cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A Parallel Computing Based Spectrum Sensing Approach for Signal Detection under Conditions of Low SNR and Rayleigh Multipath Fading

Quickly and accurately detecting signals over a wide frequency range under conditions of low SNR and multipath fading is one of the most challenging requirements for dynamic spectrum access devices. The cyclostationary feature detection method is attractive for detecting primary users because of its ability to distinguish between modulated signals, interference, and noise at low SNRs. However, a key issue of cyclostationary signal analysis is the high computational cost arising from the large number of required complex convolution operations. This complexity increases in proportion to signal bandwidth if frequency resolution is held constant. To reduce the computation requirements, we use parallel computing in cyclostationary feature analysis running on a Cell Broadband Engine (Cell BE). Specifically, we parallelized the FFT accumulation method (FAM) algorithm to calculate spectral correlation functions (SCF) on four available Synergistic Processing Elements in a PlayStation 3. We analyze our algorithm's computational speedup on a Cell BE compared to a GPP based version. We analyze the impact of AWGN and Rayleigh multipath fading on signals' SCF features in the bi-frequency plane (with axes of cyclic-frequency and frequency). Next, we design a spectrum sensing algorithm which uses the distinct SCF pattern of each modulated signal to detect its existence. We run this algorithm on simulated signals including M-ary Phase-shift keying (PSK), Frequency-shift keying (FSK), Quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM), and PSK based Orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) under conditions of multipath fading and different levels of SNR. We give numerical results for the detector's performance.
Computer-attack graph generation tool

This paper presents a tool for assessment of security attributes and vulnerabilities in computer networks. The tool generates attack graphs (Phillips and Swiler, 1998). Each node in the attack graph represents a possible attack state. Edges represent a change of state caused by a single action taken by the attacker or unwitting assistant, and are weighted by some metric (such as attacker effort or time to succeed). Generation of the attack graph requires algorithms that match information about attack requirements (specified in attack templates) to information about the network configuration and assumed attacker capabilities (attacker profile). The set of near-optimal shortest paths indicates the most exploitable components of the system configuration. This paper presents the status of the tool and discusses implementation issues, especially focusing on the data input needs and methods for eliminating redundant paths and nodes in the graph.
Modeling, design, and control integration: a necessary step in mechatronics

Future products require more sophistication and flexibility from both the hardware and software points of view. In particular, these products involve several energy domains, which is one reason for the new requirements for system design and the integration of design and control. These are important aspects not only for industrial research and development personnel but also for academicians. In this paper, a modeling and control system perspective relevant to the systems approach and fast adaptive control systems is first presented. Specifically, some of the important aspects are properties from graphical system representation, achievable performance, and fast control algorithms. A few applications are then presented to illustrate some system design requirements and control system characteristics. These applications emphasize the demand for high performance systems which has introduced an increasingly challenging system design problem. The applications discussed include high-speed robot manipulators, high-speed and high-precision magnetic bearing systems, atomic resolution systems, and their control using digital signal processing boards. Experimental results pertaining to the control of a five-axis magnetically levitated turbopump are presented.
A Comparison of Features for Automatic Readability Assessment

Several sets of explanatory variables - including shallow, language modeling, POS, syntactic, and discourse features - are compared and evaluated in terms of their impact on predicting the grade level of reading material for primary school students. We find that features based on in-domain language models have the highest predictive power. Entity-density (a discourse feature) and POS-features, in particular nouns, are individually very useful but highly correlated. Average sentence length (a shallow feature) is more useful - and less expensive to compute - than individual syntactic features. A judicious combination of features examined here results in a significant improvement over the state of the art.
The Political Development of Job Discrimination Litigation, 1963–1976

In lobbying for the job discrimination provisions of the Civil Rights Act (CRA) of 1964, liberal civil rights advocates wanted an administrative job discrimination enforcement regime modeled on the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), with no private lawsuits. Pivotal conservative Republicans, empowered by a divided Democratic Party and the filibuster in the Senate, defeated an administrative framework and provided instead for private lawsuits with incentives for enforcement, including attorney's fees for winning plaintiffs. They were motivated by native suspicion toward bureaucratic regulation of business in general, as well as fear that they would not be able to control an NLRB-style civil rights agency in the hands of their ideological adversaries. In the political environment of 1963–64, some meaningful enforcement provisions were necessary, and to conservative Republicans private litigation was preferable to public bureaucracy.This choice had important self-reinforcing policy feedback effects. Civil rights advocates were initially optimistic about agency implementation and skeptical about the efficacy of private litigation to enforce Title VII, even with attorney's fees for winning plaintiffs. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, however, civil rights advocates observed an agency lacking the material resources and political will and commitment to carry out its mission. At the same time, they observed levels of private enforcement that far exceeded their expectations, as well as courts inclined toward broadly proplaintiff interpretations of Title VII. The CRA of 1964's attorney's fees provisions also had the effect of contributing funds to civil rights groups that prosecuted lawsuits and of conjuring into being a private, for-profit bar to litigate civil rights claims in general, and job discrimination claims in particular. These developments drove a transformation in the enforcement preferences of civil rights groups toward private litigation, weakening their historic support for administrative implementation. Working together with the burgeoning for-profit civil rights bar, they mobilized to expand the fee-shifting provisions of the CRA of 1964 across the entire field of civil rights, which they accomplished by successfully lobbying for enactment of the Civil Rights Attorney's Fees Awards Act of 1976. Thus was created the modern civil rights enforcement framework.
Adding Value to Agricultural Data: A Golden Opportunity

Agricultural decision makers rely on information provided by public and private entities. Data is a valuable asset and represents a tremendous investment of resources. However, difficulty locating sources and/or interpreting values may compromise its usefulness. The Florida citrus industry serves as an example of the data problem faced by many users; over 50 publications produced by 13 agencies are identified as official sources of citrus data. An indication of the potential for lost value and the dilemma facing modern agriculture is provided. This paper draws on corporate information management techniques as a framework for adding value to agricultural data.
Role of the N- and C-terminal extensions on the activity of mammalian mitochondrial translational initiation factor 3

Mammalian mitochondrial translational initiation factor 3 (IF3 m t ) promotes initiation complex formation on mitochondrial 55S ribosomes in the presence of IF2 m t , fMet-tRNA and poly(A,U,G). The mature form of IF3 m t ispredicted to be 247 residues. Alignment of IF3 m t with bacterial IF3 indicates that it has a central region with 20-30% identity to the bacterial factors. Both the N- and C-termini of IF3 m t have extensions of ∼30 residues compared with bacterial IF3. To examine the role of the extensions on IF3 m t , deletion constructs were prepared in which the N-terminal extension, the C-terminal extension or both extensions were deleted. These truncated derivatives were slightly more active in promoting initiation complex formation than the mature form of IF3 m t . Mitochondrial 28S subunits have the ability to bind fMet-tRNA in the absence of mRNA. IF3 m t promotes the dissociation of the fMet-tRNA bound in the absence of mRNA. This activity of IF3 m t requires the C-terminal extension of this factor. Mitochondrial 28S subunits also bind mRNA independently of fMet-tRNA or added initiation factors. IF3 m t has no effect on the formation of these complexes and cannot dissociate them once formed. These observations have lead to a new model for the function of IF3 m t in mitochondrial translational initiation.
Comparing venous thromboembolism prophylactic strategies for ambulatory multiple myeloma patients on immunomodulatory drug therapy

PurposePatients with multiple myeloma have an increased incidence of venous thromboembolism. The risk for venous thromboembolism further increases when these patients are placed on immunomodulatory...
Radiotherapy for Angiosarcoma: The 35-Year University of Florida Experience

Materials and Methods: From 1974 to 2009, 41 patients with angiosarcoma were treated with radiotherapy. The median patient age was 67 years. Sixteen angiosarcomas were radiation induced. Tumor sites included the head and the neck in 22 patients, breast in 14, and other sites in five. Thirty-one patients were treated with both surgery and radiotherapy (12 preoperatively and 19 postoperatively) and 10 patients were treated with radiotherapy alone. The median radiotherapy dose was 60 Gy (range, 37.5 to 76 Gy).
Impact of the learning curve for endoscopic vein harvest on conduit quality and early graft patency.

Background Recent studies have suggested that endoscopic vein harvest (EVH) compromises graft patency. To test whether the learning curve for EVH alters conduit integrity owing to increased trauma compared with an open harvest, we analyzed the quality and early patency of conduits procured by technicians with varying EVH experience. Methods During coronary artery bypass grafting, veins were harvested open (n = 10) or by EVH (n = 85) performed by experienced (>900 cases, >30/month) versus novice Results Conduits from experienced (n = 55) versus novice (n = 30) harvesters had similar lengths (33 versus 34 cm) and harvest times (32.4 versus 31.8 minutes). Conduit injury was noted in both EVH groups with similar distribution among disruption of the adventitia (62%), intimal tears at branch points (23%), and intimal or medial dissections (15%), but the incidence of these injuries was less with experienced harvesters and rare in veins procured with an open technique. Overall, the rate of graft attrition was similar between the two EVH groups (6.45% versus 4.34% of grafts; p = 0.552). However, vein grafts with at least 4 intimal or medial dissections showed significantly worse patency (67% versus 96% patency; p = 0.05). Conclusions High-resolution imaging confirmed that technicians inexperienced with EVH are more likely to cause intimal and deep vessel injury to the saphenous vein graft, which increases graft failure risk. Endoscopic vein harvest remains the most common technique for conduit harvest, making efforts to better monitor the learning curve an important public health issue.
"My Teacher Is Going to Think They're Crazy": Responses to LOPI Practices in U.S. First-Grade Classrooms

This chapter explores how children and adults have been responding when they watch first graders in the United States using their agency in classrooms that value and permit children to Learn by Observing and Pitching In (LOPI). First, I explore how video-cued ethnography helped to capture on film practices in classrooms that support LOPI through the Agency and Young Children Project. Then, I detail what happened when I showed these films to first-grade (age 6-8) children of Latina/o immigrants, elementary school administrators, teachers, and parents as a means to elicit ideas, perspectives, and concerns about the early education of young Latina/o children of immigrants. Findings from the initial analysis indicate that deficit views of immigrant families in the United States may prevent teachers and administrators from supporting LOPI.
Anesthesia for tracheal reconstruction and transplantation.

Purpose of review Tracheobronchial lesions requiring significant resection of the airway have limited surgical options and present significant obstacles to the anesthesiologist and surgeon. This article will review recent advancements in anesthetic and surgical management. Recent findings Technological advances have introduced novel approaches to the patient with large airway lesions. The use of pump-driven and pumpless extracorporeal life support has rapidly expanded and allow for prolonged periods of apneic airway surgery. Tracheal transplantation has advanced from the cadaveric decellularized scaffolds initially used to true synthetic based structures with autologous stem cell derived epithelium. Summary Significant leaps in tissue engineered airway transplantation have created curative options for patients previously considered inoperable. These patients pose significant challenges to the anesthesiologist during the entire perioperative period. Close collaboration with surgeons and intensivists and the use of recently developed systems for extracorporeal life support are required.
Niacin-tryptophan requirements of man; designation in terms of niacin-equivalents.

Nutritionists and dietitians will have a special interest in the “niacin-equivalent” allowance Which has appeared for the first time in the Recommended Dietary Allowances as revised in 1958. This author discusses the calculations involved in evaluating normal and therapeutic diets.
SMART STRUCTURES STABILIZED UNSTABLE CONTROL SURFACES

A two-dimensional wing-aileron-tab model is postulated to simulate a fixed-wing aircraft control system actuated by a "smart structure" ie strain actuated-trailing edge. Wing position is fixed and tab rotation is driven, so that the only degree of freedom is aileron rotation, Linear dynamic analyses are performed to predict the response of such a system to step function commands using state-space versions of 2-D unsteady aerodynamic theory. Aileron hinge position, relative to its leading edge, and its rotational spring rates are considered primary design variables. Their influence is studied including combinations in the naturally unstable range, and feedback control is postulated to stabilize the system. Wing aileron parameters intended to be typical of operational aircraft are used to choose smart structure stabilized control surface design variables which are best, based on three criteria: largest ratio of aileron rotation to tab deflection, quickest response time, and minimum overshoot. The influences of steady wing angle of attack and flight speed on system performance are also briefly examined. Nomenclature b = wing semi-chord c = C(k) = Theodorsen's lift deficiency function [12] d = e = h = location, wing pivot, measured from mid-chord, positive aft, nondimensionalized by b location, leading edge of tab, measured from mid-chord, positive aft, nondimensionalized by b location, leading edge of aileron, measured from mid-chord, positive aft, nondimensionalized by b wing pivot plunging displacement, measured perpendicular to freestream velocity vector, nondimensionalized by b bw k = reduced frequency = m = V/b s ' = 1k ' = m s = S Ladace Transform independent variable t = tiGe(sec) P = aileron angular 6 = tab angular deflection p = air mass unit span (ft-lb/rad/span) * Institute Professor of Aeronautical Engineering and Mechanics, Honorary Fellow AIAA ** Graduate Student, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Aeronautical Engineering and Mechanics Release A: "Copyright c 1992 by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc. All rights reserved. I second mass moment of aileron about its hinge, S6 ,Is = first and second mass moments, respectively, of tab about its leading edge, per unit span (slug-ft and slug-ftz/span) L lift generated by the aileron, acting at the aileron leading edge ( lb ) M moment generated by the aileron, acting about the aileron leading edge (ft-lb) MP = moment generated by the aileron, acting about the aileron hinge (ft-lb) Oi .,Xem = Kussner's Coefficients [13] Pit) ,& t = Circulatory Lift Functions, Eqs. (6,7) [A], [B ft , C], [D], [XI = State-Space formulation matrices, Eq. (9) xi, ni = State-Space formulation matrix elements, per unit span (slug-ftz/span) P -
From Queen's College to Rutgers College

Why is Rutgers University named for a wealthy bachelor who resided in New York City? What was his involvement with the institution of higher learning we now call Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey? To understand why this lifelong New Yorker supported a small denominational college in New Brunswick, we must examine what took place following the American Revolution and during in the early years of the 19th century.
Random Sequences, Series, and Averages

Moments and tails, convergence a.s. and in probability, sub-sequence criterion, continuity and completeness, convergence in distribution, tightness and uniform integrability, convergence of means, Lp-convergence, random series and averages, positive and symmetric terms, variance criteria, three-series criterion, strong laws of large numbers, empirical distributions, portmanteau theorem, continuous mapping and approximation, Skorohod coupling, representation and measurability of limits
Direction Estimation Error Model of Embedded Magnetometer in Indoor Navigation Environment

With the development of the MEMS technology, it's becoming usual to integrate magnetometers, accelerometer and gyroscope inside the smart-phone. Therefore, the inertial hybrid localization technology is widely used to mitigate the inaccuracy in the standalone wireless localization results and improve the reliability in the absence of Radio Frequency Signal. One of the well known application is the WiFi localization assisted inertial navigation system, which is famous for its low cost, high availability and extraordinary accuracy. In this paper, we build a hybrid localization platform on the Android smart-phone and conduct measurements with different indoor scenarios. From these results, it shows that there are two error distribution existed in the direction estimation. Based on these two error distributions, we simulate performance of the hybrid localization system and compare with the typical WiFi localization. The result gives the general idea of direction estimation reliability in different environment. The proposed error model and its effect on the hybrid localization system could help performance analysis and error calibration with prior knowledge of the environment.
Community juvenile arbitration: An alternative in judicial administration

Congestion in trial courts continues to create a dilemma in judicial administration. In Florida, an effort to address this problem in the juvenile justice system emerged with legislative authorization of community arbitration programs. Implementation came in a joint endeavor of a community and a university to develop a juvenile arbitration program. Assessment of the program in reduction of caseload, cost efficiency, recidivism, reduction of delay prior to hearing, and volunteer participation suggests that community arbitration can be a viable alternative.
Micro/nano- particulate fluid manipulation in AC electro-kinetic lab-on-a-chip

Integrating fluid transport systems on a single chip with micro-scale detectors has significant advantages, including increased resolution, faster response, smaller sample sizes, and increased parallelism of analysis. To realize the detection of low concentration bioparticles, conventional techniques involve sample culturing to increase particle count to a critical mass at the detection sites, which is time-consuming and often unfeasible under field conditions. By attracting target cells from the bulk onto the sensing electrodes to enrich local cell count in real time, sensitivity can be increased by orders of magnitude. Directed line formation of particles on designated electrodes can be realized by our new asymmetric polarization AC electro-osmotic (ACEO) mechanism based on electrochemical reaction, which shows better particle trapping than that of conventional ACEO. This paper also presents a cantilever ACEO particle trap
Commutators of Bilinear Pseudodifferential Operators and Lipschitz Functions

Commutators of bilinear pseudodifferential operators and the operation of multiplication by a Lipschitz function are studied. The bilinear symbols of the pseudodifferential operators considered belong to classes that are shown to properly contain certain bilinear Hormander classes of symbols of order one. The corresponding commutators are proved to be bilinear Calderon–Zygmund operators.
Aesthetics in Architecture

Aesthetics is the study of beauty and taste, whether in the form of the comic, the tragic, or the sublime. It’s meaning into gratification of the senses or sensuous delight. The best designs usually look good - aesthetically pleasing. Introduced into the philosophical lexicon during the Eighteenth Century, the term ‘aesthetic’ has come to be used to designate, among other things, a kind of object, a kind of judgment, a kind of attitude, a kind of experience, and a kind of value. This means that Aesthetics is a theory of the senses that investigates how people approach the world through their senses, either to gather knowledge about it or to enjoy and find pleasure in it. The subject also has a new relevance in the contemporary media, which is more filled with messages, information and sensory impressions than ever before. In the context of Architecture, term aesthetics to buildings and related architectural structures is visual design contribute to the shape, texture, collotype of material, symmetry and simplicity of the repeated pattern used in the design and design elements such as axis, line, landform, horizontal and vertical planes, texture, and scale to create variations of space and form. This paper explores the parameters of aesthetics and its relevance with changing time and context. In fact, it can be argued that all aesthetic judgments are culturally conditioned to some extent, and can change over time. The paper also reviews different forms of Aesthetics in art, music, performing art, literature along with understanding of Aesthetics in Indian Context.
Exam Preparation Strategies of College Freshmen

(1980). Exam Preparation Strategies of College Freshmen. Proceedings of the Annual Conference of the Western College Reading Association: Vol. 13, Proceedings of the Twelfth Annual Conference of the WCRA. The 1980's: New Sources of Energy for Learning, pp. 30-34.
Epistemology and Cognitive Science

I will define epistemology in the traditional way, as the conceptual and normative study of knowledge. Epistemology inquires into the definition, criteria, normative standards, and sources of knowledge and of kindred statuses like justified belief, evidence, confirmation, rational belief, perceiving, remembering, and intelligence. Cognitive science is, by contrast, the interdisciplinary empirical study of cognition in human beings, animals, and machines, and the attempt to engineer intelligent cognition.1 Cognitive science spans work in diverse fields, including empirical cognitive psychology, linguistics, artificial intelligence (AI), neuroscience, and cognitive anthropology.2 Both epistemology and cognitive science study knowledge, but they have different aims, interests, and methods.
Modality and the Interpretation of Free Adjuncts

In modal sentences, a free adjunct may be interpreted as though it were an if-clause. Examples are the adjuncts in (1a)–(4a), whose semantic similarity to the corresponding conditional clauses in (1b)–(4b) is at least intuitively apparent. 1. a. Wearing that new outfit, Bill would fool everyone. b. If he wore that new outfit, Bill would fool everyone. 2. a. Standing on a chair, John can touch the ceiling. b. If he stands on a chair, John can touch the ceiling. 3. a. Taken in the prescribed dosage, it must be very effective. b. If it is taken in the prescribed dosage, it must be very effective. 4. a. In first gear, the truck might reach the top of that hill. b. If it were in first gear, the truck might reach the top of that hill.
Grain size dependence of strain rate sensitivity in a single phase FCC high entropy alloy Al0.3CoCrFeNi

Abstract High-entropy alloys (HEAs) can offer exceptional strain-rate sensitivity (SRS) due to high lattice-friction and strong solid-solution strengthening, and in some cases, low stacking fault energy. In this study, SRS of a single phase FCC HEA- Al0.3CoCrFeNi was investigated at two grain sizes. Due to its outstanding Hall-Petch coefficient, grain size becomes a crucial microstructural feature in determination of strength and SRS. Change in SRS due to grain refinement was derived to be inversely proportional to associated strength gain, in coarse microstructures where grain size >> dislocation forest cell size. This correlation was proven using two microstructures with grain sizes of 12 µm and 150 µm, with yield strengths of 313 MPa and 145 MPa, and demonstrated SRS of m = 0.029 and 0.064, respectively. SRS was also derived to increase linearly with strength contribution from thermal short-range obstacles. The slope reflects the maximum upper limit on SRS possible upon elimination of all other obstacles of long-range nature. This limiting value of SRS was derived to be 0.118 for this HEA.
Are Software Dependency Supply Chain Metrics Useful in Predicting Change of Popularity of NPM Packages

Background: As software development becomes more interdependent, unique relationships among software packages arise and form complex software ecosystems. Aim: We aim to understand the behavior of these ecosystems better through the lens of software supply chains and model how the effects of software dependency network affect the change in downloads of Javascript packages. Method: We analyzed 12,999 popular packages in NPM, between 01-December-2017 and 15-March-2018, using Linear Regression and Random Forest models and examined the effects of predictors representing different aspects of the software dependency supply chain on changes in numbers of downloads for a package. Result: Preliminary results suggest that the count and downloads of upstream and downstream runtime dependencies have a strong effect on the change in downloads, with packages having fewer, more popular packages as dependencies (upstream or downstream) likely to see an increase in downloads. This suggests that in order to interpret the number of downloads for a package properly, it is necessary to take into account the peculiarities of the supply chain (both upstream and downstream) of that package. Conclusion: Future work is needed to identify the effects of added, deleted, and unchanged dependencies for different types of packages, e.g. build tools, test tools.
Synchronizing Multiple Data Streams by Time For Vehicle Control

New research on autonomous driving is beginning to incorporate remote, relative-to-vehicle, environmental data. Few protocols exist to deliver remote data to autonomous vehicles — for example observation meta-data or sensor streams such as camera, LIDAR, etc. Researchers bypass this problem by using a single Robot OS controller or rudimentary streaming pipes. However, with recent advancements in vehicle to everything (V2X) protocols, including better LTE and millimeter wave (MMwave) communications in mobile environments, a dedicated multiplesource streaming protocol is increasingly necessary. For this reason, we developed a protocol that allows multiple and distinct transmitters of data to stream sensor information to a single receiver with features including session management, encryption, and jitter regulation. The Synchronized Buffer proposed herein seeks to synchronize data frames by their time stamps, in the spirit of the Real-Time Transport Protocol (RTP) used in VoIP. We validated the proposed time synchronization algorithm by streaming data at different simulated data frames per second. Quality of service (QoS) and potential security flaws are also explored. Such a dedicated streaming protocol addresses current problems by allowing vehicles to integrate previously unavailable remote data sources into critical autonomous decision making.
Imagining the other: The influence of imagined conversations on the treatment process.

The Constructivist Grounded Theory Study reported in this paper is based on the narrative experiences of psychotherapists who used the intersession experience of having an imagined conversation with a client. The therapists reported that they use imagined conversations with clients between sessions when they have reached an impasse in the therapeutic process, and they noted the experience helps them solve the difficulty by helping to provide greater insight into their clients' perspectives. The participants' experiences suggest a theory that explains how imagination can help one understand another: motor memory may surface implicit relational knowing.
Reducing Health Disparities to Promote Health Equity through Policy Research.

Health policy research aligns with the vision, mission, and strategic goals of the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD). Understanding the effects of a policy change at a local, state or national level that impacts health requires setting up data collection or accessing existing data to evaluate impact at a population health level. The translational work in the current special supplement issue of Ethnicity & Disease is a powerful and essential approach in optimizing scientific inquiry that supports increasing awareness and selected strategies for cultivating the lives of vulnerable and underserved individuals, families, and communities.
The Big Effects of Small Talk at Work

Small talk–superficial, trivial communication–comprises up to one-third of adults’ conversation and is a key component of employees’ experience in the workplace. Despite its ubiquity, little is kno...
HH Objectives (HHO)

The O kernel for HH includes three elements: family, face and three immortal deeds. These are driven by the fundamental needs of Hualish as well as the HHH kernel. These are lifelong objectives, and can also be adopted as milestone objectives in certain contexts. From top to bottom, the objectives increase in scope and potential impact, but decrease in priority and likelihood of success.
Fusing MFCC and LPC Features Using 1D Triplet CNN for Speaker Recognition in Severely Degraded Audio Signals

Speaker recognition algorithms are negatively impacted by the quality of the input speech signal. In this work, we approach the problem of speaker recognition from severely degraded audio data by judiciously combining two commonly used features: Mel Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCC) and Linear Predictive Coding (LPC). Our hypothesis rests on the observation that MFCC and LPC capture two distinct aspects of speech, viz., speech perception and speech production. A carefully crafted 1D Triplet Convolutional Neural Network (1D-Triplet-CNN) is used to combine these two features in a novel manner, thereby enhancing the performance of speaker recognition in challenging scenarios. Extensive evaluation on multiple datasets, different types of audio degradations, multi-lingual speech, varying length of audio samples, etc. convey the efficacy of the proposed approach over existing speaker recognition methods, including those based on iVector and xVector.
Expertise and Complexity as Mediators of Knowledge Loss in Open Source Software Development

This paper describes an approach integrating cognitive engineering with computational social science in the context of open source software (OSS) development. Through an analysis of large-scale col...
The coordinated localization of mRNA to centrosomes facilitates error-free mitosis

Abstract Centrosomes are microtubule-organizing centers required for error-free mitosis and embryonic development. The microtubule-nucleating activity of centrosomes is conferred by the pericentriolar material (PCM), a composite of numerous proteins subject to cell cycle-dependent oscillations in levels and organization. In diverse cell types, mRNAs localize to centrosomes and may contribute to changes in PCM abundance. Here, we investigate the regulation of mRNA localization to centrosomes in the rapidly cycling Drosophila melanogaster embryo. We find that RNA localization to centrosomes is regulated during the cell cycle and developmentally. We identify a novel role for the fragile-X mental retardation protein (FMRP), which localizes to pericentrosomal RNA granules, in the post-transcriptional regulation of centrosomal RNA. Further, the mis-targeting of a model centrosomal mRNA, centrocortin (cen), is sufficient to alter cognate protein localization to centrosomes and impair spindle morphogenesis and genome stability.
Flat-histogram extrapolation as a useful tool in the age of big data

Here we review recent work by the authors to revisit the concept of extrapolating thermodynamic properties of classical systems using statistical mechanical principles. Specifically, we discuss how...
'Where Do We Go From Here?' Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Worker's Rights

This article considers the important links between racial equality and workers’ rights in Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s activism. Dr. King understood the connection between racial and economic subordination — he also understood that achieving racial justice would not be possible without achieving economic justice through a coalition between the civil rights and labor movements. This article chronicles Dr. King’s alliances with labor activists as well as the tensions between organized labor and civil rights activism. This article also highlights how Dr. King’s emphasis on labor activism informed his approach to fighting against segregation and on behalf of voting rights for African Americans. For Dr. King, true racial equality was inseparable from economic empowerment. Dr. King’s insight that racial discrimination was linked to the economic subordination of workers followed a great tradition of political activism within the United States on behalf of racial equality and the rights of workers. This article argues that advocates for workers’ rights and racial equality have been most successful when they worked together because race discrimination has been integrally connected to the exploitation of workers throughout our country’s history. Drawing on historical research, this article develops the links between labor movements and antislavery and civil rights activism in order to place Dr. King’s commitment to the rights of workers in context and to point the way forward. Activists in the fight for racial equality must heed Dr. King’s advice and form coalitions with labor organizers to fight the combined effects of racial injustice and economic subordination.
Improved Duplicate Photomask Matching using AIMS™ Metrology for 14nm and smaller

In this paper, we demonstrate the use of Aerial Imaging Metrology System (AIMS™) during mask fabrication to deliver duplicate photomasks with matching iso-dense bias (IDB) to a reference photomask. The photomask IDB trend based on AIMS™ feedback showed a direct correlation to on-wafer IDB performance. We also show that the AIMS™ threshold energy is correlated to the photomask critical dimension (CD) mean to target (MTT), and correlates to the on-wafer exposure dose for both line/space and via mask levels in the 14nm technology node. This technique will enable improved photomask matching taking into account 2D and 3D mask effects comparable to wafer processing on lithography exposure tools. With AIMS™ metrology, corrections can then be applied to photomask rebuilds prior to shipment to Wafer Manufacturing Sites.
Edgewise vibration suppression of multi-megawatt wind turbine blades using passive tuned mass dampers:

The lack of aerodynamic damping of wind turbine blades in the edgewise direction causes larger dynamic responses and lowers the reliability. As blades become longer, edgewise fatigue loading increa...
Suicidal Mental Imagery in Psychiatrically Hospitalized Adolescents

Suicide is the second leading cause of death in adolescents and suicide rates in this population have increased in recent years. A critical step in preventing suicide is improving the accuracy of suicide risk assessment. Measurement of suicidal cognitions typically emphasizes assessment of verbal thoughts about suicide. Recent research suggests, however, that suicidal mental imagery, or mentally imagining suicide-related content, may be even more strongly associated with suicidal behavior. No research has evaluated suicidal mental imagery in adolescents, however. The present study evaluated suicidal mental imagery and suicidal verbal thoughts in a sample of adolescents (N = 159) admitted to an adolescent psychiatric inpatient unit. Of those adolescents who reported suicidal cognitions, 63.73% reported suicidal mental imagery. Adolescents who reported suicidal mental imagery had 2.40 greater odds of having made a suicide attempt, after accounting for history of suicidal verbal thoughts and relevant covariates. Findings suggest that suicidal mental imagery should be directly assessed when evaluating suicide risk, and that treatments may be optimized by targeting both suicidal verbal thoughts and suicidal mental imagery.
Mass Spectrometry Imaging of Bio-oligomer Polydispersity in Plant Tissues by Laser Desorption Ionization from Silicon Nanopost Arrays

Mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) enables simultaneous spatial mapping for diverse molecules in biological tissues. Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI) mass spectrometry (MS) has been a mainstream MSI method for a wide range of biomolecules. However, MALDI-MSI of biological homopolymers used for energy storage and molecular feedstock is limited by, e.g., preferential ionization for certain molecular classes. Matrix-free nanophotonic ionization from silicon nanopost arrays (NAPAs) is an emerging laser desorption ionization (LDI) platform with ultra-trace sensitivity and molecular imaging capabilities. Here, we show complementary analysis and MSI of polyhydroxybutyric acid (PHB), polyglutamic acid (PGA), and polysaccharide oligomers in soybean root nodule sections by NAPA-LDI and MALDI. For PHB, number and weight average molar mass, polydispersity, and oligomer size distributions across the tissue section and in regions of interest were characterized by NAPA-LDI-MSI.
For WHO leader, a ‘feeling that we're failing’

Few have spoken out as forcefully against the global disparity in COVID-19 vaccine distribution as Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO). Tedros, as he prefers to be called, has labeled the inequity "vaccine apartheid" and a "catastrophic moral failure" that has led to a "two-track pandemic." A global procurement scheme by WHO and other parties to supply vaccines to poorer countries, the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access Facility, has not had much impact so far. In this interview, Tedros discusses his disappointment with what he has called the "grotesque gap" between vaccine access in high- and low-income countries, how he hopes the G20 countries will do more, his decision to delay his own COVID-19 vaccination as a protest, and his hopes for a pandemic treaty to build a more effective response for future threats.
Conclusion: Gothic Offspring; or, “The Qualitas Occulta”

These concluding remarks touch briefly on contemporary science fiction such as Stefan Brijs’ The Angel Maker (2005) and supernatural/horror fiction such as Stephen King’s Carrie (1974) to suggest that the persistence of Gothic rests in the tenacity of reproductive mysteries.
Canyonlands and Arches: Windows on Landscapes in the American Southwest

The southwestern United States is characterized by dramatic canyon-dominated sandstone landscapes. The canyons are typically steep-sided and display segmented valley walls reflecting the variable resistance of the rocks into which they are cut. Three broad sets of geomorphic processes are principally responsible for canyon formation: groundwater sapping, fluvial erosion, and salt tectonics. Extensively associated with the sandstone landscapes of the American southwest is the development of spectacular arches and natural bridges. These forms are the result of the structurally controlled dissolution of calcite cements, and subsequent enlargement by removal of loosened grains, boulders, and slabs by wind, gravity, and water.
Input-Output Analysis : Foundations and Extensions

This essential reference for students and scholars in the input-output research and applications community has been fully revised and updated to reflect important developments in the field. Expanded coverage includes construction and application of multiregional and interregional models, including international models and their application to global economic issues such as climate change and international trade; structural decomposition and path analysis; linkages and key sector identification and hypothetical extraction analysis; the connection of national income and product accounts to input-output accounts; supply and use tables for commodity-by-industry accounting and models; social accounting matrices; non-survey estimation techniques; and energy and environmental applications. Input-Output Analysis is an ideal introduction to the subject for advanced undergraduate and graduate students in many scholarly fields, including economics, regional science, regional economics, city, regional and urban planning, environmental planning, public policy analysis and public management.
Standardization of wafer level reliability techniques-JEDEC 14.2

Summary form only given. JEDEC stands for: Joint Electronic Device Engineering Council and is sometimes known as simply "The Council", and is the engineering standardization body ofthe Electronic Industry Association (EIA). Promoting development and standardization of test methods, nomenclature and product characterization are primary functions of the Council. The Council establishes Committees to conduct its standardization activities, with the primary function of each Committee being to propose standards, procedures, etc., and submit them to the Council for action or approval. Reliability is handled by JEDEC Committee 14 (JC 14) "Committee on Quality and Reliability of Solid State Products". As its title implies JC 14 is responsible for generation and maintenance of quality and reliability standards for solid state products. Currently there are seven active JC 14 subcommittees, one of which is JC 14.2, whose scope includes generation of terms, definitions and establishment and/or review of specifications and standards relating to wafer level assessment of semiconductor devices. This committee also provides a forum for discussion of wafer level reliability assessment of all types. Most methods, techniques and standards developed for wafer level assessment work equally well with packaged devices.
How Jane Austen Uses Marriage to Get What She Wants

As a biochemistry major approaching the subject of Jane Austen and feminism, I found the dichotomy between pleasure readers and critical readers interesting. How can books that are almost 200 years old draw so much attention from both quarters still today? In my thesis, I use Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, and Emma to discuss how Austen uses the marriage plot in the context of the 18th century. This plot device allows her to point out problems with marriage as a market, such as emphasis on wealth and the social setup that requires women to be “taken care of” by men. Her strategy works because it is a mixture of the pleasurable and the critical: one cannot read Austen without enjoying the romantic love stories and learning deeper lessons. This intriguing overlap is one of the reasons Austen continues to impact the modern world.
La salud pública y el patrimonio público: los costos sociales como base de las políticas de salud restrictivas

ISTORICALLY, THE MOST IMPORTANT RATIONALE for coercive public health measures has been the prevention of disease and injury to others. However, as noncommunicable diseases and accidents have assumed increased importance as causes of morbidity and mortality, and as the connection between noncommunicable diseases and accidents and individual practices such as smoking and drinking has become more apparent, a new line of argument based on social costs has emerged. My purpose is both to describe and evaluate the social-costs argument, to explain why it has become so popular, and to show what must be done to make it consistent with its own utilitarian criterion.
A New Panel of Blood Biomarkers for the Diagnosis of Mild Traumatic Brain Injury/Concussion in Adults

Abstract No routine tests currently exist to objectively diagnose mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI)/concussion. Previously reported biomarkers for mTBI represented proteins released from damaged neurons or glia. However, low levels of these proteins, and/or the complexity of assays used for their detection, limits implementation of these biomarkers in routine practice. Here, we sought to identify proteins whose synthesis is altered post-mTBI and whose blood levels could be measured using standard immunoassays. Adult patients sustaining a concussion within the past 24 h were enrolled. Controls were uninjured subjects and patients with orthopedic injury (OI). Four candidate biomarkers were identified: copeptin; galectin 3 (LGALS3); matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP9); and occludin (OCLN). A 3.4-fold decrease (p<0.0001) in plasma concentration of copeptin was found in mTBI patients within 8 h after accident, compared to uninjured controls. Plasma levels of LGALS3, MMP9, and OCLN increased 3.6- to 4.5-fold (p<...
Assessment and Accountability: The Big Picture

This article describes various assessment methods that can be used to track and assess student's achievement of each of the National Standards.