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Recent research on end-to-end training structures for language identification has raised the possibility that intermediate language-sensitive feature units exist which are analogous to phonetically sensitive senones in automatic speech recognition systems. Termed language identification (LID)-senones, the statistics derived from these feature units have been shown to be beneficial in discriminating between languages, particularly for short utterances. This paper examines the evidence for the existence of LID-senones before designing and evaluating LID systems based on low- and high-level statistics of LID-senones with both generative and discriminative models. For the standard NIST LRE 2009 task on 23 languages, LID-senone-based systems are shown to outperform state-of-the-art deep neural network/i-vector methods both when LID-senones are used directly for classification and when LID-senone statistics are used for i-vector formation.

The spatial and temporal variations of some important near-surface climate parameters and extreme climate events in North China during 1961–2010 are analyzed by using 94 meteorological stations’ data in the study area. Results show that the annual mean surface air temperature in North China increased at the rate of 0.36°C per decade, higher than the national average in the same period. Increasing was particularly significant since the mid-1980s, with maximum increase in the middle and northeastern parts of Inner Mongolia. Increasing rate of the annual mean minimum temperature is much higher than that of the maximum temperature, which results in the decrease of the annual mean diurnal temperature range. Noticeable decrease is also observed in the frequency of cold wave. Annual precipitation shows a slight decreasing trend, with more pronounced decrease in southern Shanxi and eastern Hebei provinces, which is mainly represented as decreasing in contribution rates of rainstorm and heavy storm in flood-season (May to September). During 1961–2010, North China is characterized by a noticeable reduction in annual extreme precipitation, and an increase in high-temperature days over most parts, as well as more frequent droughts. There are remarkable reductions in annual sunshine duration and mean wind speed, associated with the most significant reduction of mean wind speed in midwestern and eastern parts of Inner Mongolia. Meanwhile, North China has experienced a noticeable decrease/increase in annual mean sanddust/haze days during the study period. However, there is no significant trend in fog days, except a pronounced decrease since the 1990s.

Co-seismic displacements associated with the Mw9. 0 earthquake on March 11, 2011 in Japan are numerically simulated on the basis of a finite-fault dislocation model with PSGRN/PSCMP software. Compared with the inland GPS observation, 90% of the computed eastward, northward and vertical displacements have residuals less than 0.10 m, suggesting that the simulated results can be, to certain extent, used to demonstrate the co-seismic deformation in the near field. In this model, the maximum eastward displacement increases from 6 m along the coast to 30 m near the epicenter, where the maximum southward displacement is 13 m. The three-dimensional display shows that the vertical displacement reaches a maximum uplift of 14.3 m, which is comparable to the tsunami height in the near-trench region. The maximum subsidence is 5.3 m.

Standard & Poor's NetAdvantage and Mergent Online are two well-known and respected business databases. In this review, a comparison between the two highlights the advantages of one over the other in content, user interface, searchability, and functions. The review focuses on public and private company data, industry information, ranking and ratings on financial instruments, and analytical tools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Exposure to high +Gz acceleration forces on a centrifuge or in an aircraft can severely decrease cerebral blood perfusion and cause rapid C-induced loss of consciousness. However, milder acceleration may gradually reduce cerebral blood flow and affect cognitive function in subtler ways. This study used lower body negative pressure (LBNP) to mimic +Gz circulatory effects in order to study cerebral hemodynamics and brain function. Methods: Subjects were 15 healthy men, 19-21 yr of age. They were exposed to LBNP at two levels for 5 mm each separated by a 1 0-mm recovery period. The conditions were low (LO), -4.00 kPa (-30 mmHg) and high (HI), -6.67 kPa (-50 mmHg). Variables measured before, during, and after LBNP included cerebral blood flow velocity (CBFV) in the middle cerebral artery, blood oxygen saturation (SaO2), heart rate (HR), blood pressure, P300 of event-related EEC potentials, reaction time, and tracking error. Results: LO significantly reduced CBFV at 4 and 5 mm, increased HR, and decreased the amplitude of P300, but none of the other variables changed from baseline. In contrast, HI produced significant changes in most variables: CBFV decreased at 2 mm and then fell further at 4 and 5 mm, HR increased, and SaO2 decreased. Significant neurocognitive changes included increased latency and reduced amplitude of P300, slower reaction time, and greater tracking error. Conclusion: The higher level of LBNP used here reduced cerebral perfusion sufficiently to impair neurocognitive function. This model may be useful for further studies of these and other variables under closely controlled conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on a study to determine whether the expression of the key components of vascular renin-angiotensin system (RAS), angiotensinogen (Ao), and angiotensin II receptor type 1 (AT1R) are differentially regulated in femoral and cerebral arteries during simulated microgravity. The results show that a mid-term microgravity might increase or decrease the gene and protein expressions of Ao and AT1R in the cerebral and femoral arteries of rats.

MgxZn1?xO thin films have been prepared on silicon substrates by radio frequency magnetron sputtering at 60°C. The thin films have hexagonal wurtzite single-phase structure and a preferred orientation with the c-axis perpendicular to the substrates. The refractive indices of MgxZn1?xO films are studied at room temperature by spectroscopic ellipsometry over the wavelength range of 400-760 nm at the incident angle of 70°. Both absorption coefficients and optical band gaps of MgxZn1?xO films are determined by the transmittance spectra. While Mg content is increasing, the absorption edges of MgxZn1?xO films shift to higher energies and band gaps linearly increase from 3.24. eV at x=0 to 3.90 eV at x=0.30. These results provide important information for the design and modelling of ZnO/ MgxZn1?xO heterostructure optoelectronic devices.

Abstract In order to constrain the crustal wave velocity structure in the southern Tibetan crust and provide insight into the contribution of crustal composition, geothermal gradient and partial melting to the velocity structure, which is characterized by low average crustal velocities and widespread presence of low‐velocity zone(s), the authors model the crustal velocity and density as functions of depth corresponding to various heat flow values in light of velocity measurements at high temperature and high pressure. The modeled velocity and density are regarded as comparison standards. The comparison of the standards with seismic observations in southern Tibet implies that the predominantly felsic composition at high heat flow cannot explain the observed velocity structure there. Hence, the authors are in favor of attributing low average crustal velocities and low‐velocity zone(s) observed in southern Tibet mainly to partial melting. Modeling based on the experimental results suggests that a melting percentage of 7–12 could account for the low‐velocity zone(s).

Undoped and Aluminium-doped Zinc oxide films have been prepared by thermal evaporation of zinc acetate (Zn(CH3COO)2·2H2O] and aluminium chloride (AlCl3) onto a heated glass substrate. The structural, optical and electrical properties of the films have been studied. The effects of heat treatment for the as-deposited films in air and vacuum are investigated. Over 80% transmittance films with conductivity as low as 2×10−3Ω cm can be produced by controlling the deposition parameters. The electron carrier densities are in the range 0.2–7×1019cm−3with mobilities of 22–58 cm2/Vs.