Development of robust spoken language technology ideally relies on the availability of large amounts of data preferably in the target domain and language. However, more often than not, speech developers need to cope with very little or no data, typically obtained from a different target domain. This paper focuses on developing techniques towards addressing this challenge. Specifically we consid...

IT is known that the game of chess originated in India. It was passed on to the medieval West through the intermediary of the Persians and the Arabs, a fact to which we owe, for example, the expression "check-mate", (German: Schachmatt) which is derived from the Persian shah: "king" and the Arabic mat: "he is dead". At the time of the Renaissance some of the rules of the game were changed: the ...

Gulf War Illness (GWI) is a chronic multi-symptom disorder affecting up to one-third of the 700,000 returning veterans of the 1991 Persian Gulf War and for which there is no known cure. GWI symptoms span several of the body's principal regulatory systems and include debilitating fatigue, severe musculoskeletal pain, cognitive and neurological problems. Using computational models, our group repo...

INTRODUCTION In recent years, outcome assessment related to orthopedic surgeries has increasingly focused on patient-reported questionnaires. The Oxford Hip Score (OHS), self-administered questionnaire, is a reliable, valid, and responsive instrument for assessing hip in patients undergoing Arthroplasty. METHODS The study involved 105 adult Persian-speaking patients admitted for primary Total...

BACKGROUND The Oxford Knee Score (OKS) is a short patient-reported outcome instrument that measures pain and physical activity related to knee osteoarthritis. The purpose of this study is to evaluate, construct validity and consistent reliability of the Persian version of the OKS. METHODS The case series consisted of 80 patients who were clinically diagnosed with having knee osteoarthritis. A...

background:  to test the psychometric properties of the persian version of zarit burden interview (zbi-12) in the iranian opulation.  methods: after translating and cultural adaptation of the questionnaire into persian, 100 caregiver spouses of iran-iraq war (1980-88) veterans with chronic spinal cord injury who live in the city of mashhad, iran, invited to participate in the study. the persian...

OBJECTIVES To discover whether post-combat syndromes have existed after modern wars and what relation they bear to each other. DESIGN Review of medical and military records of servicemen and cluster analysis of symptoms. DATA SOURCES Records for 1856 veterans randomly selected from war pension files awarded from 1872 and from the Medical Assessment Programme for Gulf war veterans. MAIN OU...

Emerging infectious disease is an important concern in medicine. It usually causes problem in diagnosis and treatment. Emerging infectious disease can be seen at any time. However, in some specific situations, emerging infectious disease becomes more complicated. Emerging infectious disease during a war is a good complex situation. In the present day, conflict occurs around the world. The well-...

BACKGROUND More than twenty years following the end of the 1990-1991 Gulf War it is estimated that approximately 300,000 veterans of this conflict suffer from an unexplained chronic, multi-system disorder known as Gulf War Illness (GWI). The etiology of GWI may be exposure to chemical toxins, but it remains only partially defined, and its case definition is based only on symptoms. Objective cri...

BACKGROUND Several clinical syndromes are defined solely on the basis of symptoms, absent an identifiable medical etiology. When evaluating and treating individuals with these syndromes, clinicians' beliefs might shape decisions regarding referral, diagnostic testing, and treatment. To assess clinician beliefs about the etiology and treatment of "Gulf War illness," we surveyed a sample of gener...