Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Forging of a “Singapore Sound” in Saxophone Compositions of Zechariah Goh

The main objective of this study is to examine two of Goh’s saxophone works that demonstrate how the composer realized Singaporean identity through the synthesis of Western, Tibetan, and Indian musical elements. The research design of this qualitative case study is narrative research with data collection carried out by semi-structured questions, email interview with the composer and review of text, videos, and journal articles that relate to the government policies of racial integration and multiculturalism in Singapore, followed by analysis of two of the recent works that evolved from the fusion of Eastern and Western styles. The two works for this qualitative study are Images of Tibet for Soprano Saxophone and Piano, and Confluence for Saxophone Ensemble and Mridangam. The findings show that 1) Images of Tibet uses Western formal structures, the technique of thematic development, and Tibetan musical idioms; and 2) Confluence for Saxophone Ensemble and Mridangam employs the Indian Tala, motivic modification technique used in the Fugues of Johann Sebastian Bach, and pandiatonicism as employed in Impressionistic works of Debussy and Ravel. This study reveals the two ways in which the composer uses to intertwine the East and West in his connection to his cultural roots.
A Preliminary Study on the Release of Bioactive Compounds from Rice Starch Hydrogels Produced by High-Pressure Processing (HPP)

This work aimed to carry out a preliminary study on the release of bioactive compounds loaded into starch-based hydrogels produced by high-pressure processing (HPP). As a study case, the experiments were carried out on rice starch HPP hydrogels. Rice starch (20% w/w) and green tea extract (2% w/w), suspended in distilled water, were treated by HPP at processing conditions enabling starch gelatinisation, namely 600 MPa for 15 min at room temperature. Additional experiments were carried out on samples that were further loaded with glycerol (5% w/w). Gel formation was assessed by analysing the gelatinisation extent, structuring level, and swelling power of the samples. At the processing conditions utilised, stable hydrogels were obtained even in the presence of the extract and/or the glycerol in the starch suspension. As expected, the colour of the hydrogels formed was affected by the addition of green tea extract in the starch solution. HPP starch hydrogels were characterised by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) to determine the interactions between the different compounds utilised in the formulation. Moreover, the release kinetics of bioactive compounds from HPP rice starch hydrogels was evaluated using a vertical Franz diffusion cells system, simulating a transdermal pattern. The diffusion of bioactive compounds was measured spectrophotometrically and via HPLC analysis. A controlled release of bioactive compounds from the hydrogel structure was detected, suggesting that small molecules, such as polyphenols, positively interacted with the rice starch HPP hydrogel network that allowed a smooth and constant release of these bioactive compounds over time.
Multivariate analysis to estimate the erodibility of Latosols in Alagoas, Brazil

Soil erodibility is one of the most important factors in understanding the erosive process. In view of the need to explore methods for determining the values of erodibility by simulated rainfall, the objective was to evaluate, through the tools of multivariate statistics, the erodibility of Latosols from Alagoas influenced by the physical, chemical and stability attributes of aggregates. The research activities were carried out at the Arapiraca Campus, of the Federal University of Alagoas (Universidade Federal de Alagoas), where Latosols were used in the suborders Red, Yellow and Red-Yellow, collected in two of the three geomorphological regions of the state of Alagoas. The prediction of correlation metrics shows that the cluster grouping indicates that the best correlations found were between the variables: clay and clay dispersed in water (r = 0.94), lime and sand (r = 90), and between the Water Erosion Prediction Project and the erodibility factor in midgrooves (r = 1.00). These strong positive correlations are proven through scatterplots, confidence regions, dendrogram, density estimation, and ellipses. The multivariate statistics allow a better understanding of the behavior of the correlations between the physical, chemical and stability attributes of aggregates with the erodibility of Latosols of Alagoas, as well as demonstrating the relationship of the variables studied with any of the three suborders of soils of Alagoas (Yellow, Red and Red-Yellow Latosol).
Avoidance-related behavioral and blood-based physiological responses of Nguni and Boran cattle subjected to routine handling activities post relocation

Introduction This study aimed to investigate the avoidance-related behavioral and blood-based physiological responses of Nguni and Boran cattle during routine handling activities post-relocation, with a particular focus on the effect of breed, week, and waiting time. Methods A total of 20 animals, 10 from each breed, were subjected to handling activities at fortnight intervals post-relocation. The animals were observed for entry time (ES), chute score (CS), kicking score (KS), blood sampling time, cortisol, and glucose concentrations. The data were analyzed using ANOVA and regression analysis. Results and Discussion Results showed that breed had a significant effect on avoidance-related behavioral responses (ES: p = 0.0032; CS: p = 0.0071; and EX: p = 0.0320), with Nguni cattle displaying more active avoidance behaviors compared to Boran cattle. Additionally, breed differences were observed in physiological responses, with Nguni cattle exhibiting higher cortisol and glucose levels compared to Boran cattle. Waiting time in the race had a greater impact on chute score (CS: p = 0.0037) and cortisol release (p = 0.0375) in the two breeds. Regression analysis revealed that the amount of time spent in the handling facility prior to sampling and the duration of blood collection significantly increased from week 3 to 15. Steers that waited in the race for more than 10 min had higher cortisol levels (p = 0.0031). These findings suggest that breed-specific management practices may be necessary to reduce stress-related responses and improve animal welfare during routine handling activities post-relocation. Overall, this study highlights the importance of considering the effects of breed, week, and waiting time when evaluating the avoidance-related behavioral and blood-based physiological responses of cattle during routine handling activities. These factors play a significant role in understanding and addressing the stress and welfare concerns associated with handling procedures, particularly after relocation.
Intelligent plantar pressure offloading for the prevention of diabetic foot ulcers and amputations

The high prevalence of lower extremity ulceration and amputation in people with diabetes is strongly linked to difficulties in achieving and maintaining a reduction of high plantar pressures (PPs) which remains an important risk factor. The effectiveness of current offloading footwear is opposed in part by poor patient adherence to these interventions which have an impact on everyday living activities of patients. Moreover, the offloading devices currently available utilize primarily passive techniques, whereas PP distribution is a dynamically changing process with frequent shifts of high PP areas under different areas of the foot. Thus, there is a need for pressure offloading footwear capable of regularly and autonomously adapting to PPs of people with diabetes. The aim of this article is to summarize the concepts of intelligent pressure offloading footwear under development which will regulate PPs in people with diabetes to prevent and treat diabetic foot ulcers. Our team is creating this intelligent footwear with an auto-contouring insole which will continuously read PPs and adapt its shape in the forefoot and heel regions to redistribute high PP areas. The PP-redistribution process is to be performed consistently while the footwear is being worn. To improve adherence, the footwear is designed to resemble a conventional shoe worn by patients in everyday life. Preliminary pressure offloading and user perceptions assessments in people without and with diabetes, respectively, exhibit encouraging results for the future directions of the footwear. Overall, this intelligent footwear is designed to prevent and treat diabetic foot ulcers while enhancing patient usability for the ultimate prevention of lower limb amputations.
Convex hierarchical segmentation model for images with multi-component

Focus on the multi-component image segmentation issue, a hierarchical model is proposed in this paper. The idea is to do segmentation iteratively. The (k+1)-th implementation is carried out not on the whole image domain but on the subimage which is detected as the objects region at the k-th segmentation. In order to achieve this purpose of selective segmentation, a region characteristic function which takes 1 for pixel in the given region and 0 otherwise is introduced, and a novel energy function is proposed based on it. The proposed energy function is convex, thus it can easily apply the fast minimization algorithm and obtain the global minima. In this paper, the well-known split Bregman method is used to minimize the proposed energy function. Experiments demonstrate that the proposed model is able to deal with multicomponent images. And comparisons show that the model is more accurate and efficient.
The precision measurement of the electron- antineutrino correlation in neutron beta decay

The electron-antineutrino angular correlation (a) in the neutron beta decay is being measured by the aCORN experiment which is aiming to measure the a correlation coefficient to a relative accuracy of about 1% using a novel technique. Collimation, a magnet field, and an electrostatic mirror are used to make two groups of protons in this method. These two groups of protons are distinguished by time of flight. The counting asymmetry between these two groups of protons is measured which is proportional to the a coefficient. A precision measurement of a will improve the determination of the nucleon axial vector coupling constant gA, and along with other decay parameters can be used to test the validity and self-consistency of the Standard Model and to explore the physics beyond it. After taking data for two years from 2013 to 2014 on the NG-6 beamline at NIST, aCORN has now moved to a new higher flux NG-C beamline. The detailed description of the apparatus, precision alignment techniques and data analysis for the data taken in the 2013-14 period will be presented in this thesis. We were able to determine the most precise value of the a coefficient from this dataset. The preliminary result for the measured a coefficient is −0.1066± 0.0040. The Precision Measurement of the Electron-antineutrino Correlation in Neutron Beta Decay A Dissertation Submitted On The Thirteenth Day Of April, 2016 To The Department Of Physics Of The Graduate School Of Tulane University In Partial Fulfillment Of The Requirements For The Degree Of Doctor Of Philosophy By
Global trends in BRCA-related breast cancer research from 2013 to 2022: A scientometric analysis

Introduction Since the mid-2000s, breast cancer incidence among women has slowly increased at about 0.5% per year. In the last three decades, Breast Cancer Susceptibility Gene (BRCA) has been proven to be the crucial gene in encouraging the incidence and development of breast cancer. However, scientometric analysis on BRCA-related breast cancer is in shortage. Thus, to have a clear understanding of the current status and catch up with the hotspots, a scientometric analysis was conducted on specific academic publications collected from the Web of Science (WoS). Methods We searched the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) to procure associated articles as our dataset. Bibliometric, CiteSpace, VOSviewer, and HistCite software were then applied to conduct visual analyses of countries, institutions, journals, authors, landmark articles, and keywords in this research field. Results A total of 7,266 articles and 1,310 review articles published between 2013 to 2022 were retrieved eventually. The annual output steadily rose year by year and peaked in 2021. The USA led the way in the number of published works, total citations, and collaboration. Breast Cancer Research and Treatment was the most favoured journal in this research field. Narod SA from the University of Toronto produced the most publications. At last, the most prominent keywords were “breast cancer” (n=1,778), “women” (n=1,369), “brca1” (n=1,276), “ovarian cancer” (n=1,259), “risk” (n=1,181), and “mutations” (n=929), which exposed the hotspots within the BRCA domain of breast cancer study. Conclusion The tendency in the BRCA research field over the past decade was presented by the scientometric analysis. The current research focus is the clinical trials of poly-adenosine diphosphate ribose polymerase inhibitors (PARPi) drugs and their resistance mechanisms.
Estimation of the Random Error of Eddy Covariance Data from Two Towers during Daytime

We have examined the random error of eddy covariance (EC) measurements on the basis of two-tower approach during daytime. Two EC towers were placed on the grassland with different vegetation density near Gumi-weir. We calculated the random error using three different methods. The first method (M1) is two-tower method suggested by Hollinger and Richardson (2005) where random error is based on differences between simultaneous flux measurements from two towers in very similar environmental conditions. The second one (M2) is suggested by Kessomkiat et al. (2013), which is extended procedure to estimate random error of EC data for two towers in more heterogeneous environmental conditions. They removed systematic flux difference due to the energy balance deficit and evaporative fraction difference between two sites before determining the random error of fluxes using M1 method. Here, we introduce the third method (M3) where we additionally removed systematic flux difference due to available energy difference between two sites. Compared to M1 and M2 methods, application of M3 method results in more symmetric random error distribution. The magnitude of estimated random error is smallest when using M3 method because application of M3 method results in the least systematic flux difference between two sites among three methods. An empirical formula of random error is developed as a function of flux magnitude, wind speed and measurement height for use in single tower sites near Nakdong River. This study suggests that correcting available energy difference between two sites is also required for calculating the random error of EC data from two towers at heterogeneous site where vegetation density is low.
Influence of the play score on external load parameters in men´s and women´s professional padel

The aim of this study was to analyse the influence of the game and set score on game volume and intensity parameters in professional padel. A total of 3241 points (1639 for women and 1602 for men) corresponding to 22 matches of the 2020 season of the World Padel Tour professional circuit were analysed through systematic observation. The results showed a longer playing time (p <.001), number of lobs (p <.001) and less intensity of the game (p <.001) in female padel. These differences still exist depending on the point and game number. In addition, the playing time, rest time, number of shots per point and number of lobs is significantly higher in golden points compared to the rest of the points (p = .000), with no differences depending on the number of games. In conclusion, during golden points, there is a higher point duration and a higher number of lobs comparing with the rest of the points, both in the male and female categories, not observing changes in the intensity of the game.
THE EFFECT OF USING HAMMING WINDOW AND LINEAR PREDICTIVE CODING MODEL IN EEG-P300 SIGNALS CLASSIFICATION

In this paper, Fisher linear discriminant analysis (FLDA) is used to classify the EEGP-300 signals which are extracted from brain activities. In this case, at first the preprocessing algorithms such as filtering and referencing are applied to the raw EEG signal. Then, in order to create a model out of the signal, a linear predictive coding model with 6 order is used. So that the signal is reconstructed by extracting linear predictive coding (LPC) model parameters of each single trial, and then every signal trial is passed through the Hamming window by length 9. At last Fisher Linear Discriminant Analysis is used for classifying. In this paper, classification accuracy, the maximum bit rate and the convergence time to achieve stability in maximum accuracy of classification are computed to compare performance of the proposed method, Fisher Linear Discriminant Analysis with Linear Predictive Coding Model and Hamming Window (LPC+HAMMING+FLDA), to FLDA and LPC+FLDA. The implementation results show that the efficiency of the proposed method in terms of classification accuracy and convergence time to achieve stability in maximum accuracy is better than the other two mentioned algorithms. As example, at the proposed algorithm with 8 electrode configuration the S2 converges to the maximum accuracy after eleventh Block while this happens for two other algorithms after fourteenth Block and the total classification accuracy for this person at proposed algorithm is improved as 2.2% and 4% than respectively LPC+FLDA and FLDA algorithms.
Multiplicative versus additive models in measuring service quality

One may measure service quality either with additive models such as SERVQUAL, SERPERF, and two-predictor model of performance and expectation, or with multiplicative models obtained by log-transformation of variables in additive models. This paper analytically compares multiplicative models with additive models. In addition, it empirically compares predictive performance of alternative models on overall service quality and customer satisfaction with a three-way factorial design: 2 forms (additive vs. multiplicative) 3 types (SERVQUAL vs. SERVPERF vs. two-predictor model) 2 levels (5 dimensions vs. 22 items). The empirical comparison uses the data gathered to evaluate service quality in five service industries (Hamburger Shop, Pizza Shop, Family Restaurant, Movie Theater, and Bakery Shop) with a standard SERVQUAL questionnaire. The data set includes 1,410 respondents’ evaluation of service quality. The analytical and empirical comparison shows that multiplicative models have three distinct advantages. First, multiplicative models are theoretically supported by the prospect theory and the Weber’s law. Second, multiplicative models allow one to identify the optimal levels of performance and expectation maximizing overall quality or customer satisfaction. Third, multiplicative models predict overall service quality and customer satisfaction better than additive models do.
Surfactant-mediated modulation of morphology and charge transfer dynamics in tungsten oxide nanoparticles

Tungsten Oxide (WO3) is a well-known transition metal oxide which exhibits non-toxicity and stability in its nanoparticle form. It is a potential candidate for a variety of applications due to its low cost and facile synthesis process. In the present work, WO3 nanoparticles were synthesized via facile acid-coprecipitation method to explore the effect of surfactants on the morphology of WO3 nanoparticles and thus, on its structural, optical and electrochemical properties. The morphology analysis revealed the formation of spherical nanoparticles in the absence of any surfactant while nanoflakes and nanosheets were observed in the presence of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) and polyethylene glycol (PEG), respectively. Moreover, the presence of surfactants was found to influence the crystallinity state of the samples. The different morphologies exhibited optical band gap of 2.2–2.7 eV as analyzed by UV–vis spectroscopy along with other optical properties like absorbance range and refractive index. The electrochemical properties of the samples were studied by employing potentio electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (PEIS) and cyclic voltammetry (CV) techniques. CV analysis revealed the diffusion-controlled behavior of the samples which may be suitable for photovoltaic applications. Furthermore, impedance study showed the presence of Warburg impedance which indicates that there is an infinite layer of excitons on the surface of thin film, further suggesting WO3 as a prominent material for solar cell applications. The incorporation of surfactants resulted in the reduction of charge transfer resistance indicating more efficient charge transfer process.
The Cosine Similarity in Terms of the Euclidean Distance

In many applications, especially in information retrieval, text mining, biomedical engineering and chemistry, the cosine similarity is often used to find objects most similar to a given one, so called nearest neighbors. Objects are typically represented as vectors. In particular, documents are often represented as term frequency vectors or its variants such as tf_idf vectors (Salton, Wong, & Yang 1975; Han, Kamber, & Pei 2011). The cosine similarity measure between vectors is interpreted as the cosine of the angle between them. According to this measure, two vectors are treated as similar if the angle between them is sufficiently small; that is, if its cosine is sufficiently close to 1. The determination of nearest neighbors is challenging if analyzed vectors are high dimensional. In the case of distance metrics, one may apply the triangle inequality to quickly prune large numbers of objects that certainly are not nearest neighbors of a given vector (Uhlmann, 1991, Moore, 2000; Elkan, 2003; Kryszkiewicz & Lasek, 2010a; Kryszkiewicz & Lasek, 2010b; Kryszkiewicz & Lasek, 2010c; Patra, Hubballi, Biswas & Nandi, 2010; Kryszkiewicz & Lasek, 2011). Nevertheless, the cosine similarity is not a distance metric and, in particular, does not preserve the triangle inequality in general. In spite of this fact it was shown recently in (Kryszkiewicz, 2011; Kryszkiewicz, 2013a) that the problem of determining a cosine similarity neighborhood can be transformed to the problem of determining the Euclidean distance. This result allows applying the triangle inequality to make the determination of cosine similarity neighborhoods faster. The objective of this chapter is to present the ways in which the relationship between the cosine similarity and the Euclidean distance can be used to determine cosine similar objects efficiently. We also outline further research directions related to this task.