Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Audio Authenticity: Detecting ENF Discontinuity With High Precision Phase Analysis

This paper addresses a forensic tool used to assess audio authenticity. The proposed method is based on detecting phase discontinuity of the power grid signal; this signal, referred to as electric network frequency (ENF), is sometimes embedded in audio signals when the recording is carried out with the equipment connected to an electrical outlet or when certain microphones are in an ENF magnetic field. After down-sampling and band-filtering the audio around the nominal value of the ENF, the result can be considered a single tone such that a high-precision Fourier analysis can be used to estimate its phase. The estimated phase provides a visual aid to locating editing points (signalled by abrupt phase changes) and inferring the type of audio editing (insertion or removal of audio segments). From the estimated values, a feature is used to quantify the discontinuity of the ENF phase, allowing an automatic decision concerning the authenticity of the audio evidence. The theoretical background is presented along with practical implementation issues related to the proposed technique, whose performance is evaluated on digitally edited audio signals.
Influence of Role-Switching on Phonetic Convergence in Conversation

The current study examined phonetic convergence when talkers alternated roles during conversational interaction. The talkers completed a map navigation task in which they alternated instruction Giver and Receiver roles across multiple map pairs. Previous studies found robust effects of the role of a talker on phonetic convergence, and it was hypothesized that role-switching would either reduce the impact of role or elicit alternating patterns of role-induced conversational dominance and accommodation. In contrast to the hypothesis, the initial role assignments induced a pattern of conversational dominance that persisted throughout the interaction in terms of the amount of time spent talking—Original Givers dominated amount of time talking consistently, even when they acted as Receivers. These results indicate that conversational dominance does not necessarily follow nominal role when roles alternate, and that talkers are influenced by initial role assignment when making acoustic–phonetic adjustments in their speech.
Identification of a GP 64 subdomain involved in receptor binding by 3 budded virions of the baculovirus AcMNPV

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Jian Zhou and Gary W. Blissard 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Boyce Thompson Institute at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853 20 2 Department of Entomology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 Corresponding Author: 31 Gary W. Blissard 32 Boyce Thompson Institute at Cornell University 33 Tower Road, Ithaca, NY 14853 34 Tel. 607-254-1366 35 Fax: 607-254-1242 36 email gwb1@cornell.edu 37 38 39 40
Large-Capacity Compact Optical Buffer Based on InP Integrated Phased-Array Switch and Coiled Fiber Delay Lines

Optical buffering has been one of the major technical challenges in realizing optical packet switching (OPS) routers. While fiber-delay-line-based (FDL) buffers are the most practical and realistic solution to offer useful amount of capacity, the bulkiness of long FDLs and optical switches has been the main obstacle to practical implementation. This paper demonstrates a compact optical buffer with up to 750-ns capacity and 50-ns temporal resolution by using an InP integrated 1×16 optical phased-array switch and compact FDL module based on thin-cladding highly nonlinear fiber (HNLF). Owing to the high mode confinement inside HNLF, 15 fibers with the total length of 1.2 km are coiled onto a single bobbin with a coin-sized footprint without increasing the propagation loss. At the interface between the InP switch and FDLs, a pitch-converting silica planar-lightwave circuit chip is employed to achieve 16-port simultaneous uniform interconnection. Using the developed module, variable optical buffering experiment is demonstrated, where the packet intervals are expanded from 20 to 70 ns successfully.
Genetics of prions.

Prions are unprecedented infectious pathogens that cause a group of invariably fatal, neurodegenerative diseases by an entirely novel mechanism. Prion diseases may present as genetic, infectious, or sporadic disorders, all of which involve modification of the prion protein (PrP). The human prion disease Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) generally presents as a progressive dementia, whereas scrapie of sheep and bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) are manifest as ataxic illnesses. Prions are devoid of nucleic acid and seem to be composed exclusively of a modified isoform of PrP designated PrPSc. The normal, cellular PrP designated PrPC is converted into PrPSc through a process whereby some of its alpha-helical structure is converted into beta-sheet. The species of a particular prion is encoded by the sequence of the chromosomal PrP gene of the mammals in which it last replicated. In contrast to pathogens with a nucleic acid genome, prions encipher strain-specific properties in the tertiary structure of PrPSc. Transgenetic studies argue that PrPSc acts as a template upon which PrPC is refolded into a nascent PrPSc molecule through a process facilitated by another protein.
Constructing Recommendation Systems for Effective Health Messages Using Content, Collaborative, and Hybrid Algorithms

Theoretical and empirical approaches to the design of effective messages to increase healthy and reduce risky behavior have shown only incremental progress. This article explores approaches to the development of a “recommendation system” for archives of public health messages. Recommendation systems are algorithms operating on dense data involving both individual preferences and objective message features. Their goal is to predict ratings for items (i.e., messages) not previously seen by the user on content similarity, prior preference patterns, or their combination. Standard approaches to message testing and research, while making progress, suffer from very slow accumulation of knowledge. This article seeks to leapfrog conventional models of message research, taking advantage of modeling developments in recommendation systems from the commercial arena. After sketching key components in developing recommendation algorithms, this article concludes with reflections on the implications of these approaches in both theory development and application.
Rigid graph control architectures for autonomous formations

This article sets out the rudiments of a theory for analyzing and creating architectures appropriate to the control of formations of autonomous vehicles. The theory rests on ideas of rigid graph theory, some but not all of which are old. The theory, however, has some gaps in it, and their elimination would help in applications. Some of the gaps in the relevant graph theory are as follows. First, there is as yet no analogue for three-dimensional graphs of Laman's theorem, which provides a combinatorial criterion for rigidity in two-dimensional graphs. Second, for three-dimensional graphs there is no analogue of the two-dimensional Henneberg construction for growing or deconstructing minimally rigid graphs although there are conjectures. Third, global rigidity can easily be characterized for two-dimensional graphs, but not for three-dimensional graphs.
Capital Punishment

This article reviews the extent to which the movement to abolish capital punishment has been successful and discusses some of the influences which have produced a remarkable increase in the number of abolitionist countries in the past two decades. It asks whether this trend has now come to an end as many countries which retain the death penalty continue to defy, for a variety of reasons, international pressure to change their laws and practices. Finally, it discusses some actions that might prove effective in overcoming these obstacles.
Determination of Inoculum for Microbiological Testing

IMPORTANT POINTS The following key points are discussed: • Quality control microbiology tests require controlled levels of inocula and require fresh preparations of cells for those inocula • The concentration of cells in a suspension can be estimated by optical density, but this must be confirmed by plate count • The optical density readings against cell mass are specific to the microorganism species • The qualification of these readings must be confirmed after major maintenance to the benchtop spectrophotometer (e.g., after replacement of the bulb).
Zinc Acetate/Carrageenan Gels Exhibit Potent Activity In Vivo against High-Dose Herpes Simplex Virus 2 Vaginal and Rectal Challenge

ABSTRACT Topical microbicides that block the sexual transmission of HIV and herpes simplex virus 2 (HSV-2) are desperately needed to reduce the incidence of HIV infections worldwide. Previously we completed phase 3 testing of the carrageenan-based gel Carraguard. Although the trial did not show that Carraguard is effective in preventing HIV transmission during vaginal sex, it did show that Carraguard is safe when used weekly for up to 2 years. Moreover, Carraguard has in vitro activity against human papillomavirus (HPV) and HSV-2 and favorable physical and rheological properties, which makes it a useful vehicle to deliver antiviral agents such as zinc acetate. To that end, we previously reported that a prototype zinc acetate carrageenan gel protects macaques against vaginal challenge with combined simian-human immunodeficiency virus reverse transcriptase (SHIV-RT). Herein, we report the safety and efficacy of a series of zinc acetate and/or carrageenan gels. The gels protected mice (75 to 85% survival; P < 0.001) against high-dose (106-PFU) HSV-2 vaginal or rectal challenge. In contrast, zinc acetate formulated in HEC (hydroxyethylcellulose; or the Universal Placebo) failed to protect mice against the high-dose vaginal HSV-2 challenge (similar to aqueous zinc acetate solution and the placebo controls). The gels were found to be effective spreading gels, exhibited limited toxicity in vitro, caused minimal damage to the architecture of the cervicovaginal and rectal mucosae in vivo, and induced no increased susceptibility to HSV-2 infection in a mouse model. Our results provide a strong rationale to further optimize and evaluate the zinc acetate/carrageenan gels for their ability to block the sexual transmission of HIV and HSV-2.
Discussion and Consensus in Rater Groups: Implications for Behavioral and Rating Accuracy

Very little research has explored the importance of discussion and consensus among raters in determining both behavioral and rating accuracy; yet groups of raters are routinely used in personnel practices such as assessment centers and panel interviews. Results, based on 225 raters in 75 three-person teams, show that not only does the anticipation of group discussion result in initial superior behavioral accuracy, but also requiring raters to reach consensus results in even greater improvements in behavioral accuracy. On the other hand, even though behavioral accuracy improved in anticipation of group discussion, rating accuracy simultaneously decreased. Rating accuracy, however, did significantly increase during the process of reaching consensus to levels comparable to those groups not anticipating discussion. Overall, group discussion and consensus appear to have larger effects on behavioral accuracy than rating accuracy. Implications, especially for both assessment centers and panel interviews, are discussed.
Genome Sequences of Three Species D Adenoviruses Isolated from AIDS Patients

ABSTRACT HAdVD23 and two novel adenoviruses, HAdVD60a and HAdVD62, isolated from feces of AIDS patients in Manchester, United Kingdom, have been sequenced. The HAdVD60a genome lacks the penton arginine-glycine-aspartic acid (RGD) motif and differs from HAdVD60 by a recombinant E3 region. HAdVD62 has penton, hexon, and fiber regions not previously found in other adenoviruses.
A 0.073-mm2 10-GS/s 6-bit time-domain folding ADC in 65-nm CMOS with inherent DEM

An area-efficient time-domain conversion technique is reported to achieve 10-GS/s, 6-bit resolution in 65-nm CMOS. The front-end single voltage-to-time converter (VTC) running at full speed obviates any clock-skew calibration often needed in time interleaved ADCs. The inherent folding effect of the time-to-digital converter (TDC) employing ring oscillator (RO) as quantizers helps significantly to lower the back-end complexity while providing a built-in dynamic element matching (DEM) feature. Fabricated in a 65-nm CMOS process, the prototype occupies a silicon area of 0.073 mm2. The measured DNL and INL, thanks to the DEM, are +0.27/-0.28 LSBs and +0.48/-0.49 LSBs, respectively. The measured SFDR and SNDR are over 42 dB and 27 dB with a Nyquist input at 10 GS/s. The ADC achieves a FoM of 0.5 pJ/conversion-step.
Animation of Air Bubbles with SPH

We present a physically-based multiphase model for simulating water and air bubbles with Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH). Since the high density ratio of air and water is problematic for existing SPH solvers, we compute the density and pressure forces of both phases separately. The two-way coupling is computed according to the velocity field. The proposed model is capable of simulating the complex bubble flow, e. g. path instability, deformation and merging of bubbles and volume-dependent buoyancy. Furthermore, we present a velocity-based heuristic for generating bubbles in regions where air is likely trapped. Thereby, bubbles are generated on the fly, without explicitly simulating the air phase surrounding the liquid. Instead of deleting the bubbles when they reach the surface, we employ a simple foam model. By incorporating our model into the predictive-corrective SPH method, large time steps can be used. Thus, we can simulate scenarios of high resolution where the size of the bubbles is small in comparison to the liquid volume.
The effect of a walled garden on behavior of individuals with Alzheimer's

Provision of Special Care Units for people with Alzheimer's is seen as a solution to difficulties with their behavior, but the effect of such a unit is rarely tested. After Southland Care Center built an enclosed garden next to such a locked-in unit, residents' behavior was observed to look for such an effect. No pre-post-differences in disruptive behaviors were observed over the summer high-use period However, residents averaged only 14 percent of the peak afternoon use time in the garden, and those using it more displayed less disruptive behavior. As well, residents slept less in the daytime in summer compared to winter and spent more time in winter looking out the window and trying the handle of the door to the garden. Garden use appeared to have had a general positive effect on morale but little effect on disruptive behaviors, perhaps because of limited use by residents.
Antecedents of Adolescents' Motives for Television Use

According to the uses and gratifications approach, individuals try to satisfy needs by means of media use. The empirical application of this approach is often problematic because of the concept of “needs. ” It is argued that the focus should shift to social and psychological factors as direct explanations of behavior. This article hypothesizes that adolescents' television use for mood management is predicted by factors related to the school and family contexts. Results support the hypothesis that tensions generated within the social contexts of home and school life are directly and indirectly related to the use of television for mood management.
Recent Advances in Polyphenol Research

Some people may be laughing when looking at you reading in your spare time. Some may be admired of you. And some may want be like you who have reading hobby. What about your own feel? Have you felt right? Reading is a need and a hobby at once. This condition is the on that will make you feel that you must read. If you know are looking for the book enPDFd recent advances in polyphenol research as the choice of reading, you can find here.
Importance of Selected Competencies and Relationship to Corresponding Coursework in Programs of Teacher Preparation

Abstract This investigation utilized factor analytic procedures to identify areas of coursework perceived as important for undergraduate majors in teacher preparation to acquire. Nonparametric correlation procedures were then used to compare the importance attributed to identified factors with the status of corresponding course offerings. A sample of 546 physical educators responsible for teacher preparation programs at four year colleges/universities responded to two separate questionnaires: (1) a Comptency Questionnaire concerning the importance of 20 selected competencies for future teachers to attain, and (2) a Content Questionnaire which determined the courses offered and their status in each curriculum. The analysis of data revealed three factors which accounted for 41% of the total variance in the importance attributed to competencies. The three factors (in order of mean scores of importance) were Science of Movement, Pedagogy, and Coaching. Kendall's Tau correlation procedure between factors of co.
Adaptation au domaine bancaire du modèle d'évaluation du succès des systèmes d'information (ISSM) de Delone et McLean

En s’appuyant sur le modele de Delone et McLean (2003) (Information System Success Model – ISSM), cet article propose un modele d’evaluation du succes des systemes d’information bancaires de front-office, en s’attachant au point de vue des utilisateurs (charges d’affaires et directeurs d’agences). L’objectif est de contextualiser le modele ISSM en prenant en compte les specificites du domaine bancaire – secteur a haute intensite informationnelle – en ce qui concerne a la fois l’operationnalisation des variables, et les relations entre elles. L’approche methodologique retenue est double : nous avons commence notre recherche par des etudes qualitatives exploratoires (menees a travers des entretiens) qui ont servi a proposer un modele conceptuel contextualise, modele qui a ensuite ete teste par des etudes quantitatives avec les methodes d’equations structurelles (deux recueils de donnees avec un questionnaire en ligne). Nous avons suivi le paradigme de Churchill (1979) pour operationnaliser nos six variables. Sur un plan theorique, les resultats de cette recherche confirment que l’evaluation est multidimensionnelle, que la perception du succes d’un SI passe par un ensemble de variables inter reliees. De plus, nous avons mis en evidence, en raison des specificites du domaine bancaire, que la qualite de l’information se distingue des autres variables de qualite et apparait comme la variable cle du modele. Enfin, la satisfaction ne semble etre determinee que par une seule variable, resultat specifique au domaine bancaire, ou l’utilisation du SI est obligatoire. D’un point de vue pratique et managerial, le modele s’avere etre un outil d’evaluation utile aux DSI et managers, soit dans sa globalite, soit pour evaluer une variable particuliere du modele.
Magnetic Nanoparticle-Based Hyperthermia for Head & Neck Cancer in Mouse Models

In this study, magnetic iron oxide nanoparticle induced hyperthermia is applied for treatment of head and neck cancer using a mouse xenograft model of human head and neck cancer (Tu212 cell line). A hyperthermia system for heating iron oxide nanoparticles was developed by using alternating magnetic fields. Both theoretical simulation and experimental studies were performed to verify the thermotherapy effect. Experimental results showed that the temperature of the tumor center has dramatically elevated from around the room temperature to about 40oC within the first 5-10 minutes. Pathological studies demonstrate epithelial tumor cell destruction associated with the hyperthermia treatment.
Distributional Identification of Non-Referential Pronouns

We present an automatic approach to determining whether a pronoun in text refers to a preceding noun phrase or is instead nonreferential. We extract the surrounding textual context of the pronoun and gather, from a large corpus, the distribution of words that occur within that context. We learn to reliably classify these distributions as representing either referential or non-referential pronoun instances. Despite its simplicity, experimental results on classifying the English pronoun it show the system achieves the highest performance yet attained on this important task.
Reliable multiprocessor system-on-chip synthesis

This article presents a multiprocessor system-on-chip synthesis (MPSoC) algorithm that optimizes system mean time to failure. Given a set of directed acyclic periodic graphs of communicating tasks, the proposed algorithm determines a processor core allocation, level of system-level and processor-level structural redundancy, assignment of tasks to processors, floorplan, and schedule in order to minimize system failure rate and area while meeting functionality and timing constraints. Changes to the thermal profile resulting from changes in allocation, assignment, scheduling, and floorplan are modeled and optimized during synthesis, as is the impact of thermal profile on temperature-dependent failure mechanisms. The proposed techniques have the potential to substantially increase MPSoC system mean time to failure compared to area-optimized solutions. If power densities are high and the dominant lifetime failure mechanisms are strongly dependent on temperature, our results indicate that thermal and structural redundancy optimization during synthesis have the potential to greatly increase MPSoC lifetime with low area cost.
Activity-Dependent Development of Callosal Projections in the Somatosensory Cortex

The corpus callosum is the largest commissural system in the mammalian brain, but the mechanisms underlying its development are not well understood. Here we report that neuronal activity is necessary for the normal development and maintenance of callosal projections in the mouse somatosensory cortex. We labeled a subpopulation of layer II/III callosal neurons via in utero electroporation and traced their axons in the contralateral cortex at different postnatal stages. Callosal axons displayed region- and layer-specific projection patterns within the first 2 weeks postnatally. Prenatal suppression of neuronal excitation was achieved via electroporation-induced overexpression of the inward rectifying potassium channel Kir2.1 in layer II/III cortical neurons. This resulted in abnormal callosal projections with many axons extending beyond layers II–III to terminate in layer I. Others failed to terminate at the border between the primary and secondary somatosensory cortices. Blocking synaptic transmission via expression of the tetanus toxin light chain (TeNT-LC) in these axons produced a more pronounced reduction in the projections to the border region, and the eventual disappearance of callosal projections over the entire somatosensory cortex. When Kir2.1 and TeNT-LC were coexpressed, callosal axon targeting exhibited a more severe phenotype that appeared to represent the addition of the effects produced by individual expression of Kir2.1 and TeNT-LC. These results underscore the importance of activity in regulating the developing neural connections and suggest that neuronal and synaptic activities are involved in regulating different aspects of the development of callosal projection.
Tetraaquabis(biuret-κ2 O,O′)gadolinium(III) trichloride

In the title compound, [Gd(C2H5N3O2)2(H2O)4]Cl3, which is isostrucutural with its yttrium analogue, the Gd3+ ion (site symmetry 2) is bonded to eight O atoms (arising from two O,O′-bidentate biuret molecules and four water molecules) in a distorted square-antiprismatic arrangement. A network of N—H⋯O, N—H⋯Cl and O—H⋯Cl hydrogen bonds helps to establish the packing, leading to a three-dimensional network. One of the chloride ions has site symmetry 2.