Substantive Bias and Variation in the Acquisition of /n/~/l/ Alternation

Phonological biases suppose that language learners are predisposed toward certain sound patterns. A widely studied phonological bias is substantive bias, a bias that favors phonetically natural or motivated patterns. Experimental results for substantive bias have been mixed. Against this background, this study explores the possible factors influencing the effect of substantive bias, and the focus is on the input variability. An artificial language learning study on /n/~/l/ alternation by native speakers of Hong Kong Cantonese was conducted. There were two categorical learning conditions and two variable learning conditions. In the categorical learning conditions, all the initial /n/ changed to /l/ either in phonetically motivated or unmotivated contexts. In the variable learning conditions, the dominant percentage of initial /n/ changed to /l/ in phonetically motivated or unmotivated context. Substantive bias arose only in variable learning conditions, which suggests that the substantive bias effect is not global, but it is activated under certain circumstances. This study found that the shape and distribution of input could influence the effect of substantive bias.

Directionality of Disyllabic Tone Sandhi across Chinese Dialects is Conditioned by Phonetically-Grounded Structural Simplicity

Despite various work which aimed to identify the phonetic and structural underpinning of tone sandhi directionality, the underlying mechanism that governs tone sandhi remains unknown. We note that the two widely discussed properties of tone sandhi, their phonetic grounds and directionality, correspond to two types of cognitive biases widely investigated in segmental phonology, namely substantive bias and structural bias respectively. This study examines structural simplicity and phonetic naturalness of tone sandhi patterns across seventeen Chinese varieties. Based on a structure-based analysis, we show that tone sandhi patterns are overwhelmingly uni-directional (i.e. structurally simple) either throughout a sandhi system or within each grammatical category. Crucially, uni-directionality is largely right-dominant, which could be attributed to its phonetic grounding. We argue that structural simplicity grounded on phonetic substance better captures tone sandhi asymmetries and such phonetically-grounded structural simplicity bias is reflected in the asymmetries of Chinese tone sandhi directionality

Sim2real and Digital Twins in Autonomous Driving: A Survey

Safety and cost are two important concerns for the development of autonomous driving technologies. From the academic research to commercial applications of autonomous driving vehicles, sufficient simulation and real world testing are required. In general, a large scale of testing in simulation environment is conducted and then the learned driving knowledge is transferred to the real world, so how to adapt driving knowledge learned in simulation to reality becomes a critical issue. However, the virtual simulation world differs from the real world in many aspects such as lighting, textures, vehicle dynamics, and agents' behaviors, etc., which makes it difficult to bridge the gap between the virtual and real worlds. This gap is commonly referred to as the reality gap (RG). In recent years, researchers have explored various approaches to address the reality gap issue, which can be broadly classified into two categories: transferring knowledge from simulation to reality (sim2real) and learning in digital twins (DTs). In this paper, we consider the solutions through the sim2real and DTs technologies, and review important applications and innovations in the field of autonomous driving. Meanwhile, we show the state-of-the-arts from the views of algorithms, models, and simulators, and elaborate the development process from sim2real to DTs. The presentation also illustrates the far-reaching effects of the development of sim2real and DTs in autonomous driving

Optimization of “Deoxidation Alloying” Batching Scheme

In this paper, a mathematical model was established to predict the deoxidation alloying and to optimize the type and quantity of input alloys. Firstly, the GCA method was used to obtain the main factors affecting the alloy yield of carbon and manganese based on the historical data. Secondly, the alloy yield was predicted by the stepwise MRA, the BP neural network and the regression SVM models, respectively. The conclusion is that the regression SVM model has the highest prediction accuracy and the maximum deviation between the test set prediction result and the real value was only 0.0682 and 0.0554. Thirdly, in order to reduce the manufacturer's production cost, the genetic algorithm was used to calculate the production cost mathematical programming model. Finally, sensitivity analysis was performed on the prediction model and the cost optimization model. The unit price of 20% of the alloy raw materials was increased by 20%, and the total cost change rate was 0.7155%, the lowest was -0.4297%, which proved that the mathematical model established presented strong robustness and could be certain reference value for the current production of iron and steel enterprises

Matrix inverses along the core parts of three matrix decompositions

New characterizations for generalized inverses along the core parts of three matrix decompositions were investigated in this paper. Let $A_{1}$, $\hat{A}_{1}$ and $\tilde{A}_{1}$ be the core parts of the core-nilpotent decomposition, the core-EP decomposition and EP-nilpotent decomposition of $A\in \mathbb{C}^{n\times n}$, respectively, where EP denotes the EP matrix. A number of characterizations and different representations of the Drazin inverse, the weak group inverse and the core-EP inverse were given by using the core parts $A_{1}$, $\hat{A}_{1}$ and $\tilde{A}_{1}$. One can prove that, the Drazin inverse is the inverse along $A_{1}$, the weak group inverse is the inverse along $\hat{A}_{1}$ and the core-EP inverse is the inverse along $\tilde{A}_{1}$. A unified theory presented in this paper covers the Drazin inverse, the weak group inverse and the core-EP inverse based on the core parts of the core-nilpotent decomposition, the core-EP decomposition and EP-nilpotent decomposition of $A\in \mathbb{C}^{n\times n}$, respectively. In addition, we proved that the Drazin inverse of $A$ is the inverse of $A$ along $U$ and $A_{1}$ for any $U\in \{A_{1}, \hat{A}_{1}, \tilde{A}_{1}\}$; the weak group inverse of $A$ is the inverse of $A$ along $U$ and $\hat{A}_{1}$ for any $U\in \{A_{1}, \hat{A}_{1}, \tilde{A}_{1}\}$; the core-EP inverse of $A$ is the inverse of $A$ along $U$ and $\tilde{A}_{1}$ for any $U\in \{A_{1}, \hat{A}_{1}, \tilde{A}_{1}\}$. Let $X_{1}$, $X_{4}$ and $X_{7}$ be the generalized inverses along $A_{1}$, $\hat{A}_{1}$ and $\tilde{A}_{1}$, respectively. In the last section, some useful examples were given, which showed that the generalized inverses $X_{1}$, $X_{4}$ and $X_{7}$ were different generalized inverses. For a certain singular complex matrix, the Drazin inverse coincides with the weak group inverse, which is different from the core-EP inverse. Moreover, we showed that the Drazin inverse, the weak group inverse and the core-EP inverse can be the same for a certain singular complex matrix

Refractory microsatellite stable metastatic colorectal cancer with ERBB2/ERBB3 mutation may be preferred population for regorafenib plus PD-1 inhibitor therapy: a real-world study

BackgroundMicrosatellite stable (MSS) colorectal cancer (CRC) has been referred to as the “cold tumor” because of almost no response to anti–programmed death-1 (PD-1) antibody. A recent REGONIVO trial showed that regorafenib plus nivolumab had an encouraging efficacy in MSS metastatic CRC (mCRC). However, only a small subset of patients may benefit from the combination therapy. We aim to evaluate the efficacy and safety data of immune checkpoint inhibitors combined with regorafenib in refractory MSS mCRC and to discover biomarkers that can effectively stratify the beneficial patient population.MethodsWe retrospectively analyzed patients with MSS mCRC who received regorafenib combined with anti–PD-1 antibody therapy. The objective response rate (ORR), disease control rate (DCR), progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), and status of gene mutation were reviewed and evaluated.ResultsTwenty-one patients received combination treatment. At a median treatment duration of 4 months, one patient achieved complete response, three patients achieved partial response, and two patients achieved stable disease as the best response. The ORR and DCR were 19% and 28.5% in the overall population, respectively. The median PFS was 4 months, and the median OS was 25 months. Only erbb2 receptor tyrosine kinase 2/erbb3 receptor tyrosine kinase 3 (ERBB2/ERBB3) mutation status was confirmed to be a potential predictive factor for effective treatment. In patients with ERBB2/ERBB3 mutation, ORR, DCR, and PFS exhibited significant improvements in comparison with that in wild-type patients. Grade 3 or higher treatment-related adverse events occurred in three patients (14.3%).ConclusionsRegorafenib in combination with PD-1 inhibitor provides a feasible treatment regimen for refractory MSS mCRC with tolerated toxicity. Patients with ERBB2/ERBB3 mutation may be the preferred population for this combination regimen

Research progress of extracellular vesicles and exosomes derived from mesenchymal stem cells in the treatment of oxidative stress-related diseases

There is growing evidence that mesenchymal stem cell-derived extracellular vesicles and exosomes can significantly improve the curative effect of oxidative stress-related diseases. Mesenchymal stem cell extracellular vesicles and exosomes (MSC-EVs and MSC-Exos) are rich in bioactive molecules and have many biological regulatory functions. In this review, we describe how MSC-EVs and MSC-Exos reduce the related markers of oxidative stress and inflammation in various systemic diseases, and the molecular mechanism of MSC-EVs and MSC-Exos in treating apoptosis and vascular injury induced by oxidative stress. The results of a large number of experimental studies have shown that both local and systemic administration can effectively inhibit the oxidative stress response in diseases and promote the survival and regeneration of damaged parenchymal cells. The mRNA and miRNAs in MSC-EVs and MSC-Exos are the most important bioactive molecules in disease treatment, which can inhibit the apoptosis, necrosis and oxidative stress of lung, heart, kidney, liver, bone, skin and other cells, and promote their survive and regenerate

Mining Event Logs to Support Workflow Resource Allocation

Workflow technology is widely used to facilitate the business process in enterprise information systems (EIS), and it has the potential to reduce design time, enhance product quality and decrease product cost. However, significant limitations still exist: as an important task in the context of workflow, many present resource allocation operations are still performed manually, which are time-consuming. This paper presents a data mining approach to address the resource allocation problem (RAP) and improve the productivity of workflow resource management. Specifically, an Apriori-like algorithm is used to find the frequent patterns from the event log, and association rules are generated according to predefined resource allocation constraints. Subsequently, a correlation measure named lift is utilized to annotate the negatively correlated resource allocation rules for resource reservation. Finally, the rules are ranked using the confidence measures as resource allocation rules. Comparative experiments are performed using C4.5, SVM, ID3, Na\"ive Bayes and the presented approach, and the results show that the presented approach is effective in both accuracy and candidate resource recommendations.Comment: T. Liu et al., Mining event logs to support workflow resource allocation, Knowl. Based Syst. (2012), http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1016/j.knosys.2012.05.01

Increased both cortical activation and functional connectivity after transcranial direct current stimulation in patients with post-stroke: A functional near-infrared spectroscopy study

BackgroundPrevious studies have shown that cognitive impairment is common after stroke. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a promising tool for rehabilitating cognitive impairment. This study aimed to investigate the effects of tDCS on the rehabilitation of cognitive impairment in patients with stroke.MethodsTwenty-two mild–moderate post-stroke patients with cognitive impairments were treated with 14 tDCS sessions. A total of 14 healthy individuals were included in the control group. Cognitive function was assessed using the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA). Cortical activation was assessed using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) during the verbal fluency task (VFT).ResultsThe cognitive function of patients with stroke, as assessed by the MMSE and MoCA scores, was lower than that of healthy individuals but improved after tDCS. The cortical activation of patients with stroke was lower than that of healthy individuals in the left superior temporal cortex (lSTC), right superior temporal cortex (rSTC), right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (rDLPFC), right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (rVLPFC), and left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (lVLPFC) cortical regions. Cortical activation increased in the lSTC cortex after tDCS. The functional connectivity (FC) between the cerebral hemispheres of patients with stroke was lower than that of healthy individuals but increased after tDCS.ConclusionThe cognitive and brain functions of patients with mild-to-moderate stroke were damaged but recovered to a degree after tDCS. Increased cortical activation and increased FC between the bilateral cerebral hemispheres measured by fNIRS are promising biomarkers to assess the effectiveness of tDCS in stroke