Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Source separation and analysis of piano music signals

What makes a good piano performance? An expressive piano performance owes its emotive power to the performer's skills in shaping the music with nuances. For the purpose of performance analysis, nuance can be defined as any subtle manipulation of sound parameters including attack, timing, pitch, loudness and timbre. A major obstacle to a systematic computational analysis of musical nuances is that it is often difficult to uncover relevant sound parameters from the complex audio signal of a piano music performance. A piano piece invariably involves simultaneous striking of multiple keys, and it is not obvious how one may extract the parameters of individual keys from the combined mixed signal. This problem of parameter extraction can be formulated as a source separation problem. Our research goal is to extract individual tones (frequencies, amplitudes and phases) from a mixture of piano tones. We propose a Bayesian monaural source separation system to extract each individual tone from mixture signals of piano music performance. Specifically, tone extractions can be facilitated by model-based inference. Two signal models based on summation of sinusoidal waves were employed to represent piano tones. The first model is the traditional General Model, which is a variant of sinusoidal modeling, for representing a tone for high modeling quality; but this model often fails for mixtures of tones. The second model is an instrument-specific model tailored for the piano sound; its modeling quality is not as high as the traditional General Model, but its structure makes source separation easier. To exploit the benefits offered by both the traditional General Model and our proposed Piano Model, we used the hierarchical Bayesian framework to combine both models in the source separation process. These procedures allowed us to recover suitable parameters (frequencies, amplitudes, phases, intensities and fine-tuned onsets) for thorough analyses and characterizations of musical nuances. Isolated tones from a target recording were used to train the Piano Model, and the timing and pitch of individual music notes in the target recording were supplied to our proposed system for different experiments. Our results show that our proposed system gives robust and accurate separation of signal mixtures, and yields a separation quality significantly better than those reported in previous works.
Natural language interfaces to databases

Abstract This paper reviews the current state of the art in natural language access to databases. This has been a long-standing area of work in natural language processing. But though some commercial systems are now available, providing front ends has proved much harder than was expected, and the necessary limitations on front ends have to be recognized. The paper discusses the issues, both general to language and task-specific, involved in front end design, and the way these have been addressed, concentrating on the work of the last decade. The focus is on the central process of translating a natural language question into a database query, but other supporting functions are also covered. The points are illustrated by the use of a single example application. The paper concludes with an evaluation of the current state, indicating that future progress will depend on the one hand on general advances in natural language processing, and on the other on expanding the capabilities of traditional databases.
Chromosome Conformation of Human Fibroblasts Grown in 3-Dimensional Spheroids

In the study of interphase chromosome organization, genome-wide chromosome conformation capture (Hi-C) maps are often generated using 2-dimensional (2D) monolayer cultures. These 2D cells have morphological deviations from cells that exist in 3-dimensional (3D) tissues in vivo, and may not maintain the same chromosome conformation. We used Hi-C maps to test the extent of differences in chromosome conformation between human fibroblasts grown in 2D cultures and those grown in 3D spheroids. Significant differences in chromosome conformation were found between 2D cells and those grown in spheroids. Intra-chromosomal interactions were generally increased in spheroid cells, with a few exceptions, while inter-chromosomal interactions were generally decreased. Overall, chromosomes located closer to the nuclear periphery had increased intra-chromosomal contacts in spheroid cells, while those located more centrally had decreased interactions. This study highlights the necessity to conduct studies on the topography of the interphase nucleus under conditions that mimic an in vivo environment.
Recognition of bimodal produced speech based on Support Vector Machines

This paper presents the results of experiments in recognition of whispered speech, as a specific mode of verbal communication, using SVM (Support Vector Machines) classifier. For training and testing purposes, part of the speech database Whi-Spe with male speakers has been exploited. In matched scenarios average word recognition rate was 99.3% (for normally phonated speech) and 97.8% (for whisper). In mismatched scenarios, recognition of whisper with training on normal speech utterances was 75.4%, whereas recognition of whisper-trained normal speech was with recognition rate of 81.3%.
Neuroanatomy of cells expressing clock genes in Drosophila: Transgenic manipulation of the period and timeless genes to mark the perikarya of circadian pacemaker neurons and their projections

Subsets of brain neurons expressing the clock genes period (per) and timeless (tim) are involved in the generation of circadian behavioral rhythms. However, current knowledge of projection patterns of these neurons is limited to those immunoreactive to an antibody against a crustacean neuropeptide. The GAL4‐expression system was utilized to visualize neuronal processes from all per and tim‐expressing neurons in the central nervous system. Each of two types of GAL4‐driver fusion genes, per‐gal4 or tim‐gal4, was combined in transgenic flies with marker genes—lacZ, and sequences encoding green fluorescent protein or TAU protein—under the control of the GAL4‐responsive element UAS. This allowed visualization of the cytoplasm of GAL4‐expressing cells. Thus, neurites of clock neurons in the adult brain as well as those of larvae and pupae were revealed. Among the anatomical patterns revealed by per‐gal4‐ or tim‐gal4‐driven marker expression were a previously unknown, dorsally located neuronal cluster, along with the projections of these cells and of other dorsal neurons characterized in earlier studies only by the location of their perikarya. The similarity of projections from PER‐ or TIM‐containing neurons during development to those in the adult implies that these features of mature clock neurons are established by the larval stages. Neurons that have never been identified as PER‐ or TIM‐immunoreactive were also visualized in this assay system, indicating promoter activity of the clock genes in these cells and suggesting that their products cannot accumulate to detectable levels in certain neurons. J. Comp. Neurol. 422:66–94, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Occurrence of Angioimmunoblastic T Cell Lymphoma in a Patient with Chronic Myelomonocytic Leukemia Features

In a patient with recently diagnosed chronic myelomonocytic leukemia features, the biopsy of a peripheral lymphadenopathy seven months later revealed disorganised lymphoid tissue with a few large EBER (+) LMP1 (+) B-lymphocytes before any treatment was given. At this time, a clonal TCR y rearrangement and very faint clonal IgH rearrangement were demonstrated, and the diagnosis of angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma was made. Treatment with MOPP was started, followed by Hydroxycarbamide and CHOP but the outcome was fatal. During the evolution, there was no blastic transformation of the chronic myelomonocytic leukemia. The T-cell lymphoma extended to abdominal lymph nodes, Waldeyer ring and bone marrow and the percentage of large LMP1 EBER (+) B-cells increased in the lymph nodes. These findings do not support a common stem cell abnormality leading to myelodysplasia in the bone marrow and lymphoma in peripheral lymph nodes. The lack of a clearcut light chain restriction in the EBV infected B-cell is suggestive of a persistant EBV infection in polyclonal or oligoclonal activated B-cells as described in immunodepressed patients. The association of CMML features and an angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma is discussed.
Research on power data transmission method based on monitoring system combined with optical fiber and wireless communication network

With the rapid development of intelligent distribution network technology, “Optical fiber backbone network + low-power wireless communication network” becomes the most reasonable scheme for power system data acquisition. Optical fiber network access port, called “ONU” port, has been set up in the fiber backbone network at different geographical locations. In this situation, interfaces require numerous power parameters to be collected, and the ports around each “ONU” are also different. It leads to the problem that the collected data is not unified, which put forward higher requirements to the transmission method of urban electric power parameter. In this paper, there is a data transmission method based on the monitoring system combined with fiber and wireless communication network in the urban area, which can effectively solve this problem.
The role of hierarchical knowledge representation in decisionmaking and system management

The knowledge representation of a decision-maker in control of a complex system can be structured in several levels of abstraction in a functional hierarchy. The role of such an abstraction hierarchy in supervisory systems control is reviewed, and the difference between causal and intentional systems and formal games is discussed in terms of the role of an abstraction hierarchy in the related decision strategies. This relationship is then discussed with reference to the classical psychological problem-solving research of O. Selz (1922) and others. Finally, the implications for the design of decision-support systems are discussed. It is argued that an explicit description of the functional properties of the system to be controlled in terms of an abstraction hierarchy is necessary for a consistent design of databases and display formats for decision-support systems. Also, it is necessary to consider the role of the abstraction hierarchy in reasoning when planning experiments on human decision-making.
Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia during Recovery from Isoflurane—Nitrous Oxide Anesthesia

Heart rate and respiratory patterns were monitored in ten ambulatory female patients undergoing elective laparoscopy. The patients were anesthetized with isoflurane-nitrous oxide. An index of cardiac vagal tone determined from the heart rate pattern by quantifying the amplitude of respiratory sinus arrhythmia was elevated over four 10-min periods: before induction of anesthesia; during maintenance of anesthesia; upon arrival in the recovery room; and 20–30 min later when the patient was fully conscious. All ten patients' vagal tones were lowest during maintenance of anesthesia. During the recovery periods vagal tone increased and approached the conscious level. On-line analysis of respiratory sinus arrhythmia may provide a physiological index of the level of anesthesia and the rate of recovery
Molecular evolution of the telomere-associated MAL loci of Saccharomyces.

The MAL gene family of Saccharomyces consists of five multigene complexes (MAL1, MAL2, MAL3, MAL4, and MAL6) each of which encodes maltose permease (GENE 1), maltase (GENE 2) and the trans-acting MAL-activator (GENE 3). Four of these loci have been mapped and each is located at or near the telomere of a different chromosome. We compare the physical structure of the MAL loci and their flanking sequences. The MAL loci were shown to be both structurally and functionally homologous throughout an approximately 9.0-kb region. The orientation of the MAL loci was determined to be: CENTROMERE . GENE 3-GENE 1-GENE 2 . TELOMERE. Telomere-adjacent sequences were found flanking GENE 2 of the MAL1, MAL3 and MAL6 loci. No common repeated elements were found on the centromere-proximal side of all the MAL1, loci. These results suggest that, during the evolution of this polygenic family, the MAL loci translocated to different chromosomes via a mechanism that involved the rearrangement(s) of chromosome termini.
Instance based human physical activity(hpa) recognition using shimmer2 wearable sensor data sets

Human physical activity (HPA) recognition is one of the a large amount emerging fields of research in pervasive summing. In wearable computing scenarios, human physical activities such as standing still, sitting and relaxing, lying down, walking, climbing stairs, waist bends forward, front elevation of arms, knee bending, cycling, jogging, running and jump front and back can be implicit from sensor data provided by shimmer2 acceleration sensors. In such scenarios, most methods use a one or two dimensional features, nevertheless of which activity to be identified. This paper we can identified how to predict human physical activity using tri-accelerometer three dimensional data generated by shimmer2 wearable sensor device. We represent a efficient sensor data analysis of features computed from a realistic accelerometer sensor data set and different classifiers are studied on instances based data sets. This shows that the choice of time domain feature and the window dimension accomplished on which the computed features that transform the activity accuracy rates for different huamn physical activities.
Political Bias Analysis

The two major political parties in US are polarized between either the liberal and conservative point of view on a multitude of socio-economical and environmental issues. An algorithmic approach towards detection of such bias is both intellectually challenging and useful in areas like election prediction. There exists very few studies in the literature where modern deep learning techniques are applied to detect the personal opinion or bias of an individual. In this work, we have developed an LSTM network that achieved an F1 score of 0.718 on a data set consisting of statements made in the recent past by US election candidates.
Relationship between shift work and onset of hypertension in a cohort of manual workers.

OBJECTIVES This study investigated the possibility of a relationship between blood pressure level and rotating 3-shift work in a prospective follow-up of workers in a zipper and aluminum sash factory in Japan. METHODS Altogether 1551 men aged 18-49 years were followed prospectively for 5 years, and the cumulative incidence of hypertension among 3-shift workers was compared with that of day workers. A multiple logistic analysis was used for adjusting for base-line characteristics such as age, body mass index, blood pressure, and drinking habit. RESULTS In the younger age group, the relative risk of the rotating 3-shift workers during the observational period was increased compared with that of day workers after adjustment for the confounding factors. In the older group, the cumulative incidence of hypertension was not higher for workers who had continued shift work. However, a relatively high risk of hypertension was found for workers who converted from 3-shift work to day work when compared with those who remained on shift work and day work. CONCLUSIONS It is suggested that there is an association between 3-shift work and blood pressure.
The Effective Current and Magnetic Field Distributions for Reducing AC Losses in Coaxial Multi-Layer HTS Transmission Cable

We have investigated the relationship between current distribution and transport AC losses in coaxial multi-layer HTS transmission cables and clarified that the same layer current in conducting layers can reduce the transport AC losses effectively. It can be, however, considered that magnetization losses are much larger than the transport AC losses in a large transport current. Therefore, we analytically investigated effective current and magnetic field distributions for reducing total AC losses in an HTS transmission cable with a large transport current. The total AC losses in the case of the same applied magnetic field in the conducting layers were much smaller than those of the same layer current in the conducting layers. This result means that inhomogeneous current distribution is more effective for reducing the total AC losses than homogeneous current distribution. The total AC losses decreased with the electrical insulation thickness between the conducting and shielding layers; the electrical insulation thickness is one of the important parameters in terms of reducing the total AC losses
Association of 5 Well-Defined Polymorphisms in the Gene Encoding Transforming Growth Factor-β1 With Coronary Artery Disease Among Chinese Patients With Hypertension

We assessed the association between 5 well-defined polymorphisms of the transforming growth factor-β1 (TGFB1) gene and coronary artery disease (CAD) among patients with hypertension from northeast China. All study participants were classified into patients with CAD (n = 679) and controls (n = 686) according to angiographic results. Genotyping was carried out with the ligase detection reaction method. In single-locus analysis, only genotypes of rs1800469 differed significantly between patients with CAD and controls (P = .001); patients carrying the mutant allele of rs1800469 exhibited a 73% increased risk of CAD (P < .001). Haplotype analysis indicated that haplotype A-T-T-C-C (alleles in the order of rs1800468, rs1800469, rs1800470, rs1800471, and rs1800472) was associated with a 1.49-fold increased risk (P = .003). Interaction analysis identified an overall best 3-locus model including rs1800469, rs1800468, and rs1800471 (P = .003). Taken together, we identified a synergistic interaction between TGFB1 gene multiple polymorphisms that entailed greater risk of CAD in Chinese patients.
An Immunocytochemical Assay for Activity‐Dependent Redistribution of Glutamate Receptors from the Postsynaptic Plasma Membrane

wo major subtypes of ionotropic glutamate receptors, AMPA and NMDA, are present at the majority of excitatory synapses. Recent evidence suggests that the localization of individual receptors may be differentially regulated at individual synapses in response to synaptic activity. While it is suggested that regulation of receptor distribution among individual postsynaptic specializations of the plasma membrane plays an important role in mediating synaptic plasticity, direct experimental study of this hypothesis has been limited by a lack of methods to clearly identify receptors present at the cell surface. We have developed a novel method of directly visualizing receptor localization at individual postsynaptic membrane specializations, and distinguishing receptors present on the plasma membrane from those present in intracellular membranes. Here we describe our use of this method to study differential effects of synaptic activity on the surface expression of epitope-tagged GluR1 (an AMPA subunit) and NR1 (an NMDA subunit) in individual postsynaptic specializations of the plasma membrane.
Antibiotic Susceptibility in Relation to Penicillin-Binding Protein Genes and Serotype Distribution of Streptococcus pneumoniae Strains Responsible for Meningitis in Japan, 1999 to 2002

ABSTRACT The antibiotic susceptibilities, genotypes of penicillin (PEN)-binding protein genes (pbp), and serotype distributions of Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates from meningitis patients were investigated by a nationwide surveillance group in Japan between 1999 and 2002. We analyzed 146 isolates from children (≤17 years old) and 73 from adults (≥18 years old). Isolates with or without abnormal pbp1a, pbp2x, or pbp2b genes identified by PCR were classified into six genotype patterns and 90% MIC (MIC90) values for PEN: (i) strains with three normal genes (17.2% of isolates; MIC90, 0.031 μg/ml); (ii) strains with abnormal pbp2x (22.1%, 0.063 μg/ml); (iii) strains with abnormal pbp2b (1.0%, 0.125 μg/ml); (iv) strains with abnormal pbp2x and pbp2b (7.4%, 0.25 μg/ml); (v) strains with abnormal pbp1a and pbp2x (12.7%, 0.25 μg/ml); and (vi) strains with three abnormal PBP genes (39.7%, 4 μg/ml), which are termed genotypic PEN-resistant S. pneumoniae (gPRSP). Panipenem, a carbapenem, showed an excellent MIC90 (0.125 μg/ml) against gPRSP, followed by meropenem and vancomycin (0.5 μg/ml), cefotaxime and ceftriaxone (1 μg/ml), and ampicillin (4 μg/ml). Strains of gPRSP were significantly more prevalent in children (45.2%) than in adults (27.4%). The most frequent serotypes were 6B, 19F, 23F, 6A, and 14 in children and 23F, 22, 3, 10, 6B, and 19F in adults. Serotypes 6B, 6A, 19F, 23F, and 14 predominated among gPRSP. In children, 7- and 11-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccines would cover 76.2 and 81.3% of isolates, respectively, although coverage would be lower in adults (43.9 and 56.0%, respectively). These findings suggest the need for early introduction of pneumococcal conjugate vaccines and continuous bacteriological surveillance for meningitis.
Mediator and Cellular Mechanisms in Asthma

clear that both patients and doctors underestimate the severity of the disease, and there is too great a reliance upon bronchodilators and inadequate use of corticosteroids; all of this can and should be avoided [2, 3]. With so many efficacious drugs available for treating asthma, it is also of considerable concern that in many countries (including the UK) the mortality and morbidity of asthma continues to increase rather than decrease [4, 5]. Historically, clinicians have regarded asthma as a disease of intermittent wheezing, precipitated by a wide variety of environmental stimuli including exercise, cold air, dust and irritant gases. This has led to the dis-
Structural brain indices and executive functioning in multiple sclerosis: A review

ABSTRACT Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a neurological disease characterized by lesion-induced white matter deterioration. Brain atrophy and damage to normal appearing white matter (NAWM) and normal appearing gray matter (NAGM) have also been identified as consequences of MS. Neuroimaging has played an integral role in investigating the effects of white and gray matter damage across the three primary clinical phenotypes of the disease—primary progressive (PPMS), relapsing remitting (RRMS), and secondary progressive (SPMS) MS. Both conventional (e.g., T1-weighted imaged) and nonconventional (e.g., diffusion tensor imaging) neuroimaging methods have yielded important information regarding the structural integrity of the brain during the course of the disease. Moreover, it has provided the opportunity to explore the relationship between structural brain indices and cognitive functioning, such as executive functioning, in MS. In this paper, we provide a brief overview of executive functioning in MS, a general review of how structural damage presents in MS by way of sclerotic lesions, atrophy, and microstructural white matter damage, and, finally, how structural brain damage relates to executive dysfunction.