Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Audio Issues In MIR Evaluation

Several projects are underway to create music testbeds to suit the needs of the music analysis and music information retrieval (MIR) communities. Furthermore, there are plans to unify the testbeds into a grid whereby research can be performed in a distributed manner. Thus the issue of audio file formats has come to the forefront. The creators of a music library or MIR testbed are confronted with a variety of questions pertaining to file formats, their quality, metadata, and copyright issues. We discuss the various formats, their advantages and disadvantages, and give a set of guidelines and recommendations. This document is a positional paper. It is intended to foster discussion and not as a definitive statement. Nevertheless, it is hoped that the proposals put forth here may serve as a guideline to use in construction of an MIR evaluation testbed. 1. OVERVIEW OF AUDIO FORMATS There exists a bewildering variety of audio formats. Distinguishing between them is best done via their intended purpose. Mp3, for example, is designed for compressed delivery of audio, whereas Broadcast WAV is intended for uncompressed storage and exchange of production quality audio. In order to differentiate and classify the audio formats available, we distinguish between raw audio formats, compressed formats, and multimedia interchange wrappers. This classification is generalized and there are many exceptions. For instance, WAV format supports compression, and AES31 describes file formats, compression schemes and wrappers. However, the following groups the formats based on their complexity, general usage and purpose, and thus serves as a good guide to the options available for audio formats used in a testbed. 1.1. Raw Audio Formats The most common audio formats for end users are based on simple, open standards that have been designed and promoted by companies for certain platforms. These include Apple’s AIFF format for the Mac, Sun’s au format for UNIX, and the WAV format for Windows, developed by Microsoft and IBM. Despite this legacy, these formats can be played on almost any computer using many audio applications, and contain no features specific only to their original intended platforms. These 3 formats share many features. They all (typically) are intended for storing uncompressed, PCMencoded, raw audio in a single binary file. They each support a variety of bit rates, sample rates and channels, and contain a header containing such information. They differ primarily in the byte order (little endian or big endian), and how the header is constructed. Of these formats, WAV and AIFF are by far the most common. Almost all audio workstations support both.
Size dependence of the yield strength of fcc and bcc metallic micropillars with diameters of a few micrometers

Recent micropillar compression tests of fcc and bcc single crystals have shown that ‘Smaller is Stronger’ even in the absence of significant strain gradients, an effect that is empirically characterised by a power-law relation. When a micropillar contains a dislocation network, this power-law relation has been explained in terms of the size-dependent operation stress of the weakest single arm dislocation sources. This single arm dislocation source model has successfully captured the power-law relation for the strength of a few fcc micropillars, but a physical interpretation has not been made by comparing different materials. We applied the model, not only to fcc but also to bcc micropillars, to understand quantitatively why different materials have different power-law exponents. Here, the different power-law exponents are interpreted by comparing material parameters that are size-independent properties. Also, by rearranging these parameters such that the formulation becomes independent of material parameters, we found an alternate form of the scaling law that is a unique function of micropillar diameter. Furthermore, recent experimental studies of the effects of increasing the dislocation density, which show hardening for large micropillars and softening for small micropillars, are interpreted in terms of the statistics of dislocation source distribution. The strengths and limitations of this statistical approach are discussed. The effects of temperature on the power-law exponents are also studied.
Robust Multiple-Phase Switched-Capacitor DC-DC, Converter with Digital Interleaving Regulation Scheme

An integrated switched-capacitor (SC) DC-DC converter with a digital interleaving regulation scheme is presented. By interleaving the newly-structured charge pump (CP) cells in multiple phases, the input current ripple and output voltage ripple are reduced significantly. The converter exhibits excellent robustness, even when one of the CP cells fails to operate. A fully digital controller is employed with a hysteretic control algorithm. It features dead-beat system stability and fast transient response. Hspice post-layout simulation shows that, with a 1.5 V input power supply, the SC converter accurately provides an adjustable regulated power output in a range of 1.6 to 2.7 V. The maximum output ripple is 40 mV when a full load of 0.54 W is supplied. Transient response of 1.8 mus is observed when the load current switches from half- to full-load (from 100 to 200 mA)
Cellular Signaling Pathways in Insulin Resistance-Systems Biology Analyses of Microarray Dataset Reveals New Drug Target Gene Signatures of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Purpose: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a chronic and metabolic disorder affecting large set of population of the world. To widen the scope of understanding of genetic causes of this disease, we performed interactive and toxicogenomic based systems biology study to find potential T2DM related genes after cDNA differential analysis. Methods: From the list of 50-differential expressed genes (p < 0.05), we found 9-T2DM related genes using extensive data mapping. In our constructed gene-network, T2DM-related differentially expressed seeder genes (9-genes) are found to interact with functionally related gene signatures (31-genes). The genetic interaction network of both T2DM-associated seeder as well as signature genes generally relates well with the disease condition based on toxicogenomic and data curation. Results: These networks showed significant enrichment of insulin signaling, insulin secretion and other T2DM-related pathways including JAK-STAT, MAPK, TGF, Toll-like receptor, p53 and mTOR, adipocytokine, FOXO, PPAR, P13-AKT, and triglyceride metabolic pathways. We found some enriched pathways that are common in different conditions. We recognized 11-signaling pathways as a connecting link between gene signatures in insulin resistance and T2DM. Notably, in the drug-gene network, the interacting genes showed significant overlap with 13-FDA approved and few non-approved drugs. This study demonstrates the value of systems genetics for identifying 18 potential genes associated with T2DM that are probable drug targets. Conclusions: This integrative and network based approaches for finding variants in genomic data expect to accelerate identification of new drug target molecules for different diseases and can speed up drug discovery outcomes.
Analytical Approach to the Study of Injection-Locked Frequency Dividers

An analytical method for the nonlinear analysis of injection-locked frequency dividers (ILFDs) is presented based on the method of the slowly-varying amplitude and phase. We introduce a general model of ILFDs and derive the associated averaging equations describing their first-order dynamical behavior. These equations are solved in closed form for two typical injection techniques of ILFDs, namely the injection via tail device and the direct injection. The oscillation amplitude and phase in the locked states and during the transient, as well as the locking range are obtained in explicit form. Numerical simulations validate the presented formulas, which provide useful design insights.
Primary Involvement of Pharynx and Peyer's Patch in Inhalational and Intestinal Anthrax

Bacillus anthracis causes three forms of anthrax: inhalational, gastrointestinal, and cutaneous. Anthrax is characterized by both toxemia, which is caused by secretion of immunomodulating toxins (lethal toxin and edema toxin), and septicemia, which is associated with bacterial encapsulation. Here we report that, contrary to the current view of B. anthracis pathogenesis, B. anthracis spores germinate and establish infections at the initial site of inoculation in both inhalational and cutaneous infections without needing to be transported to draining lymph nodes, and that inhaled spores establish initial infection in nasal-associated lymphoid tissues. Furthermore, we found that Peyer's patches in the mouse intestine are the primary site of bacterial growth after intragastric inoculation, thus establishing an animal model of gastrointestinal anthrax. All routes of infection progressed to the draining lymph nodes, spleen, lungs, and ultimately the blood. These discoveries were made possible through the development of a novel dynamic mouse model of B. anthracis infection using bioluminescent non-toxinogenic capsulated bacteria that can be visualized within the mouse in real-time, and demonstrate the value of in vivo imaging in the analysis of B. anthracis infection. Our data imply that previously unrecognized portals of bacterial entry demand more intensive investigation, and will significantly transform the current perception of inhalational, gastrointestinal, and cutaneous B. anthracis pathogenesis.
Recovery of the control plane after failures in ASON/GMPLS networks

A reliable control plane plays a crucial role in creating high-level services in the next-generation transport network based on the generalized multiprotocol label switching (GMPLS) or automatically switched optical networks (ASON) model. Approaches to control-plane survivability, based on protection, and restoration mechanisms, are examined. Procedures for the control plane state recovery are discussed, including link and node failure recovery
Cross-Bifix-Free Codes Within a Constant Factor of Optimality

A cross-bifix-free code is a set of words in which no prefix of any length of any word is the suffix of any word in the set. Cross-bifix-free codes arise in the study of distributed sequences for frame synchronization. We provide a new construction of cross-bifix-free codes which generalizes the construction by Bajic to longer code lengths and to any alphabet size. The codes are shown to be nearly optimal in size. We also establish new results on Fibonacci sequences, which are used in estimating the size of the cross-bifix-free codes.
The Relationship between Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty with the Bank Performance in IRAN

The present study aims to examine the relationship between customers’ satisfaction and loyalty with the financial performance of the bank through a field study. According to the research objectives, the applied method is application approach and the necessary data has been collected using questionnaires and survey method. in this study, the statistical population one of the branches of the private banks in Yazd. This study is an applicable correlation study which used structural equation modeling and factor analysis to examine the hypotheses. The findings demonstrate that there is a strong positive relationship between customer’s satisfaction and loyalty at 95 percent. Any of the satisfaction and loyalty variables are significantly related to the bank performance at 90 percent. the results of this study can be captured by business management in banking industry.
A Robust Background Subtraction and Shadow Detection

This paper presents a novel algorithm for detecting moving objects from a static background scene that contains shading and shadows using color images. Although the background subtraction technique has been used for years in many vision systems as a preprocessing step for object detection and tracking, most of these algorithms are susceptible to both global and local illumination changes such as shadows and highlights. These cause the consequent processes, e.g. tracking, recognition, etc., to fail. This problem is the underlying motivation of our work. We develop a robust and efficiently computed background subtraction algorithm that is able to cope with local illumination change problems, such as shadows and highlights, as well as global illumination changes. Experimental results, which demonstrate the system’s performance, are also shown.
Locative Inversion 1 and Aspect Markers le and zhe in Mandarin Chinese

Bresnan (1994), based on data in English and Chicheŵa, proposes that the discourse function of locative inversion construction (LIC) is presentational focus, in which the referent of the NP ‘is introduced or reintroduced on the (part of the) scene referred to by the preposed locative’. Pan (1996) suggests that the discourse function of LIC in Chinese is the same. In this paper, I investigate two different aspect markers zhe and le in LIC and argue that the different aspect markers occurring in LIC affect the discourse functions of the structure in Chinese. Only with the durative resultative marker zhe does the structure express presentational focus. When the perfective aspect marker le appears, however, its function is to comment on the scene referred to by the locative (Du, 1999). Evidence for this claim is provided by demonstrating the contrast between LIC with the two different aspect markers. In so doing, I also support the claim that the two aspect markers are fundamentally different, which is against the proposal by Sybesma (1997) where they are both categorized as resultative.
The Acyl-Acyl Carrier Protein Synthetase from Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 Mediates Fatty Acid Import1[C][W][OA]

The transfer of fatty acids across biological membranes is a largely uncharacterized process, although it is essential at membranes of several higher plant organelles like chloroplasts, peroxisomes, or the endoplasmic reticulum. Here, we analyzed loss-of-function mutants of the unicellular cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 as a model system to circumvent redundancy problems encountered in eukaryotic organisms. Cells deficient in the only cytoplasmic Synechocystis acyl-acyl carrier protein synthetase (SynAas) were highly resistant to externally provided α-linolenic acid, whereas wild-type cells bleached upon this treatment. Bleaching of wild-type cells was accompanied by a continuous increase of α-linolenic acid in total lipids, whereas no such accumulation could be observed in SynAas-deficient cells (Δsynaas). When SynAas was disrupted in the tocopherol-deficient, α-linolenic acid-hypersensitive Synechocystis mutant Δslr1736, double mutant cells displayed the same resistance phenotype as Δsynaas. Moreover, heterologous expression of SynAas in yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) mutants lacking the major yeast fatty acid import protein Fat1p (Δfat1) led to the restoration of wild-type sensitivity against exogenous α-linolenic acid of the otherwise resistant Δfat1 mutant, indicating that SynAas is functionally equivalent to Fat1p. In addition, liposome assays provided direct evidence for the ability of purified SynAas protein to mediate α-[14C]linolenic acid retrieval from preloaded liposome membranes via the synthesis of [14C]linolenoyl-acyl carrier protein. Taken together, our data show that an acyl-activating enzyme like SynAas is necessary and sufficient to mediate the transfer of fatty acids across a biological membrane.
Platelets and their chemokines in atherosclerosis—clinical applications

The concept of platelets as important players in the process of atherogenesis has become increasingly accepted due to accumulating experimental and clinical evidence. Despite the progress in understanding the molecular details of atherosclerosis, particularly by using animal models, the inflammatory and thrombotic roles of activated platelet s especially in the human system remain difficult to dissect, as often only the complications of atherosclerosis, i.e., stroke and myocardial infarction are definable but not the plaque burden. Platelet indices including platelet count and mean platelet volume (MPV) and soluble mediators released by activated platelets are associated with atherosclerosis. The chemokine CXCL4 has multiple atherogenic activities, e.g., altering the differentiation of T cells and macrophages by inhibiting neutrophil and monocyte apoptosis and by increasing the uptake of oxLDL and synergizing with CCL5. CCL5 is released and deposited on endothelium by activated platelets thereby triggering atherogenic monocyte recruitment, which can be attenuated by blocking the corresponding chemokine receptor CCR5. Atheroprotective and plaque stabilizing properties are attributed to CXCL12, which plays an important role in regenerative processes by attracting progenitor cells. Its release from luminal attached platelets accelerates endothelial healing after injury. Platelet surface molecules GPIIb/IIIa, GP1bα, P-selectin, JAM-A and the CD40/CD40L dyade are crucially involved in the interaction with endothelial cells, leukocytes and matrix molecules affecting atherogenesis. Beyond the effects on the arterial inflammatory infiltrate, platelets affect cholesterol metabolism by binding, modifying and endocytosing LDL particles via their scavenger receptors and contribute to the formation of lipid laden macrophages. Current medical therapies for the prevention of atherosclerotic therapies enable the elucidation of mechanisms linking platelets to inflammation and atherosclerosis.
Exploring branch target buffer access filtering for low-energy and high-performance microarchitectures

Powerful branch predictors along with a large branch target buffer (BTB) are employed in superscalar and simultaneous multi-threading (SMT) processors for instruction-level parallelism and thread-level parallelism exploitation. However, the large BTB not only dominates the predictor energy consumption, but also becomes a major roadblock in achieving faster clock frequencies at deep sub-micron technologies. The authors propose here a filtering scheme to dramatically reduce the accesses to the BTB to achieve significantly reduced energy consumption in the BTB while maintaining the performance. For a simulated superscalar microprocessor, the experimental evaluation shows that the BTB access filtering (BAF) design achieves an 88.5% dynamic energy reduction with negligible performance loss. The authors also study the leakage behaviour and its control in the BAF design. The results show that by applying a drowsy strategy, very effective leakage control can be achieved. For the high-performance design, the BAF can also improve BTB's performance scalability at new technologies. For the simultaneous multi-threading environment, the authors evaluate the effectiveness of the BAF design and propose a banked BAF (BK-BAF) scheme to further reduce the energy consumption and performance overhead. The experimental results confirm that the BK-BAF scheme can be an energy/performance-effective design for next generation SMT processors.
Pyogenic Liver Abscess, Bacteremia, and Meningitis with Hypermucoviscous Klebsiella pneumoniae: An Unusual Case Report in a Human T-Cell Lymphotropic Virus Positive Patient of Caribbean Origin in the United States

Pyogenic liver abscess (PLA) is a potentially fatal disease. Klebsiella pneumoniae (K. pneumoniae) has replaced Escherichia coli (E. coli) as the predominant causative organism for pyogenic liver abscess. Over the years a unique form of community-acquired invasive K. pneumoniae infection of the liver has been well described in Southeast Asia. This has recently been linked to a virulent hypermucoviscous K. pneumoniae phenotype and to a specific genotype, rmpA positive. To our knowledge, we report the first case of PLA with bacteremia and meningitis in a Guyanese patient with the presence of rmpA-positive K. pneumoniae with laboratory evidence in North America.
Myocardial infarction in young adults

Although myocardial infarction (MI) mainly occurs in patients older than 45, young men or women can suffer MI. Fortunately, its incidence is not common in patients younger than 45 years. However, the disease carries a significant morbidity, psychological effects, and financial constraints for the person and the family when it occurs at a young age. The causes of MI among patients aged less than 45 can be divided into four groups: (1) atheromatous coronary artery disease; (2) non-atheromatous coronary artery disease; (2) hyper-coagulable states; (4) MI related to substance misuse. There is a considerable overlap between all the groups. This article reviews the literature and highlights the practical issues involved in the management of young adults with MI.
Integrated Wireless Multimedia Turbo-Transceiver Design Approaching the Rayleigh Channel's Capacity: Interpreting Shannon's Lessons in the Turbo-Era

Claude Shannon's pioneering work quantified the performance limits of communications systems operating over classic wireline Gaussian channels. However, his source and channel coding theorems were derived for a range of idealistic conditions, which may not hold in low-delay, interactive wireless multimedia communications. Firstly, Shannon's ideal lossless source encoder, namely the entropy encoder may have an excessive codeword length, hence exhibiting a high delay and a high error sensitivity. However, in practice most multimedia source signals are capable of tolerating lossy, rather than lossless delivery to the human eye, ear and other human sensors. The corresponding lossy and preferably low-delay multimedia source codecs however exhibit unequal error sensitivity, which is not the case for Shannon's ideal entropy codec. There are further numerous differences between the Shannonian lessons originally outlined for Gaussian channels and their ramifications for routinely encountered dispersive wireless channels, where typically bursty, rather than random errors are encountered. This paper elaborates on these intriguiging lessons in the context of a few turbo-transceiver design examples, using a jointly optimised turbo transceiver capable of providing unequal error protection in the context of MPEG-4 aided wireless video telephony. The transceiver investigated consists of Space-Time Trellis Coding (STTC) invoked for the sake of mitigating the effects of fading, Trellis Coded Modulation (TCM) or Bit-Interleaved Coded Modulation (BICM) as well as two different-rate Non-Systematic Convolutional codes (NSCs) or Recursive Systematic Convolutional codes (RSCs). A single-class protection based benchmarker scheme combining STTC and NSC is used for comparison with the unequal-protection scheme advocated. The video performance of the various schemes is evaluated when communicating over uncorrelated Rayleigh fading channels. It was found that the achievable performance of the proposed scheme is within 0.99~dB of the corresponding capacity of the Rayleigh fading channel.
4H-SiC MOSFETs with a Stable Protective Coating for Harsh Environment Applications

In this work we present 4H-SiC metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) with a stable protective coating for harsh environment applications. Both inversion channel (IC) and buried channel (BC) MOSFETs were realized on n-4H-SiC substrates with a p-epilayer. Stacked ONO gate dielectric and Ti/TiN/Pt/Ti interconnect were used. Ni and Ti ohmic contacts in combination with a-SiOx/a-SiNy and a-SiOx/a-SiC protective coatings were compared. The MOSFETs showed excellent transistor characteristics up to 600 °C and exceptional stability during long-term aging at 600 °C in air and during accelerated aging at 700 °C including temperature cycling and air/moisture environment.