Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A unified approach to numerical auditory scene synthesis using loudspeaker arrays

In this work we address the problem of simulating the spatial and timbral cues of a given sound event, or auditory scene, using an array of loudspeakers. We first define the problem with a general numerical framework that encompasses many known techniques from physical acoustics, crosstalk cancellation, and acoustic control. In contrast to many previous approaches, the system described in this work is inherently broadband as it jointly designs a set of spatio-temporal filters while allowing for constraints in other domains. With this framework we show similarities and differences between known techniques and suggest some new, unexplored methods. In particular, we focus on perceptually motivated choices for the cost function and regularization. These methods are then compared by implementing the systems on a linear array of loudspeakers and evaluating the timbral and spatial qualities of the system using objective metrics.
For Disordered Non Ferromagnetic Systems

We study the Swendsen-Wang dynamics for disordered non ferromagnetic Ising models on cubic subsets of the hypercubic lattice Z and we show that for all small values of the temperature parameter β the dynamics has a slow relaxation to equilibrium (it is torpid). Looking into this dynamics from the point of view of the Markov chains theory we can prove that the spectral radius goes to one when the size of the system goes to infinity. This means that, if we want to use the SwendsenWang dynamics for a computer simulation, we have a slow convergence to the stationary measure in low temperature. Also it is a good example of a non-local dynamics that relaxes slowly to the equilibrium measure.
Genetic Liability to Schizophrenia Measured by P300 in Concordant and Discordant Monozygotic Twins

Background: Differential effects of genes and environment can contribute to etiological heterogeneity in schizophrenia. Twins concordant and discordant for schizophrenia may differ in genetic predisposition to schizophrenia with concordant twins having a higher genetic liability and discordant twins having a lower genetic liability to schizophrenia. We aimed to investigate whether P300 amplitude (which has been postulated as a genetic marker for schizophrenia) reflected this heterogeneity. Sampling and Methods: We compared P300 amplitudes across 36 monozygotic twin pairs (6 concordant for schizophrenia/schizoaffective disorder, 11 discordant and 19 healthy control pairs) performing an auditory oddball task, using multiple regression (age, gender, birth order, premorbid IQ as covariates). We further looked at the correlation between the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) and P300 amplitude in affected twins, and compared concordant and discordant affected twins on the Global Assessment Scale (GAS). Results: Multiple regression yielded a highly significant model (p = 0.004) though the explained variance was limited (21%). The main effect of the group on P300 amplitude was significant (p = 0.0001): affected concordant twins showed a significantly lower P300 amplitude as compared to affected discordant (p = 0.005, Cohen’s d = 1.08) and control twins (p = 0.000, d = 1.16). Discordant affected and unaffected twins did not differ significantly from each other or from control twins. P300 did not correlate significantly with the BPRS and the affected groups did not differ across the GAS. Conclusions: Our results provide evidence for etiological heterogeneity within schizophrenia pointing to different pathophysiological mechanisms that may underlie more and less genetically determined forms of schizophrenia. They also indicate that P300 correlates with a differing degree of genetic liability to schizophrenia independently of the psychopathological status and even in the presence of similar functional profiles.
Variation of Learning Intensity in Late Adolescence and the Impact on Noncognitive Skills

Despite the interdependence between cognitive and noncognitive skills, empirical studies have shown a longer period of acquisition in life-time for the latter besides relevance for educational and labor market success. Analyzing returns of investments during different periods of life is therefore economically meaningful. We evaluate the effects of a substantial increase in the amount of curriculum per unit of time (learning intensity) at the end of higher secondary schooling on nine types of these skills. The results show no influence on the acquisition of noncognitive skills, indicating that personality does rather not depend on schooling investments in late adolescence.
Cycle-accurate information assurance by proof-carrying based signal sensitivity tracing

We propose a new information assurance model which can dynamically track the information flow in circuit designs and hence protect sensitive data from malicious leakage. Relying on the Coq proof assistant platform, the new model maps register transfer level (RTL) codes written in hardware description languages (HDLs) into structural Coq representatives by assigning all input, output, and internal signal sensitivity levels. The signal sensitivity levels can be dynamically adjusted after each clock cycle based on proposed signal sensitivity transition rules. The development of data secrecy properties and theorem generation functions makes the translation process from security properties to Coq theorems independent of target circuits and, for the first time, makes it possible to construct a property library, facilitating (semi) automation of the proof. The proposed cycle accurate information assurance scheme is successfully demonstrated on cryptographic circuits with various complexities from a small-scale DES encryption core to a state-of-the-art AES encryption design prohibiting the leakage of sensitive information caused by hardware Trojans inserted in RTL codes.
Ribosomal mutations promote the evolution of antibiotic resistance in a multidrug environment

Antibiotic resistance arising via chromosomal mutations is typically specific to a particular antibiotic or class of antibiotics. We have identified mutations in genes encoding ribosomal components in Mycobacterium smegmatis that confer resistance to several structurally and mechanistically unrelated classes of antibiotics and enhance survival following heat shock and membrane stress. These mutations affect ribosome assembly and cause large-scale transcriptomic and proteomic changes, including the downregulation of the catalase KatG, an activating enzyme required for isoniazid sensitivity, and upregulation of WhiB7, a transcription factor involved in innate antibiotic resistance. Importantly, while these ribosomal mutations have a fitness cost in antibiotic-free medium, in a multidrug environment they promote the evolution of high-level, target-based resistance. Further, suppressor mutations can then be easily acquired to restore wild-type growth. Thus, ribosomal mutations can serve as stepping-stones in an evolutionary path leading to the emergence of high-level, multidrug resistance. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.7554/eLife.20420. 001
Modelling spatial patterns of economic activity in the Netherlands

Understanding how spatial configurations of economic activity emerge is important when formulating spatial planning and economic policy. Not only micro-simulation and agent-based model such as UrbanSim, ILUMAS and SIMFIRMS, but also Simon's model of hierarchical concentration have widely applied, for this purpose. These models, however, have limitations with respect to simulating structural changes in spatial economic systems and the impact of proximity. The present paper proposes a model of firm development that is based on behavioural rules such as growth, closure, spin-off and relocation. An important aspect of the model is that locational preferences of firms are based on agglomeration advantages, accessibility of markets and congestion, allowing for a proper description of concentration and deconcentration tendencies. By comparing the outcomes of the proposed model with real world data, we will calibrate the parameters and assess how well the model predicts existing spatial configurations and decide. The model is implemented as an agent-based simulation model describing firm development in the Netherlands in 21 industrial sectors from 1950 to 2004.
Enhanced supercontinuum generation in the nanosecond pump regime using specialty microstructured fibers

Several alternatives have been investigated to achieve enhanced supercontinuum generation in the nanosecond pump regime using specialty silica-based microstructured optical fibers (MOFs). Among these alternatives we can point out the use of (a) MOF tapers, (b) highly Ge-doped core Y-shaped MOF and (c) Er-doped MOF. These specialty MOFs provide either an increased material nonlinear response or a rather small effective area, at the same time that the dispersion characteristics are adjusted to work at different excitation conditions. In our experiments, we have been using either a Q-switched Nd:YAG laser (10 Hz repetition rate) or an Yb-doped fiber laser (2 kHz repetition rate), both emitting at 1064 nm.
Progressive Gradient Histogram Preservation Image Denoising

Image denoising has great significance in pre-processing step of imaging applications. Although state-of-the-art denoising methods are numerically notable and approach theoretical limits, they suffer from visible artifacts. The image denoising methods are transformed in both spatial and transformed frequency domain. Each domain has its advantages and shortcomings, which can be complemented by each other. We propose the Progressive gradient Histogram Preservation Image Denoising (PGHP) that combine both domains. This is a simple physical process, which progressively reduces noise by texture enhanced image denoising method of enforcing the gradient histogram preservation. The results with approx 1.08% improved are pointed out from the simulation.
Are their design specifications consistent with our requirements?

During the development of large and complex systems it is important to ensure consistency between requirements and design specifications in order to guarantee that the system being developed meets the specified requirements, or to support the reuse of existing software systems or components. We propose a knowledge base approach to assist with consistency checking of design specifications, represented as UML models, against functional requirements specifications, expressed in natural language. Our approach is goal-driven where the requirements and design specifications are represented in the knowledge base as axioms, which define goals. In order to demonstrate and evaluate the approach a prototype tool has been implemented. This tool has been designed to provide a general platform for managing consistency between software artefacts generated during different phases of software system development.
Simulation of unidirectional links in wireless sensor networks

Experiments with wireless sensor networks have shown that asymmetric and unidirectional links are common. For this reason, we developed different routing protocols that can use unidirectional links, either implicitly or explicitly. However, developing protocols that use unidirectional links is difficult, not least because of inadequate simulation support. In this paper we present a simulation model based on OMNeT++ and MiXiM that we developed to simulate networks with unidirectional links and frequent link changes. We evaluate the developed simulation approach by comparison of results achieved by different routing protocols in simulation and in experiments with real sensor network hardware.
Potential of CT angiography in acute ischemic stroke.

PURPOSE To study the ability of CT angiography to show intracranial arterial occlusion and collateral blood flow in patients with acute stroke. METHODS Twenty-one patients with acute nonhemorrhagic stroke were studied prospectively with conventional CT, CT angiography, and digital subtraction angiography. On the basis of CT angiographic findings, two neuroradiologists independently assessed the site of arterial occlusion, the contrast enhancement in arterial branches beyond the occlusion as a measure of collateral blood supply, and the extent of diminished parenchymal enhancement; they then predicted the extent of ischemic infarction. RESULTS Both raters correctly assessed all trunk occlusions of the basilar artery (n = 4), the internal carotid artery (n = 4), and the middle cerebral artery (n = 9). The chance adjusted interrater agreement was kappa = . 78. The assessment of branch occlusions of the middle cerebral artery was less reliable. The agreement rate in judging the collateral state in 17 occlusions in the anterior cerebral circulation was 88%. The size of 21 (62%) of 34 hemispheric infarctions was predicted correctly. CONCLUSION CT angiography quickly and reliably adds important information to conventional CT studies in cases of acute ischemic stroke. It shows the site of occlusion, the length of the occluded arterial segment, and the contrast-enhanced arteries beyond the occlusion as an estimate of collateral blood flow.
Body size, adult BMI gain and endometrial cancer risk: the multiethnic cohort

The effect of body size and change in BMI on endometrial cancer risk across different racial/ethnic groups has not been studied. We examined the association between body size and endometrial cancer risk and potential effect modification of other risk factors among 50,376 women in the Multiethnic Cohort Study. During 10.3 years of follow‐up, 463 endometrial cancer cases were identified. Epidemiologic data were collected from the baseline questionnaire. “BMI change” was defined as the percentage of body mass index change from age 21 to the time of recruitment. Women who were heavier at age 21 or at baseline (weight ≥ 53.5 kg or ≥ 63.9 kg, respectively) had an increased endometrial cancer risk compared to the lowest quartile of weight during the respective periods. BMI gain ≥ 35% had a RR of 4.12 (95% CI: 2.69, 6.30) compared to the reference group (−5% ≤ BMI change <+5%). Women who averaged an annual BMI gain ≥ 1% had a >3.21‐fold (95% CI: 2.37, 4.33) increased risk compared to women who maintained a stable adult BMI (−0.25 to <+0.25%). The highest risk associated with BMI gain was observed among nulliparous women and postmenopausal women who never used hormone therapy. Although African Americans and Whites showed an increase in risk after ≥35% BMI gain, Japanese Americans showed an increase in risk with much smaller gain (≥5%). In conclusion, adult obesity and increase in adiposity are risk factors for endometrial cancer; and the risk associated with these factors may vary across racial/ethnic groups.
Closed Loop Control of a Tethered Magnetic Capsule Endoscope

Magnetic field gradients have repeatedly been shown to be the most feasible mechanism for gastrointestinal capsule endoscope actuation. An inverse quartic magnetic force variation with distance results in large force gradients induced by small movements of a driving magnet; this necessitates robotic actuation of magnets to implement stable control of the device. A typical system consists of a serial robot with a permanent magnet at its end effector that actuates a capsule with an embedded permanent magnet. We present a tethered capsule system where a capsule with an embedded magnet is closed loop controlled in 2 degree-of-freedom in position and 2 degree-of-freedom in orientation. Capitalizing on the magnetic field of the external driving permanent magnet, the capsule is localized in 6-D allowing for both position and orientation feedback to be used in a control scheme. We developed a relationship between the serial robot's joint parameters and the magnetic force and torque that is exerted onto the capsule. Our methodology was validated both in a dynamic simulation environment where a custom plug-in for magnetic interaction was written, as well as on an experimental platform. The tethered capsule was demonstrated to follow desired trajectories in both position and orientation with accuracy that is acceptable for colonoscopy.
Case-Control Analysis of SNPs in GLUT4, RBP4 and STRA6: Association of SNPs in STRA6 with Type 2 Diabetes in a South Indian Population

Background The inverse relationship between GLUT4 and RBP4 expression is known to play a role in the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes. Elevated levels of RBP4 were shown to cause insulin resistance in muscles and liver. Identification of STRA6 as a cell surface receptor for RBP4 provides further link in this axis and hence we analyzed SNPs in these three genes for association with type 2 diabetes in a South Indian population. Methodology/Principal Findings Selected SNPs in the three genes were analyzed in a total of 2002 individuals belonging to Dravidian ethnicity, South India, by Tetra Primer ARMS PCR or RFLP PCR. Allele frequencies and genotype distribution were calculated in cases and controls and were analyzed for association by Chi-squared test and Logistic regression. Haplotype analysis was carried out for each gene by including all the markers in a single block. We observed a significant association of three SNPs, rs974456, rs736118, and rs4886578 in STRA6 with type 2 diabetes (P = 0.001, OR 0.79[0.69–0.91], P = 0.003, OR 0.81[0.71–0.93], and P = 0.001, OR 0.74[0.62–0.89] respectively). None of the SNPs in RBP4 and GLUT4 showed any association with type 2 diabetes. Haplotype analysis revealed that two common haplotypes H1 (111, P = 0.001, OR 1.23[1.08–1.40]) and H2 (222, P = 0.002 OR 0.73[0.59–0.89]) in STRA6, H6 (2121, P = 0.006, OR 1.69[1.51–2.48]) in RBP4 and H4 (2121, P = 0.01 OR 1.41[1.07–1.85]) in GLUT4 were associated with type 2 diabetes. Conclusion SNPs in STRA6, gene coding the cell surface receptor for RBP4, were significantly associated with type 2 diabetes and further genetic and functional studies are required to understand and ascertain its role in the manifestation of type 2 diabetes.
Dual-Band Reconfigurable Bandpass Filter With Independently Controlled Passbands and Constant Absolute Bandwidths

This letter presents a novel reconfigurable dual-band bandpass filter (DBBPF) with independently controlled passbands and constant absolute bandwidths (ABW). The design procedures follow the traditional synthesis approach of filters. Moreover, in order to meet the requirement of constant ABW, theoretical analysis and calculation are carried out to determine proper parameters of coupling regions. Finally, the proposed DBBPF exhibits 21.8% fractional tuning range of the first passband from 0.98 to 1.22 GHz and 17.9% of the second passband from 1.63 to 1.95 GHz, and 3-dB ABWs are 76 ± 4 MHz and 100 ± 4 MHz, respectively.
Test Point Insertion with Control Points Driven by Existing Functional Flip-Flops

This paper presents a novel test point insertion method for pseudorandom built-in self-test (BIST) to reduce the area overhead. The proposed method replaces dedicated flip-flops for driving control points by existing functional flip-flops. For each control point, candidate functional flip-flops are identified by using logic cone analysis that investigates the path inversion parity, logical distance, and reconvergence from each control point. Four types of new control point structures are introduced based on the logic cone analysis results to avoid degrading the testability. Experimental results indicate that the proposed method significantly reduces test point area overhead by replacing the dedicated flip-flops and achieves essentially the same fault coverage as conventional test point implementations using dedicated flip-flops driving the control points.
The Contribution of the University of Alicante to AVE 2007

In this paper we discuss a system used to recognize entailment relations within the AVE framework. This system creates representations of text snippets by means of a variety of lexical measures and syntactic structures. Once these representations have been created, we compare the corresponding to the text and to the hypothesis and we try to determine if there is an entailment relation between the text and the hypothesis. The hypotheses have been generated by merging the answers with their corresponding questions, applying a set of regular expression aimed at this issue. In the performed experiments our system obtained a maximum F-measure score of 0.40 and 0.39 for the development and test English corpora, respectively.
Experience-based and tactile-driven dynamic grasp control

Algorithms for dextrous robot grasping always have to cope with the challenge of achieving high object specialisation for a wide range of grasping contexts. In this paper, we present a tactile-driven approach that dynamically uses the robot's grasping experience to address this issue. During the grasp movement, the current contact information is used to dynamically adapt the grasping control by targeting the best matching posture from the experience base. Thus, the robot recalls and actuates a grasp it already successfully performed in a similar tactile context. To efficiently represent the experience, we introduce the grasp manifold assuming that grasp postures form a smooth manifold in hand posture space. We present a simple way of providing approximations of grasp manifolds using self-organising maps (SOMs). The algorithm is evaluated on three different geometry primitives - box, cylinder and sphere - in a physics-based computer simulation.
Which firms use universities as cooperation partners? - A comparative view in Europe

This paper presents an econometric analysis of the characteristics of firm’s cooperating with universities using Community Innovation Survey (CIS) data for 14 European countries. Our model incorporates three groups of variables which could be related to the probability to cooperate with universities. The first group of variables is related to the size of a firm, the second group measures different innovation activities and the third group describes the internationalisation of firms. In addition, we test for the number of linkages, public financing and the sector of the firm. In order to provide a comparative view across the European countries we use the CIS for the period 2006–2008, where we have data for 14 countries. We use a standard logit model for firm level data, with a dependent variable indicating whether a firm used a university as a cooperation partner or not. We estimate two separate models for cooperating with home and with foreign universities. Our main findings reveal that despite the origin of the university, firms must have a certain level of capabilities to have universities as cooperation partners – conducting internal or external R&D is a significant factor characterising the cooperation with universities. Investments into machinery and equipment as one of the innovative activities are hindering the cooperation with universities. Significant differences between firms that cooperate with home universities, compared to those cooperating with foreign universities exist. Firms cooperating with foreign universities are characterised by a higher level of internationalisation, measured by an export and foreign ownership dummy. JEL Classification: O32, O33, O57
The role of self-similarity in singularities of partial differential equations

We survey rigorous, formal and numerical results on the formation of point-like singularities (or blow-up) for a wide range of evolution equations. We use a similarity transformation of the original equation with respect to the blow-up point, such that self-similar behaviour is mapped to the fixed point of a dynamical system. We point out that analysing the dynamics close to the fixed point is a useful way of characterizing the singularity, in that the dynamics frequently reduces to very few dimensions. As far as we are aware, examples from the literature either correspond to stable fixed points, low-dimensional centre-manifold dynamics, limit cycles or travelling waves. For each ‘class’ of singularity, we give detailed examples.