Influence of delay time on regularity estimation for voice pathology detection

The employment of nonlinear analysis techniques for automatic voice pathology detection systems has gained popularity due to the ability of such techniques for dealing with the underlying nonlinear phenomena. On this respect, characterization using nonlinear analysis typically employs the classical Correlation Dimension and the largest Lyapunov Exponent, as well as some regularity quantifiers computing the system predictability. Mostly, regularity features highly depend on a correct choosing of some parameters. One of those, the delay time �, is usually fixed to be 1. Nonetheless, it has been stated that a unity � can not avoid linear correlation of the time series and hence, may not correctly capture system nonlinearities. Therefore, present work studies the influence of the � parameter on the estimation of regularity features. Three � estimations are considered: the baseline value 1; a � based on the Average Automutual Information criterion; and � chosen from the embedding window. Testing results obtained for pathological voice suggest that an improved accuracy might be obtained by using a � value different from 1, as it accounts for the underlying nonlinearities of the voice signal.

In situ control of the GE(100)surface domain structure for III-V multijunction solar cells

Vicinal Ge(100) is the common substrate for state of the art multi-junction solar cells grown by metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE). While triple junction solar cells based on Ge(100) present efficiencies mayor que 40%, little is known about the microscopic III-V/Ge(100) nucleation and its interface formation. A suitable Ge(100) surface preparation prior to heteroepitaxy is crucial to achieve low defect densities in the III-V epilayers. Formation of single domain surfaces with double layer steps is required to avoid anti-phase domains in the III-V films. The step formation processes in MOVPE environment strongly depends on the major process parameters such as substrate temperature, H2 partial pressure, group V precursors [1], and reactor conditions. Detailed investigation of these processes on the Ge(100) surface by ultrahigh vacuum (UHV) based standard surface science tools are complicated due to the presence of H2 process gas. However, in situ surface characterization by reflection anisotropy spectroscopy (RAS) allowed us to study the MOVPE preparation of Ge(100) surfaces directly in dependence on the relevant process parameters [2, 3, 4]. A contamination free MOVPE to UHV transfer system [5] enabled correlation of the RA spectra to results from UHV-based surface science tools. In this paper, we established the characteristic RA spectra of vicinal Ge(100) surfaces terminated with monohydrides, arsenic and phosphorous. RAS enabled in situ control of oxide removal, H2 interaction and domain formation during MOVPE preparation.

Analysis of pixel-mapping rounding on geometric distortion as a prediction for view synthesis distortion

We analyze the performance of the geometric distortion, incurred when coding depth maps in 3D Video, as an estimator of the distortion of synthesized views. Our analysis is motivated by the need of reducing the computational complexity required for the computation of synthesis distortion in 3D video encoders. We propose several geometric distortion models that capture (i) the geometric distortion caused by the depth coding error, and (ii) the pixel-mapping precision in view synthesis. Our analysis starts with the evaluation of the correlation of geometric distortion values obtained with these models and the actual distortion on synthesized views. Then, the different geometric distortion models are employed in the rate-distortion optimization cycle of depth map coding, in order to assess the results obtained by the correlation analysis. Results show that one of the geometric distortion models is performing consistently better than the other models in all tests. Therefore, it can be used as a reasonable estimator of the synthesis distortion in low complexity depth encoders.

Use of Headed Reinforcement Bars in Contruction. A Theoretical Approach to Determine the Dimensions of Anchorage Plates and Experimental Tests on Knee Joints Subjected to a Closing Moment

In order to reduce costs and time while improving quality, durability and sustainability in structural concrete constructions, a widely used material nowadays, special care must be taken in some crucial phases of the project and execution, including the structure design and calculation, the dosage, dumping and curing of concrete: another important aspect is the proper design and execution of assembly plans and construction details. The framework, a name designating the whole reinforcement bars cage already assembled as shown in the drawings, can be made up of several components and implies higher or lower industrialization degree. The framework costs constitute about one third of the price per cubic meter placed in concrete works. The best solutions from all points of view are clearly those involving an easier processing to achieve the same goal, and consequently carrying a high degree of industrialization, meaning quality and safety in the work. This thesis aims to provide an indepth analysis of a relatively new type of anchoring by plate known as headed reinforcement bars, which can potentially replace standard or L-shaped hooks, improving the cleaning of construction details and enabling a faster, more flexible, and therefore a more economical assembly. A literature review on the topic and an overview of typical applications is provided, followed by some examples of specific applications in real projects. Since a strict theoretical formulation used to provide the design plate dimensions has not yet been put forward, an equation is proposed for the side-face blowout strength of the anchorage, based on the capacity of concrete to carry concentrated loads in cases in which no transverse reinforcement is provided. The correlation of the calculated ultimate load with experimental results available in the literature is given. Besides, the proposed formulation can be expanded to cases in which a certain development length is available: using a software for nonlinear finite element analysis oriented to the study of reinforced concrete, numerical tests on the bond-bearing interaction are performed. The thesis ends with a testing of eight corner joints subjected to a closing moment, held in the Structures Laboratory of the Polytechnic University of Madrid, aiming to check whether the design of such plates as stated is adequate for these elements and whether an element with plate-anchored reinforcement is equivalent to one with a traditional construction detail.

Is the polarity of content producers strongly influenced by the results of the event?

This paper presents an approach to compare two types of data, subjective data (Polarity of Pan American Games 2011 event by country) and objective data (the number of medals won by each participating country), based on the Pearson corre- lation. When dealing with events described by people, knowledge acquisition is difficult because their structure is heterogeneous and subjective. A first step towards knowing the polarity of the information provided by people consists in automatically classifying the posts into clusters according to their polarity. The authors carried out a set of experiments using a corpus that consists of 5600 posts extracted from 168 Internet resources related to a specific event: the 2011 Pan American games. The approach is based on four components: a crawler, a filter, a synthesizer and a polarity analyzer. The PanAmerican approach automatically classifies the polarity of the event into clusters with the following results: 588 positive, 336 neutral, and 76 negative. Our work found out that the polarity of the content produced was strongly influenced by the results of the event with a correlation of .74. Thus, it is possible to conclude that the polarity of content is strongly affected by the results of the event. Finally, the accuracy of the PanAmerican approach is: .87, .90, and .80 according to the precision of the three classes of polarity evaluated.

Non contact inspection of the fatigue damage state of carbon fiber reinforced polymer by optical surface roughness measurements

This work presents the evaluation of a new non-contact technique to assess the fatigue damage state of CFRP structures by measuring surface roughness parameters. Surface roughness and stiffness degradation have been measured in CFRP coupons cycled with constant amplitude loads, and a Pearson?s correlation of 0.79 was obtained between both variables. Results suggest that changes on the surface roughness measured in strategic zones of components made of the evaluated CFRP, could be indicative of the level of damage due to fatigue loads. This methodology could be useful for other FRP due to similarities in the fatigue damage process.

Optical sensing of the fatigue damage state of CFRP under realistic aeronautical load sequences

We present an optical sensing methodology to estimate the fatigue damage state of structures made of carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP), by measuring variations on the surface roughness. Variable amplitude loads (VAL), which represent realistic loads during aeronautical missions of fighter aircraft (FALSTAFF) have been applied to coupons until failure. Stiffness degradation and surface roughness variations have been measured during the life of the coupons obtaining a Pearson correlation of 0.75 between both variables. The data were compared with a previous study for Constant Amplitude Load (CAL) obtaining similar results. Conclusions suggest that the surface roughness measured in strategic zones is a useful technique for structural health monitoring of CFRP structures, and that it is independent of the type of load applied. Surface roughness can be measured in the field by optical techniques such as speckle, confocal perfilometers and interferometry, among others.

Potentially predictive and manipulable blood serum correlates of aging in the healthy human male: Progressive decreases in bioavailable testosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate, and the ratio of insulin-like growth factor 1 to growth hormone

A cross-sectional survey was made in 56 exceptionally healthy males, ranging in age from 20 to 84 years. Measurements were made of selected steroidal components and peptidic hormones in blood serum, and cognitive and physical tests were performed. Of those blood serum variables that gave highly significant negative correlations with age (r > −0.6), bioavailable testosterone (BT), dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS), and the ratio of insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) to growth hormone (GH) showed a stepwise pattern of age-related changes most closely resembling those of the age steps themselves. Of these, BT correlated best with significantly age-correlated cognitive and physical measures. Because DHEAS correlated well with BT and considerably less well than BT with the cognitive and physical measures, it seems likely that BT and/or substances to which BT gives rise in tissues play a more direct role in whatever processes are rate-limiting in the functions measured and that DHEAS relates more indirectly to these functions. The high correlation of IGF-1/GH with age, its relatively low correlation with BT, and the patterns of correlations of IGF-1/GH and BT with significantly age-correlated cognitive and physical measures suggest that the GH–IGF-1 axis and BT play independent roles in affecting these functions. Serial determinations made after oral ingestion of pregnenolone and data from the literature suggest there is interdependence of steroid metabolic systems with those operational in control of interrelations in the GH–IGF-1 axis. Longitudinal concurrent measurements of serum levels of BT, DHEAS, and IGF-1/GH together with detailed studies of their correlations with age-correlated functional measures may be useful in detecting early age-related dysregulations and may be helpful in devising ameliorative approaches.

Different population dynamics of human T cell lymphotropic virus type II in intravenous drug users compared with endemically infected tribes

The phylogeny of human T cell lymphotropic virus type II (HTLV-II) was investigated by using strains isolated from Amerindian and Pygmy tribes, in which the virus is maintained primarily through mother-to-child transmission via breast-feeding, and strains from intravenous drug users (IDUs), in which spread is mainly blood-borne via needle sharing. Molecular clock analysis showed that HTLV-II has two different evolutionary rates with the molecular clock for the virus in IDUs ticking 150–350 times faster than the one in endemically infected tribes: 2.7 × 10−4 compared with 1.71/7.31 × 10−7 nucleotide substitutions per site per year in the long terminal repeat region. This dramatic acceleration of the evolutionary rate seems to be related with the mode of transmission. Mathematical models showed the correlation of these two molecular clocks with an endemic spread of HTLV-II in infected tribes compared with the epidemic spread in IDUs. We also noted a sharp increase in the population size of the virus among IDUs during the last decades probably caused by the worldwide increase in intravenous drug use.

Social transmission of reproductive behavior increases frequency of inherited disorders in a young-expanding population

The observation of high frequencies of certain inherited disorders in the population of Saguenay–Lac Saint Jean can be explained in terms of the variance and the correlation of effective family size (EFS) from one generation to the next. We have shown this effect by using the branching process approach with real demographic data. When variance of EFS is included in the model, despite its profound effect on mutant allele frequency, any mutant introduced in the population never reaches the known carrier frequencies (between 0.035 and 0.05). It is only when the EFS correlation between generations is introduced into the model that we can explain the rise of the mutant alleles. This correlation is described by a c parameter that reflects the dependency of children’s EFS on their parents’ EFS. The c parameter can be considered to reflect social transmission of demographic behavior. We show that such social transmission dramatically reduces the effective population size. This could explain particular distributions in allele frequencies and unusually high frequency of certain inherited disorders in some human populations.

Epidermal growth factor-induced nuclear factor κB activation: A major pathway of cell-cycle progression in estrogen-receptor negative breast cancer cells

The epidermal growth factor (EGF) family of receptors (EGFR) is overproduced in estrogen receptor (ER) negative (−) breast cancer cells. An inverse correlation of the level of EGFR and ER is observed between ER− and ER positive (+) breast cancer cells. A comparative study with EGFR-overproducing ER− and low-level producing ER+ breast cancer cells suggests that EGF is a major growth-stimulating factor for ER− cells. An outline of the pathway for the EGF-induced enhanced proliferation of ER− human breast cancer cells is proposed. The transmission of mitogenic signal induced by EGF–EGFR interaction is mediated via activation of nuclear factor κB (NF-κB). The basal level of active NF-κB in ER− cells is elevated by EGF and inhibited by anti-EGFR antibody (EGFR-Ab), thus qualifying EGF as a NF-κB activation factor. NF-κB transactivates the cell-cycle regulatory protein, cyclin D1, which causes increased phosphorylation of retinoblastoma protein, more strongly in ER− cells. An inhibitor of phosphatidylinositol 3 kinase, Ly294–002, blocked this event, suggesting a role of the former in the activation of NF-κB by EGF. Go6976, a well-characterized NF-κB inhibitor, blocked EGF-induced NF-κB activation and up-regulation of cell-cycle regulatory proteins. This low molecular weight compound also caused apoptotic death, predominantly more in ER− cells. Thus Go6976 and similar NF-κB inhibitors are potentially novel low molecular weight therapeutic agents for treatment of ER− breast cancer patients.

Topology of allosteric regulation of lactose permease

Sugar transport by some permeases in Escherichia coli is allosterically regulated by the phosphorylation state of the intracellular regulatory protein, enzyme IIAglc of the phosphoenolpyruvate:sugar phosphotransferase system. A sensitive radiochemical assay for the interaction of enzyme IIAglc with membrane-associated lactose permease was used to characterize the binding reaction. The binding is stimulated by transportable substrates such as lactose, melibiose, and raffinose, but not by sugars that are not transported (maltose and sucrose). Treatment of lactose permease with N-ethylmaleimide, which blocks ligand binding and transport by alkylating Cys-148, also blocks enzyme IIAglc binding. Preincubation with the substrate analog β-d-galactopyranosyl 1-thio-β-d-galactopyranoside protects both lactose transport and enzyme IIAglc binding against inhibition by N-ethylmaleimide. A collection of lactose permease replacement mutants at Cys-148 showed, with the exception of C148V, a good correlation of relative transport activity and enzyme IIAglc binding. The nature of the interaction of enzyme IIAglc with the cytoplasmic face of lactose permease was explored. The N- and C-termini, as well as five hydrophilic loops in the permease, are exposed on the cytoplasmic surface of the membrane and it has been proposed that the central cytoplasmic loop of lactose permease is the major determinant for interaction with enzyme IIAglc. Lactose permease mutants with polyhistidine insertions in cytoplasmic loops IV/V and VI/VII and periplasmic loop VII/VIII retain transport activity and therefore substrate binding, but do not bind enzyme IIAglc, indicating that these regions of lactose permease may be involved in recognition of enzyme IIAglc. Taken together, these results suggest that interaction of lactose permease with substrate promotes a conformational change that brings several cytoplasmic loops into an arrangement optimal for interaction with the regulatory protein, enzyme IIAglc. A topological map of the proposed interaction is presented.

From transforming growth factor-β signaling to androgen action: Identification of Smad3 as an androgen receptor coregulator in prostate cancer cells

Although transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) has been identified to mainly inhibit cell growth, the correlation of elevated TGF-β with increasing serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels in metastatic stages of prostate cancer has also been well documented. The molecular mechanism for these two contrasting effects of TGF-β, however, remains unclear. Here we report that Smad3, a downstream mediator of the TGF-β signaling pathway, functions as a coregulator to enhance androgen receptor (AR)-mediated transactivation. Compared with the wild-type AR, Smad3 acts as a strong coregulator in the presence of 1 nM 5α-dihydrotestosterone, 10 nM 17β-estradiol, or 1 μM hydroxyflutamide for the LNCaP mutant AR (mtAR T877A), found in many prostate tumor patients. We further showed that endogenous PSA expression in LNCaP cells can be induced by 5α-dihydrotestosterone, and the addition of the Smad3 further induces PSA expression. Together, our findings establish Smad3 as an important coregulator for the androgen-signaling pathway and provide a possible explanation for the positive role of TGF-β in androgen-promoted prostate cancer growth.

Von Willebrand factor propeptide as a marker of disease activity in systemic sclerosis (scleroderma)

In 44 consecutive patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc), plasma concentrations of von Willebrand factor (vWf) were higher than those of the vWf propeptide, but the propeptide showed less variability within patient subgroups. Higher values of the propeptide were observed in patients with early pulmonary involvement. A closer correlation of the propeptide than of vWf to biochemical markers of activity was also evident. Our results suggest that the propeptide, despite a shorter circulating half-time and lower plasma concentrations than vWf, is more useful in the assessment of disease activity in SSc.

Maize as a model for the evolution of plant nuclear genomes

The maize genome is replete with chromosomal duplications and repetitive DNA. The duplications resulted from an ancient polyploid event that occurred over 11 million years ago. Based on DNA sequence data, the polyploid event occurred after the divergence between sorghum and maize, and hence the polyploid event explains some of the difference in DNA content between these two species. Genomic rearrangement and diploidization followed the polyploid event. Most of the repetitive DNA in the maize genome is retrotransposable elements, and they comprise 50% of the genome. Retrotransposon multiplication has been relatively recent—within the last 5–6 million years—suggesting that the proliferation of retrotransposons has also contributed to differences in DNA content between sorghum and maize. There are still unanswered questions about repetitive DNA, including the distribution of repetitive DNA throughout the genome, the relative impacts of retrotransposons and chromosomal duplication in plant genome evolution, and the hypothesized correlation of duplication events with transposition. Population genetic processes also affect the evolution of genomes. We discuss how centromeric genes should, in theory, contain less genetic diversity than noncentromeric genes. In addition, studies of diversity in the wild relatives of maize indicate that different genes have different histories and also show that domestication and intensive breeding have had heterogeneous effects on genetic diversity across genes.