Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
LOCALIZZAZIONE DI SORGENTI SONORE IN AMBIENTI RIVEBERANTI

Nel corso dell’anno passato ha avuto seguito l’attivita del gruppo nell’ambito dello studio delle tecniche di localizzazione di sorgenti sonore in ambienti riverberanti. La localizzazione sonora in presenza di riverbero, come noto, e un compito piuttosto complesso. Gli approcci convenzionali, basati sulla stima del tempo di ritardo mediante il calcolo della funzione di cross-correlazione generalizzata (GCC), seguito da triangolazione geometrica, forniscono risultati spesso non soddisfacenti. Un adeguato prefiltraggio dei segnali viene solitamente adottato al fine di ridurre i picchi secondari dovuti alle riflessioni. Allo scopo di migliorare le prestazioni degli algoritmi tuttora piu frequentemente utilizzati, e stata innanzitutto sviluppata una tecnica che consente di tenere conto dei picchi secondari della GCC. Un successivo sviluppo ha portato a confrontare le tecniche sviluppate con quelle del filtraggio cepstrale, gia precedentemente introdotte e trattate. I risultati ottenuti confermano la superiorita delle nuove metodiche [2]. Nell’ambito delle tecniche di localizzazione, particolare attenzione e stata quindi dedicata allo studio dei cosiddetti metodi diretti. Tali metodi sono basati su una opportuna discretizzazione dello spazio di ricerca delle sorgenti. Le posizioni selezionate vengono pesate tramite un funzionale costruito a partire dai dati acquisiti e utilizzate per costruire una mappa sonora dell’ambiente. In particolare una nuova funzione di pesatura e stata studiata e introdotta allo scopo di costruire mappe sonore caratterizzate da una maggiore robustezza rispetto agli approcci attualmente disponibili. I risultati conseguiti, sia su dati simulati che su dati reali ottenuti nel laboratorio ISPAC del dipartimento INFOCOM, hanno confermato lo sviluppo teorico e incoraggiano a proseguire nella direzione tracciata [1]. Un ulteriore aspetto che e stato considerato riguarda le tecniche di modellazione di funzioni di trasferimento di stanze (RTF) basate sui cosiddetti poli acustici comuni (CAP). Tale tecnica era stata gia adottata in passato da questa unita. Nel lavoro ora sviluppato e stata individuata una tecnica per la selezione dell’ordine del modello in grado di fornire risultati molto soddisfacenti in fase di simulazione, consentendo di evitare al contempo il problema della sovramodellazione [3]. Gli sviluppi successivi hanno portato allo sviluppo di una tecnica multipicco che consente di stimare la posizione della sorgente individuando le rette che piu consistentemente puntano ad una determinata regione spaziale, sfruttando una particolare configurazione delle schiere di microfoni [4]. Tale strategia e stata poi ulteriormente sviluppata, sviluppando degli opportuni funzionali di errore che consentono di minimizzare il costo computazionale di tale operazione [5].
Embedding Sectorial Models in an Integrated Platform for Assessing Climate Change Impacts

Climate change in the last decades has occurred not only as a result of extreme natural factors but as the effect of human interference in environment well-functioning. Having this aspect in mind, a prominent need for a software tool to quantify the bidirectional link between human influence and the balance of the natural system has emerged. This article presents such an on-line platform - CLIMSAVE Integrated Assessment Platform (IAP) - which aims to simulate and visualize a series of indicators covering a variety of key sectors such as: urban, forest, water in various states of aggregation, flood, agriculture, yield, and biodiversity. Each of these sectors has one or more corresponding simplified models that transpose the impact of climate change effects experienced by mankind into qualitative and quantitative data. Results presented at the end of this article confirm and validate the models integrated within the platform. The interactivity of the tool is enhanced by allowing the user to visualize output indicators with the help of GIS maps. The novelty introduced by CLIMSAVE IAP consists in offering a big picture that comprises the interactions between important sectors rather than a narrow and isolated image of each sector.
Evaluating software engineering methods and tool—part 3: selecting an appropriate evaluation method—practical issues

In the first article about the DESMET evaluation methodology, I identified nine different types of evaluation:1. Quantitative Experiments2. Quantitative Case Studies3. Quantitative Surveys4. Feature Analysis --- Screening mode5. Feature Analysis --- Case Study6. Feature Analysis --- Experiment7. Feature Analysis --- Survey8. Qualitative Effects Analysis9. Benchmarking.In the last article I discussed various technical criteria that would influence your choice of an evaluation method. In principle, you should select the simplest evaluation method appropriate for your specific evaluation requirements and organisational capability. However there are a number of constraints that can influence your final choice of evaluation method:&bull; the elapsed time that is needed for the different evaluation options;&bull; the confidence that a user can have in the results of an evaluation;&bull; the cost of an evaluation;This information may be useful in two circumstances:1. When you want to decide between a quantitative case study and a quantitative formal experiment and there are no clear technical reasons for preferring one to the other.2. When you want to ensure that the evaluation you have decided to undertake is feasible.These issues are discussed in this article.
Leishmania donovani lipophosphoglycan disrupts phagosome microdomains in J774 macrophages

Clearance of pathogens by phagocytosis and their killing in phagolysosomes is a key aspect of our innate ability to fight infectious agents. Leishmania parasites have evolved ways to survive and replicate in macrophages by inhibiting phagosome maturation and avoiding the harsh environment of phagolysosomes. We describe here that during this process Leishmania donovani uses a novel strategy involving its surface lipophosphoglycan (LPG), a virulence factor impeding many host functions, to prevent the formation or disrupt lipid microdomains on the phagosome membrane. LPG acts locally on the membrane and requires its repetitive carbohydrate moieties to alter the organization of microdomains. Targeting and disruption of functional foci, where proteins involved in key aspects of phagolysosome biogenesis assemble, is likely to confer a survival advantage to the parasite.
Dissemination of a theory-based online bone health program: Two intervention approaches

With the increasing nationwide emphasis on eHealth, there has been a rapid growth in the use of the Internet to deliver health promotion interventions. Although there has been a great deal of research in this field, little information is available regarding the methodologies to develop and implement effective online interventions. This article describes two social cognitive theory–based online health behavior interventions used in a large-scale dissemination study (N = 866), their implementation processes, and the lessons learned during the implementation processes. The two interventions were a short-term (8-week) intensive online Bone Power program and a longer term (12-month) Bone Power Plus program, including the Bone Power program followed by a 10-month online booster intervention (biweekly eHealth newsletters). This study used a small-group approach (32 intervention groups), and to effectively manage those groups, an eLearning management program was used as an upper layer of the Web intervention. Both interventions were implemented successfully with high retention rates (80.7% at 18 months). The theory-based approaches and the online infrastructure used in this study showed a promising potential as an effective platform for online behavior studies. Further replication studies with different samples and settings are needed to validate the utility of this intervention structure.
Evaluation and Implementation of n-Gram-Based Algorithm for Fast Text Comparison

This paper presents a study of an n-gram-based document comparison method. The method is intended to build a large-scale plagiarism detection system. The work focuses not only on an efficiency of the text similarity extraction but also on the execution performance of the implemented algorithms. We took notice of detection performance, storage requirements and execution time of the proposed approach. The obtained results show the trade-offs between detection quality and computational requirements. The GPGPU and multi-CPU platforms were considered to implement the algorithms and to achieve good execution speed. The method consists of two main algorithms: a document’s feature extraction and fast text comparison. The winnowing algorithm is used to generate a compressed representation of the analyzed documents. The authors designed and implemented a dedicated test framework for the algorithm. That allowed for the tuning, evaluation, and optimization of the parameters. Well-known metrics (e.g. precision, recall) were used to evaluate detection performance. The authors conducted the tests to determine the performance of the winnowing algorithm for obfuscated and unobfuscated texts for a different window and n-gram size. Also, a simplified version of the text comparison algorithm was proposed and evaluated to reduce the computational 888 M. Wielgosz, P. Szczepka, P. Russek, E. Jamro, K. Wiatr, M. Pietroń, D. Żurek complexity of the text comparison process. The paper also presents GPGPU and multi-CPU implementations of the algorithms for different data structures. The implementation speed was tested for different algorithms’ parameters and the size of data. The scalability of the algorithm on multi-CPU platforms was verified. The authors of the paper provide the repository of software tools and programs used to perform the conducted experiments.
Immune pro fi ling of Alzheimer patients

a Department of Internal Medicine II, Center for Medical Research, University of Tübingen, Tübingen Aging and Tumor Immunology group, Waldhörnlestr. 22, 72072 Tübingen, Germany b Singapore Immunology Network (SIgN), Immunos Building, Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore c Immunosenescence Unit, Department of Pathobiology and Medical and Forensic Biotechnologies, University of Palermo, Corso Tukory 211, 90134, Palermo, Italy d U.O. di Neurologia, Ospedale di Vittoria, ASL7-Ragusa and Clinica Neurologica Università di Catania, Catania, Italy
Survival Analysis of the Single- and Double-Coated STAR Ankle up to 20 Years

Background: The Scandinavian Total Ankle Replacement (STAR) has been used widely in Europe and more recently in the United States. We studied the results of the single-coated and the double-coated STAR with long-term follow-up. Methods: All STARs (n = 324) used in Sweden (first implanted in 1993) were included. Prosthetic survival was estimated according to Kaplan-Meier. Results: The 14-year survival of the single-coated STAR was 0.47 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.38-0.66), and the 12-year survival of the double-coated STAR was 0.64 (95% CI, 0.57-0.71). Women younger than 60 years with osteoarthritis had a statistically significantly higher risk of revision than men and than patients with other diagnoses. Conclusion: The long-term results of the STAR prosthesis are not encouraging. The results seem to deteriorate by time. Level of Evidence: Level IV, retrospective case series.
Prediction of Pediatric Outcome after Prenatal Diagnosis and Expectant Antenatal Management of Congenital Cystic Adenomatoid Malformation

Objective: To determine whether the congenital cystic adenomatoid malformation (CCAM) volume ratio (CVR) is associated with fetal and postnatal outcome after prenatal diagnosis and antenatal expectant management in a provincial tertiary referral center that does not offer fetal surgery. Methods: Retrospective cohort of 71 consecutive cases of prenatally diagnosed CCAM meeting study criteria (1996–2004). CVR was calculated on the initial ultrasound at the referral center, and associated with hydrops (Fisher’s exact test) and a composite adverse postnatal outcome consisting of death, intubation for respiratory distress, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, non-elective surgery for symptomatology, or respiratory infection requiring hospital admission (Mann-Whitney test). Results: A CVR >1.6 was significantly associated with hydrops (p = 0.003). In addition, the CVR was significantly associated with the composite adverse postnatal outcome (p = 0.004) at a mean age of follow-up of 41 months (range <1–117 months). For CVR and postnatal outcome, the area-under-the-curve receiver operating characteristic was 0.81 (95% CI 0.69–0.93, p = 0.006), and choosing a CVR cut-off of <0.56, the negative predictive value was 100% (95% CI 0.85–1.00). Conclusion: In a provincial referral center with antenatal expectant management of CCAM, the CVR was associated with hydrops and postnatal outcome, with a CVR <0.56 predictive of good prognosis after birth.
Phosphoproteome Analysis of Capacitated Human Sperm

Before fertilization can occur, mammalian sperm must undergo capacitation, a process that requires a cyclic AMP-dependent increase in tyrosine phosphorylation. To identify proteins phosphorylated during capacitation, two-dimensional gel analysis coupled to anti-phosphotyrosine immunoblots and tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) was performed. Among the protein targets, valosin-containing protein (VCP), a homolog of the SNARE-interacting protein NSF, and two members of the A kinase-anchoring protein (AKAP) family were found to be tyrosine phosphorylated during capacitation. In addition, immobilized metal affinity chromatography was used to investigate phosphorylation sites in whole protein digests from capacitated human sperm. To increase this chromatographic selectivity for phosphopeptides, acidic residues in peptide digests were converted to their respective methyl esters before affinity chromatography. More than 60 phosphorylated sequences were then mapped by MS/MS, including precise sites of tyrosine and serine phosphorylation of the sperm tail proteins AKAP-3 and AKAP-4. Moreover, differential isotopic labeling was developed to quantify phosphorylation changes occurring during capacitation. The phosphopeptide enrichment and quantification methodology coupled to MS/MS, described here for the first time, can be employed to map and compare phosphorylation sites involved in multiple cellular processes. Although we were unable to determine the exact site of phosphorylation of VCP, we did confirm, using a cross-immunoprecipitation approach, that this protein is tyrosine phosphorylated during capacitation. Immunolocalization of VCP showed fluorescent staining in the neck of noncapacitated sperm. However, after capacitation, staining in the neck decreased, and most of the sperm showed fluorescent staining in the anterior head.
Seven level asymmetric cascade inverter with space vector PWM added PR control

Inverters are used to convert the DC energy to AC energy for renewable energy conversation or high power industrial applications. Asymmetric inverters are preferred about their some advantages. Nowadays, control of inverters is achieved lots of pulse width modulation (PWM) techniques. Space vector control is one of them. Seven level asymmetric cascade inverter is achieved with space vector PWM (SVPWM) added proportional resonant (PR) control in this study. The PR control is used for reducing the lower number harmonics. General SVPWM techniques use position of a vector in αβ frame. Calculation of switching states becomes more complex when the level of inverter is increased. In this study, switching states is achieved with ceil and floor operations by using reference signals in 60° degree coordinate system. Switching signal is generated depends on output levels of inverter. This process is mitigated calculations in SVPWM. Also adding PR control to system decreases the total harmonic distortion (THD) of inverter.
Resampling measures of group support: a reply to Grant and Kluge

Grant and Kluge (2003) associated resampling measures of group support with the aim of evaluating statistical stability, confidence, or the probability of recovering a true phylogenetic group. This interpretation is not necessary to methods such as jackknifing or bootstrapping, which are better interpreted as measures of support from the current dataset. Grant and Kluge only accepted the absolute Bremer value as a measure of group support, and considered resampling methods as irrelevant to phylogenetic inference. It is shown that under simple circumstances resampling indices better reflect the degree of support than Bremer values. Grant and Kluge associated the resampling methods (and the use of measures of group support in general) with what they call a “verificationist agenda”, where strongly supported groups are first detected, and then protected against additional testing. They propose that identifying weakly supported groups, and then concentrating additional tests on them, will better serve science. Both programs are actually equivalent, and inert as to the selection of methods to estimate group support. The ranking of groups under a range of resampling strength is proposed as an additional criterion to evaluate resampling methods. A reexamination of the slope of symmetric resampling frequency as a function of resampling strength suggest that slopes can be problematic as well as a measure of group support.
A 0.7-Microsecond Ferrite Core Memory

The design and performance of a newly developed magnetic core memory is described. A two-dimensional array organization and partial switching of toroidal cores were employed in the design of this low-power, high-speed memory. The memory features a unique combination of a current-steering diode matrix and a load-sharing magnetic switch for an economical and high-performance drive system. The operating memory has a storage capacity of 73,728 bits and executes instructions reliably up to a repetition rate of 1.47 mc. The discussion will include a description of the organization, the series-parallel delay line clock, the control of critical timing pulses, and the actual measured performance.
60-GHz LTCC Wideband Vertical Off-Center Dipole Antenna and Arrays

Wideband 60-GHz vertical off-center dipole antenna and its arrays on low-temperature cofired ceramic substrate are presented in this paper. The dipole antenna is designed using the off-center-fed technology to cover all the four channels defined in 60-GHz standards from 57 to 66 GHz. A 4 × 4 planar array is optimized to achieve a maximum gain of 15.6 dBi at 60 GHz and above 10.2 dBi in the passband, while a beam-steering array is optimized to give a 5-dB measured beamwidth wider than 80° at 60 GHz. Measured results indicate our designs meet the above requirements well and satisfy 60-GHz applications.
Relationship between antimicrobial drug usage and antimicrobial susceptibility of gram-positive mastitis pathogens.

The objective of this study was to analyze relationships between usage of antimicrobial drugs on dairy farms and results of antimicrobial susceptibility testing of mastitis pathogens. Exposure to selected antimicrobial drugs (n = 10) was standardized by calculation of the number of defined daily doses used per cow. Farms (n = 40) were categorized based on amount of antimicrobial exposure: organic (no usage); conventional-low usage (conventional farms not using or using less than or equal to the first quartile of use of each compound); and conventional-high usage (conventional farms using more than the first quartile of a particular compound). The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of selected antimicrobial drugs was determined using a commercial microbroth dilution system for isolates of Staphylococcus aureus (n = 137), coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS, n = 294), and Streptococcus spp. (n = 95) obtained from subclinical mastitis infections. Most isolates were inhibited at the lowest dilution tested of most antimicrobial drugs. Survival curves for Staph. aureus and CNS demonstrated heterogeneity in MIC based on the amount of exposure to penicillin and pirlimycin. For CNS, farm type was associated with the MIC of ampicillin and tetracycline. For Streptococcus spp. , farm type was associated with MIC of pirlimycin and tetracycline. For all mastitis pathogens studied, the MIC of pirlimycin increased with increasing exposure to defined daily doses of pirlimycin. The level of exposure to most other antimicrobial drugs was not associated with MIC of mastitis pathogens. A dose-response effect between antimicrobial exposure and susceptibility was observed for some pathogen-antimicrobial combinations, but exposure to other antimicrobial drugs commonly used for prevention and treatment of mastitis was not associated with resistance.
K out of K Extended Visual Cryptography Scheme Based on “ XOR ”

Visual cryptography schemes (VCS) is an encryption technique that utilizes human visual system in recovering secret image and it does not require any complex calculation. Many VCSs without pixel expansion have been proposed. But they recover secret image with low contrast due to the stacking operation. To improve the quality of recovered image, XOR-based VCS has been proposed. However, shares constructed from XOR-based VCS are random-looking. It suffers a management problem which dealers cannot visually identify each share. In this paper, we propose an (k, k) extended visual cryptography scheme (EVCS) by “XOR” operation to solve above mentioned problem. This is implemented by diving the share image into two parts using a parameter and operating the secret pixels and cover pixels respectively. Comparing with previous schemes, the qualities of share images and recovered image are improved, and our scheme also suit the “OR” operation.
A high order composite automatic frequency control Costas loop for synchronization

Synchronization plays an important role in wireless communication systems when tracking a phase-shift keying (PSK) signal, especially when the initial frequency error is comparable to the loop bandwidth. In order to improve frequency acquisition, an automatic frequency control (AFC) augmentation is used. This paper presents a composite AFC/Costas loop by combining both the AFC loop with a phase-locked loop (PLL) Costas loop for carrier frequency recovery. Therefore, pull-in from both frequency and phase errors is feasible using the composite AFC/Costas loop. The AFC/Costas loop combination filter coefficient setting is evaluated by a theoretic analysis. Improved frequency and phase acquisition can be realized by changing the first order AFC/Costas loop to the second order. First, the structure of the composite AFC/Costas loop is shown. This structure makes use of phase detectors to obtain the phase differences between the received signal and reference signal, where the phase differences can be used to generate the phase and frequency control signals. Difference equations are proposed to describe the composite AFC/Costas loop. Then, the theoretic analysis for both frequency and phase control are derived in a linearized model of the composite loop. The phase error variance is simulated to show the performance of the composite AFC/Costas loop. Moreover, the frequency and phase synchronization performance for different signal to noise ratio (SNR) and loop filter bandwidth are shown to demonstrate the effectiveness of the composite AFC/Costas loop. Finally, the Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK) data is demodulated and decoded through the composite AFC/Costas loop. Extensive simulations are implemented to show that the demodulated data matches the transmitted data, which proves that differential QPSK can effectively reduce the phase ambiguity and increase frequency pull-in range, especially for the low SNR region (Eb/N0 < 3 dB). The proposed composite AFC/Costas loop sheds insights on the design of frequency and phase synchronization in wireless communication systems.