Robust Estimation of Tone Break Indices from Speech Signal using Multi-Scale Analysis and their Applications

The aim of this study is to develop robust algorithm to automatically detect the Tone and Break Indices(ToBI) from the speech signal and explore their applications. iLAST was introduced to analyze the acoustic and prosodic features to detect the ToBI indices. Both expert and data driven rules were used to improve the robustness. The integration of multi-scale signal analysis with rule-based classification has helped in robustly identifying tones that can be used in applications, such as identifying Vowel triangle, emotions from speech etc. Empirical analyses using labeled dataset were performed to illustrate the utility of the proposed approach. Further analyses were conducted to identify the inefficiencies with the proposed approach and address those issues through co-analyses of prosodic features in identifying the major contributors to robust detection of ToBI. It was demonstrated that the proposed approach performs robustly and can be used for developing a wide variety of applications

A Clustering-Based Shifting Technique To Align Data Units In Web Data Bases

An increasing number of databases have become web available through HTML form based search interfaces. The data units return from the underlying database are repeatedly encoded into the result pages dynamically for human browsing. In this paper we present an automatic annotation approach that first line up the data units on a result page into different groups such that the data in the same group have the same semantic. Then for each group we annotate it from unlike aspects and increasing the different annotations to expect a final annotation label for it. Each basic annotator is used to create a label for the units within their group holistically and a probability model is accepted to conclude the most suitable label for each group. The rules for all aligned groups jointly form the annotation wrapper for the corresponding WDB which can be used to directly annotate the data recovered from the same WDB in reply to new queries without the need to execute the alignment and annotation phases again. As such annotation wrappers can execute annotation rapidly which is important for online applications

Scaling up index insurance for smallholder farmers: Recent evidence and insights

This report explores evidence and insights from five case studies that have made significant recent progress in addressing the challenge of insuring poor smallholder farmers and pastoralists in the developing world. In India, national index insurance programmes have reached over 30 million farmers through a mandatory link with agricultural credit and strong government support. In East Africa (Kenya, Rwanda and Tanzania), the Agriculture and Climate Risk Enterprise (ACRE) has recently scaled to reach nearly 200,000 farmers, bundling index insurance with agricultural credit and farm inputs. ACRE has built on strong partnerships with regional initiatives such as M-PESA mobile banking. In Ethiopia and Senegal, the R4 Rural Resilience Initiative has scaled unsubsidized index insurance to over 20,000 poor smallholder farmers who were previously considered uninsurable, using insurance as an integral part of a comprehensive risk management portfolio. With strong public and private sector support, the Mongolia Index-Based Livestock Insurance Project (IBLIP) insures more than 15,000 nomadic herders and links commercial insurance with a government disaster safety net. Finally, the Index-Based Livestock Insurance (IBLI) project in Kenya and Ethiopia demonstrates innovative approaches to insuring poor nomadic pastoralists in challenging circumstances. A few common features appear to have contributed to recent progress within these case studies: explicitly targeting obstacles to improving farmer income; integration of insurance with other development interventions; giving farmers a voice in the design of products; investing in local capacity; and investing in science-based index development. Evidence from these case studies can inform the ongoing debate about the viability of scaling up index-based insurance for vulnerable smallholder farmers in the developing world. The rapid progress observed in recent years suggests that index insurance has the potential to benefit smallholder farmers at a meaningful scale, and suggests the need to reassess arguments that lack of demand and practical implementation challenges prevent index-based insurance from being a useful tool to reduce rural poverty

Priprava i in vitro vrednovanje bukoadhezivnih tableta karvedilola

Buccoadhesive tablets of carvedilol were prepared using HPMC K4M, HPMC K15M and Carbopol 934 as mucoadhesive polymers. Fifteen formulations were developed with varying concentrations of polymers. Formulations of the BC or BD series were composed of HPMC K4M or HPMC K15M in ratios of 1:1 to 1:5 whereas in the BE series Carbopol 934 was used (1:0.25 to 1:1.50). The formulations were tested for in vitro drug release, in vitro bioadhesion, moisture absorption and in vitro drug permeation through porcine buccal mucosa. Formulation BC3 showed maximum release of the drug (88.7 ± 0.4%) with the Higuchi model release profile and permeated 21.5 ± 2.9% of the drug (flux 8.35 ± 0.291 µg h1cm2) permeation coefficient 1.34 ± 0.05 cm h1) through porcine buccal membrane. BC3 formulation showed 1.62 ± 0.15 N of peak detachment force and 0.24 ± 0.11 mJ of work of adhesion. FTIR results showed no evidence of interaction between the drug and polymers. XRD study revealed that the drug is in crystalline form in the polymer matrix. The results indicate that suitable bioadhesive buccal tablets with desired permeability could be prepared.Varirajući koncentracije bukoadhezivnih polimera HPMC K4M, HPMC K15M i Carbopol 934 pripravljeno je 15 tableta karvedilola. Pripravci iz serije BC ili BD izrađeni su iz karvedilola i HPMC K4 M ili HPMC K 15M u omjerima 1:1, 1:2, 1:3, 1:4 i 1:5, a pripravci iz BE serije iz karvedilola i Carbopol 934 u omjerima 1:0.25, 1:0.50, 1:0.75, 1:1.00 i 1:1.50. In vitro je ispitivana brzina oslobađanja ljekovite tvari, bioadhezija, apsorpcija vlage i permeacija kroz bukalnu membranu svinje. Iz pripravka BC3 postignuto je maksimalno oslobađanje (88,7 + 0,4 %) koje je slijedilo Higuchijev model i maksimalna permeacija 21,5 + 2,9 % (fluks 8,35 ± 0,291 µg h-1 cm-2; permeacijski koeficijent 1,34 ± 0,05 cm h-1). Sila odvajanja za taj pripravak bila je 1,62 ± 0,15 N, a adhezija 0,24 ± 0,11 mJ. FTIR ispitivanja su pokazala da nije bilo interakcija između ljekovite tvari i polimera, a XRD ispitivanja da je ljekovita tvar u kristaliničnoj formi u polimernom matriksu. Pripravljene bukalne tablete su dovoljno bioadhezivne, a permeacija iz njih je zadovoljavajuća

Risk factors and coronary angiographic profile in young STEMI patients: results from a tertiary care centre in south-central India

Background: Compared to older counterparts, a significant distinction has been found related to risk factors, clinical presentation, and prognosis of ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) in younger patients. To date, a lack of studies has been looked, specifically at-risk factors and angiographic profile of STEMI among younger patients; with this in mind, we conducted the present study.Methods: This hospital-based, cross-sectional, open-label study was carried out at Deccan College of Medical Sciences between April 2018 and December 2019. Patients under 40 years with the presentation of STEMI were included. All patients were subjected to electrocardiography, 2D echocardiography, and coronary angiogram. Baseline demographics, risk factors, and procedural characteristics were recorded.Results: Of 51 young STEMI patients, 41 (80.4%) were male and 10 (19.6%) were female. The most common risk factors associated with the development of STEMI in young patients were smoking (58.8%), followed by diabetes (45.1%), and dyslipidaemia (45.1%). Anterior wall MI was the most frequent presentation (84.3%). The left anterior descending artery was the most frequently (62.8%) involved vessel, followed by left circumflex artery (9.8%), and right coronary artery (5.9%).Conclusions: Insights gained from the study can aid in identifying clinical characteristics of STEMI in young patients, which may be beneficial to achieve appropriate and timely management. Further, the young population should be educated as to control modifiable risk factors and smoking cessation to prevent coronary artery disease since they belong to the highly productive group in the community

Synthesis of N-(3-arylprop-2-ynyl)substituted olanzapine derivatives as potential inhibitors of PDE4B

The linkage between dopamine D2 receptors and PDE activity via cAMP prompted us to design a series of novel N-(3-arylprop-2-ynyl)substituted olanzapine derivatives as potential inhibitors of PDE4B. The target compounds were conveniently prepared by using a simple and inexpensive method involving Pd/C-mediated CC bond forming reaction under Sonogashira conditions. A number of compounds were synthesized by using this strategy in good yields. Some of the compounds showed promising inhibition of PDE4B when tested in vitro that was supported by the docking studies

Design and Synthesis of Different Aryl Substituted 1,3,4-Oxadiazole-imidazo[1,5-a]pyridine Derivatives as Anticancer Agents

A new series of 1,3,4-oxadiazole incorporated imidazo[1,5-a]pyridine derivatives was prepared. Anticancer activity of all the obtained compounds was investigated by employing MTT assay. Among them, six compounds showed most prominent anticancer activity than etoposide

Socio-Demographic Patterning of Physical Activity across Migrant Groups in India: Results from the Indian Migration Study

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the relationship between rural to urban migration and physical activity (PA) in India. METHODS: 6,447 (42% women) participants comprising 2077 rural, 2,094 migrants and 2,276 urban were recruited. Total activity (MET hr/day), activity intensity (min/day), PA Level (PAL) television viewing and sleeping (min/day) were estimated and associations with migrant status examined, adjusting for the sib-pair design, age, site, occupation, education, and socio-economic position (SEP). RESULTS: Total activity was highest in rural men whereas migrant and urban men had broadly similar activity levels (p<0.001). Women showed similar patterns, but slightly lower levels of total activity. Sedentary behaviour and television viewing were lower in rural residents and similar in migrant and urban groups. Sleep duration was highest in the rural group and lowest in urban non-migrants. Migrant men had considerably lower odds of being in the highest quartile of total activity than rural men, a finding that persisted after adjustment for age, SEP and education (OR 0.53, 95% CI 0.37, 0.74). For women, odds ratios attenuated and associations were removed after adjusting for age, SEP and education. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that migrants have already acquired PA levels that closely resemble long-term urban residents. Effective public health interventions to increase PA are needed

Intelligence Service Of Web Mining With Genetic Algorithm

Abstract: The Main objective of this paper is to eliminate user uninterested rules and find the optimal patterns or association rules. Association rules are important basis of describing Web user’s behavior characteristic. Traditional algorithms of Web association rule mining, based on statistics, usually pays attention to the analysis on existing data, they can’t offer effective means and optimizing measure and cannot find out the latent and possible rules. In this paper we are proposing an efficient web association rule mining approach with Apriori algorithm and genetic algorithm features like cross over and mutation for generation of the optimal patterns. I