Meta-Learning for Phonemic Annotation of Corpora

We apply rule induction, classifier combination and meta-learning (stacked classifiers) to the problem of bootstrapping high accuracy automatic annotation of corpora with pronunciation information. The task we address in this paper consists of generating phonemic representations reflecting the Flemish and Dutch pronunciations of a word on the basis of its orthographic representation (which in turn is based on the actual speech recordings). We compare several possible approaches to achieve the text-to-pronunciation mapping task: memory-based learning, transformation-based learning, rule induction, maximum entropy modeling, combination of classifiers in stacked learning, and stacking of meta-learners. We are interested both in optimal accuracy and in obtaining insight into the linguistic regularities involved. As far as accuracy is concerned, an already high accuracy level (93% for Celex and 86% for Fonilex at word level) for single classifiers is boosted significantly with additional error reductions of 31% and 38% respectively using combination of classifiers, and a further 5% using combination of meta-learners, bringing overall word level accuracy to 96% for the Dutch variant and 92% for the Flemish variant. We also show that the application of machine learning methods indeed leads to increased insight into the linguistic regularities determining the variation between the two pronunciation variants studied.Comment: 8 page

Design and Implementation of Fortran-terp Interpreter

Development of an Interpreter called Portran-Terp. Fortran-Terp is bersifatrCompatible with Fortran programs written in means-Terp Fortran can be compiledwith a Fortran compiler without changes or with minimal changes.Development of an Interpreter requires good planning and structured. Each section /sub-systems in the implementation of an interpreter may be one or several ways

Karakteristik Morfologi Ular Familia Elapidae Di Kampus Universitas Andalas Limau Manih Padang

Research on the Snakes Morphological Characteristics on Campus of Andalas University Limau Manih had been done. The research was conducted using survey method and Dissemination of Information to Public accompanied by morphometric measurements and descriptions. The results of the research that had been done caught 2 species that consist of one family namely Elapidae. This family is refer to snakes which has neurotoxin venom glands, no loreal scalation, and mostly teresterial. Maticora bivirgata flaviceps (Cantor, 1839) which has no loreal scale, red coloration on tail, and head; Naja sumatrana Mȕller, 1887 which has no loreal scale, black coloration with yellow coloration on it's hood, and yelowish head

The Impact of Liquidity, Profitability and Activity Ratio to the Probability of Default for Banking Companies Listed in Indonesia Stock Exchanges for the Period 2006 to 2012

The purposes of this study is to examine the probability of default for banking companies listed in Indonesian Stock Exchange (IDX) for the period from 2006 to 2012. A high probability of default in the future have worried the companies and public. Therefore several urgent and important actions need to be taken to improve the performance of these listed companies. Several measures which might be related to performance could be liquidity, profitability and activity ratio to examine the performance of these companies.The population of this study is all the banking companies listed in IDX for the period of 2006 until 2012. To evaluate banksâ probability of default, we use some sample of banks by using Altmanâs approach. The result shows Altmanâs Z score ratio for almost banks in A category still have ratio under 1.11. Bank that has Z-Score </= 1.11 indicate that the bank in A category are in financial distress and has high risk. This study shows that the Z-Score of the companies doesnât always indicate about the existence of the companiesconsistenly

Preparation and characterization of in situ polymerized cyclic butylene terephthalate/graphene nanocomposites

Graphene reinforced cyclic butylene terephthalate (CBT) matrix nanocomposites were prepared and characterized by mechanical and thermal methods. These nanocomposites containing different amounts of graphene (up to 5 wt%) were prepared by melt mixing with CBT that was polymerized in situ during a subsequent hot pressing. The nanocomposites and the neat polymerized CBT (pCBT) as reference material were subjected to differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), dynamical mechanical analysis (DMA), thermogravimetrical analysis (TGA) and heat conductivity measurements. The dispersion of the grapheme nanoplatelets was characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). It was established that the partly exfoliated graphene worked as nucleating agent for crystallization, acted as very efficient reinforcing agent (the storage modulus at room temperature was increased by 39 and 89% by incorporating 1 and 5 wt.% graphene, respectively). Graphene incorporation markedly enhanced the heat conductivity but did not influence the TGA behaviour due to the not proper exfoliation except the ash content

Uji Efektivitas Ekstrak Buah Kurma (Phoenix Dactylifera) dan Ekstrak Buah Mahkota Dewa (Phaleria Macrocarpa) dari Pemeriksaan SGOT dan SGPT terhadap Tikus yang di Induksi Paracetamol

Banyak obat yang telah dilaporkan dapat menyebabkan hepatotoksisitas, salah satunya adalah parasetamol.  Hepatotoksisitas dapat dicegah dengan pemberian agen hepatoprotektif. Berdasarkan hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa ekstrak buah mahkota dewa dan ekstrak buah kurma memiliki efektivitas sebagai hepatoprotektor. Hepatotoksisitas parasetamol pada manusia dapat terjadi setelah penggunaan dosis tunggal 10-15 gram. Mekanisme hepatotoksik parasetamol berkaitan dengan penurunan kadar glutanin hati akibat metabolit parasetamol yaitu N-Acetyl-p-Benzoquinoneimine (NAPQI) yang merupakan metabolit reaktif dari parasetamol yang bersifat toksik pada hati

A note on conformal symmetry in projective superspace

We describe a sufficient condition for actions constructed in projective superspace to possess an SU(2) R-symmetry. We check directly that this condition implies that the corresponding hyperkahler varieties, constructed by means of the generalized Legendre transform, have a Swann bundle structure.Comment: 21 pages, added reference

Mitochondrial Rejuvenation After Induced Pluripotency

Background: As stem cells of the early embryo mature and differentiate into all tissues, the mitochondrial complement undergoes dramatic functional improvement. Mitochondrial activity is low to minimize generation of DNA-damaging reactive oxygen species during pre-implantation development and increases following implantation and differentiation to meet higher metabolic demands. It has recently been reported that when the stem cell type known as induced pluripotent stem cells (IPSCs) are re-differentiated for several weeks in vitro, the mitochondrial complement progressively re-acquires properties approximating input fibroblasts, suggesting that despite the observation that IPSC conversion ‘‘resets’ ’ some parameters of cellular aging such as telomere length, it may have little impact on other age-affected cellular systems such as mitochondria in IPSC-derived cells. Methodology/Principal Findings: We have examined the properties of mitochondria in two fibroblast lines, corresponding IPSCs, and fibroblasts re-derived from IPSCs using biochemical methods and electron microscopy, and found a dramatic improvement in the quality and function of the mitochondrial complement of the re-derived fibroblasts compared to input fibroblasts. This observation likely stems from two aspects of our experimental design: 1) that the input cell lines used were of advanced cellular age and contained an inefficient mitochondrial complement, and 2) the re-derived fibroblasts were produced using an extensive differentiation regimen that may more closely mimic the degree of growth and maturatio

Principles of meiotic chromosome assembly revealed in S. cerevisiae

During meiotic prophase, chromosomes organise into a series of chromatin loops emanating from a proteinaceous axis, but the mechanisms of assembly remain unclear. Here we use Saccharomyces cerevisiae to explore how this elaborate three-dimensional chromosome organisation is linked to genomic sequence. As cells enter meiosis, we observe that strong cohesin-dependent grid-like Hi-C interaction patterns emerge, reminiscent of mammalian interphase organisation, but with distinct regulation. Meiotic patterns agree with simulations of loop extrusion with growth limited by barriers, in which a heterogeneous population of expanding loops develop along the chromosome. Importantly, CTCF, the factor that imposes similar features in mammalian interphase, is absent in S. cerevisiae, suggesting alternative mechanisms of barrier formation. While grid-like interactions emerge independently of meiotic chromosome synapsis, synapsis itself generates additional compaction that matures differentially according to telomere proximity and chromosome size. Collectively, our results elucidate fundamental principles of chromosome assembly and demonstrate the essential role of cohesin within this evolutionarily conserved process

From Nonspecific DNA–Protein Encounter Complexes to the Prediction of DNA–Protein Interactions

©2009 Gao, Skolnick. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000341DNA–protein interactions are involved in many essential biological activities. Because there is no simple mapping code between DNA base pairs and protein amino acids, the prediction of DNA–protein interactions is a challenging problem. Here, we present a novel computational approach for predicting DNA-binding protein residues and DNA–protein interaction modes without knowing its specific DNA target sequence. Given the structure of a DNA-binding protein, the method first generates an ensemble of complex structures obtained by rigid-body docking with a nonspecific canonical B-DNA. Representative models are subsequently selected through clustering and ranking by their DNA–protein interfacial energy. Analysis of these encounter complex models suggests that the recognition sites for specific DNA binding are usually favorable interaction sites for the nonspecific DNA probe and that nonspecific DNA–protein interaction modes exhibit some similarity to specific DNA–protein binding modes. Although the method requires as input the knowledge that the protein binds DNA, in benchmark tests, it achieves better performance in identifying DNA-binding sites than three previously established methods, which are based on sophisticated machine-learning techniques. We further apply our method to protein structures predicted through modeling and demonstrate that our method performs satisfactorily on protein models whose root-mean-square Ca deviation from native is up to 5 Å from their native structures. This study provides valuable structural insights into how a specific DNA-binding protein interacts with a nonspecific DNA sequence. The similarity between the specific DNA–protein interaction mode and nonspecific interaction modes may reflect an important sampling step in search of its specific DNA targets by a DNA-binding protein