Harmonic Encoding in Cochlear Implants

Thesis (Master's)--University of Washington, 2016-06

Bioanalytical evaluation of Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. lactis 313 cell-envelope proteinase extraction

Lactobacilli cell-envelope proteinases (CEPs) have demonstrated numerous biopharmaceutical applications in the development of new streams of blockbuster nutraceuticals; thus, the development of efficient and commercially viable methods for CEP extraction will promote their full-scale application. In this study, the sub-cellular location of CEPs in Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. lactis 313 (LDL 313) was identified and the effects of different extraction methods were investigated for their ability to efficiently release CEPs from LDL 313. Significantly high relative proteinase activity of~95% was detected in cell-wall fractions and ~5% activity was observed for osmotic fluids, implying that proteinases in LDL 313 are cell-wall bound. CEPs were released from cell-wall via incubation in calcium-free buffer, indicating the enzyme is liable to self-digestion and ionic misfolding. Of the different extraction methods investigated, the use of 5 M LiCl was the most suitable, under the conditions of experimentation, for releasing high levels of CEPs from LDL 313.

Zero-phase inverse filtering for extraction of source characteristics

The instants at which significant excitation of vocal tract take place during voicing are referred to as epochs. Epochs and strengths of excitation pulses at epochs are useful in characterizing voice source. Epoch filtering technique proposed by the authors determine epochs from speech waveform. In this paper we propose zero-phase inverse filtering to obtain strengths of excitation pulses at epochs. Zero-phase inverse filter compensates the gross spectral envelope of short-time spectrum of speech without affecting phase characteristics. Linear prediction analysis is used to realize the zero-phase inverse filter. Source characteristics that can be derived from speech using this technique are illustrated with examples.

Identification and characterization of a novel envelope protein in Rana grylio virus

Viral envelope proteins have been proposed to play significant roles in virus infection and assembly. In this study, an envelope protein gene, 53R, was cloned and characterized from Rana grylio virus (RGV), a member of the family Iridoviridae. Database searches found its homologues in all sequenced iricloviruses, and sequence alignment revealed several conserved structural features shared by virus capsid or envelope proteins: a myristoylation site, two predicted transmembrane domains and two invariant cysteine residues. Subsequently, RT-PCR and Western blot detection revealed that the transcripts encoding RGV 53R and the protein itself appeared late during infection of fathead minnow cells and that their appearance was blocked by viral DNA replication inhibitor, indicating that RGV 53R is a late expression gene. Moreover, immunofluorescence localization found an association of 53R with virus factories in RGV-infected cells, and this association was further confirmed by expressing a 53R-GFP fusion protein in pEGFP-N3/53R-transfected cells. Furthermore, detergent extraction and Western blot detection confirmed that RGV 53R was associated with virion membrane. Therefore, the current data suggest that RGV 53R is a novel viral envelope protein and that it may play an important role in virus assembly. This is thought to be the first report on a viral envelope protein that is conserved in all sequenced iridoviruses.

Local energy, the pre-envelope, and filter resolution

We examine the construction of new filters for computing local energy, and compare these filters with the Gabor filters and the three-point-filter of Venkatesh [l]. Further, we demonstrate that the effect of convolution with complex Gabor filters is to band-pass (with some differentiating effect) and compute the local energy of the result. The magnitude of the resulting local energy is then used to detect features [2], [3] (step features, texture etc.), and the phase is used to classify the detected features [l], [4] or provide disparity information for stereo [5] and motion work [6], [7]. Each of these types of information can be obtained at multiple resolutions, enabling the use of course to fine strategies for computing disparity, and allowing the discrimination of image textures on the basis of which parts of the Fourier domain they dominate [8], [9].

Automating the extraction of quantities

The Automated Estimator and LCADesign are two early examples of nD modelling software which both rely on the extraction of quantities from CAD models to support their further processing. The issues of building information modelling (BIM), quantity takeoff for different purposes and automating quantity takeoff are discussed by comparing the aims and use of the two programs. The technical features of the two programs are also described. The technical issues around the use of 3D models is described together with implementation issues and comments about the implementation of the IFC specifications. Some user issues that emerged through the development process are described, with a summary of the generic research tasks which are necessary to fully support the use of BIM and nD modelling.

Toward a fuzzy domain ontology extraction method for adaptive e-learning

With the widespread applications of electronic learning (e-Learning) technologies to education at all levels, increasing number of online educational resources and messages are generated from the corresponding e-Learning environments. Nevertheless, it is quite difficult, if not totally impossible, for instructors to read through and analyze the online messages to predict the progress of their students on the fly. The main contribution of this paper is the illustration of a novel concept map generation mechanism which is underpinned by a fuzzy domain ontology extraction algorithm. The proposed mechanism can automatically construct concept maps based on the messages posted to online discussion forums. By browsing the concept maps, instructors can quickly identify the progress of their students and adjust the pedagogical sequence on the fly. Our initial experimental results reveal that the accuracy and the quality of the automatically generated concept maps are promising. Our research work opens the door to the development and application of intelligent software tools to enhance e-Learning.