation position on the human skull. Method: By applying BC stimulation at 8 positions on both sides of 7 human cadaver skulls, the contralateral velocity response of the cochlear promontory was investigated in the frequency range of 0.1 to 10 kHz. Using previous data from ipsilateral stimulation, the transcranial transmission (TT) and effects of bilateral stimulation to one cochlea was calculated. Results: The contralateral transmission from the 8 positions showed small differences, but the TT showed a generally increased cochlear separation when the stimulation position approached the cochlea. The effect of simultaneous bilateral stimulation was calculated, showing a low-frequency negative effect for correlated signals, whereas uncorrelated signals gave 3-dB gain. At higher frequencies, there was less interaction of the combined stimulation because of the greater intercochlear separation. Also, the greatest time difference between ipsilateral transmission and contralateral transmission was at positions close to the cochlea. Conclusion: The stimulation position only slightly affects the amplitude and phase of the contralateral cochlear velocity response. However, because of the great influence from the ipsilateral transmission, a position close to the cochlea would be beneficial for patients with bilateral BC hearing aids.Original Publication:Måns Eeg-Olofsson, Stefan Stenfelt and Gösta Granström, Implications for contralateral bone conducted transmission as measured by cochlear vibrations, 2011, Otology and Neurotology, (32), 2, 192-198.http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/MAO.0b013e3182009f16Copyright: Lippincott Williams and Wilkinshttp://www.lww.com

Decrease in Propagation of Interictal Epileptiform Activity After Introduction of Levetiracetam Visualized with Electric Source Imaging

Different neuroimaging techniques (fMRI, spectroscopy, PET) are being used to evaluate candidate drugs in pharmacological development. In patients with epilepsy fast propagation of the epileptiform activity between different brain areas occurs. Electric Source Imaging (ESI), in contrast to the aforementioned techniques, has a millisecond time resolution, allowing visualization of this fast propagation. The purpose of the current project was to use ESI to investigate whether introduction of an antiepileptic drug (levetiracetam, LEV) would change the propagation patterns of the interictal epileptiform activity. Thirty patients with epilepsy were subject to an EEG recording before (pre-LEV) and after (in-LEV) introduction of LEV. Interictal spikes with similar topographic distribution were averaged within each subject, and a distributed source model was used to localize the EEG sources of the epileptiform activity. The temporal development of the activity within 20 regions of interest (ROIs) was determined, and source propagation between different regions was compared between the pre-LEV and in-LEV recordings. Patients with epileptic seizures showed propagation in 22/24 identified spike types in the pre-LEV recordings. In the in-LEV recordings only 7/15 spike types showed propagation, and six of these seven propagating spikes were recorded in patients with poor effect of treatment. Also in patients without seizures LEV tended to suppress propagation. We conclude that the observed suppression of source propagation can be considered as an indicator of effective antiepileptic treatment. ESI might thus become a useful tool in the early clinical evaluation of new candidate drugs in pharmacological developmen

Feedback Analysis in Percutaneous Bone-Conduction Device and Bone-Conduction Implant on a Dry Cranium

Hypothesis: The bone-conduction implant (BCI) can use a higher gain setting without having feedback problems compared with a percutaneous bone-conduction device (PBCD). Background: The conventional PBCD, today, is a common treatment for patients with conductive hearing loss and single-sided deafness. However, there are minor drawbacks reported related to the percutaneous implant and specifically poor high-frequency gain. The BCI system is designed as an alternative to the percutaneous system because it leaves the skin intact and is less prone to fall into feedback oscillations, thus allowing more high-frequency gain. Methods: Loop gains of the Baha Classic 300 and the BCI were measured in the frequency range of 100 to 10,000 Hz attached to a Skull simulator and a dry cranium. The Baha and the BCI positions were investigated. The devices were adjusted to full-on gain. Results: It was found that the gain headroom using the BCI was generally 0 to 10 dB better at higher frequencies than using the Baha for a given mechanical output. More specifically, if the mechanical output of the devices were normalized at the cochlear level the improvement in gain headroom with the BCI versus the Baha were in the range of 10 to 30 dB. Conclusion: Using a BCI, significantly higher gain setting can be used without feedback problems as compared with using a PBCD

Risk Prediction of Cardiovascular Disease in Type 2 Diabetes: A risk equation from the Swedish National Diabetes Register

OBJECTIVE—Risk prediction models obtained in samples from the general population do not perform well in type 2 diabetic patients. Recently, 5-year risk estimates were proposed as being more accurate than 10-year risk estimates. This study presents a diabetes-specific equation for estimation of the absolute 5-year risk of first incident fatal/nonfatal cardiovascular disease (CVD) in type 2 diabetic patients with use of A1C and clinical characteristics

Bone Conduction Stimulated VEMP Using the B250 Transducer

Objective: Bone conduction (BC) stimulation is rarely used for clinical testing of vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (VEMPs) due to the limitations of conventional stimulation alternatives. The aim of this study is to compare VEMP using the new B250 transducer with the Minishaker and air conduction (AC) stimulation.Methods: Thirty normal subjects between 20 and 37 years old and equal gender distribution were recruited, 15 for ocular VEMP and 15 for cervical VEMP. Four stimulation conditions were compared: B250 on the mastoid (FM); Minishaker and B250 on the forehead (FZ); and AC stimulation using an insert earphone.Results: It was found that B250 at FM required a statistically significant lower hearing level than with AC stimulation, in average 41 dB and 35 dB lower for ocular VEMP and cervical VEMP, respectively, but gave longer n10 (1.1 ms) and n23 (1.6 ms). No statistical difference was found between B250 at FM and Minishaker at FZ.Conclusion: VEMP stimulated with B250 at FM gave similar response as the Minishaker at FZ and for a much lower hearing level than AC stimulation using insert earphones

Clinical Use and Effectiveness of Lipid Lowering Therapies in Diabetes Mellitus—An Observational Study from the Swedish National Diabetes Register

OBJECTIVES: To describe the use and evaluate the effectiveness of different lipid lowering therapies in unselected patients with type 1 and type 2 diabetes in clinical practice. DESIGN: Observational population-based study using the personal identification number to link information from the National Diabetes Register, the Prescribed Drug Register and the Patient register in Sweden. All patients in the NDR aged 18-75 years with diabetes more than one year were eligible, but only patients starting any lipid lowering treatment with at least three prescriptions 1 July 2006-30 June 2007 were included (n = 37,182). The mean blood lipid levels in 2008 and reductions in LDL cholesterol were examined. RESULTS: Blood lipid levels were similar in patients treated with simvastatin, atorvastatin and rosuvastatin, showing similar lipid lowering effect as currently used. Users of pravastatin, fluvastatin, ezetimib and fibrate more seldom reach treatment goals. Moderate daily doses of the statins were used, with 76% of simvastatin users taking 20 mg or less, 48% of atorvastatin users taking 10 mg, 55% of pravastatin users taking 20 mg, and 76% of rosuvastatin users taking 5 or 10 mg. CONCLUSIONS: This observational study shows that the LDL-C levels in patients taking simvastatin, atorvastatin or rosuvastatin are very similar as currently used, as well as their LDL-C lowering abilities. There is potential to intensify lipid lowering treatment to reduce the remaining high residual risk and achieve better fulfilment of treatment goals, since the commonly used doses are only low to moderate

Long-term follow-up and review of the Bone Conduction Implant

Active transcutaneous bone conduction devices are a type of bone conduction device developed to keep the skin intact and provide direct bone conduction stimulation. The Bone Conduction Implant (BCI) is such a device and has been implanted in 16 patients. The objective of this paper is to give a broad overview of the BCI development to the final results of 13 patients at 5-year follow-up. Follow-up of these patients included audiological performance investigations, questionnaires, as well as safety evaluation and objective functionality testing of the device. Among those audiological measure-ments were sound field warble tone thresholds, speech recognition threshold (SRT), speech recognition score (SRS) and signal to noise ratio threshold (SNR-threshold).The accumulated implant time for all 16 patients was 113 years in February 2022. During this time, no serious adverse events have occurred. The functional improvement for the 13 patients reported in this paper was on average 29.5 dB (average over 0.5, 1, 2 and 4 kHz), while the corresponding effective gain was-12.4 dB. The SRT improvement was 24.5 dB and the SRS improvement was 38.1%, while the aided SNR-threshold was on average -6.4 dB.It was found that the BCI can give effective and safe hearing rehabilitation for patients with conduc-tive and mild-to-moderate mixed hearing loss

Effect of transducer attachment on vibration transmission and transcranial attenuation for direct drive bone conduction stimulation

Direct drive bone conduction devices (BCDs) are used to rehabilitate patients with conductive or mixed hearing loss by stimulating the skull bone directly, either with an implanted transducer (active transcutaneous BCDs), or through a skin penetrating abutment rigidly coupled to an external vibrating transducer (percutaneous BCDs). Active transcutaneous BCDs have been under development to overcome limitations of the percutaneous bone anchored hearing aid (BAHA), mainly related to the skin penetration. The attachment of a direct drive BCD to the skull bone can differ significantly between devices, and possibly influence the vibrations\u27 transmission to the cochleae. In this study, four different attachments are considered: (A) small-sized flat surface, (B) extended flat surface, (C) bar with a screw at both ends, and (D) standard bone anchored hearing aid screw. A, B, and C represent three active transcutaneous options, while D is for percutaneous applications. The primary aim of this study was to investigate how the different transcutaneous attachments (A, B, and C) affect the transmission of vibrations to the cochleae to the ipsilateral and the contralateral side. A secondary aim was to evaluate and compare transcranial attenuation (TA, ipsilateral minus contralateral signal level) between transcutaneous (A, B, and C) and percutaneous attachments (D). Measurements were performed on four human heads, measuring cochlear promontory velocity with a LDV (laser Doppler vibrometer) and sound pressure in the ear canal (ECSP) with an inserted microphone. The stimulation signal was a swept sine between 0.1 and 10 kHz. The comparison of ipsilateral transmission between transcutaneous adaptors A, B, and C was in agreement with previous findings, confirming that: (1) Adaptor C seems to give the most effective transmission for frequencies around 6 kHz but somewhat lower in the mid frequency range, and (2) keeping a smaller contact area seems to provide advantages compared to a more extended one. The same trends were seen ipsilaterally and contralaterally. The observed TA was similar for adaptors A, B, and C at the mastoid position, ranging -10-0 dB below 500 Hz, and 10-20 dB above. A lower TA was seen above 500 Hz when using adaptor D at the parietal position

Three-Year Follow-Up with the Bone Conduction Implant

Background: The bone conduction implant (BCI) is an active transcutaneous bone conduction device where the transducer has direct contact to the bone, and the skin is intact. Sixteen patients have been implanted with the BCI with a planned follow-up of 5 years. This study reports on hearing, quality of life, and objective measures up to 36 months of follow-up in 10 patients. Method: Repeated measures were performed at fitting and after 1, 3, 6, 12, and 36 months including sound field warble tone thresholds, speech recognition thresholds in quiet, speech recognition score in noise, and speech-to-noise thresholds for 50% correct words with adaptive noise. Three quality of life questionnaires were used to capture the benefit from the intervention, appreciation from different listening situations, and the ability to interact with other people when using the BCI. The results were compared to the unaided situation and a Ponto Pro Power on a soft band. The implant functionality was measured by nasal sound pressure, and the retention force from the audio processor against the skin was measured using a specially designed audio processor and a force gauge. Results: Audiometry and quality of life questionnaires using the BCI or the Ponto Pro Power on a soft band were significantly improved compared to the unaided situation and the results were statistically supported. There was generally no significant difference between the two devices. The nasal sound pressure remained stable over the study period and the force on the skin from the audio processor was 0.71 \ub1 0.22 N (mean \ub1 1 SD). Conclusion: The BCI improves the hearing ability for tones and speech perception in quiet and in noise for the indicated patients. The results are stable over a 3-year period, and the patients subjectively report a beneficial experience from using the BCI. The transducer performance and contact to the bone is unchanged over time, and the skin area under the audio processor remains without complications during the 3-year follow-up