HTML5 and the Learner of Spoken Languages

Traditional corpora are not renowned for being user friendly. If learners are to derive maximum benefit from speech corpora, then better interfaces are needed. This paper proposes such a role for HTML5. DIT’s dynamic speech corpus, FLUENT, contains a limited series of informal dialogues between friends and acquaintances. They are characterised by naturalness and their audio quality and marked-up using a schema which allows learners to retrieve features of spoken language, such as speaker intention, formulaicity and prosodic characteristics such as speed of delivery. The requirement to combine audio assets and synchronous text animation has in the past necessitated the use of browser ‘plug-in’ technologies, such as Adobe Flash. Plug-in-based systems all suffer from major drawbacks. They are not installed by default on deployed browsers. More critically they obscure the underlying speech corpus structure. Also proprietary UIs offer no standard way of dealing with accessibility or dynamic interface reconfiguration, e.g. moving from corpus playback to concordance views. This makes design of a unified interface framework, with audio playback, synchronous text and speech, more difficult. Given the profusion of plug-in architectures and plug-in types, it is clear that such an environment is unsustainable for building tools for speech corpus visualisation. In order to overcome these challenges, FLUENT drew heavily on the HTML5 specification coupled with a user-centred design for L2 learners to specify and develop scalable, reusable and accessible UIs for many devices.This paper describes the design of the corpus schema and its close integration with the UI model

Loss of BCAA Catabolism during Carcinogenesis Enhances mTORC1 Activity and Promotes Tumor Development and Progression

Tumors display profound changes in cellular metabolism, yet how these changes aid the development and growth of tumors is not fully understood. Here we use a multi-omic approach to examine liver carcinogenesis and regeneration, and find that progressive loss of branched-chain amino acid (BCAA) catabolism promotes tumor development and growth. In human hepatocellular carcinomas and animal models of liver cancer, suppression of BCAA catabolic enzyme expression led to BCAA accumulation in tumors, though this was not observed in regenerating liver tissues. The degree of enzyme suppression strongly correlated with tumor aggressiveness, and was an independent predictor of clinical outcome. Moreover, modulating BCAA accumulation regulated cancer cell proliferation in vitro, and tumor burden and overall survival in vivo. Dietary BCAA intake in humans also correlated with cancer mortality risk. In summary, loss of BCAA catabolism in tumors confers functional advantages, which could be exploited by therapeutic interventions in certain cancers

May Measurement Month 2018: a pragmatic global screening campaign to raise awareness of blood pressure by the International Society of Hypertension

Aims Raised blood pressure (BP) is the biggest contributor to mortality and disease burden worldwide and fewer than half of those with hypertension are aware of it. May Measurement Month (MMM) is a global campaign set up in 2017, to raise awareness of high BP and as a pragmatic solution to a lack of formal screening worldwide. The 2018 campaign was expanded, aiming to include more participants and countries. Methods and results Eighty-nine countries participated in MMM 2018. Volunteers (≥18 years) were recruited through opportunistic sampling at a variety of screening sites. Each participant had three BP measurements and completed a questionnaire on demographic, lifestyle, and environmental factors. Hypertension was defined as a systolic BP ≥140 mmHg or diastolic BP ≥90 mmHg, or taking antihypertensive medication. In total, 74.9% of screenees provided three BP readings. Multiple imputation using chained equations was used to impute missing readings. 1 504 963 individuals (mean age 45.3 years; 52.4% female) were screened. After multiple imputation, 502 079 (33.4%) individuals had hypertension, of whom 59.5% were aware of their diagnosis and 55.3% were taking antihypertensive medication. Of those on medication, 60.0% were controlled and of all hypertensives, 33.2% were controlled. We detected 224 285 individuals with untreated hypertension and 111 214 individuals with inadequately treated (systolic BP ≥ 140 mmHg or diastolic BP ≥ 90 mmHg) hypertension. Conclusion May Measurement Month expanded significantly compared with 2017, including more participants in more countries. The campaign identified over 335 000 adults with untreated or inadequately treated hypertension. In the absence of systematic screening programmes, MMM was effective at raising awareness at least among these individuals at risk

Waste Polyolefins to Liquid Fuels via Pyrolysis: Review of Commercial State-of-the-Art and Recent Laboratory Research

With generation of waste plastics increasing, current EU legislation dictates high recovery rates and policy favours waste management technology choices that occupy a high position on the waste management hierarchy. Pyrolysis is a thermochemical conversion technology that can be considered a 'feedstock recycling' process and may play an increasing role in integrated waste management systems of the future. The objective of this article is to present a review of current state-of-the-art commercial pyrolysis processes for the production of liquid transport fuels from waste polyolefins (polyethylenes and polypropylenes). Current plastic waste generation and management practices are briefly summarised. Waste management infrastructure in Europe is reliant on landfill, incineration and mechanical recycling, while feedstock recycling plays an insignificant role. Plastic-to-liquid platforms including delocalised pyrolysis followed by centralised upgrading, stand alone facilities, and integrated waste management infrastructure concepts are briefly discussed. Commercial operations and their process configurations are compared. Reactor technology for cracking of plastic waste is presented. Important issues like fuel quality and contamination are also discussed. Fuel finishing operations and fuel additives required to achieve an engine ready fuel are described in the final section. Recently published laboratory research in thermal and catalytic pyrolysis and integrated and co-processing studies are also summarised in this review.Science Foundation IrelandCharles Parsons Energy Research Progra

A review of recent laboratory research and commercial developments in fast pyrolysis and upgrading

Robust alternative technology choices are required in the paradigm shift from the current crude oil-reliant transport fuel platform to a sustainable, more flexible transport infrastructure. In this vein, fast pyrolysis of biomass and upgrading of the product is deemed to have potential as a technology solution. The objective of this review is to provide an update on recent laboratory research and commercial developments in fast pyrolysis and upgrading techniques. Fast pyrolysis is a relatively mature technology and is on the verge of commercialisation. While upgrading of bio-oils is currently confined to laboratory and pilot scale, an increased understanding of upgrading processes has been achieved in recent times.Science Foundation IrelandCharles Parsons Energy Research Progra

Fluidised bed pyrolysis of lignocellulosic biomasses and comparison of bio-oil and micropyrolyser pyrolysate by GC/M-FID

The fast pyrolysis of spruce (Picea abies), short rotation willow coppice (Salix alba), Miscanthus (Miscanthus x giganteus), and wheat straw (Triticum aestivum) was compared on a laboratory scale bubbling fluidized bed reactor at 460–475 °C. The presence of ash, ranging from 0.26 wt.% for spruce to 3.76 wt.% for wheat straw (moisture free basis) favoured decomposition of cell-wall constituents to char (spruce [11.4 wt.%] Salix [45.4 wt.%] > Miscanthus [37.3 wt.%] > wheat straw [37.2 wt.%]). Bio-oils from Miscanthus and wheat straw were inhomogeneous. Differences between absolute masses of compounds determined by GC/MS-FID of the bio-oils compared with Py-GC/MS-FID suggested a greater role of secondary reactions at the fluidised bed scale, with reduced concentrations of certain lignin-derived, furan and pyran compounds.Science Foundation IrelandCharles Parsons Energy Research Progra

Characterisation of spruce, salix, miscanthus and wheat straw for pyrolysis applications

This research details the characterisation of four Irish-grown lignocellulosic biomasses for pyrolysis by biomass composition analysis, TGA, and Py-GC/MS-FID. Ash content (mf) increased in the order spruce (0.26 wt.%) < salix (1.16 wt.%) < miscanthus (3.43 wt.%) < wheat straw (3.76 wt.%). Analysis of hydrolysis-derived sugar monomers showed that xylose concentrations (4.69–26.76 wt.%) ranged significantly compared to glucose concentrations (40.98–49.82 wt.%). Higher hemicellulose and ash contents probably increased non-volatile matter, and decreased the temperature of maximum degradation by TGA as well as yields of GC-detectable compounds by Py-GC/MS-FID. Differences in composition and degradation were reflected in the pyrolysate composition by lower quantities of sugars (principally levoglucosan), pyrans, and furans for salix, miscanthus, and wheat straw compared to spruce, and increased concentrations of cyclopentenones and acids.Science Foundation Irelan

The evaluation of viscosity and density of blends of Cyn-diesel pyrolysis fuel with conventional diesel fuel in relation to compliance with fuel specifications EN 590:2009

The production of synthetic fuels from alternative sources has increased in recent years as a cleaner, more sustainable source of transport fuel is now required. In response to European renewable energy targets, Ireland has committed, through the Biofuels Obligation Scheme of 2008, to producing 4% of transport fuels from biofuels by 2010 and 10% by 2020. In order to be suitable for sale in Europe, diesel fuels and biodiesels must meet certain European fuel specifications outlined in the EN 590:2004 and EN 14214:2009 standards. The aim of this project is to prepare blends of varying proportions of synthetic diesel fuel (Cyn-diesel), produced from the pyrolysis of plastic, versus regular fossil diesel. The viscosity (mm2/s) and density (kg/m3) of these blends as well as of the regular diesel fuel were analysed in relation to compliance with the European fuel standard EN 590.Science Foundation IrelandCharles Parsons Energy Research AwardAuthor has checked copyrigh