Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A robust method for the estimation of formant frequency modulation in speech signals

The presence of amplitude and frequency modulations in individual formants of the speech signal was demonstrated using the discrete-time energy separation algorithm (DESA). Formant modulation estimates are valuable to the understanding of speech production, and have found several applications. While the DESA has been successfully applied in tracking the amplitude envelope of formants, the DESA frequency estimator has been relatively unexploited for tracking formant frequency modulation (FM) due to its lack of robustness to conditions commonly occurring in practice. We consider an alternate method of frequency estimation based on the Wigner distribution (WD) and investigate its application to the estimation of formant FM in speech signals. It is shown using simulated and speech signals that the WD estimator can track formant FM with high time resolution under a wider range of conditions and is more robust to additive noise present in the signal than the DESA estimator. Finally the computational complexities of the two methods are compared.
Tumor antigens and tumor-host relationships.

The view that immunological reactions play a role in modifying or even controlling malignant disease has now gained wide acceptance. This has developed from well­ substantiated investigations showing that many, although by no means all, experi­ mental animal tumors induced by chemical carcinogens or oncogenic viruses, as well as those of unknown (spontaneous) etiology, elicit immune rejection responses against the tumor (I, 2). Consequently, hosts preimmunized against these tumors (e.g. by implantation of radiation-attenuated cells) will reject a subsequent challenge with the same tumor. Comparable evidence for host defenses in human malignant disease is not avail­ able, apart from limited stu4ies indicating that autografted tumor cells do not readily "take" (3). There are, however, a small number of impressive examples from clinical investigations suggesting, but not ·proving, that in certain circumstances immunological reactions may control malignant disease. These include reports of spontaneous remissions in melanoma, neuroblastoma, and renal cell carcinoma (4), as well as remissions occurring in Burkitt's lymphoma patients receiving minimal chemotherapy (5). Conversely, there is substantial evidence of increased incidences of malignant tumors in patients receiving continuous immunosuppressive therapy follC'wing organ transplantation (6). Finally there is an increasing number of studies showing that procedures designed to heighten patients' general immunocompetence or to specifically boost tumor-immune responses may have therapeutic potential. Broadly speaking, however, the major body of evidence supporting the concept that human tumors express neoantigens similar to those detected in experimental animal tumors has been derived from in vitro assays of cell-mediated and humoral antibody responses to tumor cells (7). In addition there are a number of reports showing that cancer patients exhibit delayed hypersensitivity responses to tumor extracts (8).
Two Faces of Disaster Response: Transcending the Dichotomy of Control and Collaboration during the Nepal Earthquake Relief Operation

In the aftermath of the devastating earthquakes in Nepal, a large scale humanitarian response was launched. We studied the response operation four weeks after the last quake, using participant observations and interviews. Our findings indicate that the response operation was characterized by two faces: control and collaboration. These are rooted in governance models of chaos, command and control, versus continuity, coordination and collaboration. Using the case of Kathmandu Living Labs, we show how during the first phase of the response formal humanitarian organizations gradually pushed aside important grassroots initiatives. In the second phase, we analyse how the government sought to take control of the response by formally ending the relief phase, having regained itself after the shock of the first impact. Drawing on these results, we theorize consequences for network governance, and identify a new governance mode that transcends the dichotomy between control and collaboration: net-centric governance.
Safe play spaces to promote physical activity in inner-city children: results from a pilot study of an environmental intervention.

OBJECTIVES We evaluated the effect of providing a safe play space on the physical activity level of inner-city schoolchildren. METHODS In 1 of 2 matched neighborhoods, we opened a schoolyard and provided attendants to ensure children's safety. Over the next 2 years we directly observed the number of children and their physical activity levels in the school-yard, as well as in the surrounding intervention and comparison neighborhoods. We also surveyed children in the schools in the intervention and comparison neighborhoods regarding sedentary activities. RESULTS After the schoolyard was opened, a mean of 71.4 children used it on weekdays and 25.8 used it on weekends during the school year. When observed, 66% of these children were physically active. The number of children who were outdoors and physically active was 84% higher in the intervention neighborhood than the comparison neighborhood. Survey results showed that children in the intervention school reported declines relative to the children in the comparison school in watching television, watching movies and DVDs, and playing video games on weekdays. CONCLUSION When children were provided with a safe play space, we observed a relative increase in their physical activity. Provision of safe play spaces holds promise as a simple replicable intervention.
TITLE: White matter abnormalities in the fornix are linked to cognitive performance in SZ but not in BD disorder: an exploratory analysis with DTI deterministic tractography. Running title: Deterministic fiber tracking in bipolar disorder

Knöchel, Christian, Schmied, Claudia, Linden, David Edmund Johannes, Stäblein, Michael, Prvulovic, David, de A. de Carvalho, Luiza, Harrison, Octavia, Barros, Paulo O. , Carvalho, André F. , Reif, Andreas, Alves, Gilberto S. and Oertel-Knöchel, Viola 2016. White matter abnormalities in the fornix are linked to cognitive performance in SZ but not in BD disorder: An exploratory analysis with DTI deterministic tractography. Journal of affective disorders 201 , pp. 64-78. 10.1016/j.jad. 2016.03. 015 file
Is the BSE Sensitive Index Better than the National Index

Stock price indices are used extensively by investors, brokers and portfolio managers as a general indicator of the stock market conditions. They are also used extensively in finance theory notably in operationalizing the popular Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM). In recent years, the indices published by the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) - the Sensitive Index (Sensex) of 30 scrips in Bombay and the 100 share National Index (Natex) - have become extremely popular with academics and practitioners alike. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the Sensex is by far the more popular index among brokers and lay investors while the Natex is the index of choice among mutual funds, professional investors, foreign investment agencies and academics. This paper studies the two BSE indices and their inter-relationship. The analysis in this paper indicates: 1. The Natex is a sluggish index which responds too slowly to market conditions. Changes which are reflected in the Sensex on any day are completely reflected in the Natex only by the next day. 2 Sensex is more volatile than Natex, but this difference is accounted for by two factors - (a) the autocorrelation of the Natex which conceals the true volatility of Natex, and (b) a higher beta of Sensex relative to Sensex. Therefore, the excess volatility of Sensex is not a matter of serious concern. In many applications, however, the higher beta of Sensex is worrisome, but it is easy to correct for it. The conclusion, therefore, is that those who follow the Natex because of its greater comprehensiveness and theoretical appeal may be mistaken. The Sensex needs to be taken more seriously as a sound market index. The observed deficiencies of the Natex raise several disturbing questions for finance theorists and researchers. Is the market for the less well traded securities in the market inefficient? Do the scrips constituting the Sensex lead the other scrips? If so, can this relationship be used to make extra normal returns? Does the Bombay market lead other exchanges which are also represented in the Natex? These issues call for further research.
Single-cycle induction chemotherapy selects patients with advanced laryngeal cancer for combined chemoradiation: a new treatment paradigm.

PURPOSE Primary chemoradiotherapy in patients with advanced laryngeal cancer can achieve high rates of organ preservation without sacrificing survival compared with radiation alone or conventional laryngectomy. Appropriate selection of patients for organ preservation approaches could enhance overall treatment outcome and quality of life. We conducted a phase II organ preservation trial for patients with stage III and IV larynx cancer to determine whether late salvage surgery rates could be decreased and survival improved by selecting patients for organ preservation based on response to a single cycle of induction chemotherapy. PATIENTS AND METHODS The chemotherapy was cisplatin 100 mg/m2 on day 1 and fluorouracil 1,000 mg/m(2)/d for 5 days. Patients who achieved less than 50% response had immediate laryngectomy. Patients who achieved more than 50% response went on to concurrent chemoradiotherapy. Histologic complete responders after chemoradiotherapy received two more cycles of chemotherapy. Patients with residual disease after chemoradiotherapy had planned salvage surgery. RESULTS Of 97 eligible patients, 73 (75%) achieved more than 50% response and received chemoradiotherapy. A total of 29 patients (30%) had salvage surgery; 19 patients (20%) had early salvage surgery after the single cycle of induction chemotherapy, three patients (3%) had late salvage surgery after chemoradiotherapy, six patients (6%) eventually had salvage surgery for recurrence, and one patient had laryngectomy for chondroradionecrosis. The median follow-up time was 41.9 months. The overall survival rate at 3 years is 85%. The cause-specific survival rate was 87%. Larynx preservation was achieved in 69 patients (70%). CONCLUSION These results confirm excellent larynx preservation and improved overall survival rates compared with historical results.
Patient‐Level Exclusions from mHealth in a Safety‐Net Health System

&NA; Excitement about mobile health (mHealth) for improving care transitions is fueled by widespread adoption of smartphones across all social segments, but new disparities can emerge around nonadopters of technology‐based communications. We conducted a cross‐sectional survey of urban lowincome adults to assess inadequate reading health literacy and limited English proficiency as factors affecting access to and engagement with mHealth. Although the proportion owning smartphones were comparable to national figures, adjusted analysis showed fewer patients with inadequate reading health literacy having Internet access (odds ratio [95% confidence interval]: 0.50 [0.26‐0.95]), e‐mail (0.43 [0.24‐0.79]), and interest in using e‐mail (0.34 [0.18‐0.65]) for healthcare communications. Fewer patients with limited English proficiency were interested in using mobile apps (0.2 [0.09‐0.46]). Inpatient status was independently associated with less interest in text messaging (0.46 [0.25‐0.87]). mHealth exclusions around literacy and language proficiency threaten equity, and innovative solutions are needed to realize mHealth's potential for reducing disparities.
Long‐Term Outcomes of Pediatric Living Donor Liver Transplantation in Japan: An Analysis of More Than 2200 Cases Listed in the Registry of the Japanese Liver Transplantation Society

The Japanese Liver Transplantation Society (JLTS) was established in 1980 in order to characterize and follow trends in patient characteristics and graft survival among all liver transplant patients in Japan. This study analyzed the comprehensive factors that may influence the outcomes of pediatric patients who undergo living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) by evaluating the largest cohort in the world. Between November 1989 and December 2010, 2224 pediatric patients underwent LDLT in Japan. There were 998 male (44.9%) and 1226 female donors (55.1%) without donor mortalities related to transplant surgery. There were 946 male (42.5%) and 1278 female (57.5%) recipients with a median age of 4.0 years (range: 13 days to 17.9 years). Cholestatic liver disease was the leading indication for LDLT (n = 1649; 76.2%), followed by metabolic disorders (n = 194; 8.7%), acute liver failure (n = 192; 8.6%) and neoplastic liver disease (n = 66; 3.0%). The 1‐, 5‐, 10‐ and 20‐year patient survival rates were 88.3%, 85.4%, 82.8% and 79.6%, respectively. Blood‐type incompatibility, recipient age, etiology of liver disease and transplant era were found to be significant predictors of overall survival. We are able to achieve satisfactory long‐term pediatric patient survival outcomes in the JLTS series without compromising the living donors.
An Interrogation of Turnover Antecedents at an Automobile Manufacturer in Northwest Ohio

The manufacturing industry is one of the largest industries in Northwest Ohio. With the growing influence of Lean/Six Sigma manufacturing systems, the industry is becoming much more automated and team-oriented. The manufacturing facility in question is a Tier 1 and 2 automotive manufacturer that is a part of one of the largest global companies in this sector and uses many Lean and Six Sigma processes across three shifts. In recent years, this company has seen a trend of high turnover and it is a constant point of contention for both supervisors and Human Resources. The current study aimed to determine the most significant correlations and predictors of turnover using the Job Descriptive Index, training investment, and other scales to quantitatively aid the management team in creating interventions to reduce turnover.
Voluntary Turnover Among Public Sector Managers: A Review

Managers are key assets for the public sector in creating effective and healthy organisations. However, there are indications of a high level of voluntary managerial turnover that may decrease organisational efficiency, increase costs, and lead to a less favourable view of the public sector. In this article we review the literature relating to actual voluntary managerial turnover in the public sector in order to describe the current state of knowledge and to discuss the ways forward. Searching in three large databases, we found 12 empirical articles on actual voluntary managerial turnover in the public sector that were published between 1992 and 2014. Research is scarce, particularly regarding lower management levels, and little knowledge is available for human resource professionals in their work of supporting such managers in creating healthy and meaningful managerial roles. We argue that more research is needed to understand the extent to which and why public sector managers leave, and what the actual turnover effects are.
Protein preparation, crystallization and preliminary X-ray crystallographic studies of a thermostable hypoxanthine–guanine phosphoribosyltransferase from Thermoanaerobacter tengcongensis

Native and His-tagged mutant (L160I) hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase (HGPRT) from Thermoanaerobacter tengcongensis were cloned, expressed in Escherichia coli and purified. Both proteins were crystallized with polyethylene glycol as the main precipitant at 293 K using the hanging-drop vapour-diffusion method. The crystal of native HGPRT belongs to space group C222(1), with unit-cell parameters a = 65.77, b = 137.73, c = 95.27 A, and diffracted to 2.2 A resolution on an in-house X-ray generator. The crystal of the His-tagged mutant (L160I) HGPRT belongs to the space group I222, with unit-cell parameters a = 52.21, b = 88.36, c = 93.03 A, and diffracted to 1.7 A resolution in-house.
Whitelisting for Critical IT-Based Infrastructure

Critical infrastructures are falsely believed to be safe when they are isolated from the Internet. However, the recent appearance of Stuxnet demonstrated that isolated networks are no longer safe. We observe that a better intrusion detection scheme can be established based on the unique features of critical infrastructures. In this paper, we propose a whitelist-based detection system. Network and application-level whitelists are proposed, which are combined to form a novel cross-layer whitelist. Through experiments, we confirm that the proposed whitelists can exactly detect attack packets, which cannot be achieved by existing schemes. key words: traffic monitoring, network management, SCADA
Monitoring the production yields of vincristine and vinblastine in Catharanthus roseus from somatic embryogenesis. Semiquantitative determination by flow-injection electrospray ionization mass spectrometry.

A semiquantitative determination of two bis-indole antitumor alkaloids, vincristine and vinblastine, has been performed by flow-injection electrospray ionization mass spectrometric analysis of the extracts of Catharanthus roseus. Leaves and flowers of two different phenotypes (pink flower and white flower) obtained from somatic embryogenesis were thus examined and compared with the field-grown mother plant. Different amounts of vincristine and vinblastine were detected depending on the examined samples.
Contributions of the 8-Methoxy Group of Gatifloxacin to Resistance Selectivity, Target Preference, and Antibacterial Activity against Streptococcus pneumoniae

ABSTRACT Gatifloxacin (8-methoxy, 7-piperazinyl-3′-methyl) at the MIC selected mutant strains that possessed gyrA mutations at a low frequency (3.7 × 10−9) from wild-type strainStreptococcus pneumoniae IID553. AM-1147 (8-methoxy, 7-piperazinyl-3′-H) at the MIC or higher concentrations selected no mutant strains. On the other hand, the respective 8-H counterparts of these two compounds, AM-1121 (8-H, 7-piperazinyl-3′-methyl) and ciprofloxacin (8-H, 7-piperazinyl-3′-H), at one and two times the MIC selected mutant strains that possessed parC mutations at a high frequency (>2.4 × 10−6). The MIC of AM-1147 increased for the gyrA mutant strains but not for theparC mutant strains compared with that for the wild-type strain. These results suggest that fluoroquinolones that harbor 8-methoxy groups select mutant strains less frequently and prefer DNA gyrase, as distinct from their 8-H counterparts. The in vitro activities of gatifloxacin and AM-1147 are twofold higher against the wild-type strain, eight- and twofold higher against the first-stepparC and gyrA mutant strains, respectively, and two- to eightfold higher against the second-step gyrA andparC double mutant strains than those of their 8-H counterparts. These results indicate that the 8-methoxy group contributes to enhancement of antibacterial activity against target-altered mutant strains as well as the wild-type strain. It is hypothesized that the 8-methoxy group of gatifloxacin increases the level of target inhibition, especially against DNA gyrase, so that it is nearly the same as that for topoisomerase IV inhibition in the bacterial cell, leading to potent antibacterial activity and a low level of resistance selectivity.
Vitrification of in vitro matured oocytes: effects on meiotic spindle configuration and mitochondrial function.

BACKGROUND In the assisted reproductive technique, cryopreserving in vitro-matured oocytes is a new strategy to extend the pool of total oocytes. However, oocyte cryopreservation technique is still unsatisfied. So the assessment of cyro-damage on meiotic spindle and mitochondrial function is necessary to evaluate and refine the current protocols. MATERIAL AND METHODS The immature oocytes were donated from women undergoing ICSI cycles. Cytoskeleton was assessed by α-tubulin and mitochondria through the fluorescent ΔΨm reporter JC-1. RESULTS Relative inner membrane potential in MII oocytes from vIVM group sharply decreased, compared with the control (n=30) (1.397 vs. 1.019, P<0.05). 45.2% defective spindles were observed in fIVM group, compared with 48.0% in vIVM group (P>0.05). Oocytes in fIVM (35.5%, 11/31) and vIVM (40.0%, 10/25) displayed abnormal chromosome (P>0.05). CONCLUSION In vitro maturation (IVM) has an adverse effect on the organization of spindle and chromosome, and no significantly effect on spindle and chromosome was discovered after vitrification-thaw cycle, while there was obvious damage of oocyte mitochondrial function of in vitro-matured oocyte detected after warming, which may be the reason of the low following developmental potential.
MICROFINNCE AMONG FINANCIALLY WEAKER SECTIONS OF SOCIETY

Over 33% of Indian populace lives under poverty. Being one among the BRIC nations, India has over 1.2 billion population and it is a growing economy; as observed by many. The monetary development of India has neglected to create a massive change in the poverty figures that it has which is much more in comparison to the African nations that are poorest at 400 million populace. The Indian Administration began the various poverty easing plannings, but still they neglected to address the root cause of the problems at its necessary level. There could be numerous reasons for this; for example, the inefficiency in achieving the gathering of objective, escapeful framework clauses, building up strong component could be counted as few elements. The NPAs increased because of the various things that were tried with credit which was financed when India incorporated by numerous nations did it. The crevice has been topped off by an approach of microfinance. Under any circumstance, all the efforts have proven to be too little in contrast to the potential and necessities. Though there is a bit of development when NABARD and SHGs gatherings has been arranged for the essential. Furthermore, numerous MFIs and NGOs have chosen to dive into the proceedings as well. Few of them initiated big activities and they are receiving major profits from their Initial Public Offers (IPOs). Even if that is left as it may be, certain improvements have been expedited a fresh focus on the concerns of directions onto the microfinance field. Three error free parts of microfinance are outlined in this paper, first is the microfinance development in India as well as other countries; while it tends to examine the NABARD and numerous national Banks pretended in Grameen Bank and SHGs development. The third is how it tackles the government area of enactments in rights assurance of borrowers who do so at small scale. This observation likewise tends to manage the need for a body of administration to control, make and render directions to numerous NGOs and MFIs who are working in the microcredit field. Various hypothetical positions and elements are examined by the papers which are related with microfinance advancement and its numerous parts in a situation that is global.
A lightweight and low-power activity recognition system for mini-wearable devices

Recent years, miscellaneous mini-wearable devices (e.g. wristbands, wristwatches, armbands) have emerged in our lives to recognize daily activities for the users. Owning to the limitations of hardware, Activity Recognition (AR) models running inside the device are bound to certain challenges, such as processing power, storage capability and battery life. This paper proposes an activity recognition system by considering three limitations above, and a model generation framework to construct AR models which are lightweight in different phases in model generation.