Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Investigating the Effects of Training Set Synthesis for Audio Segmentation of Radio Broadcast

Music and speech detection provides us valuable information regarding the nature of content in broadcast audio. It helps detect acoustic regions that contain speech, voice over music, only music, or silence. In recent years, there have been developments in machine learning algorithms to accomplish this task. However, broadcast audio is generally well-mixed and copyrighted, which makes it challenging to share across research groups. In this study, we address the challenges encountered in automatically synthesising data that resembles a radio broadcast. Firstly, we compare state-of-the-art neural network architectures such as CNN, GRU, LSTM, TCN, and CRNN. Later, we investigate how audio ducking of background music impacts the precision and recall of the machine learning algorithm. Thirdly, we examine how the quantity of synthetic training data impacts the results. Finally, we evaluate the effectiveness of synthesised, real-world, and combined approaches for training models, to understand if the synthetic data presents any additional value. Amongst the network architectures, CRNN was the best performing network. Results also show that the minimum level of audio ducking preferred by the machine learning algorithm was similar to that of human listeners. After testing our model on in-house and public datasets, we observe that our proposed synthesis technique outperforms real-world data in some cases and serves as a promising alternative.
The zero-emissions cost of energy: a policy concept

The energy sector generates over 70% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, but existing energy-climate policies do little to reduce GHG emissions to prevent climate change. We present a new carbon tax policy concept in which energy users would be taxed an amount equal to the cost of cleaning up the emissions that they create, wherein the tax revenues would be used to operate negative emissions technologies. The policy is based on applying the zero-emissions cost (ZEC) metric to energy prices, which includes the ‘regular’ cost of an energy source plus the cost of sequestering its emissions. Using the ZEC, (a) the energy sector would be emissions-neutral, (b) biofuels would be cheaper than petroleum fuels, and (c) renewable electricity would be cheaper than fossil-fuel electricity. We calculate the energy spending as a fraction of gross domestic product for ‘regular’ and ZEC cost scenarios. Implementing the ZEC carbon-tax policy would enable a monumental shift to a net-zero emissions energy sector, but carries a significant risk of causing an economic recession. The summary point of this commentary is to demonstrate a pathway to achieve net-zero GHG emissions from the US energy sector, and to contemplate the associated economic impacts on our society.
Teacher orientation of Adiwiyata School trustees in environment character building in Malang Senior High School, Indonesia

This study was conducted to determine the orientation of teachers builder Adiwiyata school program, a program of the Ministry of Environment together with the Ministry of Education which aims to create good conditions for schools to be a place of learning and awareness of the school community so that in the future the school community can be partly responsible for the efforts to save the environment and sustainable development. This study is a phenomenological qualitative study conducted on teachers' School Trustees Adiwiyata Program Malang. High School who has been awarded the highest Adiwiyata (gold) from the government as an independent school Adiwiyata school used as study sites. Data were collected using in-depth interview techniques (in-depth interviews) and study documentation. Analysis of data using triangulation techniques performed simultaneously including data collection, data reduction, data presentation, verification, and conclusion. The study found that teachers Adiwiyata Trustees have had a clear orientation which is based on the activity or better known as professional orientation. Orientation is systematically arranged sequentially from the most fundamental orientation to the orientation of the peak to be reached as follows: policy development orientation, the orientation of the increased insight, orientation awareness, orientation awareness-raising, and conservation orientation. Conservation orientation is the direction that was built to accomplish a character loving environment. Orientation conservation in many ways shows that teachers and students have the character of a good conservationist. Another orientation is an additional orientation and done outside the main orientation if the main orientation has been reached.
A Long Term Follow Up of Posterior Chamber Phakic Intraocular Lenses for Correcting Intractable Pediatric Myopic Anisometropic Amblyopia

Background Pediatric myopic anisometropic amblyopia is one of the most challenging clinical situations that can face an ophthalmologist. Conventional correction modalities for myopic anisometropic amblyopia, using spectacles, contact lenses, and/or occlusion therapy, may not be suitable for some pediatric patients or for some ocular conditions. This may lead to the development of amblyopia and loss of binocular vision. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the visual and refractive efficacy, safety, and stability of Posterior Chamber Phakic Intraocular Lenses (PC-pIOLs) for correcting pediatric myopic anisometropic amblyopia. Methods This case series, prospective, interventional study was conducted at Watany Eye Hospital, Cairo, Egypt. It comprised 42 eyes of 42 children with myopic anisometropic amblyopia and unsuccessful conventional therapy. After implantation of Intraocular Collamer Lenses “ICLs” (Visian ICL, Model V4c, STAAR Surgical, Monrovia, California, USA), postoperative follow up visits were scheduled, with subjective refraction and Pentacam imaging performed. Results The patients’ age range was 3 to 18 years (mean ± SD = 10.58 years ± 4.23). The mean preoperative SE was − 12.54 D ± 2.93. The results declared a significant improvement in the postoperative CDVA (P value < 0.01) and SE (P value < 0.01). The efficacy index had a value of 1.18 ± 0.3 and the safety index was 1.09 ± 0.24. The follow up visits had a mean ± SD of 14.67 months ± 16.56 (range of 1 to 54 months). The results showed a refractive stability, with slight (statistically insignificant) improvements in the subjective refraction between the first postoperative and the follow up visits. No postoperative complications were encountered. Conclusions The present study, with the longest reported follow up range, declared the long-term efficacy, safety, and stability of Visian ICLs for correcting pediatric myopic anisometropic amblyopia. The reported non-compliance with occlusion therapy validates the early implantation of Visian ICLs in cases of failed conventional therapy to guard against anisometropic amblyopia.
Optimal design of 10-bit single-slope ADC for CMOS image sensor based on swarm intelligent optimization algorithm

Natural Science Foundation of Liaoning Province, Grant/Award Number: 2020‐MS‐098; National Natural Science Foundation of China, Grant/Award Number: 61903061; Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, Grant/Award Number: DUT20JC22 Abstract As one of the most critical blocks of the CMOS image sensor (CIS), the accuracy and power consumption of the analogue‐to‐digital converter (ADC) play an important role in its performance. However, due to the mutually restrictive relationship between power consumption and accuracy in the single‐slope ADC (SS ADC), it is difficult to improve these performance indexes meantime without an efficient optimal design method. Here, an optimal design methodology based on an improved artificial fish swarm optimization algorithm (IAFSOA) is proposed for a 10‐bit SS ADC in CIS. First, a voltage storage structure and offset calibration circuit are developed for promoting the performance of the comparator. Then, IAFSOA is developed for the circuit parameters optimization with faster convergence rate and higher computational accuracy. The proposed multi‐ objectives optimization algorithm can obtain the optimal parameters of the kernel circuit components and lead to an enhancement of both power consumption and accuracy. The optimized SS ADC is designed based on 0.18 μm process to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method. Compared to the earlier reported work, the IAFSOA‐based optimal design method can promote the performance of the SS ADC by an improvement of effective number of bits and a reduction of power consumption.
Frequency of Spontaneous Bacterial Peritonitis in Cirrhosis of Liver in Department of Medicine at People Medical College Hospital Nawabshah Pakistan

Introduction: Bacterial Infections in cirrhosis of liver is one of the main complications with increase mortality rate. Infection of ascitic fluid in cirrhosis of liver was introduced by Conn and fessel [2], termed as spontaneous bacterial peritonitis. Objective: To determine the frequency of Spontaneous Bacterial Peritonitis (SBP) in patients presenting with cirrhosis of liver. Methodology: It is a descriptive cross-sectional study which was performed in the Medicine Ward Original Research Article Daidano et al.; JPRI, 33(19A): 56-60, 2021; Article no.JPRI. 66697 57 at People’s Medical College Hospital Nawabshah Pakistan from 1 June 2018 to 31 July 2020. Total 100 admitted patients were selected for this study, male patient were 58 and female patient were 42. Consent was taken from the patients and their relatives. Primary and secondary outcomes measured. All the patients with diagnosis of cirrhosis of liver were included for this study, ascites due to other causes and patients on antibiotic therapy were excluded from this study. Ascitic fluid aspirated for culture and DR. Blood CP, Urea, Creatinine, LFT and PT was performed. Results: Among these 100 patients 13 were culture positive raised ascites PMN, 17 were culture negative raised ascites PMN. E. coli was detected in majority of the culture positive patients. 70 patients presented with sterile ascites. SBP patients presented with fever, abdominal pain, jaundice, Encephalopathy and raised prothrombin time. Conclusion: SBP common complication of cirrhosis associated with high mortality. All cirrhotic Patients admitted in medical wards with history of abdominal pain, fever and Encephalopathy, diagnostic paracentesis is compulsory. Early management with intravascular expansion with albumin and antibiotics with good prognosis mortality can be reduced.
Marine environmental emission reduction policy in the liner shipping the economic impact from trade lane perspective

ABSTRACT This study focuses on the economic impact of the IMO Sulfur air pollution marine emissions reduction policy on carriers, as well as on socio-economic factors in the field of international liner shipping. Air pollution regulations, have the potential to shift freight away from its original port destination. This policy, which is implemented in an unequal manner (selective, global cap 0.5% out ECA and 0.1 in ECA), will create anew market failure from an economic and environmental perspective (‘pollution leakage’). This study will evaluate the economic impact by developing a Trade Lane (TL) Sulfur Emission Control Area (SECA) Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA) framework, based on the carrier problem, choosing an appropriate compliance action from aselection of alternatives, differentiated by compliance techniques. Results indicate that the scrubber is the most mature technological solution today, nevertheless, the expected impact on slot costs cannot be overlooked (compare to fuel switch alternative). Results indicate that a hypothetical alternative with a global sulfur content of 0.1% in a200 NM shore area and HFO uses in high seas were found to be more economic and less destructive to the maritime industry and less harmful to society in terms of health and potential pollution.
Felsic Tesserae on Venus Permitted by Lithospheric Deformation Models

Venus tessera terrain contains the oldest rocks preserved on the surface of the planet. The composition of the tesserae is unknown, but recent observations of near‐infrared emissivity from orbit suggest that they are silica rich. This contrasts with previous interpretation that silica‐rich rheologies are too weak to produce tessera folds. We examine the range of compositions consistent with the observed folds in the tessera. We map folds in Tellus Regio tessera using the highest resolution Magellan radar images (∼100 m) and stereo topography (∼1 km). We use fold spacings as input into a buckling analysis that simulates power law rheology using contemporary dry‐mineral flow laws and modeled igneous rock compositions, consistent with a predicted dry lithosphere for Venus in the recent era. The folds have dominant wavelengths of 6–19 km with amplitudes of 500–1,000 m, consistent with low strains (1%–12%). We confirm that observed folds require heat flows of ≥40 K/km and strain rates faster than 10−16s−1, higher than today. These low strain folds are unlikely to have significantly modified the preexisting tessera surface, thus older impact craters must have been removed by an earlier geologic process. We demonstrate that the folds can form in dry crust with a SiO2 content ranging from 48% to 72%. Dry felsic rheologies could explain low emissivity signatures of tesserae that are attributed to a low Fe2+. If felsic, tessera materials may have formed in a prior era via partial melting of hydrous materials derived from recycling of surface waters into the Venus mantle.
Normal Variations in Blood Pressure in Ambulatory Blood Pressure Measurements

Aim: Hypertension is very common in primary care patients. The diagnosis of hypertension is made by office measurements and home blood pressure measurements. The aim of this study was to define the normal variation levels of blood pressure in individuals in primary care by using ambulatory blood pressure measurement. Methods: This study was performed in primary care. Individuals who had no hypertension history were included in the study. Subjects were evaluated by using three office measurements, seven days home blood pressure measurements and 24 hours ambulatory blood pressure measurement. The ambulatory blood pressure gave us the variations in blood pressure values. Results: The study started in January 2018 and ended in May 2018. Of the 47 subjects, 70.2% were women and 29.8% were men. The mean age was 41.63±12.00. The most common educational level was elementary school graduates. The most common occupation was housewives. Of the participants, 84.2% were married. At ambulatory blood pressure measurements, 34.0% of the subjects had mean systolic blood pressures 24 hours between 120-129 mmHg. Of the diastolic blood pressure 24 hours mean values, 15.3% had values between 80-89, where 51.0% were between the 71-79 mmHg groups. The mean value of 24 hours variation in systolic blood pressure was 15.75±18.59 (median=11.40, min=8.80, max=106.00). The 24 hours variation in the mean values of diastolic blood pressures was 12.12±10.90 (median=9.70, min=6.80, max=64.00). Conclusion: The results of this study demonstrated that there were high levels of variations in normal blood pressures, which could show candidates for hypertension. Keywords: ambulatory monitoring, blood pressure, variability, primary care
Planning for an Older and Digital Future: Opportunities and Challenges of Age-Friendly E-Participation in China

ABSTRACT The increasing prevalence of e-participation in planning processes risks precluding older adult engagement. Our study calls upon a strategic e-participation framework to explore the opportunities and challenges of older adult e-participation in the most rapidly ageing and digitizing country on earth: China. Through thematic coding of interviews (n = 13) and statistical analysis of questionnaires (n = 120), we find that older age is not inherently a barrier to e-participation. Older adults are willing and interested in certain functions of e-participation, but more attention is needed on age-friendly accessibility, promotion, and design.
Edge Detection in 3D Point Clouds Using Digital Images

This paper presents an effective and semi-automated method for detecting 3D edges in 3D point clouds with the help of high-resolution digital images. The effort aims to contribute towards addressing the unsolved problem of automated production of vector drawings from 3D point clouds of cultural heritage objects. Edges are the simplest primitives to detect in an unorganized point cloud and an algorithm was developed to perform this task. The provided edges are defined and measured on 2D digital images of known orientation, and the algorithm determines the plane defined by the edge on the image and its perspective center. This is accomplished by applying suitable transformations to the image coordinates of the edge points based on the Analytical Geometry relationships and properties of planes in 3D space. This plane inevitably contains the 3D points of the edge in the point cloud. The algorithm then detects and isolates those points which define the edge in the world system. Finally, the goal is to reliably locate the points that describe the desired edge in their true position in the geodetic space, using several constraints. The algorithm is firstly investigated theoretically for its efficiency using simulation data and then assessed under real conditions and under different image orientations and lengths of the edge on the image. The results are presented and evaluated.
Impact of microstructure on the electron–hole interaction in lead halide perovskites

Despite the remarkable progress in the performance of devices based on the lead halide perovskite semiconductor family, there is still a lack of consensus on their fundamental photophysical properties. Here, using magneto-optical transmission spectroscopy we elucidate the impact of the microstructure on the Coulomb interaction between photo-created electron–hole pairs in methylammonium lead triiodide (MAPbI3) and the triple-cation lead mixed-halide composition, Cs0.05(MA0.17FA0.83)0.95Pb(I0.83Br0.17)3 (Cs: cesium, MA: methylammonium, FA: formamidinium) by investigating thin films with a wide range of grain sizes from tens of nanometers to microns. At low temperatures, in which thermal fluctuations of the interactions are frozen and the rotational disorder of the organic cation is negligible, the exciton binding energy and reduced effective mass of carriers remain effectively unchanged with grain size. We conclude that the microstructure plays a negligible role in the Coulomb interaction of the photo-created electron–hole pairs, in contrast to previous reports. This renewed understanding of the relationship between these fundamental electronic properties and the microstructure is critical for future fundamental studies and improving device design.
Bearing Fault Diagnosis Approach under Data Quality Issues

In rotary machinery, bearings are susceptible to different types of mechanical faults, including ball, inner race, and outer race faults. In condition-based monitoring (CBM), several techniques have been proposed in fault diagnostics based on the vibration measurements. For this paper, we studied the fractal characteristics of non-stationary vibration signals collected from bearings under different health conditions. Using the detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA), we proposed a novel method to diagnose the bearing faults based on the scaling exponent (α1) of vibration signal at the short-time scale. In vibration data with high sampling rate, our results showed that the proposed measure, scaling exponent, provides an accurate identification of the health state of the bearing. At the end, we evaluated the performance of the proposed method under different data quality issues, data loss and induced noise.
Coping with Pet Food Insecurity in Low-Income Communities

ABSTRACT To what extent, if at all, do low-income owners of dogs and/or cats worry about running out of pet food before being able to buy more? If this insecurity exists among these pet owners, what contributes to it besides the inability to afford pet food? And whatever the sources of pet food insecurity, how do owners cope with it? A non-random, snowball sample of clients (n = 40) at three pet food pantries operated in Charlotte, North Carolina, Washington, DC, and Hyannis, Massachusetts were interviewed to understand their perspective toward and experience with feeding their pets. Results indicate that respondents commonly experienced emotional distress because they worried about being able to feed their pets and resorted to a variety of coping strategies to lessen this insecurity. They used pet food pantries, stretched their available supply of pet food, saved to buy pet food, shared human food with pets, asked for or borrowed pet food or money, and/or made sacrifices to buy pet food. Using these strategies enabled respondents to not surrender or abandon their pets and to see themselves as responsible owners, even if what they did fell short of how they typically fed their pets or what they considered being best for them. The extent to which these strategies are effective and parallel to those used by people in or near poverty to cope with human food insecurity are discussed.
Driving Consumer Engagement through Diverse Calls to Action in Corporate Social Responsibility Messages on Social Media

Although a growing number of consumers acknowledge the importance of firms’ corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities, how companies can effectively communicate these initiatives to consumers is still a challenge. Although the rise of social media platforms has provided firms with opportunities for more immediate and interactive communication with consumers, recent academic studies related to social media have mostly focused on effective communication of promotional messages, and relatively little attention has been paid to prosocial messages. For better communication, social media branded messages have encouraged user participation (i.e., calls to action), but how diverse types of calls to action can generate consumer engagement remains unexplored. Using over 2000 branded posts from popular consumer product brands on Facebook and Twitter, this research explores diverse types of calls to action that drive consumers’ attitudinal (i.e., likes) and behavioral (i.e., shares) engagement with CSR-related messages on social media. The research findings suggest that the types of calls to action matter in the effectiveness of CSR messages. Specifically, CSR messages inviting consumers to brand-related programs or games generated a greater number of likes and shares. However, the overall engagement was lower when CSR messages encouraged further conversations, and rewarding consumers was also less effective. Finally, the results show that multiple calls to action within one message decrease engagement. Overall, this study contributes to the academic literature and management by providing new insights and actionable guidelines on how to encourage user participation when designing CSR messages to enhance consumers’ attitudinal and behavioral engagement within social media, thereby contributing to sustainable development while enhancing the effectiveness of marketing communications.