Additional file 1: of Unravelling the genomic architecture of bull fertility in Holstein cattle

Descriptive statistics for Sire Conception Rate (SCR): (A) Distribution of SCR values per evaluation, and (B) Distribution of the total number of SCR records per bull (number of repeated measurements). (JPG 135 kb

Additional file 2: of Unravelling the genomic architecture of bull fertility in Holstein cattle

Gene Ontology Molecular Function terms significantly enriched with genes associated with Sire Conception Rate. (DOCX 23 kb

No reference objective quality metric for stereoscopic 3D video

The stereoscopic three-dimensional (3D) video technologies have achieved significant success in providing enhanced immersive experience to consumers. However network delivery of 3D video content at good quality levels is challenging mostly due to the variable network conditions. In this context, efficient objective 3D video quality assessment is a critical aspect, in particular for video service providers who need to adjust the video delivery process to the network conditions in real-time. Current objective 3D video quality assessment methods are reference-based, requiring the availability of the original 3D video sequences, which is difficult to achieve in practice. Additionally, most of the existing 3D video quality metrics are developed for depth-enhanced 3D. This paper proposes the No reference objective Video Quality Metric (NVQM) for real-time 3D video quality assessment. NVQM considers the correlation between network packet loss and perceptual video quality for different bit-rate video sequences. NVQM is modeled based on the video quality model specified in ITU-T G.1070 and tuned according to results of extensive subjective tests. NVQM was developed for the evaluation of side-by-side stereoscopic 3D sequences, the most widely commercialized 3D video format. The performance of NVQM is studied by comparing against three state-of-the-art video quality objective models: structural similarity index (SSIM), video quality metric (VQM), and ITU-T G.1070. Results show that NVQM outperforms the existing objective metrics with up to 23% in terms of accuracy

Air quality modeling for effective environmental management in the mining region

<p>Air quality in the mining sector is a serious environmental concern and associated with many health issues. Air quality management in mining regions has been facing many challenges due to lack of understanding of atmospheric factors and physical removal mechanisms. A modeling approach called the mining air dispersion model (MADM) is developed to predict air pollutants concentration in the mining region while considering the deposition effect. The model takes into account the planet’s boundary conditions and assumes that the eddy diffusivity depends on the downwind distance. The developed MADM is applied to a mining site in Canada. The model provides values for the predicted concentrations of PM₁₀, PM_2.5, TSP, NO₂, and six heavy metals (As, Pb, Hg, Cd, Zn, Cr) at various receptor locations. The model shows that neutral stability conditions are dominant for the study site. The maximum mixing height is achieved (1280 m) during the evening in summer, and the minimum mixing height (380 m) is attained during the evening in winter. The dust fall (PM coarse) deposition flux is maximum during February and March with a deposition velocity of 4.67 cm/sec. The results are evaluated with the monitoring field values, revealing a good agreement for the target air pollutants with <i>R</i>-squared ranging from 0.72 to 0.96 for PM_2.5, from 0.71 to 0.82 for PM₁₀, and from 0.71 to 0.89 for NO₂. The analyses illustrate that the presented algorithm in this model can be used to assess air quality for the mining site in a systematic way. Comparisons of MADM and CALPUFF modeling values are made for four different pollutants (PM_2.5, PM₁₀, TSP, and NO₂) under three different atmospheric stability classes (stable, neutral, and unstable). Further, MADM results are statistically tested against CALPUFF for the air pollutants and model performance is found satisfactory.</p> <p><i>Implications</i>: The mathematical model (MADM) is developed by extending the Gaussian equation particularly when examining the settling process of important pollutants for the industrial region. Physical removal effects of air pollutants with field data have been considerred for the MADM development and for an extensive field case study. The model is well validated in the field of an open pit mine to assess the regional air quality. The MADA model helps to facilitate the management of the mining industry in doing estimation of emission rate around mining activities and predicting the resulted concentration of air pollutants together in one integrated approach.</p

High-Flux Graphene Oxide Nanofiltration Membrane Intercalated by Carbon Nanotubes

A sort of novel high-flux nanofiltration membrane was fabricated by synergistic assembling of graphene and multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs), in which graphene played the role of molecular sieving and MWNTs expanded the interlayer space between neighbored graphene sheets. The MWNT-intercalated graphene nanofiltration membrane (G-CNTm) showed a water flux up to 11.3 L m^–2 h^–1 bar^–1, more than 2 times that of the neat graphene nanofiltration membrane (GNm), while keeping high dye rejection (>99% for Direct Yellow and >96% Methyl Orange). The G-CNTm also showed good rejection ratio for salt ions (i.e., 83.5% for Na₂SO₄, 51.4% for NaCl). We also explored the antifouling performance of G-CNTm and GNm with bovine serum albumin (BSA), sodium alginate (SA) and humic acid (HA). Both G-CNTm and GNm possessed excellent antifouling performance for SA and HA but inferior for BSA because of the strong interaction between protein and graphene sheets

Longitudinal changes in periodontal measurements of bonded teeth.

<p>Longitudinal changes in periodontal measurements of bonded teeth.</p

Accuracy analysis on call quality assessments in voice over IP

Voice over IP (VoIP) now has tremendous influence on the telecommunication market with its flexibility and price advantage. Users of VoIP expect call quality to be as good as, if not better than the traditional Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN). However in VoIP, factors that are related to the IP transport network such as packet loss, delay, bandwidth, jitter, and voice encoding (codec) all affect call quality. Call quality assessment in VoIP systems is mainly conducted with off-line tests using the Perceptual Evaluation of Speech Quality (PESQ) [1] methodology. Another method that can be utilised is an on-line approach using the E-Model, which can be used in real time. However, these two methods have limits and inaccuracy, and often do not give the same results. Call quality assessment is often used to adjust system and codec parameters. Therefore, given inaccurate results, the system would decrease the adjustment efficiency or even inadvertently decrease call quality. The primary contribution of this paper is a comparison between the accuracy of PESQ and the E-Model investigated by conducting an extensive set of experiments in a real enterprise network using a widely deployed Voice over IP (VoIP) product. Experiments were conducted under varying controlled network conditions. The results show that under various conditions, loss rates, codecs and across a range of languages that there can be significant differences between the call quality measurement obtained when using the E-model versus a PESQ analysi

Determination of bit-rate adaptation thresholds for the opus codec for VoIP services

In this paper, we present an experimental evaluation of the recently standardized Opus codec used in a VoIP context. Opus operates in both narrow and wideband modes, similar to Adaptive Multi-Rate (AMR). Through the use of the Wideband Perceptual Evaluation of Speech Quality (WB-PESQ) metric, we have conducted an extensive set of experiments using multiple audio samples encoded at different bit-rates, to investigate the impact of packet loss on resulting speech quality. Using these results, fitting functions for each bit-rate were computed to provide a straightforward manner of evaluating speech quality when given a specified packet loss rate. Using ns-2, a simulation analysis was conducted to evaluate the effect of background traffic on transmitted Opus streams. We observed that, when using different levels of background traffic, the observed packet loss rates varied heavily depending on the stream bit-rate. By correlating this information with the fitting functions derived previously, we were able to define switching thresholds. These are points where the speech quality of a lower bit-rate stream is greater than that of a higher bit-rate stream for the same levels of link bandwidth saturation

The three-dimensional finite volume model of the lower central incisor with bracket and archwire.

<p>The peri-bracket sites were divided as extending 2 mm around the bracket base. Occlusal regions along the bracket (BO), gingival region along the bracket (BG), left region along the bracket (BL) and right region along the bracket (BR).</p

Average salivary velocity of peri-bracket sites at T1 and T2.

<p>Occlusal regions along the bracket (BO), gingival region along the bracket (BG), left region along the bracket (BL) and right region along the bracket (BR).</p