Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Separation of Vocals from Polyphonic Audio Recordings

Source separation techniques like independent component analysis and the more recent non-negative matrix factorization are gaining widespread use for the monaural separation of individual tracks present in a music sample. The underlying principle behind these approaches characterises only stationary signals and fails to separate nonstationary sources like speech or vocals. In this paper, we make an attempt to solve this problem and propose solutions to the extraction of vocal tracks from polyphonic audio recordings. We also present techniques to identify vocal sections in a music sample and design a classifier to perform a vocal–nonvocal segmentation task. Finally, we describe an application wherein we try to extract the melody from the separated vocal track using existing monophonic transcription techniques. The experimental work leads us to the conclusion that the quality of vocal source separation, albeit satisfactory, is not sufficient enough for further F0 analysis to extract the melody line from the vocal track. We identify areas that need further investigation to improve the quality of vocal source separation.
Leveraging waveform complexity for confident detection of gravitational waves

The recent completion of Advanced LIGO suggests that gravitational waves may soon be directly observed. Past searches for gravitational-wave transients have been impacted by transient noise artifacts, known as glitches, introduced into LIGO data due to instrumental and environmental effects. In this work, we explore how waveform complexity, instead of signal-to-noise ratio, can be used to rank event candidates and distinguish short duration astrophysical signals from glitches. We test this framework using a new hierarchical pipeline that directly compares the Bayesian evidence of explicit signal and glitch models. The hierarchical pipeline is shown to perform well and, in particular, to allow high-confidence detections of a range of waveforms at a realistic signal-to-noise ratio with a two-detector network.
Investigating the Mediating Role of Organizational Citizenship Behavior Between Organizational Learning Culture and Knowledge Sharing

2 Abstract: Cultural (organizational learning culture) and behavioral (organizational citizenship behaviors) antecedents of knowledge sharing are discussed in the present study. Data was collected from 402 employees of Malaysia. Structural equation model confirms that OLC was positively related to OCB and knowledge sharing. OCB was also found to perform the role of mediator between OLC and knowledge sharing.
Process Migration and Load Balancing in Amoeba

This paper reports our experience in adding process migration to the distributed operating system A oeba, and the results of a series of experiments to evaluate its usefulness for load balancing. After describing our design goals, we present our implementation for Amoeba, and performance figures which indicate that the speed of process migration is limited only by the throughput of the network adapters used in our configuration. We also present load balancing results showing that process migration can make a substantial improvement to the performance of a distributed system.
The Irish pharmaceutical industry over the boom period and beyond

The pharmaceutical industry was one of the strongest performing sectors of the Celtic Tiger era. During the past two decades, employment growth in the sector has been strong and continuous, even when, in recent years, employment in other manufacturing sectors has been contracting. Although positive in itself, from a dynamic regional development perspective it is important to explore the qualitative changes in the types of activities that are conducted in Ireland. Adopting a global production network approach, the paper examines Ireland’s changing role in global production networks within the pharmaceutical industry, focusing on the different components of manufacturing and research and development (R&D). The analysis shows that Ireland’s involvement in manufacturing has shifted in the direction of relatively higher value generating activities. Within R&D, although the level of value creation has increased substantially, Ireland’s involvement nonetheless remains concentrated in the (relatively) lower value generating activities of the global R&D network. In addition, the sector remains strongly dominated by foreign companies so that a large share of the created value is not captured within Ireland.
Valproate protects cells from ER stress-induced lipid accumulation and apoptosis by inhibiting glycogen synthase kinase-3

A wide range of agents and conditions are known to disrupt the ability of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) to fold proteins properly, resulting in the onset of ER dysfunction/stress. We and others have shown that ER stress can induce intracellular lipid accumulation through the activation of the sterol responsive element binding proteins (SREBPs) and initiate programmed cell death by activation of caspases. It has been suggested that ER stress-induced lipid accumulation and cell death play a role in the pathogenesis of disorders including Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, type-1 diabetes mellitus and hepatic steatosis. Here we show that exposure of HepG2 cells to the branch chain fatty acid, valproate, increases cellular resistance to ER stress-induced dysfunction. Two distinctly different potential mechanisms for this protective effect were investigated. We show that exposure to valproate increases the expression of chaperones that assist in the folding of proteins in the ER including GRP78/BiP, GRP94, PDI and calreticulin as well as the cytosolic chaperone, HSP70. However, exposure of HepG2 cells to valproate does not decrease the apparent ER stress response in cells challenged with tunicamycin, A23187 or glucosamine, suggesting that valproate-conferred protection occurs downstream of ER dysfunction. Finally, we demonstrate that valproate directly inhibits the glycogen synthase kinases (GSK)-3α/β. The ability of lithium, another inhibitor of GSK3α/β to protect cells from ER stress-induced lipid accumulation suggests that GSK3 plays a central role in signaling downstream effects of ER stress. Strategies to protect cells from agents/conditions that induce ER stress may have potential in the treatment of the growing number of diseases and disorders linked to ER dysfunction.
Computers and Mathematics with Applications Convergence of Quasi-optimal Stochastic Galerkin Methods for a Class of Pdes with Random Coefficients

In this work we consider quasi-optimal versions of the Stochastic Galerkin method for solving linear elliptic PDEs with stochastic coefficients. In particular, we consider the case of a finite number N of random inputs and an analytic dependence of the solution of the PDE with respect to the parameters in a polydisc of the complex plane C N. We show that a quasi-optimal approximation is given by a Galerkin projection on a weighted (anisotropic) total degree space and prove a (sub)exponential convergence rate. As a specific application we consider a thermal conduction problem with non-overlapping inclusions of random conductivity. Numerical results show the sharpness of our estimates.
Catchment areas and access to better schools

We compare popular school choice mechanisms in terms of children's access to better schools (ABS) than their catchment area school, in districts with school stratification and where priority is given for residence in the catchment area of the school. In a large market model with two good schools and one bad school, we calculate worst-case and best-case bounds of the Boston Mechanism (BM). We find that both BM and DA convey a non-negligible risk that catchment area priority fully determines the final assignment regardless parents' preferences. Top-Trading Cycles is an alternative that provides more access to better schools than DA.
Associated with p 53 Mutations in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Microsatellite Instability at Selected Tetranucleotide Repeats Is Updated

Microsatellite alterations are useful clonal markers for the early detection of cancer. An increase in microsatellite instability has been observed at certain tetranucleotide repeat markers (AAAGn) in lung, head and neck, and bladder cancer. However, the genetic mechanism underlying these elevated microsatellite alterations at selected tetranucleotide repeat (EMAST) tumors is still unknown. The p53 gene plays an important role in maintaining genome integrity by repairing damaged DNA. Therefore, we tested 88 non-small cell lung cancers with a panel of 13 microsatellite markers previously shown to exhibit frequent instability and also performed p53 sequence analysis in these tumors. Thirty-one of these 88 cancers (35%) demonstrated a novel allele [EMAST(1)] in >1 of these 13 microsatellite markers.p53 mutations were detected in 50 of 88 (57%) cancers and were significantly (P 5 0.001) more common in EMAST(1) tumors (25 of 31; 81%) than in EMAST(2 ) tumors (25 of 57; 44%). Among squamous cell cancers, p53 mutations were detected significantly (P5 0.04) more frequently in EMAST(1 ) tumors (17 of 19; 89%) than in EMAST(2) tumors (10 of 18; 55%). Similarly, among primary adenocarcinomas, p53 mutations were present in 67% of the EMAST(1) tumors and in 35% of EMAST(2 ) adenocarcinomas. None of the 31 EMAST( 1) tumors demonstrated high frequency microsatellite instability when examined with a reference panel of five monoand dinucleotide markers. Primary lung cancers with microsatellite alterations at selected tetranucleotide repeats have a high frequency of p53mutations and do not display a phenotype consistent with defects in mismatch repair.
Deletion of Transient Receptor Potential Vanilloid Type 1 Receptors Exaggerates Renal Damage in Deoxycorticosterone Acetate-Salt Hypertension

To determine whether the transient receptor potential vanilloid type 1 (TRPV1) channel provides protection against hypertension-induced renal damage, hypertension was induced by uninephrectomy and by giving deoxycorticosterone acetate (DOCA)-salt in wild-type (WT) and TRPV1-null mutant (TRPV1−/−) mice. Mean arterial pressure, as determined by radiotelemetry, increased significantly and reached the peak 7 days after DOCA-salt treatment in both WT and TRPV1−/− mice. There was no difference in mean arterial pressure between the 2 strains at the baseline or at the peak that lasted for 4 treatment weeks. DOCA-salt treatment in both WT and TRPV1−/− mice led to increased urinary excretion of albumin and 8-isoprostane, glomerulosclerosis, renal cortical tubulointerstitial injury, tubulointerstitial fibrosis, increased number of tubular proliferating cell nuclear antigen–positive cells, and renal monocyte/macrophage infiltration, all of which were much more severe in DOCA-salt–treated TRPV1−/− compared with DOCA-salt-treated WT mice. Renal TRPV1 protein expression, but not the renal anandamide content, was elevated in DOCA-salt–treated WT compared with vehicle-treated WT mice. Renal anandamide levels were markedly elevated in DOCA-salt–treated TRPV1−/− but not in vehicle-treated TRPV1−/− mice. Thus, our data show that ablation of the TRPV1 gene exacerbates renal damage induced by DOCA-salt hypertension, indicating that TRPV1 may constitute a protective mechanism against end-organ damage induced by hypertension.
Cloning and characterisation of the Schizosaccharomyces pombe rad32 gene: a gene required for repair of double strand breaks and recombination.

A new Schizosaccharomyces pombe mutant (rad32) which is sensitive to gamma and UV irradiation is described. Pulsed field gel electrophoresis of DNA from irradiated cells indicates that the rad32 mutant, in comparison to wild type cells, has decreased ability to repair DNA double strand breaks. The mutant also undergoes decreased meiotic recombination and displays reduced stability of minichromosomes. The rad32 gene has been cloned by complementation of the UV sensitive phenotype. The gene, which is not essential for cell viability and is expressed at a moderate level in mitotically dividing cells, has significant homology to the meiotic recombination gene MRE11 of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Epistasis analysis indicates that rad32 functions in a pathway which includes the rhp51 gene (the S.pombe homologue to S.cerevisiae RAD51) and that cells deleted for the rad32 gene in conjunction with either the rad3 deletion (a G2 checkpoint mutation) or the rad2 deletion (a chromosome stability and potential nucleotide excision repair mutation) are not viable.
Overexpression of the Wild-Type SPT1 Subunit Lowers Desoxysphingolipid Levels and Rescues the Phenotype of HSAN1

Mutations in the SPTLC1 subunit of serine palmitoyltransferase (SPT) cause an adult-onset, hereditary sensory, and autonomic neuropathy type I (HSAN1). We previously reported that mice bearing a transgene-expressing mutant SPTLC1 (tgSPTLC1C133W) show a reduction in SPT activity and hyperpathia at 10 months of age. Now analyzed at a later age, we find these mice develop sensory loss with a distal small fiber neuropathy and peripheral myelinopathy. This phenotype is largely reversed when these mice are crossed with transgenic mice overexpressing wild-type SPTLC1 showing that the mutant SPTLC1 protein is not inherently toxic. Simple loss of SPT activity also cannot account for the HSAN1 phenotype, since heterozygous SPTLC1 knock-out mice have reduced SPT activity but are otherwise normal. Rather, the presence of two newly identified, potentially deleterious deoxysphingoid bases in the tgSPTLC1C133W, but not in the wild-type, double-transgenic tgSPTLC1WT + C133W or SPTLC1+/− mice, suggests that the HSAN1 mutations alter amino acid selectivity of the SPT enzyme such that palmitate is condensed with alanine and glycine, in addition to serine. This observation is consistent with the hypothesis that HSAN1 is the result of a gain-of-function mutation in SPTLC1 that leads to accumulation of a toxic metabolite.
Action Research on Development and Application of Internet of Things Services in Hospital

Objectives Services based on the Internet of Things (IoT) technologies have emerged in various business environments. To enhance health service quality and maximize benefits, this study applied an IoT technology based on NFC and iBeacon as an omni-channel service for patient care in hospitals. Methods Application of the IoT technology based on NFC and iBeacon was conducted in a general hospital during August 2015 through June 2016, and the development and evaluation results were aligned to an action research framework. The five phases in the action research included diagnosing, planning action, taking action, evaluating action, and specifying learning phases. Results During the first two phases, problems of functional operations in a hospital were diagnosed and eight service models were designed by using iBeacon and NFC to solve the problems. Service models were applied to the hospital by installing beacons, wearable beacons, beacon scanners, and NFC tags during the third phase. During the fourth and fifth phases, the roles and benefits of stakeholders participating in the service models were evaluated, and issues and knowledge of the whole application process were derived and summarized from technological, economic, social and legal perspectives, respectively. Conclusions From an action research perspective, IoT-based healthcare services were developed and verified. IoT-based services enable the hospital to acquire lifelog data for precision medicine and ultimately be able to go one step closer to precision medical care. The derived service models could provide patients more enhanced healthcare services and improve the work efficiency and effectiveness of the hospital.
Measurements of the Cosmological Parameters Ω and Λ from the First Seven Supernovae at z ≥ 0.35

We have developed a technique to systematically discover and study high-redshift supernovae that can be used to measure the cosmological parameters. We report here results based on the initial seven of more than 28 supernovae discovered to date in the high-redshift supernova search of the Supernova Cosmology Project. We find an observational dispersion in peak magnitudes of σMB=0.27; this dispersion narrows to σMB, corr=0.19 after “correcting” the magnitudes using the light-curve “width-luminosity” relation found for nearby (z ≤ 0.1) Type Ia supernovae from the Calán/Tololo survey (Hamuy et al.). Comparing light-curve width-corrected magnitudes as a function of redshift of our distant (z = 0.35-0.46) supernovae to those of nearby Type Ia supernovae yields a global measurement of the mass density, ΩM=0.88+ 0.69−0.60 for a Λ = 0 cosmology. For a spatially flat universe (i.e., ΩM + ΩΛ = 1), we find ΩM=0.94+ 0.34−0.28 or, equivalently, a measurement of the cosmological constant, ΩΛ=0.06+ 0.28−0.34 ( < 0.51 at the 95% confidence level). For the more general Friedmann-Lemaître cosmologies with independent ΩM and ΩΛ, the results are presented as a confidence region on the ΩM-ΩΛ plane. This region does not correspond to a unique value of the deceleration parameter q0. We present analyses and checks for statistical and systematic errors and also show that our results do not depend on the specifics of the width-luminosity correction. The results for ΩΛ-versus-ΩM are inconsistent with Λ-dominated, low-density, flat cosmologies that have been proposed to reconcile the ages of globular cluster stars with higher Hubble constant values.
Substrate Induced Population Shifts and Stochastic Gating in the PBCV-1 mRNA Capping Enzyme

The 317 residue PBCV-1 mRNA capping enzyme catalyzes the second enzymatic reaction in the formation of an N-7-methyl-GMP cap on the 5′-end of the nascent mRNA. It is composed of two globular domains bound by a short flexible peptide linker, which have been shown to undergo opening and closing events. The small size and experimentally demonstrated domain mobility make the PBCV-1 capping enzyme an ideally suited model system to explore domain mobility in context of substrate binding. Here, we specifically address the following four questions: (1) How does substrate binding affect relative domain mobility: is the system better described by an induced fit or population shift mechanism? (2) What are the gross characteristics of a conformation capable of binding substrate? (3) Does “domain gating” of the active site affect the rate of substrate binding? (4) Does the magnitude of receptor conformational fluctuations confer substrate specificity by sterically occluding molecules of a particular size or geometry? We answer these questions using a combination of theory, Brownian dynamics, and molecular dynamics. Our results show that binding efficiency is a function of conformation but that isomerization between efficient and inefficient binding conformations does not impact the substrate association rate. Additionally, we show that conformational flexibility alone is insufficient to explain single stranded mRNA specificity. While our results are specific to the PBCV-1 mRNA capping enzyme, they provide a useful context within which the substrate binding behavior of similarly structured enzymes or proteins may be considered.
Female Sex Workers, Male Circumcision and HIV: A Qualitative Study of Their Understanding, Experience, and HIV Risk in Zambia

Several sub-Saharan African countries, including Zambia, have initiated national voluntary medical male circumcision (MC) programs to reduce HIV incidence. In-depth interviews were conducted with twenty female sex workers (FSWs) in Lusaka to examine their understanding of MC and experiences with circumcised clients. Knowledge of MC was derived primarily through informal sources, with very few FSWs reporting exposure to MC educational campaigns. MC was not widely believed to be protective against HIV, however it was viewed by some as protective against STIs. Three FSWs reported having sex with recently circumcised clients, and most reported that men often used their MC status to try to convince FSWs to forego condoms. Findings suggest that FSWs, already at high risk for HIV infection, may face additional pressure toward higher risk behavior as a result of MC. As MC services are expanded, programs should support FSWs' efforts to protect themselves by providing information about what MC can - and cannot - offer for HIV/STI infection prevention.
Type of Multimedia Gloss and L2 Proficiency: a Computer-based Study

The present study will be conducted within an attentional framework [Schmidt's " noticing hypothesis " (1990, and elsewhere)] to investigate what type of multimedia gloss is more beneficial for computerized text comprehension and vocabulary learning. Following Bowles (2004), online measures will be also employed to examine the amount of words noticed and their relationship to the independent variables: type of gloss and level of proficiency in the L2. Adult L2 students of Spanish enrolled in two different college levels will be randomly assigned to one of four conditions (no glosses, textual gloss, visual gloss, textual+visual gloss). A pre-, post-, delayed posttest design with recognition, production, and comprehension tasks as the dependent variables will be followed. Participants will also fill in two questionnaires that will tap into their impressions on the glosses and to control for potential outside exposure to the target vocabulary words in the study. Both quantitative and qualitative analyses will be carried out to investigate the effect of gloss type and language proficiency on measures of the dependent variables as well as their relationship with the noticing of the target words. 1. Introduction. Ever since the advent of computer-assisted language learning (CALL), teachers and researches alike have tried to devise ways in which computer technology can be of use in foreign language classes. Perhaps one of the most investigated phenomena has been glosses, either in reading passages or in listening comprehension activities. These would be substitutes for the traditional dictionary with which the student had to switch focus from the text to the dictionary with the consequent waste of time and effort. On the contrary, multimedia glosses come integrated into the text or listening passage. In the case of reading computerized passages for comprehension, glosses are most commonly accessed when the students click the hyperlinked words.
Application of Chinese Version of the Self-report Strengths and Difficulties Questionnair in a Sample of 832 Adolescents

Objective:To examine the reliability and validity of Chinese translation of The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire-self-report version(self-report SDQ). Methods:The questionnaire was administered to 832 adolescents.Mean and standard deviations of the self-report SDQ total scale and subscales were compared with the British normative samples(www.sdqinfo.com). Additionally,internal consistency,test-retest,criterion-related validity,and confirmatory factor analyses were analyzed.Results:The internal consistency reliability for the total scale was 0.81 and the eight-week test-retest reliability coefficient was 0.72. The item-subscale correlation coefficients ranged from 0.47 to 0.75. The subscales of SDQ had moderate to high correlation with corresponding subscales of YSR.And the results of confirmatory factor analyses(NNFI 0.91,CFI 0.92,RMSEA 0.043)indicated that the Five-factor structure of the self-report SDQ was suitable for the Chinese sample.Conclusion:The Chinese version of The Self-report Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire with acceptable psychometric quality,can be applied to screen childhood psychopathology in China.