Design and Evaluation of the Corpus of Everyday Japanese Conversation

application/pdfNational Institute for Japanese Language and LinguisticsNational Institute for Japanese Language and LinguisticsGraduate School of Humanities, Chiba UniversityNational Institute for Japanese Language and LinguisticsNational Institute for Japanese Language and LinguisticsNational Institute for Japanese Language and LinguisticsNational Institute for Japanese Language and LinguisticsNational Institute for Japanese Language and LinguisticsNational Institute for Japanese Language and LinguisticsNational Institute for Japanese Language and LinguisticsNational Institute for Japanese Language and LinguisticsWe have constructed the Corpus of Everyday Japanese Conversation (CEJC) and published it in March 2022. The CEJC is designed to contain various kinds of everyday conversations in a balanced manner to capture their diversity. The CEJC features not only audio but also video data to facilitate precise understanding of the mechanism of real-life social behavior. The publication of a large-scale corpus of everyday conversations that includes video data is a new approach. The CEJC contains 200 hours of speech, 577 conversations, about 2.4 million words, and a total of 1675 conversants. In this paper, we present an overview of the corpus, including the recording method and devices, structure of the corpus, formats of video and audio files, transcription, and annotations. We then report some results of the evaluation of the CEJC in terms of conversant and conversation attributes. We show that the CEJC includes a good balance of adult conversants in terms of gender and age, as well as a variety of conversations in terms of conversation forms, places, activities, and numbers of conversants.conference pape

Evolutionary inactivation of a sialidase in group B Streptococcus

Group B Streptococcus (GBS) is a leading cause of bacterial sepsis and meningitis in newborns. GBS possesses a protein with homology to the pneumococcal virulence factor, NanA, which has neuraminidase (sialidase) activity and promotes blood-brain barrier penetration. However, phylogenetic sequence and enzymatic analyses indicate the GBS NanA ortholog has lost sialidase function – and for this distinction we designate the gene and encoded protein nonA/NonA. Here we analyze NonA function in GBS pathogenesis, and through heterologous expression of active pneumococcal NanA in GBS, potential costs of maintaining sialidase function. GBS wild-type and ΔnonA strains lack sialidase activity, but forced expression of pneumococcal NanA in GBS induced degradation of the terminal sialic acid on its exopolysaccharide capsule. Deletion of nonA did not change GBS-whole blood survival or brain microvascular cell invasion. However, forced expression of pneumococcal NanA in GBS removed terminal sialic acid residues from the bacterial capsule, restricting bacterial proliferation in human blood and in vivo upon mouse infection. GBS expressing pneumococcal NanA had increased invasion of human brain microvascular endothelial cells. Thus, we hypothesize that nonA lost enzyme activity allowing the preservation of an effective survival factor, the sialylated exopolysaccharide capsule

Conditional deletion of Npt2b in phosphate transport

Background Hyperphosphatemia is common in chronic kidney disease and is associated with morbidity and mortality. The intestinal Na+-dependent phosphate transporter Npt2b is thought to be an important molecular target for the prevention of hyperphosphatemia. The role of Npt2b in the net absorption of inorganic phosphate (Pi), however, is controversial. Methods In the present study, we made tamoxifen-inducible Npt2b conditional knockout (CKO) mice to analyze systemic Pi metabolism, including intestinal Pi absorption. Results Although the Na+-dependent Pi transport in brush-border membrane vesicle uptake levels were significantly decreased in the distal intestine of Npt2b CKO mice compared with control mice, plasma Pi and fecal Pi excretion levels were not significantly different. Data obtained using the intestinal loop technique showed that Pi uptake in Npt2b CKO mice was not affected at a Pi concentration of 4 mM, which is considered the typical luminal Pi concentration after meals in mice. Claudin, which may be involved in paracellular pathways, as well as claudin-2, 12, and 15 protein levels were significantly decreased in the Npt2b CKO mice. Thus, Npt2b deficiency did not affect Pi absorption within the range of Pi concentrations that normally occurs after meals. Conclusion These findings indicate that abnormal Pi metabolism may also be involved in tight junction molecules such as Cldns that are affected by Npt2b deficiency

ニンシン オ ケイキ ニ ジョウミャク ケッセンショウ オ ハッショウシ センテンセイ アンチトロンビンIII ケッソンショウ ト シンダン サレタ イチレイ

Congenital antithrombin III (AT III) deficiency is an inherited autosomal dominant disorder. Patients often suffer from recurrent venous thromboses that are triggered by several occasions (operation, gestation, trauma, oral contraceptive drug etc.). Moreover, 60% of them are said to be associated with pulmonary embolism. The patient of this report is 27-year-old pregnant woman in the first trimester. She felt pain in the back of her head and left auricle and presented with dyslexia and aphasia in late of March, 20XX. Getting CT brain scan, MRI brain scan, and blood sampling at the nearby hospital, she was suspected of having thrombosis of left sigmoid and transverse sinus due to AT III deficiency. Because she wanted to give birth to her first child without termination, she was referred to our hospital. We used heparin as the anticoagulant therapy because warfarin had the risk of teratogenesis. But in condition of low serum level of AT III activity, it didn’t work effectively. So we also did frequent complement of AT III. Strict anticoagulant therapy resulted in better outcome for both the patient and her baby without fatal venous thromboses or fetal complications

PCNA ubiquitylation ensures timely completion of unperturbed DNA replication in fission yeast

PCNA ubiquitylation on lysine 164 is required for DNA damage tolerance. In many organisms PCNA is also ubiquitylated in unchallenged S phase but the significance of this has not been established. Using Schizosaccharomyces pombe, we demonstrate that lysine 164 ubiquitylation of PCNA contributes to efficient DNA replication in the absence of DNA damage. Loss of PCNA ubiquitylation manifests most strongly at late replicating regions and increases the frequency of replication gaps. We show that PCNA ubiquitylation increases the proportion of chromatin associated PCNA and the co-immunoprecipitation of Polymerase δ with PCNA during unperturbed replication and propose that ubiquitylation acts to prolong the chromatin association of these replication proteins to allow the efficient completion of Okazaki fragment synthesis by mediating gap filling

Missing western half of the Pacific Plate: Geochemical nature of the Izanagi-Pacific Ridge interaction with a stationary boundary between the Indian and Pacific mantles

The source mantle of the basaltic ocean crust on the western half of the Pacific Plate was examined using Pb–Nd–Hf isotopes. The results showed that the subducted Izanagi–Pacific Ridge (IPR) formed from both Pacific (180–∼80 Ma) and Indian (∼80–70 Ma) mantles. The western Pacific Plate becomes younger westward and is thought to have formed from the IPR. The ridge was subducted along the Kurile–Japan–Nankai–Ryukyu (KJNR) Trench at 60–55 Ma and leading edge of the Pacific Plate is currently stagnated in the mantle transition zone. Conversely, the entire eastern half of the Pacific Plate, formed from isotopically distinct Pacific mantle along the East Pacific Rise and the Juan de Fuca Ridge, largely remains on the seafloor. The subducted IPR is inaccessible; therefore, questions regarding which mantle might be responsible for the formation of the western half of the Pacific Plate remain controversial. Knowing the source of the IPR basalts provides insight into the Indian–Pacific mantle boundary before the Cenozoic. Isotopic compositions of the basalts from borehole cores (165–130 Ma) in the western Pacific show that the surface oceanic crust is of Pacific mantle origin. However, the accreted ocean floor basalts (∼80–70 Ma) in the accretionary prism along the KJNR Trench have Indian mantle signatures. This indicates the younger western Pacific Plate of IPR origin formed partly from Indian mantle and that the Indian–Pacific mantle boundary has been stationary in the western Pacific at least since the Cretaceous

『日本語日常会話コーパス』設計と構築

国立国語研究所 研究系国立国語研究所 研究系 非常勤研究員国立国語研究所 研究系 非常勤研究員国立国語研究所 研究系 非常勤研究員国立国語研究所 研究系国立国語研究所 言語資源開発センター国立国語研究所 研究系 非常勤研究員千葉大学国立国語研究所 研究系 非常勤研究員国立国語研究所 研究系 技術補佐員Research Department, NINJALAdjunct Researcher, Research Department, NINJALAdjunct Researcher, Research Department, NINJALAdjunct Researcher, Research Department, NINJALResearch Department, NINJALCenter for Language Resource Development, NINJALAdjunct Researcher, Research Department, NINJALChiba UniversityAdjunct Researcher, Research Department, NINJALTechnical Assistant, Research Department, NINJAL国立国語研究所共同研究プロジェクト「大規模日常会話コーパスに基づく話し言葉の多角的研究」では，『日本語日常会話コーパス』（CEJC）の構築を進め，2022年3月に最終公開した。CEJCは，（1）日常生活で実際に交わされる会話を対象とすること，（2）多様な場面における多様な話者による会話をバランスよく格納すること，（3）映像まで含めて公開することを特徴とする。日常会話を対象とする映像付き大規模コーパスの構築は世界的に見ても新しい取り組みである。コーパスの規模は，200時間，577会話，240万語，延べ話者数1675人である。本稿では，コーパスの設計・構築について，会話の収録法や収録機器，コーパスの基本構成，公開する音声・映像データのフォーマット，転記テキスト，各種アノテーション等などの観点から概観した上で，収録データのバランスについて検証する。We have constructed the Corpus of Everyday Japanese Conversation (CEJC) and published it in March 2022. The main features of the CEJC include: i) a focus on conversations that occurred naturally in activities of daily life; ii) a balanced collection of everyday conversations that capture their diversity and facilitate the observation of natural, conversational behavior in daily life; and iii) the publication of audio and video data for a better understanding of the mechanism of real-life social behavior. The publication of a large-scale corpus of everyday conversations that includes video data is a new approach. The CEJC contains 200 hours of speech, 577 conversations, approximately 2.4 million words, and 1,675 speakers. In this paper, we describe the process involved in the design and construction of CEJC including the recording method and devices used, structure of the corpus, formats of the audio and video files, transcription, and annotations. We then examine how the conversations in the corpus were selected and compiled in a balanced manner to showcase their variety