Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Noise reduction using a small-scale microphone array in multi noise source environment

To construct a front-end for ASR systems using a small-scale microphone array in real environments, robustness for unstable sudden-noises, multi-noises and near-field sound sources are required. This paper proposes a front-end method for enhancing target signals that subtracts estimated noise from noisy signals by using paired microphones in each sub-band. The proposed method assumes one integrated noise source exists in each narrow sub-band, estimates its noise spectrum correctly using the cancellation method, and subtracts it from the noise-added sound spectrum using the SS. Thus, the proposed method can be used in multi noise source and near-field conditions, although it uses a small-scale microphone array consisting of only three microphones.
Einstein and Chicken‐Licken: Towards a Post‐paradigm Epistemology for Educational Management

Suggests that it is reasonable to expect researchers in the field of educational administration to establish the relative value of the knowledge they propound. Draws on the branch of philosophy devoted to the study of the nature of knowledge; epistemology. Argues for new forms of awareness, criteria and processes to help with the growth of trustworthy knowledge. Concludes that there is a need for a post‐paradigm approach that celebrates coherence and multi‐perspectivism.
Formation of the spinal network in zebrafish determined by domain‐specific pax genes

In the formation of the spinal network, various transcription factors interact to develop specific cell types. By using a gene trap technique, we established a stable line of zebrafish in which the red fluorescent protein (RFP) was inserted into the pax8 gene. RFP insertion marked putative pax8‐lineage cells with fluorescence and inhibited pax8 expression in homozygous embryos. Pax8 homozygous embryos displayed defects in the otic vesicle, as previously reported in studies with morpholinos. The pax8 homozygous embryos survived to adulthood, in contrast to mammalian counterparts that die prematurely. RFP is expressed in the dorsal spinal cord. Examination of the axon morphology revealed that RFP+ neurons include commissural bifurcating longitudinal (CoBL) interneurons, but other inhibitory neurons such as commissural local (CoLo) interneurons and circumferential ascending (CiA) interneurons do not express RFP. We examined the effect of inhibiting pax2a/pax8 expression on interneuron development. In pax8 homozygous fish, the RFP+ cells underwent differentiation similar to that of pax8 heterozygous fish, and the swimming behavior remained intact. In contrast, the RFP+ cells of pax2a/pax8 double mutants displayed altered cell fates. CoBLs were not observed. Instead, RFP+ cells exhibited axons descending ipsilaterally, a morphology resembling that of V2a/V2b interneurons. J. Comp. Neurol. 519:1562–1579, 2011. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Changing perspectives: teaching and learning centres’ strategic contributions to academic development in Australian higher education

This article reports on a study of Australian teaching and learning centres to identify factors that contribute to their effective strategic leadership. These centres remain in a state of flux, with seemingly endless reconfiguration. The drivers for such change appear to lie in decision makers’ search for their centres to add more strategic value to organisational teaching, learning and the student experience. Through a synthesis of findings based on interviews, a survey of directors of centres and focus groups, the article identifies paradigmatic shifts in the ways centres see themselves, relate to their organisations and respond to external environmental forces. From an understanding of paradigm shifts, strategic contributions to academic development in the sector are framed organisationally through key points of leverage. Points of leverage are manageable actions that can be taken to maximise overall institutional impact and effectiveness.
THREE PHASE FAULT DIAGNOSIS BASED ON RBF NEURAL NETWORK OPTIMIZED BY PSO ALGORITHM

The present paper proposes a fault diagnosis methodology of three phase inverter circuit base on radial basis function (RBF) artificial neural network trained by particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm. Using the appropriate stimulus signal, fault features are extracted from efficient points in frequency response of the circuit directly and then a fault dictionary is created by collecting signatures of different fault conditions. Trained by the examples contained in the fault dictionary, the RBF neural network optimized by PSO has been demonstrated to provide robust diagnosis to the difficult problem of soft faults in three phase inverter circuits. The experimental result shows that the proposed technique is succeeded in diagnosing and locating faults effectively. Keyword: three phase inverter circuit, RBF neural network, fault diagnosis, particle swarm optimization.
Exhausting the fatigue university: in search of a biopolitics of research

Today it would seem that being fatigued is a fairly common physical and psychological effect of educational systems based on an increasing demand for high-yield performance quotas. In higher education, ‘publish or perish’ is a kind of imperative to perform, perform better, and perform optimally leading to an overall economy of fatigue. In this paper we provide a critical theory of what we are calling the ‘fatigue university. ’ While highlighting the negative costs of fatigue, we also provide a philosophical distinction between tiredness and exhaustion that disrupts the biopolitics of fatigue from the inside. To do so, we turn to Gilles Deleuze and Giorgio Agamben whose writings on exhaustion point to its educational importance. Indeed, it is through the very ‘illnesses’ of exhaustion that the biopolitics of research can be problematized and opened up for new configurations.
The effect of social participation on the subjective and objective health status of the over-fifties: evidence from SHARE

ABSTRACT Increasing social participation among older individuals to increase health and wellbeing has become a distinct policy goal of many national governments and the European Commission. However, to date the evidence on how social participation affects health, both subjective and objective, remains limited, especially since most studies do not account for the reciprocal relationship. The aim of this study is to analyse how changes in social participation affect both the subjective and objective health of older Europeans as well as how changes in health status affect social participation. Using longitudinal data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), the results suggest that both the uptake as well as the continuation of social activities increase the chances of improvements in subjective as well as objective health. Furthermore, improvements in self-rated health as well as grip strength significantly increase the chances of taking up new activities as well as continuing with existing ones. Country effect is not as strong as expected and the benefits could be homogeneous across different cultures once we control for socio-economic status. Overall, the results stress the need for taking into account the reciprocal relationship between social participation and health. The paper highlights the importance of focusing on both uptake and continuation of social participation when devising policy aimed at improving healthy ageing.
Bioavailability and biotransformation of benzo(a)pyrene in an isolated perfused In situ catfish intestinal preparation.

In the aquatic environment, diet is an important route of exposure for the common contaminant and procarcinogen benzo(a)pyrene (BaP). Dietary organisms vary in their BaP content and in contaminated areas often contain other xenobiotics including cytochrome P4501A inducers. This study examined the effect of dose and previous dietary exposure to the inducer ss-naphthoflavone (BNF) upon the intestinal metabolism of BaP and the systemic bioavailability of BaP-derived products in catfish. BaP was administered at 2 and 20 microM into in situ-isolated perfused intestines of control and BNF-pretreated catfish. The intestine formed an array of metabolites in all treatments including potentially hazardous metabolites such as BaP-7,8 and 9,10 dihydrodiols and 6-methyl-BaP. BNF treatment disproportionally increased the contribution of BaP-7,8 and 9,10 dihydrodiols relative to the contributions of other metabolites. A greater percentage of metabolites was evident as conjugates in 2 microM controls, whereas a greater percentage of unconjugated metabolites was evident for 20 microM controls and BNF treatments of both dosages. BNF pretreatment and the higher 20 microM BaP dosage resulted in greater bioavailability, with 2.6-5.5-fold and 3.0-6. 3-fold increases in systemically available BaP products, respectively. Metabolites represented 10.2-23.1% of the increased bioavailability with BNF treatment, suggesting that mechanisms, in addition to induced metabolism, may be operative. These results indicate that intestinal bioavailability, level of biotransformation, and the metabolic profile of BaP-derived products entering the blood from the intestine may be altered by dose and dietary BNF pretreatment. ImagesFigure 1Figure 2Figure 3Figure 4
Readability and Visuals in Medical Research Information Forms for Children and Adolescents

Children are often-overlooked receivers of medical information, and little research addresses their information needs. However, young children are capable of understanding medical concepts, and they express the desire to be informed. This study addresses the quality of medical research information forms for children in the Netherlands, by assessing text readability and the role of visuals. Children’s reading books, nonfiction books, and textbooks were used as comparison. Seven focus groups were conducted to identify children’s preferences and needs for text and supporting visuals. We argue that the use of visuals is a powerful, but neglected, tool to improve medical information for minors.
Functional Analysis and RNA Sequencing Indicate the Regulatory Role of Argonaute1 in Tomato Compound Leaf Development

Regardless of whether a leaf is simple or compound, the mechanism underlying its development will give rise to a full comprehension of plant morphogenesis. The role of Argonaute1 (AGO1) in the development of simple leaves has been established, but its role in the development of compound leaves remains to be characterized. In this paper, a virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) strategy was used to dramatically down-regulate the expression of AGO1 ortholog in tomatoes, a model plant for research into compound leaves. AGO1-silenced tomato compound leaves exhibited morphological defects of leaf adaxial-abaxial and trichome development. Analysis of global gene expression profiles indicated that the silencing of AGO1 in tomato compound leaf caused significant changes in the expression of several critical genes, including Auxin Response Factor 4 (ARF4) and Non-expressor of PR5 (NPR5), which were involved in adaxial-abaxial formation and IAA15 that was found to contribute to growth of trichomes as well as Gibberellic Acid Insensitive (GAI) which participated in hormone regulation. Collectively, these results shed light on the complicated mechanism by which AGO1 regulates compound leaf development.
Where do management fashions come from, and how long do they stay?

Recent management history has seen a surge in the number of ideas that supposedly represent the cutting edge of management progress. This paper investigates the emergence of several of these management fashions. It examines the dissemination of fashions and the type of journals and areas from which particular fashions emerge. A bibliometric analysis is described that involved the following fashions: bench‐marking; pay for performance; quality circles; peer review; and MBO. The results of the analysis support hypotheses that fashions emerge in the popular press before academic literature and that some fashions emerge from sub‐fields before appearing throughout management publications.
Release of Tenofovir from Carrageenan-Based Vaginal Suppositories

Microbicides are an active area of research for HIV prevention, being developed as a woman-initiated method of prevention during unprotected coitus. Along with safety and efficacy, assessing and improving compliance is a major area of research in microbicide development. We have produced microbicide prototypes in the form of semisoft vaginal suppositories prepared from carrageenan and conducted both qualitative and quantitative studies using these prototypes to determine the physical properties that drive acceptability and possibly adherence. In order to ensure that the suppositories function as effective drug delivery vehicles, we have conducted in vitro dissolution studies in water, vaginal simulant fluid (VSF) and semen simulant fluid (SSF) with suppositories loaded with the antiretroviral drug, tenofovir (TFV). TFV was released via diffusion and matrix erosion in water or by diffusion out of the matrix in VSF and SSF. Diffusion studies were conducted in two different volumes of VSF and SSF. The volume of VSF/SSF into which TFV diffused and the size of the suppositories determined the rate of diffusion from the suppositories. About 45%–50% of the encapsulated TFV diffused out of the suppositories within the first two hours, irrespective of suppository size, diffusion medium (VSF/SSF) and the volume of medium. Prior work indicates that a short waiting period between insertion and coitus is highly desired by women; present data suggest our microbicide prototypes have rapid initial release followed by a slow release curve over the first 24 h.
Leukemia inhibitory factor receptor is structurally related to the IL‐6 signal transducer, gp130.

Leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) is a cytokine with a broad range of activities that in many cases parallel those of interleukin‐6 (IL‐6) although LIF and IL‐6 appear to be structurally unrelated. A cDNA clone encoding the human LIF receptor was isolated by expression screening of a human placental cDNA library. The LIF receptor is related to the gp130 ‘signal‐transducing’ component of the IL‐6 receptor and to the G‐CSF receptor, with the transmembrane and cytoplasmic regions of the LIF receptor and gp130 being most closely related. This relationship suggests a common signal transduction pathway for the two receptors and may help to explain similar biological effects of the two ligands. Murine cDNAs encoding soluble LIF receptors were isolated by cross‐hybridization and share 70% amino acid sequence identity to the human sequence.
The case for thoroughly testing complex system dynamic models

The Case for Thoroughly Testing Complex System Dynamics Models Wayne Wakeland and Megan Hoarfrost 1 Systems Science Ph.D. Program, Portland State University 2 Stanford University 1 P.O. Box 751, Portland, OR 97207 (503) 725-4975(v) (503) 725-8489 (f) wakeland@pdx.edu Abstract In order to determine whether model testing is as useful as suggested by modeling experts, the full battery of model tests recommended by Forrester, Senge, Sterman, and others was applied retrospectively to a complex previously-published system dynamics model. The time required to carry out each type of test was captured, and the benefits that resulted from applying each test was determined subjectively. The resulting benefit to cost ratios are reported. These ratios suggest that rather than focusing primarily on sensitivity testing, modelers should consider other types of model tests such as extreme condition tests and family member tests. The study also finds that all of the different kinds of tests were either moderately useful or very useful--fully supporting the recommendations of the experts.
Fundamental Limits of Communications in Interference Networks-Part II: Information Flow in Degraded Networks

In this second part of our multi-part papers, the information flow in degraded interference networks is studied. A full characterization of the sum-rate capacity for the degraded networks with any possible configuration is established. It is shown that a successive decoding scheme is sum-rate optimal for these networks. Also, it is proved that the transmission of only a certain subset of messages is sufficient to achieve the sum-rate capacity in such networks. Algorithms are presented to determine this subset of messages explicitly. According to these algorithms, the optimal strategy to achieve the sum-rate capacity in degraded networks is that the transmitters try to send information for the stronger receivers and, if possible, avoid sending the messages with respect to the weaker receivers. The algorithms are easily understood using our graphical illustrations for the achievability schemes based on directed graphs. The sum-rate expression for the degraded networks is then used to derive a unified outer bound on the sum-rate capacity of arbitrary non-degraded networks. Several variations of the degraded networks are identified for which the derived outer bound is sum-rate optimal. Specifically, noisy interference regimes are derived for certain classes of multi-user/multi-message interference networks. Also, for the first time, network scenarios are identified where the incorporation of both successive decoding and treating interference as noise achieves their sum-rate capacity. Finally, by taking insight from our results for degraded networks, we establish a unified outer bound on the entire capacity region of the general interference networks. These outer bounds for a broad range of network scenarios are tighter than the existing cut-set bound.
AN EFFICIENT AUTOMATED MULTIMODAL CONTOUR SEGMENTATION OF MULTIMODAL BRAIN TUMOR IMAGE USING DYNAMIC SPARSE FIELD

Segmentation of tumor cells from Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) has witnessed significant popularity in recent years, bringing new challenges to advanced medical imaging. The performance of today’s image segmentation on multimodal brain images heavily depends on the consumption of processing time. In this work, we propose Automated Multimodal Contour Segmentation (AMCS), an efficient technique to achieve robustness under different scanning region points on multimodal brain images. Here, effective segmentation is performed by evaluating the tumor volume, curvature, global and local regions. The proposed MBIS algorithm result shows that the multimodal brain images with higher true positive rate compared with certain benchmark techniques in the literature while being efficient in terms of processing time, true positive rate and robustness in terms of segmentation accuracy.
The Speech Physiology of Stutterers: Present Status

Reprint requests: Dr. Adams, Program in Communication Disorders, North Office Annex, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77004. The speech physiology of stutterers has long been the focus of serious research efforts. Systematic investigations in this area started in the early 1930s and were conducted intensively into the mid-1940s. However, from about 1944 to 1971, experiments of this type went into eclipse. Subsequently, the decade of the 1970s saw a rebirth of interest in studies of stutterers' speech production abilities and then a steady increase in that line of inquiry that has continued up to the present. This article reviews and comments on this period of 50-odd years of research; evaluates the findings evolving therefrom; and offers some suggestions regarding where these results might take us in our future scientific work. During the first 15 years of this 40-year period (Sortini [1955] wrote an excellent review of the research conducted during this time), experimental attention was fixed on such dependent variables as the locus and nature of stutterers' speech breathing, laryngeal activity, and ability to perform rapid diadochokinetic movements with the oral articulators. The many findings derived from these studies are striking for the extent to which they failed to reveal the presence of any large and replicable differences between the stutterers and normal speakers who were tested. About the only notable disparity between the two groups that emerged from all this work involved the repeated discovery of speech-breathing anomalies in stutterers. Yet, even this observation was tainted by inconsistency. For instance, in one investigation, a diaphragmatic "flutter" appeared as a rather common trait in the stutterers tested. But then, in a subsequent project, shallow breathing would be the most frequently observed respiratory deficit. By mid-1940 these sorts of unreliable or insignificant differences between stutterers and normal persons had accumulated in sizeable quantity. Content with the interpretation that the speech production abilities of these two groups were much alike, scientists went scurrying off looking for 177
Institutional Influences on the Choice of Organizational Form: The Case of Franchising

Current explanations for franchising assume that managers only pay attention to firm-specific economic factors. In contrast, the authors submit that social factors described by institutional theory will enhance understanding. Using a sample of 1,300 franchisors active during 1980 through 2000, the authors find evidence that both environmental and internal institutional pressures influence firms’ propensity to franchise, but that responsiveness to internal institutional pressures declines as economic reasons to franchise increase. Overall, social factors appear to actively influence franchising, but their impact is muted by economic factors. The results also suggest that perhaps franchising is itself becoming an institutionalized norm. For researchers, institutional theory promises to be a fruitful avenue for increasing understanding about franchising. For franchisors, results highlight the value of systematic analysis of franchising decisions.
Frequency and clinical determinants of poststroke depression.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Previous studies have shown a large variation concerning the frequency of poststroke depression. This variation is caused by differences in patient populations, psychiatric assessment methods, and diagnostic criteria. In this study, we evaluated the frequency and clinical correlates of poststroke depression in a large well-defined stroke cohort. METHODS We studied a consecutive series of 486 patients with ischemic stroke aged from 55 to 85 years. Of these, 277 patients underwent a comprehensive psychiatric evaluation, including the Present State Examination, from 3 to 4 months after ischemic stroke. The criteria of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, edition 3, revised (DSM-III-R), were used for the diagnosis of depressive disorders. RESULTS The frequency of any depressive disorder was 40.1% (n=111). Major depression was diagnosed in 26.0% (n=72) and minor depression in 14.1% (n=39). Major depression with no other explanatory factor besides stroke was diagnosed in 18.0% (n=49) of the patients. Comparing depressed and nondepressed patients, we found no statistically significant difference in sex, age, education, stroke type, stroke localization, stroke syndrome, history of previous cerebrovascular disease, or frequency of DSM-III-R dementia. According to the multiple logistic regression model, dependency in daily life correlated with the diagnosis of depression (odds ratio [OR], 1.8; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.1 to 3.1) and with the diagnosis of major depression (OR, 2.9; 95% CI, 1.6 to 5.5). A history of previous depressive episodes also correlated with the diagnosis of depression (OR, 2.3; 95% CI, 1.3 to 4.4) and with the diagnosis of major depression (OR, 2.9; 95% CI, 1.6 to 5.5), whereas solely stroke-related major depression correlated only weakly with stroke severity as measured on the Scandinavian Stroke Scale (OR, 1.1; 95% CI, 1.0 to 1.1). CONCLUSIONS Clinically significant depression is frequent after ischemic stroke. We emphasize the importance of the psychiatric examination of poststroke patients, especially those with a significant disability and with a history of prior depressive episodes.