Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Effect of Head-Related Transfer Function Measurement Methodology on Localization Performance in Spatial Audio Interfaces

Objective: Four head-related transfer function (HRTF) data sets were compared to determine the effect of HRTF measurement methodology on the localization of spatialized auditory stimuli. Background: Spatial audio interfaces typically require HRTF data sets to generate the spatialized auditory stimuli. HRTF measurement is accomplished using a variety of techniques that can require several nearly arbitrary decisions about methodology. The effects of these choices upon the resulting spatial audio interface are unclear. Method: Sixteen participants completed a sound localization task that included real-world, broadband stimuli spatialized at eight locations on the horizontal plane. Four different HRTF data sets were utilized to spatialize the stimuli: two publicly available HRTF data sets and two data sets obtained using different in-house measurement systems. All HRTFs were obtained from the Knowles Electronics Mannequin for Acoustics Research. Results: Unsigned localization error and proportion of front/back reversals did not differ significantly across HRTF data sets. Poorest accuracy was observed in locations near the medial (front/back) axis of the listener, mainly because of the relatively large proportions of reversals at these locations. Conclusion: This study suggests that the particular generalized HRTF data set chosen for spatialization is of minimal importance to the localizability of the resulting stimuli. Application: This result will inform the design of many spatial audio interfaces that are based upon generalized HRTFs, including wayfaring devices, communication systems, and virtual reality systems.
Optimal Product Line Pricing: The Influence of Elasticities and Cross-Elasticities

The authors focus on the determination of optimal prices for products in a product line. Most firms offer more than a single brand, and ultimately are concerned with the overall results of the entire line. The most common approach for addressing this concern has been to model the sales response function and optimize the profit function separately by brand. A model is presented which solves for the optimal product line prices simultaneously. The method requires a model which includes cross-elasticity terms and an estimation method which allows for correlated disturbances (seemingly unrelated regression). This approach is compared with results from a model not including the cross-elasticity terms, and an estimation without correlated disturbances. Inferences for optimal prices from the proposed model indicate different results and potential errors in using the more naive models. The authors provide a method for managers to use in evaluating the importance of critical parameters in their product line pricing decisions.
Altered protein‐expressing profile in hPNAS4‐induced apoptosis in A549 human lung adenocarcinoma cells

Human PNAS4 (hPNAS4) is a recently identified pro‐apoptosis gene, which is able to induce apoptosis in A549 human lung adenocarcinoma cells following its overexpression. In this work, we investigated the changes of protein profile in hPNAS4‐induced apoptosis in A549 cells through proteomic strategy consisting of two‐dimensional electrophoresis (2‐DE) coupled with MALDI‐Q‐TOF mass spectrometry. A total of 20 different proteins with more than 3.0‐fold change in expression, including 5 up‐regulated and 15 down‐regulated proteins were successfully identified by database search. The mRNA transcription levels of the different proteins were further examined by RT‐PCT. Functional analyses showed these different proteins are involved in diverse biological processes including metabolism, proteolysis, signal transduction, apoptosis, and redox regulation. Two essential apoptosis‐associated protein, annexin A1 and prothymosin alpha, were confirmed by Western blot and showed consistent changes with proteomic detection. Our data provide molecular evidence and possible associated pathway in hPNAS4‐induced apoptosis through proteomic strategy, which should be contributed to further investigation on biological function of hPNAS4. J. Cell. Biochem. 108: 1211–1219, 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
An Atom Trap Relying on Optical Pumping

We have investigated a new radiation pressure trap which relies on optical pumping and does not require any magnetic field. It employs six circularly polarized divergent beams and works on the red of a Jg ? Je = Jg + 1 atomic transition with Jg ? 1/2. We have demonstrated this trap with cesium atoms from a vapour cell using the 852 nm Jg = 4 ? Je = 5 resonance transition. The trap contained up to 3 ? 107 atoms in a cloud of 1/? e radius of 330 ? m.
Optical MEMS pressure sensor based on double ring resonator

This work has focused on the design, simulation and analysis of an optical MEMS pressure sensor based on serially coupled double ring resonator (DRR) in a microcantilever for pressure sensing application. The sensor is basically structured on a microcantilever beam and built-in optical integrated ring resonator which is placed in one end of the beam to gain maximum stress on the resonator. A serially coupled DRR with different radii is investigated that, effective free spectral range (FSR) of the ring is dramatically enhanced due to the vernier effect between the two rings, and the cantilever beam is optimally designed to maximize the stress and also to reduce the size and weight of the device. As a result, when pressure is applied in a system, the beam will bend, which involves mechanical deformation of the ring resonator that induces a stress, which brings the refractive index change in the waveguide lead to change in the output spectrum shift providing the measure of pressure. The sensitivity as high as 3.4149pm/kPa has been achieved and it is capable of measuring within range of (0-30.469) MPa.
Effects of Continental Clouds on Surface Aitken and Accumulation Modes

Relationships between clouds and surface aerosol are investigated at the Oklahoma Atmospheric Radiation Measurements Southern Great Plains site. Cloud chemical transformations, coalescence, and Brownian capture increase material within cloud droplets. Then when cloud droplets evaporate, as they often do, their residuals are larger than unnucleated particles. This creates a bimodal particle size distribution by moving some Aitken mode (25‐ to 100‐nm diameter) particles to the accumulation mode (100‐ to 825‐nm diameter). Clouds also block solar radiation that causes photochemical reactions that produce small particles that grow by coagulation and condensation into the Aitken mode. Highly significant positive correlations of remotely sensed cloud fraction (cf) with time‐lagged Aitken and accumulation mode mean particle diameter (mpd) isolated the effects of cloud processing on both modes. Positive correlations of cf with accumulation concentrations and negative correlations of cf with Aitken concentrations also provided evidence of cloud processing. Photochemical production of very small particles under clear daylight skies worked together with cloud processing to enhance Aitken mpd and concentration correlations with cf. Cloud‐processed aerosol was evident only during daylight and when the boundary layer mixing height exceeded the remotely sensed cloud base altitude. Greater cf, especially consecutive high cf hours increased accumulation and Aitken mpd and accumulation concentrations while it decreased Aitken concentrations. Lower cf, especially consecutive hours of no clouds, decreased overall mpd and did not enhance the accumulation mode. All of these results implicated clouds as a source of the accumulation mode, and thus, clouds seemed to explain bimodal aerosol over the mid‐North American continent.
Cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator modulation by the tobacco smoke toxin acrolein

Evidence indicates that decreased mucociliary clearance (MCC) is a major contributing feature to chronic rhinosinusitis. Tobacco‐smoke exposure is thought to inhibit transepithelial Cl− secretion, a major determinant of airway surface liquid hydration and MCC. The objective of the current study was to evaluate the effects of acrolein exposure (a prominent tobacco smoke toxin) on vectorial Cl− transport through the major apical anion channel cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) in sinonasal epithelium.
Chronotherapeutic Drug Delivery

Living organisms follow a circadian rhythm in which physiological processes such as hormonal secretion, metabolism, heart rate, and renal output are affected by the time of day. Chronotherapy coordinates drug delivery with the circadian rhythm to enhance effectiveness and mitigate adverse effects and is achieved by delivering a drug when the system is most susceptible. Cancer is a chronotherapeutic disorder. Cancer treatment requires high doses of intravenous medication to kill cancerous cells; however, normal cells are also killed, creating intolerable side effects. This review shows that chronotherapy can play a vital role in the quality of life and survival rate for oncology patients.
Global Metabolic Profiling Identifies a Pivotal Role of Proline and Hydroxyproline Metabolism in Supporting Hypoxic Response in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Purpose: Metabolic reprogramming is frequently identified in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), which is the most common type of liver malignancy. The reprogrammed cellular metabolisms promote tumor cell survival, proliferation, angiogenesis, and metastasis. However, the mechanisms of this process remain unclear in HCC. Experimental Design: The global nontargeted metabolic study in 69 paired hepatic carcinomas and adjacent tissue specimens was performed using capillary electrophoresis-time of flight mass spectrometry–based approach. Key findings were validated by targeted metabolomic approach. Biological studies were also performed to investigate the role of proline biosynthesis in HCC pathogenesis. Results: Proline metabolism was markedly changed in HCC tumor tissue, characterized with accelerated consumption of proline and accumulation of hydroxyproline, which significantly correlated with α-fetoprotein levels and poor prognosis in HCC. In addition, we found that hydroxyproline promoted hypoxia- and HIF-dependent phenotype in HCC. Moreover, we demonstrated that hypoxia activated proline biosynthesis via upregulation of ALDH18A1, subsequently leading to accumulation of hydroxyproline via attenuated PRODH2 activity. More importantly, we showed that glutamine, proline, and hydroxyproline metabolic axis supported HCC cell survival through modulating HIF1α stability in response to hypoxia. Finally, inhibition of proline biosynthesis significantly enhanced cytotoxicity of sorafenib in vitro and in vivo. Conclusions: Our results demonstrate that hypoxic microenvironment activates proline metabolism, resulting in accumulation of hydroxyproline that promotes HCC tumor progression and sorafenib resistance through modulating HIF1α. These findings provide the proof of concept for targeting proline metabolism as a potential therapeutic strategy for HCC. Clin Cancer Res; 24(2); 474–85. ©2017 AACR.
Aqua[2-(3-carboxy-5-carboxylatophenoxy)acetato-κO 1]bis(1,10-phenanthroline-κ2 N,N′)manganese(II) dihydrate

In the title complex, [Mn(C10H6O7)(C12H8N2)2(H2O)]·2H2O, the MnII atom is coordinated by two O atoms from one 2-(3-carboxy-5-carboxylatophenoxy)acetate (HOABDC2−) dianion and one water molecule and by four N atoms from two 1,10-phenanthroline (phen) ligands within a distorted octahedral geometry. O—H⋯O hydrogen bonding between –COOH and –COO− groups of adjacent molecules and between carboxylate groups and coordinated and uncoordinated water molecules leads to a three-dimensional structure which is further stabilized by weak π–π interactions of adjacent phen ligands with centroid–centroid separations of 4.2932 (1) Å.
Quantification of Parkinson's disease characteristics using wireless accelerometers

Parkinson's disease is classified as a chronic movement disorder. The incidence of Parkinson's disease is proportional to age. The status of Parkinson's disease is characterized through the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale. The Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale is an ordinal scale, for which the scale is qualitatively evaluated. The inherent issue of the ordinal scale is the lack of a temporal parameter to evaluate the attributes of the movement disorder. The evaluation of the Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale requires clinical specialization, occurring in a clinical environment. Accelerometers, through the advent of miniaturization, have reached a capacity to advance the evaluation of Parkinson's disease. Tremor characteristics and temporal attributes of Parkinson's disease can be readily quantified. Accelerometer systems have been tested and evaluated for ascertaining general status, drug therapy efficacy, and amelioration of Parkinson's disease based on deep brain stimulation parameter settings. Further advance of the accelerometer characterization of Parkinson's disease attributes involves the incorporation of a fully wearable system. Such a system is possible with the integration of wireless 3D MEMS accelerometers. The device proposed incorporates a wireless and potentially wearable 3D MEMS accelerometer mounted on the dorsum of the hand. The wireless 3D MEMS accelerometer system can potentially track the Parkinson's disease status through out real time for a subject at the home-based setting of the subject. An implication of the device is a subject database can be generated quantifying the progression of Parkinson's disease. Drug therapy dosage may be optimized with quantified feedback from the wireless 3D MEMS accelerometer system. Deep brain stimulation parameters may be further refined, and the conceptual foundation for real time deep brain stimulation parameter optimization is established. Enclosed is the initial test and evaluation of the wireless 3D MEMS accelerometer system through the quantification of simulated tremor.
Soft Seeded SSL Graphs for Unsupervised Semantic Similarity-based Retrieval

Semantic similarity based retrieval is playing an increasingly important role in many IR systems such as modern web search, question-answering, similar document retrieval etc. Improvements in retrieval of semantically similar content are very significant to applications like Quora, Stack Overflow, Siri etc. We propose a novel unsupervised model for semantic similarity based content retrieval, where we construct semantic flow graphs for each query, and introduce the concept of "soft seeding" in graph based semi-supervised learning (SSL) to convert this into an unsupervised model. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our model on an equivalent question retrieval problem on the Stack Exchange QA dataset, where our unsupervised approach significantly outperforms the state-of-the-art unsupervised models, and produces comparable results to the best supervised models. Our research provides a method to tackle semantic similarity based retrieval without any training data, and allows seamless extension to different domain QA communities, as well as to other semantic equivalence tasks.
Reading performance in patients with retinitis pigmentosa: a study using the MNREAD charts.

PURPOSE To evaluate the relationship between reading performance and severity of disease in patients with retinitis pigmentosa (RP), assessed with routine clinical psychophysical visual tests. METHODS Seventy-six consecutive patients with RP (145 eyes), with reading acuity of at least 1.6 logMAR (logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution) in at least one eye, were examined. Each patient underwent a complete ophthalmic evaluation, including visual acuity (Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study [ETDRS] charts), contrast sensitivity (Pelli-Robson charts), visual field perimetry (Humphrey central 30-2 full-threshold program; Carl Zeiss Meditec, Dublin, CA), and a test of reading acuity, critical print size, and maximum reading speed (Minnesota Reading charts [MNREAD]). RESULTS Reading acuity was 1.0 logMAR or more in the better eye of all but six (92%) patients. Maximum reading speed was better than 100 words per minute in the better eye of 59 (78%) subjects. Moderate to severe reading impairment, defined as reading acuity of 0.4 logMAR or worse, was observed in the better eye of 47 (62%) patients. EDTRS visual acuity of 0.3 logMAR (20/40) or worse was 89% sensitive and 66% specific when used as a criterion to define reading impairment. Contrast sensitivity and visual acuity correlated significantly with all three reading components, whereas mean light sensitivity in the central visual field (6 degrees ) demonstrated a higher correlation with maximum reading speed. The number of years elapsed since the diagnosis of RP was a strong negative predictor of reading performance when clinical visual tests were taken into account, whereas a better reading ability characterized the patients with RP who had a higher level of education. A reduced reading speed with larger print size was found in 30 eyes (21%). This correlated with central light sensitivity, as it was more common among eyes with a mean sensitivity of <10 dB. CONCLUSIONS The reading performance of most patients with RP is only moderately impaired. It correlates with contrast sensitivity, visual acuity, and visual field. It should be assessed in all cases, as disability can ensue, even when visual acuity is preserved. In patients with RP with poor reading performance, there is little potential for high-magnification devices because visual field constriction affects the reading rate.
Loss of the sigma activity of RNA polymerase of Bacillus subtilis during sporulation.

The activity of the sigma subunit of the RNA polymerase of Bacillus subtilis decreases markedly during the first 2 hr of sporulation. Moreover, sigma activity remains deficient throughout the sporulation process and in dormant spores. The time course of changes in RNA polymerase during sporulation indicates that alterations in the core of RNA polymerase occur after the loss of sigma activity. Core RNA polymerase purified after the second and before the ninth hour of sporulation fails to respond to vegetative sigma subunit in vitro and contains variable amounts of a 110,000-dalton polypeptide in place of the beta' subunit. Core RNA polymerase purified from dormant spores has a subunit structure indistinguishable from vegetative core enzyme.RNA polymerase purified by antibody precipitation from an extract of a mixture of sporulating and excess vegetative cells separately labeled with two different radioisotopes contains beta' subunit and no 110,000-dalton polypeptide. However, RNA polymerase purified from sporulating bacteria in the absence of excess vegetative cells progressively loses the beta' subunit at each stage of purification even in the presence of the protease inhibitor, phenylmethyl sulfonyl fluoride. These findings suggest that the alteration of the beta' subunit is due to proteolysis in vitro.
Prioritizing disease-causing genes based on network diffusion and rank concordance

Disease-causing genes prioritization is very important for understanding mechanisms of diseases and biomedical applications, such as drug design. Previous studies have shown that promising candidate genes are mostly ranked according to their relatedness to known disease genes or closely related disease processes. Therefore, a dangling gene (isolated gene) with no edges in the network can not be effectively prioritized. These approaches tend to prioritize those genes that are highly connected in the PPI network and perform poorly when they are applied to loosely connected disease genes. Motivated by this observation, we propose a new disease-causing genes prioritization method that based on network diffusion and rank concordance (NDRC). The method is evaluated by leave-one-out cross validation on 1931 diseases in which at least one gene is known to be involved, and it is able to rank the true causal gene first in 849 of all 2542 cases, and as the experimental results suggest that NDRC significantly outperforms other existing methods such as RWR, VAVIEN, DADA and PRINCE on identifying loosely connected disease genes and which successfully put dangling genes as potential candidate disease genes. Furthermore, we apply NDRC method to study two representative diseases, Meckel syndrome 1 and Peroxisome biogenesis disorder 1A (Zellweger). Our study has also found that the complex disease-causing genes are divided into several modules that are closely associated with different disease phenotype.
Noncompliance in Environmental Reporting: Are Violators Ignorant, or Evasive, of the Law?

Theory: An increasingly common regulatory tool is one that delegates the duty to provide information to the regulated entities, creating new problems in principalagency models of regulation. Hypotheses: Failure to comply with regulations mandating information provision is as much due to ignorance of reporting requirements as to willful evasion. Methods: A modified detection controlled estimation model for coverage, violation, and detection of facility compliance with the EPA's Toxics Release Inventory, estimated for facilities in Minnesota in 1991. Results: Violation is better understood by those variables associated with the likelihood that the firm is ignorant of TRI reporting requirements, than by those associated with evasion. Firms in violation tend to be small facilities, releasing or transferring small amounts of toxins to the environment.
Epidermal growth factor modifies the expression and function of extracellular matrix adhesion receptors expressed by peritoneal mesothelial cells from patients on CAPD.

BACKGROUND Efficient peritoneal dialysis depends on an intact layer of mesothelial cells that line the peritoneal membrane. This layer is disrupted in patents on continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis during episodes of peritonitis (acute injury) and replaced by fibrous tissue during extended dialysis (chronic injury). Little is understood of human peritoneal mesothelial cell (HPMC) responses to wounding and episodes of peritonitis. METHODS HPMC were harvested from spent peritoneal dialysis effluent and maintained under defined in vitro conditions. Adhesive interactions with extracellular matrix (ECM) molecules and chemotactic and wound-healing responses were measured in vitro using purified ECM molecules. RESULTS HPMC express multiple functional cell receptors recognizing and binding to ECM molecules, including several members of the integrin family. HPMC exhibit directed migration in wound healing and chemotaxis assays with ECM molecules. Epidermal growth factor (EGF) stimulates a reversible change to a fibroblastic phenotype, accompanied by increased expression of beta1 integrins, particularly alpha2beta1, increased adhesion to type I collagen, and significantly greater HPMC migration on type I collagen in wound healing and chemotaxis assays. CONCLUSIONS HPMC possess the migratory capacity to contribute to the efficient repair of damaged peritoneal membrane after acute injury, and growth factors, such as EGF, facilitate peritoneal membrane healing by augmenting cell adhesion and migration.
A Frequency Control Method for Regulating Wireless Power to Implantable Devices

This paper presents a method to regulate the power transferred over a wireless link by adjusting the resonant operating frequency of the primary converter. A significant advantage of this method is that effective power regulation is maintained under variations in load, coupling and circuit parameters. This is particularly important when the wireless supply is used to power implanted medical devices where substantial coupling variations between internal and external systems is expected. The operating frequency is changed dynamically by altering the effective tuning capacitance through soft switched phase control. A thorough analysis of the proposed system has been undertaken, and experimental results verify its functionality.