gebhart/patrepeval huggingface dataset:
Generating Multilingual Voices Using Speaker Space Translation Based on Bilingual Speaker Data (2020)

We present progress towards bilingual Text-to-Speech which is able to transform a monolingual voice to speak a second language while preserving speaker voice quality. We demonstrate that a bilingual speaker embedding space contains a separate distribution for each language and that a simple transform in speaker space generated by the speaker embedding can be used to control the degree of accent of a synthetic voice in a language. The same transform can be applied even to monolingual speakers.In our experiments speaker data from an English-Spanish (Mexican) bilingual speaker was used, and the goal was to enable English speakers to speak Spanish and Spanish speakers to speak English. We found that the simple transform was sufficient to convert a voice from one language to the other with a high degree of naturalness. In one case the transformed voice outperformed a native language voice in listening tests. Experiments further indicated that the transform preserved many of the characteristics of the original voice. The degree of accent present can be controlled and naturalness is relatively consistent across a range of accent values.
Time-lapse Fluorescence Imaging of Arabidopsis Root Growth with Rapid Manipulation of The Root Environment Using The RootChip (2012)

The root functions as the physical anchor of the plant and is the organ responsible for uptake of water and mineral nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfate and trace elements that plants acquire from the soil. If we want to develop sustainable approaches to producing high crop yield, we need to better understand how the root develops, takes up a wide spectrum of nutrients, and interacts with symbiotic and pathogenic organisms. To accomplish these goals, we need to be able to explore roots in microscopic detail over time periods ranging from minutes to days. We developed the RootChip, a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)- based microfluidic device, which allows us to grow and image roots from Arabidopsis seedlings while avoiding any physical stress to roots during preparation for imaging1 (Figure 1). The device contains a bifurcated channel structure featuring micromechanical valves to guide the fluid flow from solution inlets to each of the eight observation chambers2. This perfusion system allows the root microenvironment to be controlled and modified with precision and speed. The volume of the chambers is approximately 400 nl, thus requiring only minimal amounts of test solution. Here we provide a detailed protocol for studying root biology on the RootChip using imaging-based approaches with real time resolution. Roots can be analyzed over several days using time lapse microscopy. Roots can be perfused with nutrient solutions or inhibitors, and up to eight seedlings can be analyzed in parallel. This system has the potential for a wide range of applications, including analysis of root growth in the presence or absence of chemicals, fluorescence-based analysis of gene expression, and the analysis of biosensors, e.g. FRET nanosensors3.
Silicon photonics: optical modulators (2010)

Silicon Photonics has the potential to revolutionise a whole raft of application areas. Currently, the main focus is on various forms of optical interconnects as this is a near term bottleneck for the computing industry, and hence a number of companies have also released products onto the market place. The adoption of silicon photonics for mass production will significantly benefit a range of other application areas. One of the key components that will enable silicon photonics to flourish in all of the potential application areas is a high performance optical modulator. An overview is given of the major Si photonics modulator research that has been pursued at the University of Surrey to date as well as a worldwide state of the art showing the trend and technology available. We will show the trend taken toward integration of optical and electronic components with the difficulties that are inherent in such a technology.
Adsorption of an Aqueous Mixture of Surfactants on Silica (2000)

The behavior of mixtures of a nonionic surfactant, pentaethylene glycol monodecyl ether (C10E5), and an anionic surfactant, sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), was studied at the water−silica interface. In contrast to the C10E5 surfactant, which is adsorbed at the silica−water interface at pH ≅ 6, the adsorption of the anionic surfactant is not observed. In the presence of SDS, the adsorption of C10E5 is severely restricted as result of the formation of mixed micelles in solution. This behavior is consistent with the adsorption free energy, ΔGads, of C10E5 and the free energy of mixed micellization, ΔGmix.mic, of SDS and C10E5. Flow microcalorimetry (FMC) results showed that the addition of C10E5/SDS mixtures to silica precoated with C10E5 resulted in the release of the preadsorbed nonionic surfactant; the whole phenomenon is exothermic. Combination of calorimetric data (FMC and isothermal titration calorimetry), self-diffusion coefficients, and the regular solution theory led to the conclusion that the main driving force for the C10E5 desorption was the formation of mixed micelles by unimeric SDS and the released nonionic surfactant.
Another Look at Security Theorems for 1-Key Nested MACs. (2013)

Abstract. We prove a security theorem without collision-resistance for a class of 1-key hash-function-based MAC schemes that includes HMAC and Envelope MAC. The proof has some advantages over earlier proofs: it is in the uniform model, it uses a weaker related-key assumption, and it covers a broad class of MACs in a single theorem. However, we also explain why our theorem is of doubtful value in assessing the real-world security of these MAC schemes. In addition, we prove a theorem assuming collision-resistance. From these two theorems we conclude that from a provable security standpoint there is little reason to prefer HMAC to Envelope MAC or similar schemes. 1.
Fourier-transform and global contrast interferometer alignment methods (2023)

Interferometric methods are presented to facilitate alignment of image-plane components within an interferometer and for the magnified viewing of interferometer masks in situ. Fourier-transforms are performed on intensity patterns that are detected with the interferometer and are used to calculate pseudo-images of the electric field in the image plane of the test optic where the critical alignment of various components is being performed. Fine alignment is aided by the introduction and optimization of a global contrast parameter that is easily calculated from the Fourier-transform.