Towards glottal source controllability in expressive speech synthesis

In order to obtain more human like sounding humanmachine interfaces we must first be able to give them expressive capabilities in the way of emotional and stylistic features so as to closely adequate them to the intended task. If we want to replicate those features it is not enough to merely replicate the prosodic information of fundamental frequency and speaking rhythm. The proposed additional layer is the modification of the glottal model, for which we make use of the GlottHMM parameters. This paper analyzes the viability of such an approach by verifying that the expressive nuances are captured by the aforementioned features, obtaining 95% recognition rates on styled speaking and 82% on emotional speech. Then we evaluate the effect of speaker bias and recording environment on the source modeling in order to quantify possible problems when analyzing multi-speaker databases. Finally we propose a speaking styles separation for Spanish based on prosodic features and check its perceptual significance.

Expression of the fms-like tyrosine kinase 4 gene becomes restricted to lymphatic endothelium during development.

We have recently cloned the human fms-like tyrosine kinase 4 gene FLT4, whose protein product is related to two vascular endothelial growth factor receptors FLT1 and KDR/FLK1. Here the expression of FLT4 has been analyzed by in situ hybridization during mouse embryogenesis and in adult human tissues. The FLT4 mRNA signals first became detectable in the angioblasts of head mesenchyme, the cardinal vein, and extraembryonally in the allantois of 8.5-day postcoitus (p.c.) embryos. In 12.5-day p.c. embryos, the FLT4 signal decorated developing venous and presumptive lymphatic endothelia, but arterial endothelia were negative. During later stages of development, FLT4 mRNA became restricted to vascular plexuses devoid of red cells, representing developing lymphatic vessels. Only the lymphatic endothelia and some high endothelial venules expressed FLT4 mRNA in adult human tissues. Increased expression occurred in lymphatic sinuses in metastatic lymph nodes and in lymphangioma. Our results suggest that FLT4 is a marker for lymphatic vessels and some high endothelial venules in human adult tissues. They also support the theory on the venous origin of lymphatic vessels.

Clathrin isoform CHC22, a component of neuromuscular and myotendinous junctions, binds sorting nexin 5 and has increased expression during myogenesis and muscle regeneration

The muscle isoform. of clathrin heavy chain, CHC22, has 85% sequence identity to the ubiquitously expressed CHC17, yet its expression pattern and function appear to be distinct from those of well-characterized clathrin-coated vesicles. In mature muscle CHC22 is preferentially concentrated at neuromuscular and myotendinous junctions, suggesting a role at sarcolemmal contacts with extracellular matrix. During myoblast differentiation, CHC22 expression is increased, initially localized with desmin and nestin and then preferentially segregated to the poles of fused myoblasts. CHC22 expression is also increased in regenerating muscle fibers with the same time course as embryonic myosin, indicating a role in muscle repair. CHC22 binds to sorting nexin 5 through a coiled-coil domain present in both partners, which is absent in CHC17 and coincides with the region on CHC17 that binds the regulatory light-chain subunit. These differential binding data suggest a mechanism for the distinct functions of CHC22 relative to CHC17 in membrane traffic during muscle development, repair, and at neuromuscular and myotendinous junctions.

Processing of English words with fine acoustic contrasts and simple tones: A mismatch negativity study

The purpose of this study was to compare the robustness of the event-related potential (ERP) response, called the mismatch negativity (MMN), when elicited by simple tone stimuli (differing in frequency, duration, or intensity) and speech stimuli (CV nonword contrast /de:/ vs. /ge:/ and CV word contrast /deI/ vs. /geI/). The study was conducted using 30 young adult subjects (Groups A and B; n = 15 each). The speech stimuli were presented to Group A at a stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) of 610 msec and to Group B at an SOA of 900 msec. The tone stimuli were presented to both groups at an SOA of 610 msec. MMN responses were elicited by the simple tone stimuli (66.7%-96.7% of subjects with MMN "present," or significantly different from zero, p < 0.05) but not the speech stimuli (10% subjects with MMN present for nonwords, 10% for words). The length of the SOA (610 msec or 900 msec) had no effect on the ability to obtain consistent MMN responses to the speech stimuli. The results indicated a lack of robust MMN elicited by speech stimuli with fine acoustic contrasts under carefully controlled methodological conditions. The implications of these results are discussed in relation to conflicting reports in the literature of speech-elicited MMNs, and the importance of appropriate methodological design in MMN studies investigating speech processing in normal and pathological populations.

Oxidized phospholipids:their properties and interactions with proteins

Lipids are a highly diverse class of biomolecules, with an average eukaryotic cell estimated as containing at least 100,000 different species. The significance of this diversity is still poorly understood, yet it has become clear that lipids have critical regulatory as well as structural roles, varying from signaling (e.g. phosphatidylinositols, prostaglandins, platelet activating factor, ceramide) to the control of permeability properties of skin, for instance. An unprecedented discovery from recent efforts in lipidomics, aimed at the elucidation of the functional roles of lipids in cells, was the key role for lipid oxidation in cell behavior and pathology. More specifically, oxidized phospholipids (oxPL) have been shown to increase significantly in apoptosis as well as in inflammation and to be involved in several pathological conditions, such as atherosclerosis, cancer, inflammation, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, as well as type 2 diabetes, with the detailed mechanisms remaining to be established. However, a coherent overall view of the causalities and mechanisms has been lacking, mainly because of insufficient understanding of the cellular as well as molecular level mechanisms. This Special Issue represents a focused, integrated interdisciplinary approach summarizing very recent leading edge developments in this emerging field with emphasis on lipid–protein interactions. The data now becoming available are paving the way to the development of improved diagnostics, therapies and preventive measures to combat the above diseases.

Genetic analysis of dyslexia candidate genes in the European cross-linguistic NeuroDys cohort

Dyslexia is one of the most common childhood disorders with a prevalence of around 5-10% in school-age children. Although an important genetic component is known to have a role in the aetiology of dyslexia, we are far from understanding the molecular mechanisms leading to the disorder. Several candidate genes have been implicated in dyslexia, including DYX1C1, DCDC2, KIAA0319, and the MRPL19/C2ORF3 locus, each with reports of both positive and no replications. We generated a European cross-linguistic sample of school-age children-the NeuroDys cohort-that includes more than 900 individuals with dyslexia, sampled with homogenous inclusion criteria across eight European countries, and a comparable number of controls. Here, we describe association analysis of the dyslexia candidate genes/locus in the NeuroDys cohort. We performed both case-control and quantitative association analyses of single markers and haplotypes previously reported to be dyslexia-associated. Although we observed association signals in samples from single countries, we did not find any marker or haplotype that was significantly associated with either case-control status or quantitative measurements of word-reading or spelling in the meta-analysis of all eight countries combined. Like in other neurocognitive disorders, our findings underline the need for larger sample sizes to validate possibly weak genetic effects. © 2014 Macmillan Publishers Limited All rights reserved.

An unsupervised Bayesian modelling approach to storyline detection from news articles

Storyline detection from news articles aims at summarizing events described under a certain news topic and revealing how those events evolve over time. It is a difficult task because it requires first the detection of events from news articles published in different time periods and then the construction of storylines by linking events into coherent news stories. Moreover, each storyline has different hierarchical structures which are dependent across epochs. Existing approaches often ignore the dependency of hierarchical structures in storyline generation. In this paper, we propose an unsupervised Bayesian model, called dynamic storyline detection model, to extract structured representations and evolution patterns of storylines. The proposed model is evaluated on a large scale news corpus. Experimental results show that our proposed model outperforms several baseline approaches.

Fiction and reality in "The Kindly Ones" of Jonathan Littell

This paper studies the novel The Kindly Ones, whose main plot charts the anguished memories of a Nazi officer. The reader of this novel is plunged into the harshest atrocities of the Holocaust and WWII, as these are recounted by a perverse conscience who is unmoved by the most terrible actions. Fiction and reality are contrasted in the novel against the framework of history writing and the subsequent debates sparked by historical elaboration. This novel perceptively captures historical truth, thus calling for critical attention upon the collective responsibility which will prevent the repetition of events.

Exploring molecular variation in Schistosoma japonicum in China

Schistosomiasis is a neglected tropical disease that affects more than 200 million people worldwide. The main disease-causing agents, Schistosoma japonicum, S. mansoni and S. haematobium, are blood flukes that have complex life cycles involving a snail intermediate host. In Asia, S. japonicum causes hepatointestinal disease (schistosomiasis japonica) and is challenging to control due to a broad distribution of its snail hosts and range of animal reservoir hosts. In China, extensive efforts have been underway to control this parasite, but genetic variability in S. japonicum populations could represent an obstacle to eliminating schistosomiasis japonica. Although a draft genome sequence is available for S. japonicum, there has been no previous study of molecular variation in this parasite on a genome-wide scale. In this study, we conducted the first deep genomic exploration of seven S. japonicum populations from mainland China, constructed phylogenies using mitochondrial and nuclear genomic data sets, and established considerable variation between some of the populations in genes inferred to be linked to key cellular processes and/or pathogen-host interactions. Based on the findings from this study, we propose that verifying intraspecific conservation in vaccine or drug target candidates is an important first step toward developing effective vaccines and chemotherapies against schistosomiasis.

Musings of a private research funder on scholarly journals in Finland

Presentation at the seminar "Publishers and Funders for OA in Finland", Helsinki, May 24, 2016

Ylivelkaisen keskustapuolueen rakennushanke Itä-Pasilassa vuosina 1972–1984. Kiinteistö Oy Ratamestarinkatu 9 – Keskustapuolueen puoluetoimistosta Helsingin hovioikeudeksi.

Tämän tutkimuksen aiheena on keskustapuolueen ja sen läheisjärjestöjen pimeä puoluerahoitus ja poliittinen korruptio, joka on osa keskustapuolueen, julkishallinnon, poliisi- ja oikeuslaitoksen, lehdistön ja talouselämän yhteistoimintaa vuosina 1972–1984. Keskustapuolue oli ajanjakson valtapuolue Suomessa, jonka valta ja kyky ohjata yhteiskuntaa olivat suljetussa sääntelytaloudessa suuri. Tutkimuksen pääkysymyksenä on keskustapuolueen puoluerahoitus ja sen hankintatavat. Tutkimuksessa on tutkittu keskustapuolueen taloudelliset kytkennät ja varainhankintamenetelmät vuosina 1972–1984. Tutkimuksessa selvitetään keskustapuolueen yritys rakentaa taloutensa vahvistamiseksi puoluetalo- ja liikekiinteistö Helsingin Itä-Pasilaan vuosina 1972–1984. Keskustapuolue ja sen pääomistama Kiinteistö Oy Ratamestarinkatu 9 eivät pystyneet lukuisista yrityksistä huolimatta viemään rakennushanketta loppuun saakka, vaan rakennushankkeen toteutti Osuuspankin omistama rakennusliike Otto Wuorio Oy, joka möi ja vuokrasi talon valtiolle. Valtio rakennutti vuosina 1982–1984 Helsingin hovioikeuden tilat ja vuokratilat valtion virastoille kyseiselle tontille. Keskustapuolue maksatti epäonnistuneen talohankkeensa miljoonavelat veronmaksajilla. Tutkimusmetodina on historiallinen kerronta, jossa päälähteenä on käytetty Kiinteistö Oy Ratamestarinkatu 9:n rakennushankemateriaalia, keskustapuolueen puoluehallituksen ja sen työvaliokunnan pöytäkirjoja, keskustapuolueen kirjanpitoa, rakennushallituksen pöytäkirja-aineistoa, Helsingin raastuvan- ja hovioikeuden aineistoa, korkeimman oikeuden aineistoa ja Helsingin hovioikeuden toimintaan liittyviä muistelmateoksia. Tutkimus kertoo mitä tapahtui ja miksi. Tämä tutkimus on ensimmäisiä tutkimuksia suomalaisessa puoluehistoriatutkimuksessa, mikä todistaa, että poliittinen korruptio oli osa suomalaista päätöksentekoa 1970-ja 1980-luvulla. Poliittinen korruptio kosketti poliittista päätöksentekoa, rakennusalaa, valtion hallintoa ja oikeuslaitosta. Helsingin hovioikeuden talo, Ratamestarinkatu 9, rakennettiin osana poliittista korruptiota.