995 research outputs found
Letter to Sound Rules for Accented Lexicon Compression
This paper presents trainable methods for generating letter to sound rules
from a given lexicon for use in pronouncing out-of-vocabulary words and as a
method for lexicon compression.
As the relationship between a string of letters and a string of phonemes
representing its pronunciation for many languages is not trivial, we discuss
two alignment procedures, one fully automatic and one hand-seeded which produce
reasonable alignments of letters to phones.
Top Down Induction Tree models are trained on the aligned entries. We show
how combined phoneme/stress prediction is better than separate prediction
processes, and still better when including in the model the last phonemes
transcribed and part of speech information. For the lexicons we have tested,
our models have a word accuracy (including stress) of 78% for OALD, 62% for CMU
and 94% for BRULEX. The extremely high scores on the training sets allow
substantial size reductions (more than 1/20).
WWW site: http://tcts.fpms.ac.be/synthesis/mbrdicoComment: 4 pages 1 figur
The Oxygen Abundance of Nearby Galaxies from Sloan Digital Sky Survey Spectra
We have derived the oxygen abundance for a sample of nearby galaxies in the
Data Release 5 of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) which possess at least
two independent spectra of one or several HII regions with a detected
[OIII]4363 auroral line. Since, for nearby galaxies, the [OII]3727 nebular line
is out of the observed wavelength range, we propose a method to derive (O/H)_ff
abundances using the classic Te method coupled with the ff relation. (O/H)_7325
abundances have also been determined, based on the [OII]7320,7330 line
intensities, and using a small modification of the standard Te method. The
(O/H)_ff and (O/H)_7325 abundances have been derived with both the one- and
two-dimensional t_2 - t_3 relations. It was found that the (O/H)_ff abundances
derived with the parametric two-dimensional t_2 - t_3 relation are most
reliable. Oxygen abundances have been determined in 29 nearby galaxies, based
on 84 individual abundance determinations in HII regions. Because of our
selection methods, the metallicity of our galaxies lies in the narrow range 8.2
< 12 + log (O/H) < 8.4. The radial distribution of oxygen abundances in the
disk of the spiral galaxy NGC 4490 is determined for the first time.Comment: 39 pages, 10 figures, 4 tables, accepted for publication in the
Astrophysical Journa
Parental understanding of our communication of morbidity associated with paediatric cardiac surgery: a qualitative study
Background Following paediatric cardiac surgery, quality of life may be significantly impacted by morbidities associated with cardiac surgery. Parental understanding of the potential for postoperative morbidity is important for informed decision making. As part of a broader research study, we aimed to elicit parental understanding and experience of the communication of morbidities following their childâs cardiac surgery, using traditional focus groups together with an online forum.
Methods The Childrenâs Heart Federation set up and moderated a closed, anonymous online discussion group via their Facebook page, focusing on complications, information needs and methods of providing families with information. Additionally, we ran three focus groups with parents/carers, moderated by an experienced independent professional. Focus groups were recorded and transcribed and a single transcript was generated from the online forum. All transcripts were thematically analysed.
Results All data were collected in 2014. The forum ran over 3 months in 2014 and involved 72 participants. Focus groups involved 13 participants. Three broad themes were identified: (1) cliniciansâ use of language, (2) feeling unprepared for complications and (3) information needs of families.
Conclusions Cliniciansâ language is often misunderstood, with wide variability in the way morbidities are described, and between differing teams looking after the same child. Information may not be easily absorbed or retained by families, who often felt unprepared for morbidities that arose after their childâs heart surgery. Here, we propose key principles of good communication tailored to the individual receiving it
Structure and composition of the benthic macroinvertebrate community on wetland and irrigated rice cultivation.
Wetlands are environmentally and economically important ecosystems. The irrigated rice crops are considered artificial wetlands, because they offer food and refuge to different aquatic communities. The benthic macroinvertebrates are used to study environmental quality. The knowledge from the organisms which inhabit the natural and artificial wetlands can help to verify less harmful management practices in the agroecosystems. AIM: The aim of this research was to analyze and compare the benthic macroinvertebrate community from a wetland and an experimental kind of rice cultivation. METHODS: It was used dip nets 1 mm mesh every 15 days, with six repetitions in each place, from January to March 2010. After washing and screening them in the laboratory, the organisms were identified using stereoscope microscope and identification keys, and classified according to their functional trophic group. RESULTS: The whole organisms collected were 33,293 specimens. It was found 34 taxa, being 26 founded in the rice crops and 31 on the wetland. The natural wetland shows greater abundance, being responsible for 90.47% from the total abundance in this study. In the rice crop the abundance and the richness increased in the course of collection. However, it did not reach the values founded in the wetlands during the cultivation period. The most found groups in the two environmental were Belostomatidae and Planorbidae, while Hyalellidae and Elmidae were found only in the wetland, being a stress indicator in the wetland. CONCLUSIONS: The community structure including abundance, richness and composition was statistical different between wetlands and rice cultivation
Shotgun ion mobility mass spectrometry sequencing of heparan sulfate saccharides
Despite evident regulatory roles of heparan sulfate (HS) saccharides in numerous biological processes, definitive information on the bioactive sequences of these polymers is lacking, with only a handful of natural structures sequenced to date. Here, we develop a âShotgunâ Ion Mobility Mass Spectrometry Sequencing (SIMMS2) method in which intact HS saccharides are dissociated in an ion mobility mass spectrometer and collision cross section values of fragments measured. Matching of data for intact and fragment ions against known values for 36 fully defined HS saccharide structures (from di- to decasaccharides) permits unambiguous sequence determination of validated standards and unknown natural saccharides, notably including variants with 3O-sulfate groups. SIMMS2 analysis of two fibroblast growth factor-inhibiting hexasaccharides identified from a HS oligosaccharide library screen demonstrates that the approach allows elucidation of structure-activity relationships. SIMMS2 thus overcomes the bottleneck for decoding the informational content of functional HS motifs which is crucial for their future biomedical exploitation
Ca II Triplet Spectroscopy of Giants in SMC Star Clusters: Abundances, Velocities and the Age-Metallicity Relation
We have obtained spectra at the Ca II triplet of individual red giants in
seven SMC star clusters whose ages range from ~4 to 12 Gyr. The spectra have
been used to determine mean abundances for six of the star clusters to a
typical precision of 0.12 dex. When combined with existing data for other
objects, the resulting SMC age-metallicity relation is generally consistent
with that for a simple model of chemical evolution, scaled to the present-day
SMC mean abundance and gas mass fraction. Two of the clusters (Lindsay 113 and
NGC 339), however, have abundances that ~0.5 dex lower than that expected from
the mean age-metallicity relation. It is suggested that the formation of these
clusters, which have ages of ~5 Gyr, may have involved the infall of uneriched
gas, perhaps from the Magellanic Stream. The spectra also yield radial
velocities for the seven clusters. The resulting velocity dispersion is 16 +/-
4 km/sec, consistent with those of the SMC planetary nebula and carbon star
populations.Comment: 28 pages including 4 figure
Observational Constraints to the Evolution of Massive Stars
We consider some aspects of the evolution of massive stars which can only be
elucidated by means of "indirect" observations, i.e. measurements of the
effects of massive stars on their environments. We discuss in detail the early
evolution of massive stars formed in high metallicity regions as inferred from
studies of HII regions in external galaxies.Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure; Invited Paper presented at the Roma-Trieste
Workshop 1999 "The Chemical Evolution of the Milky Way: Stars versus
Clusters", Vulcano Island (ME, Italy), 20-24 September, 1999, eds. F.
Giovannelli & F. Matteucci, Kluwer-Holland (in press
Oxygen and nitrogen abundances of HII regions in six spiral galaxies
Spectroscopic observations of 63 HII regions in six spiral galaxies (NGC 628,
NGC 783, NGC 2336, NGC 6217, NGC 7331, and NGC 7678) were carried out with the
6-meter telescope (BTA) of Russian Special Astrophysical Observatory with the
Spectral Camera attached to the focal reducer SCORPIO in the multislit mode
with a dispersion of 2.1A/pixel and a spectral resolution of 10A. These
observations were used to estimate the oxygen and nitrogen abundances and the
electron temperatures in HII regions through the recent variant of the strong
line method (NS calibration). The parameters of the radial distribution (the
extrapolated central intercept value and the gradient) of the oxygen and
nitrogen abundances in the disks of spiral galaxies NGC 628, NGC 783, NGC 2336,
NGC 7331, and NGC 7678 have been determined. The abundances in the NGC 783, NGC
2336, NGC 6217, and NGC 7678 are measured for the first time. Galaxies from our
sample follow well the general trend in the luminosity - central metallicity
diagram for spiral and irregular galaxies.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures, 6 tables. Accepted for publication in MNRA
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