Distributional and Acoustic Characteristics of Filler Particles in German with Consideration of Forensic-Phonetic Aspects

In this study, we investigate the use of the filler particles (FPs) uh, um, hm, as well as glottal FPs and tongue clicks of 100 male native German speakers in a corpus of spontaneous speech. For this purpose, the frequency distribution, FP duration, duration of pauses surrounding FPs, voice quality of FPs, and their vowel quality are investigated in two conditions, namely, normal speech and Lombard speech. Speaker-specific patterns are investigated on the basis of twelve sample speakers. Our results show that tongue clicks and glottal FPs are as common as typically described FPs, and should be a part of disfluency research. Moreover, the frequency of uh, um, and hm decreases in the Lombard condition while the opposite is found for tongue clicks. Furthermore, along with the usual F1 increase, a considerable reduction in vowel space is found in the Lombard condition for the vowels in uh and um. A high degree of within- and between-speaker variation is found on the individual speaker level

Parental leave, worker substitutability, and firms' employment

Motherhood and parental leave are frequent causes of worker absences and employment interruptions, yet we know little about their effects on firms. Based on linked employer-employee data from Germany, we examine how parental leave absences affect small- and medium-sized firms. We show that they anticipate the absence with replacement hirings in the six months before childbirth. A 2007 parental leave reform extending leave absences reduces firm-level employment and total wages in the first year after childbirth, driven by firms with few internal substitutes for the absent mother. However, we do not find longer-term effects on firms' employment, wage-bill, or likelihood to shut down. We find that the reform increases replacement hirings, but firms directly affected do not respond to longer expected absences of mothers by subsequently hiring fewer young women. Overall, our findings show that extended parental leave does not have a lasting impact on firms when these can anticipate the absences

SMVer for fuld kraft!

Dette studie undersøger nogle af de mest centrale temaer i vækststrategier blandt SMVer (små og mellemstore virksomheder). Der inkluderes strategiske analyser af seks høj-vækst SMVer ud fra et ønske om at finde fælles karakteristika og dermed besvare spørgsmålet: Hvordan kan strategier succesfuldt udvikles og udføres i SMV-regi? Blandt de mest interessante resultater var samtlige seks virksomheders bemærkelsesværdige lederskab, øje for strategi og strategisk refleksion, internationalisering, stærke forretningssystemer og effektive netværk. De nye insights fra de praktiske eksempler i dette studie sammenholdt med teoretiske diskussioner bidrager med et fundament for en bedre forståelse af strategier i en SMV-kontekst, såvel som det forhåbentligt kan stimulere de strategiske processer i SMVer

”Challenges for Danish Small and Medium-sized Manufacturing Enterprises – an Exploratory Study in Knowledge Management”

Based on an exploratory study of 138 firms this study analyzes the development within the field of Knowledge Management (KM) in Danish SMEs in the manufacturing industry. It is proposed that Danish SMEs do not (yet) have formalized knowledge structures, knowledge cultures, knowledge strategies, or knowledge systems in place. Hence, there could well be a large unexploited pool of knowledge assets in the SMEs. Empirical results verify the above propositions and suggestions to build or improve a knowledge process within the SME context are offered. The results of the study lead to challenges within different areas of KM that Danish SMEs face in the quest to stay competitive. Finally, the perspectives and the practical implications of a management orientation that can leverage knowledge advances and improve the types of knowledge that best fit innovative efforts and competitive strategies are also discussed

Dense Dilated Convolutions Merging Network for Land Cover Classification

Land cover classification of remote sensing images is a challenging task due to limited amounts of annotated data, highly imbalanced classes, frequent incorrect pixel-level annotations, and an inherent complexity in the semantic segmentation task. In this article, we propose a novel architecture called the dense dilated convolutions' merging network (DDCM-Net) to address this task. The proposed DDCM-Net consists of dense dilated image convolutions merged with varying dilation rates. This effectively utilizes rich combinations of dilated convolutions that enlarge the network's receptive fields with fewer parameters and features compared with the state-of-the-art approaches in the remote sensing domain. Importantly, DDCM-Net obtains fused local- and global-context information, in effect incorporating surrounding discriminative capability for multiscale and complex-shaped objects with similar color and textures in very high-resolution aerial imagery. We demonstrate the effectiveness, robustness, and flexibility of the proposed DDCM-Net on the publicly available ISPRS Potsdam and Vaihingen data sets, as well as the DeepGlobe land cover data set. Our single model, trained on three-band Potsdam and Vaihingen data sets, achieves better accuracy in terms of both mean intersection over union (mIoU) and F1-score compared with other published models trained with more than three-band data. We further validate our model on the DeepGlobe data set, achieving state-of-the-art result 56.2% mIoU with much fewer parameters and at a lower computational cost compared with related recent work. Code available at https://github.com/samleoqh/DDCM-Semantic-Segmentation-PyTorchComment: Semantic Segmentation, 12 pages, TGRS-2020 early access in IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing. 2020, Code available at https://github.com/samleoqh/DDCM-Semantic-Segmentation-PyTorc

Assessment of aortic regurgitation by transesophageal color Doppler imaging of the vena contracta: validation against an intraoperative aortic flow probe

AbstractOBJECTIVESThis study was performed to validate the accuracy of color flow vena contracta (VC) measurements of aortic regurgitation (AR) severity by comparing them to simultaneous intraoperative flow probe measurements of regurgitant fraction (RgF) and regurgitant volume (RgV).BACKGROUNDColor Doppler imaging of the vena contracta has emerged as a simple and reliable measure of the severity of valvular regurgitation. This study evaluated the accuracy of VC imaging of AR by transesophageal echocardiography (TEE).METHODSA transit-time flow probe was placed on the ascending aorta during cardiac surgery in 24 patients with AR. The flow probe was used to measure RgF and RgV simultaneously during VC imaging by TEE. Flow probe and VC imaging were interpreted separately and in blinded fashion.RESULTSA good correlation was found between VC width and RgF (r = 0.85) and RgV (r = 0.79). All six patients with VC width >6 mm had a RgF >0.50. All 18 patients with VC width <5 mm had a RgF <0.50. Vena contracta area also correlated well with both RgF (r = 0.81) and RgV (r = 0.84). All six patients with VC area >7.5 mm2had a RgF >0.50, and all 18 patients with a VC area <7.5 mm2had a RgF <0.50. In a subset of nine patients who underwent afterload manipulation to increase diastolic blood pressure, RgV increased significantly (34 ± 26 ml to 41 ± 27 ml, p = 0.042) while VC width remained unchanged (5.4 ± 2.8 mm to 5.4 ± 2.8 mm, p = 0.41).CONCLUSIONSVena contracta imaging by TEE color flow mapping is an accurate marker of AR severity. Vena contracta width and VC area correlate well with RgF and RgV obtained by intraoperative flow probe. Vena contracta width appears to be less afterload-dependent than RgV

Metabolic characteristics of human hearts preserved for 12 hours by static storage, antegrade perfusion, or retrograde coronary sinus perfusion

ObjectiveMachine perfusion of donor hearts is a promising strategy to increase the donor pool. Antegrade perfusion is effective but can lead to aortic valve incompetence and nonnutrient flow. Experience with retrograde coronary sinus perfusion of donor hearts has been limited. We tested the hypothesis that retrograde perfusion could support myocardial metabolism over an extended donor ischemic interval.MethodsHuman hearts from donors that were rejected or not offered for transplantation were preserved for 12 hours in University of Wisconsin Machine Perfusion Solution by: (1) static hypothermic storage; (2) hypothermic antegrade machine perfusion; or (3) hypothermic retrograde machine perfusion. Myocardial oxygen consumption (MVO2), and lactate accumulation were measured. Ventricular tissue was collected for proton and phosphorus 31 magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) to evaluate the metabolic state of the myocardium. Myocardial water content was determined at the end of the experiment.ResultsStable perfusion parameters were maintained throughout the perfusion period with both perfusion techniques. Lactate/alanine ratios were lower in perfused hearts compared with static hearts (P < .001). Lactate accumulation (antegrade 2.0 ± 0.7 mM, retrograde 1.7 ± 0.1 mM) and MVO2 (antegrade 0.25 ± 0.2 mL, retrograde 0.26 ± 0.3 mL O2/min/100 g) were similar in machine-perfused groups. High-energy phosphates were better preserved in both perfused groups (P < .05). Left ventricular myocardial water content was increased in retrograde perfused hearts (80.2 ± 0.8%) compared with both antegrade perfused hearts (76.6 ± 0.8%, P = .02) and static storage hearts (76.7 ± 1%, P = .02).ConclusionsMachine perfusion by either the antegrade or the retrograde technique can support myocardial metabolism over long intervals. Machine perfusion seems promising for long-term preservation of human donor hearts

Lernwirksamkeit adressatenspezifischer Praktikumsversuche aus Sicht der Physiologie

Der Erwerb physiologisch relevanter physikalischer Grundlagen wird von Dozenten der medizinischen Vorklinik in einer Umfrage an der LMU München als wichtigstes Lernziel für das Physikpraktikum genannt. Im Rahmen einer fächerübergreifenden Arbeit wurde die Lernwirksamkeit eines Physikpraktikums für Mediziner innerhalb der Physiologie untersucht. In zwei Datenerhebungen wurde dazu der Wissensstand von jeweils ca. 300 Studierenden des Wintersemesters 2008/09 (traditionelle Experimente) und Wintersemester 2009/10 (neu entwickelte adressatenspezifische Experimente) erhoben. Als Erhebungsinstrument diente dabei ein Wissenstest, bestehend aus Concept Maps sowie MC-Fragen zur Physiologie von Nervenzellen.Während es den Studierenden innerhalb des traditionellen Physikpraktikums nur unzureichend gelingt, die Konzepte der Physik selbständig mit der Physiologie zu verknüpfen und innerhalb einer physiologischen Fragestellung physikalisch zu argumentieren, konnte dies durch die adressatenspezifische Gestaltung verbessert werden. Die Auswertung der erstellten Concept Maps zeigt, dass der Umfang des vorhandenen Wissens hochsignifikant gesteigert werden konnte