Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Speech analysis by selective linear prediction in the time domain

Linear prediction method is one of the most frequently used analysis methods of speech. Covariance method and auto-correlation method of linear prediction often fail to make a precise analysis of speech because of the excitation source or fundamental frequency. In order to decrease the affect of the excitation source, various kinds of difference operations are usually employed for preprocessing. However, such preprocessings do not always work satisfactorily. Here proposed is a new approach to LPC analysis based on selective use of speech data to reject the data disturbed by the excitation source, and is called selective linear prediction method. The method is constructed aiming to improve the accuracy of analysis. First, the formulation of linear prediction is presented using generalized inverse matrices. Then, a successive computation is described based on Givens' reduction. The selective computation, which plays an essential role in our method, owes its efficiency to Givens' reduction. Finally the advantage of the proposed method is demonstrated by computer simulation using both synthetic and natural speech.
Temperature‐dependent spot positional variability in two‐dimensional polypeptide patterns

The effect of temperature, at which isoelectric focusing with immobilized pH gradients is performed, on spot positions and pattern quality in two‐dimensional (2‐D) Electrophoresis was examined. Increased temperatures revealed improved 2‐D patterns with respect to sample entry, resolution, and background staining. Focusing at 20°C was superior to focusing at 10 and 15°C. Even at 30°C, a pattern of well‐resolved polypeptide spots with a minimum amount of horizontal streaking at the basic end was observed. A computer‐based analysis showed that a substantial proportion of polypeptides assumed altered positions in the 2‐D pattern in relation to temperature. Mobility shifts of polypeptides were more variable on the neutral part than on the acidic or basic end. The mobility shifts were not restricted to one direction for all the spots whose migration was altered. However, for any given spot, the direction was the same with subsequent increments of temperature. The results clearly demonstrate that a defined temperature for first‐dimensional isoelectric focusing is a requirement for the reproducibility of 2‐D Electrophoresis. After elimination of the cathodic drift, a major source of variability in 2‐D patterns, associated with carrier ampholytes, temperature control becomes a critical parameter.
Closed-form expression for capacitance of tapered through-silicon-vias considering MOS effect

In this paper, closed-form expression of the parasitic capacitance of the tapered Through-Silicon Via (TSV) is proposed, which also cover the cylindrical TSV when the slop wall angle is 90°. The comparison between the results of Ansoft Q3D verification and Matlab calculation are made. It shows that the root mean square error is less than 6.10%, over a wide range of the bottom radius and the height of tapered TSV, and the oxide thickness, therefore, the expression presented proves to be accurate.
Steps in reductive activation of the disulfide‐generating enzyme Ero1p

Ero1p is the primary catalyst of disulfide bond formation in the yeast endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Ero1p contains a pair of essential disulfide bonds that participate directly in the electron transfer pathway from substrate thiol groups to oxygen. Remarkably, elimination of certain other Ero1p disulfides by mutation enhances enzyme activity. In particular, the C150A/C295A Ero1p mutant exhibits increased thiol oxidation in vitro and in vivo and interferes with redox homeostasis in yeast cells by hyperoxidizing the ER. Inhibitory disulfides of Ero1p are thus important for enzyme regulation. To visualize the differences between de‐regulated and wild‐type Ero1p, we determined the crystal structure of Ero1p C150A/C295A. The structure revealed local changes compared to the wild‐type enzyme around the sites of mutation, but no conformational transitions within 25 Å of the active site were observed. To determine how the C150C295 disulfide nonetheless participates in redox regulation of Ero1p, we analyzed using mass spectrometry the changes in Ero1p disulfide connectivity as a function of time after encounter with reducing substrates. We found that the C150C295 disulfide sets a physiologically appropriate threshold for enzyme activation by guarding a key neighboring disulfide from reduction. This study illustrates the diverse and interconnected roles that disulfides can play in redox regulation of protein activity.
Comparative assessment of three-phase transformerless grid-connected solar inverters

Solar energy is a promising alternative energy source for a sustainable pollution-free future. Due to the requirements of high efficiency, reliability, power density and low cost, transformerless PV inverters can be utilized in a grid-connected solar energy system. However, this suffers from no galvanic isolation and leakage currents through the stray capacitances between the PV array and the ground which results in some degradation of the system's performance as well as safety issues. This paper performs a comprehensive review and comparison of the performance of different 3-phase inverter topologies combined with different pulse width modulation (PWM) schemes in transformerless PV systems. Moreover, a modified discontinuous PWM technique was proposed for an H8 inverter to reduce leakage currents in this paper. The analysis was carried out for 50 kW PV inverters. The key performance of each inverter topology such as common mode voltages (CMVs), leakage currents, current harmonics and efficiency are holistically evaluated by using simulation results. Also, the merits and demerits of each system are highlighted.
Conformal, lightweight textile spiral antenna on Kevlar fabrics

We present a novel conformal, lightweight and load bearing spiral antenna on textiles for conformal applications. The antenna and its integrated planar balun were embroidered using a standard sewing machine with very thin (diameter=0.22mm) Liberator™ E-fibers. There fibers can achieve geometrical accuracy down to 0.3mm and even 0.1mm. This is a 3 fold geometrical accuracy improvement over previous textile designs. To enhance robustness, high-strength Kevlar fabric was employed as the antenna's substrate. Results show a nearly 10:1 bandwidth (0.3-3GHz) with a peak circularly polarized gain of 3dBi over the band.
Sensing and interactive intelligence in mobile context aware systems

The ever increasing capabilities of mobile devices such as smartphones and their ubiquity in daily life has resulted in a large and interesting body of research into context awareness { the `awareness of a situation' { and how it could make people's lives easier. There are, however, diculties involved in realising and implementing context aware systems in the real world; particularly in a mobile environment. To address these diculties, this dissertation tackles the broad problem of designing and implementing mobile context aware systems in the eld. Spanning the elds of Articial Intelligence (AI) and Human Computer Interaction (HCI), the problem is broken down and scoped into two key areas: context sensing and interactive intelligence. Using a simple design model, the dissertation makes a series of contributions within each area in order to improve the knowledge of mobile context aware systems engineering. At the sensing level, we review mobile sensing capabilities and use a case study to show that the everyday calendar is a noisy `sensor' of context. We also show that its `signal', i.e. useful context, can be extracted using logical data fusion with context supplied by mobile devices. For interactive intelligence, there are two fundamental components: the intelligence, which is concerned with context inference and machine learning; and the interaction, which is concerned with user interaction. For the intelligence component, we use the case of semantic place awareness to address the problems of real time context inference and learning on mobile devices. We show that raw device motion { a common metric used in activity recognition research { is a poor indicator of transition between semantically meaningful places, but real time transition detection performance can be improved with the application of basic machine learning and time series processing techniques. We also develop a context inference and learning algorithm that incorporates user feedback into the inference process { a form of active machine learning. We compare various implementations of the algorithm for the semantic place awareness use case, and observe its performance using a simulation study of user feedback. For the interaction component, we study various approaches for eliciting user feedback in the eld. We deploy the mobile semantic place awareness system in the eld and show how dierent elicitation approaches aect user feedback behaviour. Moreover, we report on the user experience of interacting with the intelligent system and show how performance in the eld compares with the earlier simulation. We also analyse the resource usage of the system and report on the use of a simple SMS place awareness application that uses our system. The dissertation presents original research on key components for designing and implementing mobile context aware systems, and contributes new knowledge to the eld of mobile context awareness.
E4orf6 Variants with Separate Abilities To Augment Adenovirus Replication and Direct Nuclear Localization of the E1B 55-Kilodalton Protein

ABSTRACT The E4orf6 protein of group C adenovirus is an oncoprotein that, in association with the E1B 55-kDa protein and by E1B-independent means, promotes virus replication. An arginine-faced amphipathic α-helix in the E4orf6 protein is required for the E4orf6 protein to direct nuclear localization of the E1B 55-kDa protein and to enhance replication of an E4 deletion virus. In this study, E4orf6 protein variants containing arginine substitutions in the amphipathic α-helix were analyzed. Two of the six arginine residues within the α-helix, arginine-241 and arginine-243, were critical for directing nuclear localization of the E1B 55-kDa protein. The four remaining arginine residues appear to provide a net positive charge for the E4orf6 protein to direct nuclear localization of the E1B 55-kDa protein. The molecular determinants of the arginine-faced amphipathic α-helix that were required for the functional interaction between the E4orf6 and E1B 55-kDa proteins seen in the transfected cell differed from those required to support a productive infection. Several E4orf6 protein variants with arginine-to-glutamic acid substitutions that failed to direct nuclear localization of the E1B 55-kDa protein restored replication of an E4 deletion virus. Additionally, a variant containing an arginine-to-alanine substitution at position 243 that directed nuclear localization of the E1B 55-kDa protein failed to enhance virus replication. These results indicate that the ability of the E4orf6 protein to relocalize the E1B 55-kDa protein to the nucleus can be separated from the ability of the E4orf6 protein to support a productive infection.
A Theory of Interpersonal Goals and Situations

This article tests a resolution of the difficulties in specifying how goals and situations relate to one another. The new theory suggests a distinction among situational features. “Reasonably apparent” features are those that are fairly obvious at the start of an interaction. “Subjective” features are emergent and depend on a participant’s experience of the interaction. The proposed theory is that reasonably apparent situation features cause primary goals, which cause subjective situational characteristics, which in turn activate secondary goals. In Study 1 (n = 461), results of analysis of open-ended situational descriptions were consistent with this new theory. The difficulties in testing complex causal relations with categorical data led to Study 2 (n = 1,435), which also supported the new theory.
Double U slotted microstrip rectangular patch antenna for GPS applications

A double U slot microstrip rectangular patch antenna with truncated corners is demonstrated in this paper. The antenna has been designed with FR4 substrate material whose dielectric constant is 4.4 with defected ground plane using coaxial probe feed. Two U slots are cut from the patch and third U slot is cut from the ground plane to make it defective. Performance parameters like return loss (dB), VSWR, gain (dB), bandwidth (GHz) and radiation pattern of proposed antenna are improved than conventional antenna. The return loss of proposed antenna is -22.9dB at resonant frequency 1.1 GHz where as the return losses of conventional antenna -12.39dB at 1.9 GHz frequency. It is observed that resonant frequency of proposed antenna is shifted towards the lower side. By introducing two U slots in the rectangular patch, truncating the corners of patch and one U slot in the ground plane the size of proposed antenna has been reduced near about 60% as compared to conventional antenna. HFSS (high frequency structural simulator) software is used to investigate the characteristics of this antenna.
Practices and perceptions regarding pain and pain management during routine childhood immunizations: Findings from a focus-group study with nurses working at Toronto Public Health, Ontario.

INTRODUCTION Despite the availability of a variety of evidence-based interventions, it has previously been reported that the majority of infants and children undergo vaccine injections without the benefit of analgesia. Nurses in public health administer a substantial number of injections; however, their attitudes and practices surrounding acute pain during vaccine injections have not been previously explored. METHODS A focus-group interview was conducted in Toronto, Ontario, with 10 nurses who immunize children. Participants reported their perceptions and practices with regard to vaccine injection pain and pain management. RESULTS THREE KEY THEMES EMERGED: environmental and process factors, perceptions regarding the effectiveness of different analgesic interventions, and perceptions regarding pain and fear. Participants reported a lack of control over their environment, resulting in fear and discomfort for children. They recommended increased support from external partners such as school teachers and administrators. Participants reported that pharmacological interventions, such as topical local anesthetics, were not used; however, psychological and physical interventions were commonly used. Nurses questioned the effectiveness of topical anesthetics, and indicated that more education was required regarding effective analgesic interventions. Needle pain was reported to be the most prominent concern for children undergoing vaccine injections, and children were described as being fearful. DISCUSSION Nurses reported vaccination setting, analgesic effectiveness and relative importance given to pain as important factors for pain and pain management during vaccine injections. Future studies should explore whether additional perspectives are present in vaccinators in other geographical regions. The effectiveness of educational resources and pain management programs aimed at improving current practices should be investigated.
Automatic Smart Parking System using Internet of Things (IOT)

--Internet of Things (IOT) plays a vital role in connecting the surrounding environmental things to the network and made easy to access those un-internet things from any remote location. It’s inevitable for the people to update with the growing technology. And generally people are facing problems on parking vehicles in parking slots in a city. In this study we design a Smart Parking System (SPS) which enables the user to find the nearest parking area and gives availability of parking slots in that respective parking area. And it mainly focus on reducing the time in finding the parking lots and also it avoids the unnecessary travelling through filled parking lots in a parking area. Thus it reduces the fuel consumption which in turn reduces carbon footprints in an atmosphere.
Bayesian Sequential Experimental Design for Binary Response Data with Application to Electromyographic Experiments

We develop a sequential Monte Carlo approach for Bayesian analysis of the experimental design for binary response data. Our work is motivated by surface electromyographic (SEMG) experiments, which can be used to provide information about the functionality of subjects' motor units. These experiments involve a series of stimuli being applied to a motor unit, with whether or not the motor unit res for each stimulus being recorded. The aim is to learn about how the probability of ring depends on the applied stimulus (the so-called stimulus response curve); One such excitability parameter is an estimate of the stimulus level for which the motor unit has a 50% chance of ring. Within such an experiment we are able to choose the next stimulus level based on the past observations. We show how sequential Monte Carlo can be used to analyse such data in an online manner. We then use the current estimate of the posterior distribution in order to choose the next stimulus level. The aim is to select a stimulus level that mimimises the expected loss. We will apply this loss function to the estimates of target quantiles from the stimulus-response curve. Through simulation we show that this approach is more ecient than existing sequential design methods for choosing the stimulus values. If applied in practice, it could more than halve the length of SEMG experiments.
HMO vs fee-for-service care of older persons with acute myocardial infarction.

OBJECTIVES Health maintenance organizations (HMOs) continue to grow in number and in their enrollment of Medicare recipients. They are also increasingly viewed as organizational structures that might contribute to control of health care costs. Yet little is known about the quality of care that elderly HMO enrollees receive. METHODS We compared patients from three HMOs to a fee-for-service (FFS) sample that was national in scope. Sickness at admission, the quality of process of care, and mortality were assessed for patients aged 65 years and older who had been hospitalized with a diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction. RESULTS After adjustment for sickness at admission, there were no significant mortality differences between the HMO and FFS groups at either 30 (23.2% vs 23.5%) or 180 days (34.4% vs 34.5%) after admission. Compliance with process criteria was higher for the HMO group as a whole (P < .05). The HMOs had greater compliance with three of five scales measuring different aspects of care for patients with acute myocardial infarction. CONCLUSIONS We conclude that older patients from our participating HMOs who were hospitalized for acute myocardial infarction received hospital care that was generally better in terms of process than that received by patients in a national FFS sample.
Serially Concatenated Luby Transform Coding and Bit-Interleaved Coded Modulation Using Iteratlive Decoding for the Wireless Internet

In bit-interleaved coded modulation (BICM) the coding and modulation schemes were jointly optimized for the sake of attaining the best possible performance when communicating over fading wireless communication channels. The iterative decoding scheme of BICM (BICM-ID) invoking an appropriate bit-to-symbol mapping strategy enhances its achievable performance in both AWGN and Rayleigh channels. BICM-ID may be conveniently combined with Luby transform (LT) codes, which were designed for handling packetized wireless Internet data traffic in erasure channels without retransmitting the corrupted packets. By jointly designing a serially concatenated LT-BICM-ID code, an infinitesimally low bit error rate (BER) is achieved for signal to noise ratios (SNR) in excess of 7.5 dB over wireless Internet type erasure channels contaminated by AWGN
Serum Albumin

Being one of the most abundant proteins in human and other mammals, albumin plays a crucial role in transporting various endogenous and exogenous molecules and maintaining of colloid osmotic pressure of the blood. It is not only the passive but also the active participant of the pharmacokinetic and toxicokinetic processes possessing a number of enzymatic activities. A free thiol group of the albumin molecule determines the participation of the protein in redox reactions. Its activity is not limited to interaction with other molecules entering the blood: of great physiological importance is its interaction with the cells of blood, blood vessels and also outside the vascular bed. This entry contains data on the enzymatic, inflammatory and antioxidant properties of serum albumin.
The Leucine Zipper Motif of the Drosophila AF10 Homologue Can Inhibit PRE-Mediated Repression: Implications for Leukemogenic Activity of Human MLL-AF10 Fusions

ABSTRACT In a screen for Drosophila genes that interfere with transcriptional repression mediated by the Polycomb group of genes, we identified a dominant mutation affecting the Alhambra (Alh) gene, the fly homologue of the human AF10 gene. AF10 has been identified as a fusion partner of both MLL and CALM in infant leukemias. Both fusion proteins retain the leucine zipper domain of AF10 but not its PHD domain. We show here that, while the full-length ALH protein has no activity on Polycomb group-responsive elements (PREs), overexpression of the isolated ALH leucine zipper domain activates several PREs. Within the ALH full-length protein, the PHD domain inhibits the PRE deregulation mediated by the leucine zipper domain. This deregulation is conserved in the human AF10 leucine zipper domain, which confers the same activity on an oncogenic MLL-AF10 fusion protein expressed in Drosophila melanogaster. These data reveal new properties for the leucine zipper domain and thus might provide new clues to understanding the mechanisms by which AF10 fusion proteins in which the PHD domain is lost might trigger leukemias in humans.
Biodiesel exhaust treatment with dielectric barrier discharges coupled with industrial waste byproducts

Biodiesel run engines are gaining popularity since the last few years as a viable alternative to conventional petro-diesel based engines. In biodiesel exhaust the content of volatile organic compounds, oil mist, and mass of particulate matter is considerably lower. However, the concentration of oxides of nitrogen (NOx) is relatively higher. In this paper the biodiesel exhaust from a stationary engine is treated under controlled laboratory conditions for removal of NOx using dielectric barrier discharge plasma in cascade with adsorbents prepared from abundantly available industrial waste byproducts like red mud and copper slag. Results were compared with gammaalumina, a commercial adsorbent. Two different dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) reactors were tested for their effectiveness under Repetitive pulses /AC energization. NOx removal as high as 80% was achieved with pulse energized reactors when cascaded with red mud as adsorbent.