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This article aims to provide a deeper understanding of the automatic subtitling tools that are currently being used and of their context of application. Based on the assumption that AVT, in general, and subtitling, in particular, are undergoing fundamental changes, it is our aim to analyse the range of tools that allow AVT translators to enhance their productivity and their efficiency. For this purpose, we have analysed 40 different automatic subtitling tools, currently available and accessible on Internet. Through this analysis, it has been possible to observe the main features of these tools and observe their functioning. Therefore, different criteria have been established in order to systemize this extensive inventory based on which 23 categories of software dedicated to automatic subtitling have been identified. These categories have been illustrated with examples. In this study, the aim is to provide a more accurate and more systematic understanding of automated subtitling programs. The paper is addressed to AVT professionals as well as to teachers and students having an interest in the state-of-the-art of automated subtitling.

Between 2016 and 2019, the European Union funded the development and testing of a system called “iBorderCtrl”, which aims to help detect illegal migration. Part of iBorderCtrl is an automatic deception detection system (ADDS): Using artificial intelligence, ADDS is designed to calculate the probability of deception by analyzing subtle facial expressions to support the decision-making of border guards. This text explains the operating principle of ADDS and its theoretical foundations. Against this background, possible deficits in the justification of the use of this system are pointed out. Finally, based on empirical findings, potential societal ramifications of an unjustified use of ADDS are discussed.

Recording and transcribing interviews in qualitative social research is a vital but time-consuming and resource-intensive task. To tackle this challenge, researchers have explored various alternative approaches; automatic transcription utilising speech recognition algorithms has emerged as a promising solution. The question of whether automated transcripts can match the quality of transcripts produced by humans remains unanswered. In this paper we systematically compare multiple automatic transcription tools: Amberscript, Dragon, F4x, Happy Scribe, NVivo, Sonix, Trint, Otter, and Whisper. We evaluate aspects of data protection, accuracy, time efficiency, and costs for an English and a German interview. Based on the analysis, we conclude that Whisper performs best overall and that similar local-automatic transcription tools are likely to become more relevant. For any type of transcription, we recommend reviewing the text to ensure accuracy. We hope to shed light on the effectiveness of automatic transcription services and provide a comparative frame for others interested in automatic transcription.

The current paper aims to analyse the main features and the limitations of the online automatic subtitling platforms. Based on different applications such as: video-to-text transcription programs, machine translation programs, and text segmenters, automatic subtitling involves a complex workflow and is meant to enhance the productivity of the professional subtitler. There are very few studies about the online subtitling platforms, therefore, the analysis we carried on will provide comprehensive empirical data and will contribute to a better knowledge of these innovative systems.

Copyright of Automatisierungstechnik is the property of De Gruyter and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The so-called ‘mismatch’ is a factor which experts in the forensic voice comparison field encounter regularly. Therefore, we decided to explore to what extent the automatic-speaker-recognition system’s and the earwitness’ ability to identify speakers is influenced when recordings are acquired in different languages and at different times. 100 voices in a database of 300 recordings (100 speakers recorded in three mutually mismatched sessions) were compared with an automatic-speaker-recognition software VOCALISE based on i-vectors and x-vectors, and by 39 respondents in simulated voice parades. Both the automatic and perceptual approach seem to have yielded similar results in that the less complex the mismatch type, the more successful the identification. The results point to the superiority of the x-vector approach, and also to varying identification abilities of listeners.

Automatic inspection of castings with X-rays (radiographic and computed tomography) is widespread for parts that are relevant for safety or have high quality requirements. Examples in the automotive sector are aluminum wheels, chassis parts and new parts within the electric power train. Those parts are automatically inspected, which means that both the image acquisition and the evaluation of the images is done fully automatically. Today, in most industrial implementations, the generated data with a size up to several gigabytes per part is summarized to a simple good or bad decision, according to specification. All other data is dismissed, although this information can be valuable to optimize production processes and thus minimize rejects. This contribution gives an overview about the results of the project Cast Control, which is a collaboration of Fraunhofer Development Center for X-ray Technology EZRT, Fraunhofer Center for Applied Research on Supply Chain Services SCS and industry partner RONAL GROUP. RONAL GROUP is a major aluminum wheel manufacturer, mainly for the OEM market. Within the project we combined serial production data from the low pressure die casting process from a foundry of the RONAL GROUP with the data generated in the automatic X-ray inspection. After collecting a large base of sample data, we were able train a neural network for the prediction of error metrics obtained by X-ray inspection. We apply a combination of layer-wise relevance propagation and dimensionality reduction to find correlations between data of the casting machines (process and sensor) and the characteristics of anomalies detected during X-ray inspection. With this information, it is possible to adjust the casting process in an early stage – even before rejects are produced. This enables the foundry to reduce their rejects rate, which saves costs and energy and results in a better competitivenessin a better competitiveness.

The Non Destructive Evaluation (NDE) is a fundamental process when high safety standards for the tested component are required. The evaluation may imply a combination of methods to achieve the highest Probability of Detection (POD) resulting in several data available which must be properly collected, processed, and stored for future reviews and for traceability reasons. All these requirements imply a sophisticated digital infrastructure and the usage of the most advanced Information Technology (IT) solutions to achieve computation speed, safe data processing and accessibility of the information. The Industry4.0 revolution is the result of the combination of digital technology to industrial processes for rethinking the performances in terms of automation, integration, crosslinking, availability and sharing of information. These principles can be applied in the NDE process as several products on the market are tested and monitored during the whole lifetime. The tracking of data, the secure data validation, and the need to avoid misuses and manipulations are new additional requirements for the NDE 4.0. Block chain technology, mainly known for crypto applications, is a promising technology for storing digital identity and test records offering traceability, safety and availability of the data. The present paper wants to present the Swiss Safety Center AG approach for a specific application case (retesting of gas cylinders according to ISO18119) where the guidelines and trends of NDE 4.0 have been successfully integrated in a fully automatic system, first in class for this application. The paper wants also to provides some insights about future trends and potential developments which may not be limited to this specific case but can be applied for other similar applications, e.g. in railways, manufacturing industry, automotive, aerospace and more in general in the NDE applications.

The detection of internal defects, not visible to the naked eye from the outside of materials, using non-destructive testing (NDT) are increasingly requested by industrial processes. This study proposes a novel methodology for acquisition and processing of images from a thermographic camera using computer vision methods to test composite materials made of a polymer matrix reinforced with glass, carbon, and kevlar fibers. The image is acquired while cooling the sample, following a suggested procedure. The processing methodology is divided into three steps, image pre-processing, image processing, and data post-processing. In image preprocessing, filters are applied to improve image quality, and methods are proposed to segment and identify the region of interest. In image processing, a blob analysis method is suggested for defect identification, isolation and characterization. A data analysis method is proposed for the post-processing step to characterize the defects identified in the previous step. Samples with known defects in terms of size, geometry, and location were used to test the developed system. The system showed high performance, achieving 98% accuracy, and suitability for defect detection larger than 0.5 mm in thickness and 600 mm2 in area. The experimental results showed that the algorithm did not detect any false positives, and that the type of reinforcement used in the analyzed samples had no influence on the results. On the other hand, the depth of the delaminations had an influence on the pixel intensity contrast of the defect region, and its instant of maximum contrast. The lesser the depth of the defects detected, the higher the value of their intensity and the shorter the instant of maximum contrast.

This paper presents the last evolutions of a program developed in 2020 for the automated generation of optimal scanning paths for 0°LW ultrasonic inspections of complex parts. After summarizing the overall concepts of the path generation method, the paper presents two new algorithms (side following path and side/radius interpolating path) recently developed for specific geometries such as long and thin parts, or parts including nonparallel radii. Trajectories automatically generated by the software are then presented for a collection of various aerospace and industrial CFRP components. The results show that the software was able to generate optimal paths for all the tested geometries, using the part’s 3D surface CAD and the probe’s characteristics as only inputs. In particular, the addition of the new algorithms allows for the generation of satisfactory trajectories even for the parts that were previously problematic.

The article discusses the experience of developing and using an automatic tool for optimizing linguagraphic work on the creating of comprehnsive dictionaries. Despite the high level of automatic processing of linguistic information in modern lexicography, a number of issues remain unresolved. The main problem in creating comprehnsive lexicographic sources is the combination of different dictionaries, since the heading units in them can be present in different forms, but at the same time refer to one lexeme; lexicographers spend a lot of time on the matching procedure, and this material has to be processed manually. The aim of the study was to solve the problem of identifying non-standard words by using a morphological analyzer. The program developed by the authors is designed to automatically select non-standard words from the list of heading units, which can significantly reduce the chance of errors, the time spent on creating a summary dictionary, and also minimize the necessity to process and interpret units manually. The development was carried out in Python 3.8.2 using the pymorphy2 morphological analyzer library version 0.9.1. The algorithm and program developed by the authors can be used for any list of words from which it is necessary to automatically select non-initial word forms. The created program was tested on a list of 22738 words from Comprehnsive etymological dictionary, 979 non-standard units were identified among them. The average processing time for the specified amount of words was 1.5 seconds, which proves the effectiveness of the created algorithm and the expediency of its further use in lexicographic practice.

The article describes the work of hydrodifferential torque rectifier. The possibility and relevance of its application in automatic stepless inertial transmission is rationalized. This transmission is not widely disseminated due to the low reliability of torque rectifiers, consisting of a variety of designs of one-way clutch with jamming bodies. The use of liquid as a jamming body allows to eliminate this drawback. The kinematic diagram of the automatic stepless inertial hydrodifferential torque converter for a city bus PAZ-32053 made on the basis of a patent for utility model 119426 of the Russian Federation is provided. The work ща inertial hydrodifferential torque converter at all typical modes of operation is addressed: stop mode, transformation of torque and dynamic coupling modes. Power flows in the differential mechanism hydrodifferential torque rectifier on each of the four cycles of operation of the transformation of torque are analyzed. Losses in hydraulic systems of the body and output hydraulic brakes on the specified operating modes are presented. Distinctive feature of the work of hydrodifferential torque rectifier is identified: the power flow is transmitted only by mechanically, hydro-brakes only provide a short circuit to the transmission body supporting units of differential mechanism. The power flow does not flow through them under load, they perceive only the reactive flow, therefore there are no losses inherent in the volumetric hydraulic drive. The results of calculations of losses on idle stroke, hydraulic inertial hydrodifferential torque converter of a city bus for all the gear ratios are presented. The most loaded modes of transmission are identified. The substantiation of the high – up to 0.93 – efficiency hydrodifferential torque rectifier throughout the operating range inertial hydrodifferential torque converter is provided.

Abstract Background Genomic estimated breeding values (GEBV) by single-step genomic BLUP (ssGBLUP) are affected by the centering of marker information used. The use of a fixed effect called J factor will lead to GEBV that are unaffected by the centering used. We extended the use of a single J factor to a group of J factors. Results J factor(s) are usually included in mixed model equations (MME) as regression effects but a transformation similar to that regularly used for genetic groups can be applied to obtain a simpler MME, which is sparser than the original MME and does not need computation of the J factors. When the J factor is based on the same structure as the genetic groups, then MME can be transformed such that coefficients for the genetic groups no longer include information from the genomic relationship matrix. We illustrate the use of J factors in the analysis of a Red dairy cattle data set for fertility. Conclusions The GEBV from these analyses confirmed the theoretical derivations that show that the resulting GEBV are allele coding independent when a J factor is used. Transformed MME led to faster computing time than the original regression-based MME.

Background: Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), or non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), is a common disease that is diagnosed through manual evaluation of liver biopsies, an assessment that is subject to high interobserver variability (IBV). IBV can be reduced using automated methods., Objectives: Many existing computer-based methods do not accurately reflect what pathologists evaluate in practice. The goal is to demonstrate how these differences impact the prediction of hepatic steatosis. Additionally, IBV complicates algorithm validation., Materials and Methods: Forty tissue sections were analyzed to detect steatosis, nuclei, and fibrosis. Data generated from automated image processing were used to predict steatosis grades. To investigate IBV, 18 liver biopsies were evaluated by multiple observers., Results: Area-based approaches yielded more strongly correlated results than nucleus-based methods (⌀ Spearman rho [ρ] = 0.92 vs. 0.79). The inclusion of information regarding tissue composition reduced the average absolute error for both area- and nucleus-based predictions by 0.5% and 2.2%, respectively. Our final area-based algorithm, incorporating tissue structure information, achieved a high accuracy (80%) and strong correlation (⌀ Spearman ρ = 0.94) with manual evaluation., Conclusion: The automatic and deterministic evaluation of steatosis can be improved by integrating information about tissue composition and can serve to reduce the influence of IBV., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Violent crimes in South Africa are often accompanied by the possession or use of semi-automatic firearms. The Criminal Law Amendment Act 105 of 1997 (hereinafter, the CLA) provides for the imposition of minimum sentences for certain firearms-related offences. The question whether the minimum sentencing regime actually applies to the offence of the unlawful possession of a semi-automatic firearm lead to a number of conflicting judicial decisions by different High Courts. This note discusses the statutory interpretation challenges the courts had to grapple with regarding the interplay between the CLA and South Africa’s successive pieces of firearms legislation. The Supreme Court of Appeal ultimately found that the offence of the unlawful possession of a semi-automatic firearm must indeed be met with the prescribed minimum sentence. The recent sentencing practices of South African courts in respect of the unlawful possession of semi-automatic firearms within the framework of the CLA are analysed. From the investigation it is evident that courts are more likely to impose the minimum sentence in cases where the accused is also convicted of other serious offences such as murder and robbery. In such cases little attention is given to the firearm-related offences as the courts are more concerned with the cumulative effect of sentences imposed on different counts. In cases where the accused is convicted of the stand-alone offence of the unlawful possession of a semi-automatic firearm, the courts are nevertheless taking an increasingly unsympathetic stance towards offenders and terms of imprisonment in the range of seven to 10 years’ imprisonment is commonly imposed. In addition to the accused’s personal circumstances, one of the most important factors in deciding on an appropriate sentence are the explanation of how the unlawful possession came about. It seems that the judicial sentiment increasingly does not support the view that the possession of an unlicensed firearm should be treated as serious only if the weapon has been used for the commission of a serious crime.

Reducing pesticide use while maintaining crop productivity is one of the biggest challenges in modern agriculture. Spot spraying systems can achieve significant herbicide savings in weed control. This is true in particular for less competitive crops and with high herbicide treatment indices. In order to test the savings potential under practical conditions in the field, the effectiveness of a spot spraying system (WeedSeeker 2, FarmFacts Germany) was evaluated in a one-year pilot project. The study included two intensity levels in comparison with standard site practice and an untreated control in a sugar beet experimental field with each four replicates. Therefore, the degree of weed coverage, the weed density and the number of weed species present were recorded before and after each of the three treatments by visual assessment. After the last application, the abundance and diversity of soil arthropods was additionally recorded. Finally, the herbicide savings potential at a given weed density, the control success and differences in abundance and diversity of the recorded species between the treatments were compared. Our results show that a considerable decrease in herbicide use is possible with the given technology, however, weed densities remained above the economic threshold for the most dominant weed, Chenopodium album L. Additionally, there was a trend of a higher abundance of soil arthropods, including carbides, in the untreated plots in comparison to the different herbicide treatments. However, the biodiversity indicated by the Shannon index was not reduced. Overall, the spot spraying treatment did not lead to an improvement of biodiversity parameters in comparison to the broadcast standard spraying method. Therefore, a continuous improvement of the application technique is required to ensure stable yields while at the same time reducing pesticide use.

Abstract Germany is one of more than 30 countries worldwide where employees are exempt from the obligation of filing a tax return. While this optional assessment relieves one of the burden of filing a return, it has individual and distributional costs because non-filers often pay too much income tax. This excess withholding leads to considerable deviations of the effective tax burden from the tax schedule, especially in low-income brackets and particularly for employees with gross wages below the basic allowance. The resulting additional tax revenue amounted to at least 949 million euro in 2014 alone. An automatic refund of this excess withholding would especially relieve low incomes.

An automatic bulk monitoring and aeration controller was programmed with an adsorption equilibrium absolute humidity (CAE)equation and was used to aerate paddy with the aim to increase moisture content (MC) and preventing fissuring. The ventilation control window for rewetting paddy was developed according to two conditions: (i) the average grain bulk temperature (tg) is higher than the dewpoint temperature (DPTa) of the atmosphere; and (ii) the equilibrium absolute humidity (EAHg) of grain moisture content plus 1 percentage point is lower than the absolute humidity (AHa) of the atmosphere. The ventilators were turned on when the atmosphere state point was within the ventilation windowand turned off outside that window. In a humid subtropical monsoon climate, during Oct. 8th to Nov. 1st, 2013, the system was used for a paddy depot of 1035 t in Dianjiang, Chongqing province. The natural humid air was introduced into the paddy bulk by negative pressure suction aeration during the 10-12 h night time period and allowed to equilibrate with grain kernels during the 12-14 h day time period. Aeration increased grain MC by 0.6 percentage points with two 1.5 kW axial flow ventilators and power consumption of 209 kW·h. The unit energy consumption was 0.336 KW·h (1% moisture·t)-1. The broken milled rice percentage was decreased by 2-3 percentage points. In the warm temperate semi-humid monsoon climate, during April 13th to June 16th, 2017, the system was used to rewet japonic paddy in a 2489 t depot in Qihe, Shandong province. The conditions for running two 0.85 kW axial flow fans were: (i) when the atmosphere relative humidity (RHa) is ≤80% and its temperature (ta) is DPTa, and EAHg80% and ta 28°C, the two fans were switched off. This rewetting aeration increased grain MC from 13.5% to 14.0%, and the unit energy consumption was 0.455 kW·h (1% moisture·t)-1. The percentages of average head rice yield and damaged grains after aeration were 71.7% and 7.7%, respectively.

Automatic termination is an accepted means of terminating fixed-term employment relationships. The use of "automatic termination" clauses in employment contracts has become commonplace. Awareness of the potential for abuse of these contractual mechanisms is increasing. Recent case law on the issue indicates that the public policy, which serves as test for validity and/or enforceability of "automatic termination" clauses has changed. The impetus for the protection of "non-standard" or atypical employees is underscored by policy considerations that have been incorporated by the recent legislative amendments. These developments may very well place a heavier burden than before on employers who opt to rely on "automatic termination" clauses to sustain an argument in favour or their validity and/ or enforcement.

Several tools for the computational planning of synthetic routes have been developed over the last 60 years. Traditionally these have been built on manually or automatically extracted reaction rules or templates obtained from a deep knowledge of organic chemistry in the case of the former, and reaction databases for the latter. Herein we give an introductory overview to the process of automatically extracting reaction templates, starting from methods for reaction centre identification, through to their use in computer aided synthesis planning and the de novo design of compounds.

This work aims to develop an automatic system capable of providing objective information about the bloom charge in an apple orchard in order to manage flower-thinning activities. The article presents and discusses the use of a mobile lab (ByeLab) equipped with several optical sensors to carry out a site-specific bloom charge assessment in apple trees. The data collected by the sensors were processed by a specific algorithm implemented in MatLab®. Investigations of the flower reflectance signature indicated that the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) is the most suitable parameter to distinguish leaves from flowers. Pure flowers produce NDVI values slightly negative or at least very near to 0. Despite the homogeneous behavior of the NDVI flower response, OptRx™ sensors, which provide an average assessment of an area, were not able to highlight a significant correlation between the number of flowers and the NDVI values. In the future, further studies will be conducted to assess if other techniques based on image analyses can provide better and more sensitive results regarding the bloom charge assessment. Such results could then be used as a reference in automating machines for thinning operations according to a site-specific approach.

A analysis of human facial images has become increasingly important due to its numerous applications. In this regards, extracting facial parameter is vital and various studies have been done in this field. Hence in our proposed work, first time up to our knowledge, a robust automatic method is introduced for determining facial angles from profile view images using radon transform. Radon transform is a kind of linear integration along a specific direction and angles play an important role to do this transform. The global features were rather considered by constructing a linear discriminant analysis (LDA) and also local features were rather considered by locality preserving projection (LPP). Our proposed combined algorithm has not only good precision, but also efficient performance and robust with noisy, scale and rotated image environments. In this work, several experiments have been conducted to analyze the robustness of our proposed Radon Combined Global and Local Preserving Features (RCGLPF) algorithm along with other existing conventional algorithms.

Copyright of Information -- Wissenschaft und Praxis is the property of De Gruyter and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Discourse markers are non-propositional linguistic items that are notoriously difficult to identify as well as to categorize. We can observe several borderline phenomena and overlaps with other formal and functional categories, e.g. inserts, adverbials, contextualization cues, pragmatic force modifiers, etc. By way of addressing such overlaps as well as the disambiguation between DM uses and their source categories, the paper presents a comparison of automated and manual annotation of oral discourse markers (DMs). Firstly, an overview of the criterial features of DMs that are relevant to disambiguation are presented. Secondly, the UCREL Semantic Analysis System (USAS) and its disambiguation methods are briefly discussed. In the third part of the paper, manual and automatic decisions about categorization are compared with a view to addressing the margin of error reported to apply in general semantic annotation as well as the question of what formal-functional properties of the relevant DMs might explain possible differences between manual and automatic annotation.

The Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) thesaurus is developed and supported by the National Library of Medicine (NLM). Whereas the main purpose of MeSH is the indexing, cataloging and searching of biomedical literature, we foresee an increasing role in using this terminology for metadata annotation and concept search of research data. Since NLM terminated translation software and support in 2019, ZB MED has decided to take over. In this paper, we present the development of a new semi-automatic translation process in order to enrich MeSH with German terms. The developed software results in a web-based interface where curators can easily proof and edit the automatically translated terms. An additional view for the senior curator ensures quality control. The bilingual MeSH version is provided by ZB MED in various formats to enable easy reuse. Furthermore, it is included within a ZB MED hosted semantic lookup service (SemLookP). This service is well suited for concept search, providing concept information as well as retrieving subtree entries or equivalent concepts in other terminologies for search expansion via both web interface and API.

This paper examines the role of Automatic Fiscal Stabilizers (AFS) for stabilizing the cyclical fluctuations of macroeconomic output as an alternative to discretionary fiscal policy, admitting its huge potential of being an anti crisis solution. The objectives of the study are the identification of the general features of the concept of automatic fiscal stabilizers and the logical assessment of them from economic perspectives. Based on the literature in the field, this paper points out the disadvantages of fiscal discretionary policy and argue the need of using Automatic Fiscal Stabilizers in order to provide a faster decision making process, shielded from political interference, and reduced uncertainty for households and business environment. The paper conclude about the need of using fiscal policy for smoothing the economic cycle, but in a way which includes among its features transparency, responsibility and clear operating mechanisms. Based on the research results the present paper assumes that pro-cyclicality reduces de effectiveness of the Automatic Fiscal Stabilizer and as a result concludes that it is very important to avoid the pro-cyclicality in fiscal rule design. Moreover, by committing in advance to specific fiscal policy action contingent on economic developments, uncertainty about the fiscal policy framework during a recession should be reduced. Being based on logical analysis and not focused on empirical, contextualized one, the paper presents some features of AFS operating mechanism and also identifies and systematizes the factors which provide its importance and national individuality. Reaching common understanding on the Automatic Fiscal Stabilizer concept as a institutional device for smoothing the gap of the economic cycles across different countries, particularly for the European Union Member States, will facilitate efforts to coordinate fiscal policy responses during a crisis, especially in the context of the fiscal harmonization. The main result of this study is the developing of the definition of Automatic Fiscal Stabilizer.