Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Vowel confusion patterns in children and adults with cochlear implants

Suboptimal interfaces between cochlear implant (CI) electrodes and their target neurons may distort the spectral information that is important for vowel identification. The goal of this investigation was to relate vowel confusion patterns of CI users to their site-specific (i.e., frequency-specific) variation in electrode-neuron interface across the electrode array. The electrode-neuron interface is estimated using single-channel detection thresholds with a spatially focused electrode configuration; elevated thresholds indicate channels with relatively poorer frequency transmission. We hypothesized that higher focused thresholds on channels transmitting low frequency ( 984 Hz) information would be related to vowel advancement errors. Vowel recognition was assessed with a closed set of medial vowels in 4-talker babble noise. Focused thresholds were measured on electrodes 2–15. Vowel confusions were examined according to the direction of errors in 2-dimensional physical articulatory and acoustic F1-F2 space. Results showed that higher average focused thresholds on the 3 most basal electrodes tested (2327–4630 Hz) were associated with perception of front vowels as more back. These findings suggest that suboptimal electrode-neuron interfaces could systematically affect CI listeners’ perception of vowel characteristics.Suboptimal interfaces between cochlear implant (CI) electrodes and their target neurons may distort the spectral information that is important for vowel identification. The goal of this investigation was to relate vowel confusion patterns of CI users to their site-specific (i.e., frequency-specific) variation in electrode-neuron interface across the electrode array. The electrode-neuron interface is estimated using single-channel detection thresholds with a spatially focused electrode configuration; elevated thresholds indicate channels with relatively poorer frequency transmission. We hypothesized that higher focused thresholds on channels transmitting low frequency ( 984 Hz) information would be related to vowel advancement errors. Vowel recognition was assessed with a closed set of medial vowels in 4-talker babble noise. Focused thresholds were measured on el.
EM algorithm for Markov chains observed via Gaussian noise and point process information: Theory and case studies

Abstract In this paper we study parameter estimation via the Expectation Maximization (EM) algorithm for a continuous-time hidden Markov model with diffusion and point process observation. Inference problems of this type arise for instance in credit risk modelling. A key step in the application of the EM algorithm is the derivation of finite-dimensional filters for the quantities that are needed in the E-Step of the algorithm. In this context we obtain exact, unnormalized and robust filters, and we discuss their numerical implementation. Moreover, we propose several goodness-of-fit tests for hidden Markov models with Gaussian noise and point process observation. We run an extensive simulation study to test speed and accuracy of our methodology. The paper closes with an application to credit risk: we estimate the parameters of a hidden Markov model for credit quality where the observations consist of rating transitions and credit spreads for US corporations.
Soft-Switching Control for a Resonant Four-Switch Inverting Buck–Boost DC/DC Converter With Wide Voltage Range

A resonant four-switch inverting buck–boost converter is a good choice for dc/dc applications that require an inverting voltage solution. A soft-switching control scheme with four segments of resonance current has been examined using duty ratio and phase shift as control variables. As a result, the rms value of the resonance current is low compared with discontinues current mode (DCM), which is directly proportional to the conduction loss. This control scheme allows the converter to regulate its output voltages more efficiently with soft-switching operations. Thus, it contributes to an increment in efficiency improvement and board size reduction. At the same time, a simple closed loop is designed to meet the requirement of a wide voltage range with the corresponding simplified real-time proportional integral (PI) control algorithm. For the verification of the proposed control scheme, a resonant four-switch inverting buck–boost dc/dc converter is designed and experimentally tested, which has recorded over 98.5% peak efficiency at a 1:1 inverting case (−48 Vdc–48 Vdc). The converter's wide operating range is from −48 Vdc input to 28–60 Vdc output voltage with a power density of 500 W/in3.
Theoretical and experimental studies on a Q-switching operation in an erbium-doped fiber laser using vanadium oxide as saturable absorber

We introduce theoretical analysis for a passively Q-switching operation in an erbium-doped fiber laser (EDFL) with a saturable absorber (SA). Peak power, repetition rate, and pulse duration have been calculated as functions of pump power and cavity length. The simulation results are compared with the passively Q-switched EDFL demonstrated using vanadium oxide (V2O5) as SA. The nonlinear saturable absorption of the V2O5-SA is characterized by a modulation depth of 7% with a saturation intensity of 71 MW cm−2. This is the first demonstration of a fiber laser based on a V2O5-SA that introduces new opportunity for photonic applications. The introduced theoretical model could be highly useful for understanding and improving Q-switched EDFLs based on a SA.
Minimal Residual Disease in Multiple Myeloma: Past, Present, and Future

Simple Summary The assessment of responses is critical in patients diagnosed with multiple myeloma. Nowadays, one of the most informative parameters to discriminate responses to treatment and prognosis is minimal residual disease (MRD). Several strategies may be used to detect and quantify MRD; some of them have been widely used and standardized, but we can find additional strategies lacking such an extensive validation process. Here, we present a summary of the current state of the art of MRD detection in multiple myeloma and future directions in the field. Abstract Responses to treatment have improved over the last decades for patients with multiple myeloma. This is a consequence of the introduction of new drugs that have been successfully combined in different clinical contexts: newly diagnosed, transplant-eligible or ineligible patients, as well as in the relapsed/refractory setting. However, a great proportion of patients continue to relapse, even those achieving complete response, which underlines the need for updated response criteria. In 2014, the international myeloma working group established new levels of response, prompting the evaluation of minimal residual disease (MRD) for those patients already in complete or stringent complete response as defined by conventional serological assessments: the absence of tumor plasma cells in 100,000 total cells or more define molecular and immunophenotypic responses by next-generation sequencing and flow cytometry, respectively. In this review, we describe all the potential methods that may be used for MRD detection based on the evidence found in the literature, paying special attention to their advantages and pitfalls from a critical perspective.
Analog-digital module for electrical impedance tomography

—The present text introduces the concept of data collecting (voltages and currents) from a phantom connected to electrical impedance tomography. The concept involves a method for signal multiplexing from up to 256 electrodes and the current source for such probes. Considering the high number of electrodes and the estimated extended distances between the probes and the measuring card, the method recommends using probes to convert the measured voltage to a current loop, making them suitable for measuring small voltage levels in the millivolt range.
Pro-Tumor Activity of Endogenous Nitric Oxide in Anti-Tumor Photodynamic Therapy: Recently Recognized Bystander Effects

Various studies have revealed that several cancer cell types can upregulate inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and iNOS-derived nitric oxide (NO) after moderate photodynamic treatment (PDT) sensitized by 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA)-induced protoporphyrin-IX. As will be discussed, the NO signaled cell resistance to photokilling as well as greater growth and migratory aggressiveness of surviving cells. On this basis, it was predicted that diffusible NO from PDT-targeted cells in a tumor might enhance the growth, migration, and invasiveness of non- or poorly PDT-targeted bystander cells. This was tested using a novel approach in which ALA-PDT-targeted cancer cells on a culture dish were initially segregated from non-targeted bystander cells of the same type via impermeable silicone-rimmed rings. Several hours after LED irradiation, the rings were removed, and both cell populations were analyzed in the dark for various responses. After a moderate extent of targeted cell killing (~25%), bystander proliferation and migration were evaluated, and both were found to be significantly enhanced. Enhancement correlated with iNOS/NO upregulation in surviving PDT-targeted cancer cells in the following cell type order: PC3 > MDA-MB-231 > U87 > BLM. If occurring in an actual PDT-challenged tumor, such bystander effects might compromise treatment efficacy by stimulating tumor growth and/or metastatic dissemination. Mitigation of these and other negative NO effects using pharmacologic adjuvants that either inhibit iNOS transcription or enzymatic activity will be discussed.
Washable Garment-Embedded Textile Electrodes Can Measure High-Quality Surface EMG Data Across a Range of Motor Tasks

Measuring surface electromyography (sEMG) outside the laboratory environment is pivotal for numerous clinical and performance applications. The development of long-term wearable smart garments embedded with textile electrodes provides a promising solution to facilitate the recording of sEMG in ecologically valid settings. Inexpensive conductive textiles are commercially available, but their performance in recording sEMG during dynamic motor tasks remains unexplored. In addition, the washability of smart garments is a practical, yet essential, requirement, which should be addressed when evaluating the performance of textile electrodes. This study investigated the ability to measure sEMG with electrodes manufactured using different commercially available textiles. The performance characteristics of seven different textiles were assessed before and after washing. This included resistance degradation tests after 30 washing cycles and skin-impedance measurements. Furthermore, in vivo testing of the electrodes was performed while recording sEMG on five participants. Data were acquired from the medial gastrocnemius muscle during walking, jogging, heel raise, and countermovement jump (CMJ) of five participants, using both unwashed and washed textile electrodes and without skin preparation. Comparison with traditional Ag/AgCl gel electrodes revealed nickel/copper plated polyester textile as the best performer (linear envelope: ${R}^{{2}}\ge {0.88}$ and frequency spectrum: ${R}^{{2}}\ge {0.80}$ ). Overall, electrodes manufactured from commercially available nickel/copper plated polyester textiles could be readily embedded in garments for measuring sEMG data, attaining signal quality comparable to that achieved from Ag/AgCl gel electrodes.
Determining Voltage Stability Margin Values by Measuring the Hypotenuse Under PV and QV Curves

Voltage instability is one of the main causes of electrical power system blackouts all around the world. Voltage instability can be analyzed with the used of PV and QV curves technique. From these curves, the values of voltage stability margin (VSM) can be determined. VSM is very important in analyzing voltage instability because it shows the distance of how far the power system is able to run before experiencing voltage instability. This paper presents the calculation of VSM values by measuring the hypothenuse under the PV and QV curves. These VSM values are used to determine the weakest bus in the power system. Then, these values are compared with the VSM values that are being calculated using the conventional equation. The IEEE 14-bus power system has been chosen as the reference electrical power system.
Upper bounds for ruin probabilities under model uncertainty

Abstract In this paper, we investigate some ruin problems for risk models that contain uncertainties on both claim frequency and claim size distribution. The problems naturally lead to the evaluation of ruin probabilities under the so-called G-expectation framework. We assume that the risk process is described as a class of G-compound Poisson process, a special case of the G-Lévy process. By using the exponential martingale approach, we obtain the upper bounds for the two-sided ruin probability as well as the ruin probability involving investment. Furthermore, we derive the optimal investment strategy under the criterion of minimizing this upper bound. Finally, we conclude that the upper bound in the case with investment is less than or equal to the case without investment.
Therapeutic Applications and Effects of Lupinus angustifolius (Blue Lupin) and Its Components: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Lupinus angustifolius has a unique nutrient profile among legumes and may have beneficial health effects when included in the diet. The aim of this study was to investigate the biological properties of blue lupin (Lupinus angustifolius), its chemical components, and their relevance for monitoring biological and anthropometric health markers, including triglycerides (TGs), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), BMI, weight, and glycemia, compared with control groups with other kinds of diets. PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus databases, updated to December 2023, were searched. Out of the 194 studies identified, a total of 7 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comprising 302 participants met the eligibility criteria. The results of our study indicated that the blue lupin diet has a direct relationship with parameters such as blood glucose, weight, and LDL-C but not with TGs or BMI. In conclusion, the research described in this review clearly indicates that L. angustifolius may play an important role in the dietary prevention of hyperlipidemia and hypertension. Therefore, it would be highly advisable to increase its consumption in diets. However, further studies, ideally in humans, are required to truly establish L. angustifolius’s health-promoting properties.
Identification of continuous-time hybrid ‘Box-Jenkins’ systems having multiple unknown time delays

For many years, various methods for the identification of parameters of continuous-time models have been available and implemented in widely. However, most methods apply models where the output are contaminated by a white noise or without noise in some others cases, which are unrealistic in most practical applications owing to their associated noise structure. Some other methods neglect the presence of time delays. Then it can be shown that the estimates are not statistically efficient. To cope with this issue, this paper deals with the identification of multi-input single-output continuous-time hybrid ‘Box-Jenkins’ systems having multiple unknown time delays from sampled input/output data. The proposed work presents a based-instrumental variable method for the separable estimation of both process parameters, multiple unknown time delays and the noise model. The effectiveness of the proposed scheme is proven through a numerical example illustrated by Monte Carlo analysis.
A Study on the Communication Mode of Tik Tok's "online celebrity City" Image

In the era of the public's pursuit of "short, flat and fast", short video has become an indispensable pastime for young users. The vibrato short video has become the leader in the field of short video with monthly activity of more than 500 million users. The rise of short video vibrato has brought an opportunity for the spread of urban tourism image. The popularity of Xi 'an is due to the video of "Falling Bowl Wine" released by a user on Tik Tok APP in early 2018, which was reprinted and commented in a short period of time. Therefore, Xi 'an has repeatedly appeared on the hot search list of Tik Tok, Weibo and other media. However, with the shaping and spreading of Xi 'an city image in Tik Tok, there are some problems, so this paper chooses the short video of Xi 'an city image in central Tik Tok as the research object. Based on the city image communication theory, this study attempts to answer the questions of what kind of city image of Xi'an is presented in Tiktok, how it is presented in Tiktok, how the communication interaction is, and what problems and shortcomings exist. The research results show that the short video social platform can be used to spread the city image. In terms of image content construction, we can start with the three symbols of "food", "beauty" and "music", which are more prominent in popularity and communication effect.
Highly Resolved Brownian Motion in Space and in Time

Since the discovery of Brownian motion in bulk fluids by Robert Brown in 1827 , Brownian motion at long timescales has been extensively studied both theoretically and experimentally for over a century. The theory for short-timescale Brownian motion was also well established in the last century, while experimental studies were not accessible until this decade. This article reviews experimental progress on short-timescale Brownian motion and related applications. The ability to measure instantaneous velocity enables new fundamental tests of statistical mechanics of Brownian particles, such as the Maxwell–Boltzmann velocity distribution and the energy equipartition theorem. In addition, Brownian particles can be used as probes to study boundary effects imposed by a solid wall, wettability at solid–fluid interfaces, and viscoelasticity. We propose future studies of fluid compressibility and nonequilibrium physics using short-duration pulsed lasers. Lastly, we also propose that an optically trapped particle can serve as a new testing ground for nucleation in a supersaturated vapor or a supercooled liquid.
Hydrogel microspheres containing dextran-based nanoparticles as novel anticancer drug delivery system

Developing an eﬀective and safe cancer therapy could signiﬁcantly reduce the number of deaths and improve the quality of life of treated patients. Nowadays medicine has developed a wide range of anticancer chemotherapeutics but at the same time there is a lack of eﬀective drug delivery methods. Therefore, the development of the targeted drug delivery system which will selectively release drug into the cancer cells is a key challenge of modern medicine. The main aim of the presented research was to investigate the targeting eﬀect of a drug delivery system based on the controlled release of dextran nanoparticles containing the anticancer drug – doxorubicin from the alginate microspheres coated with chitosan multilayers. During the research the physicochemical properties of the alginate microspheres and its stability in the physiological environment were investigated. Moreover, the kinetics of the nanoparticles with dox-orubicin release from the alginate microspheres covered with chitosan multilayers was characterized, depending on the thickness of the chitosan layer. Further, the cytotoxicity study of the alginate micro-spheres covered with chitosan multilayer and containing nanoparticles was performed to determine the therapeutic eﬀect of the released nanoparticles with doxorubicin on the HeLa cells during the in vitro cell culture.
Validation of MODIS-based monitoring for a green tide in the Yellow Sea with the aid of unmanned aerial vehicle

Abstract. Previous studies have shown that Terra moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) has low detection and characterization efficiency when mapping a green tide (Ulva prolifera) in the Yellow Sea. To quantify the uncertainty in mapping of the green tide using MODIS data, comparisons were conducted between quasi synchronous MODIS images and in situ observation data, as well as an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) image. The results show that MODIS images could detect the location of large (>100 m) floating green algae patches with good positional accuracy but tended to ignore the existence of small patches less than 10 m in width. The floating macroalgae area extracted using MODIS was several times larger than the area mapped using the UAV image. The Sentinel-2 multispectral instrument, the Chinese high-resolution GF-1 wide field camera, and the Chinese HJ-1 charge-coupled device are recommended for early green tide detection, whereas MODIS is suitable for green tide monitoring. The UAV could also play an important role in regional green tide monitoring with the advantages of flexibility, smaller dimensions, high spatial resolution, and low cost.
The influence of academic emotion on level of attention and relaxation in augmented reality learning: are boys consistent with girls? (La influencia de la emoción académica en el nivel de atención y relajación en el aprendizaje mediante la realidad aumentada)

ABSTRACT Based on AR learning software, this study investigated whether students with positive academic emotion and negative academic emotion maintained consistent levels of attention and relaxation. In Study 1, 98 primary school students were selected and tested with the SUS scale after completing an AR learning module. In Study 2, 45 primary school students were selected to participate in a two-factor between-subjects experimental design. The results showed that (1) AR learning software has good usability, (2) there was a significant difference in gender — in the AR learning environment, girls’ degree of relaxation was greater than that of boys, (3) in AR learning, the degree of attention and relaxation among students in the negative academic emotion group was higher than among those in the positive academic emotion group, but the difference did not reach a level of significance, which partly reflects the interest-based positive compensation trend of negative academic emotion.
An Ethical Perspective for Telemedicine in Prison

Telemedicine is increasingly being considered as a viable solution to advance healthcare organization, widening accessibility and increasing the quality of service delivery. However, implementing telemedicine in prison settings is not unproblematic as it gives rise to a range of ethical issues. In light of this, this article seeks to provide an ethical perspective for prison telemedicine, offered as a point of departure for stimulating a better integration of telemedicine in correctional systems. This entails examining this innovation as part of a wider strategy aimed at fully addressing the medical needs of prison populations.
Distributed Deep Learning Optimization of Heat Equation Inverse Problem Solvers

The inversion problem of partial differential equation plays a crucial role in cyber–physical systems applications. This article presents a novel deep learning optimization approach to constructing a solver of heat equation inversion. To improve the computational efficiency in large-scale industrial applications, data and model parallelisms are incorporated on a platform of multiple GPUs. The advanced Ring-AllReduce architecture is harnessed to achieve an acceleration ratio of 3.46. Then, a new multi-GPUs distributed optimization method GradReduce is proposed based on Ring-AllReduce architecture. This method optimizes the original data communication mechanism based on mechanical time and frequency by introducing the gradient transmission scheme solved by linear programming. The experimental results show that the proposed method can achieve an acceleration ratio of 3.84 on a heterogeneous system platform with two CPUs and four GPUs.