Reverberation time estimation on the ACE corpus using the SDD method

Reverberation Time (T60) is an important measure for characterizing the properties of a room. The author's T60 estimation algorithm was previously tested on simulated data where the noise is artificially added to the speech after convolution with a impulse responses simulated using the image method. We test the algorithm on speech convolved with real recorded impulse responses and noise from the same rooms from the Acoustic Characterization of Environments (ACE) corpus and achieve results comparable results to those using simulated data.Comment: In Proceedings of the ACE Challenge Workshop - a satellite event of IEEE-WASPAA 2015 (arXiv:1510.00383

Humanized microbiota mice as a model of recurrent \u3ci\u3eClostridium difficile\u3c/i\u3e disease

Background: Clostridium difficile disease is the leading antibiotic-associated cause of diarrhea and nosocomial acquired infection in the western world. The per annum burden in the USA alone amounts to 250,000 cases with 14,000 ascribed deaths and medical costs in excess of a billion dollars. Novel models for the study of C. difficile infection are therefore pertinent. Results: Germ free C57BL/6 mice gavaged with a healthy human fecal microbiota maintained a stable “humanized” microbiota over multiple generations when housed under specific pathogen-free (SPF) conditions. As with mice containing a conventional microbiota, treatment with a five-antibiotic cocktail followed by a single dose of clindamycin renders the animals susceptible to C. difficile infection (CDI). Interestingly, after recovery from the initial CDI infection, a single intraperitoneal injection of clindamycin is sufficient to induce CDI relapse. Relapse of CDI can be induced up to 35 days postinfection after recovery from the initial infection, and multiple episodes of relapse can be induced. Conclusions: This model enables the study of recurrent C. difficile disease in a host containing a human-derived microbiota. Probiotic treatments using human-derived microbes, either prophylactic or curative, can be tested within the model. The identification and testing of human-derived microbial communities within a humanized microbiota mouse model may enable a higher rate of successful transfer of bacteria-based treatments from the lab to human patients due to the microbes involved initiating from, and being adapted to, the human GI tract

A feeding experiment for milk

This Feeding experiment indicates that corn meal fed with corn fodder, or corn ensilage, results in the more rapid decrease of milk, and its fat, and solids, than the advance in the period of lactation justifies. That corn meal fed with sorghum ensilage results in very rapid decrease in milk, and milk fat and solids, and that the combination is not profitable. That corn meal fed with roots and clover hay is palatable and gives good results, without considering the cost of feeds, that was not normal during the experiment

Experiment in feeding for milk

For the purpose of learning the comparative value of Iowa feeding stuffs for milk, an experiment has been conducted with eight cows during a space of sixty days. Upon taking possession of the Station and Farm the present management found corn fodder, corn ensilage, cane ensilage and roots, at their disposal, and resolved to begin a system of investigation that is intended to embrace everything grown on Iowa soils that can be profitably turned into milk and meats. We desired to study the farm animals with a view to learning their value, make tests of the yield of all the cows as regards quality and quantity of milk, so as to select, and reject, with intelligence, and put the herds upon the highest plane of usefulness. The Station and Farm had about thirty cows giving milk, and from these we selected eight whose milking seasons would not terminate during the time they would be under trial. Of the six distinct breeds on the grounds, we selected two thoroughbred Holsteins, Nos. 114 and 115, a grade Holstein No. 64, a thoroughbred Short horn No. 219, a grade Ayrshire and short horn No. 40, a grade Jersey No. 38, and two grade Short horns Nos. 3 and 37. The numbers are the names of the cows, all grades being numbered between one and one hundred, Holsteins between one hundred and two hundred, Short horns between two hundred and three hun-hundred, and, as we will use some of these cows in other experiments for future reports, we retain the numbers by which all the farm workmen know them

Field Surveys of Midwestern and Northeastern Fish and Wildlife Service Lands for the Presence of Abnormal Frogs and Toads

The national distribution of information on the discovery of malformations in Minnesota frogs in 1995 stimulated collection and examination of newly metamorphosed frogs during 1996. By late summer and early fall of 1996, malformed frogs and toads were reported on U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) lands in Vermont (Northeast, Region 5) and Minnesota (Midwest, Region 3). In response to these reports, biologists in USFWS Regions 3 and 5 conducted a survey, during the summer of 1997 to determine the distribution and type of malformations in frogs and toads on selected Federal lands. Region 3 personnel surveyed 38 field stations at National Wildlife Refuges (NWR\u27s) and Wetland Management Districts. Malformed frogs and toads were collected at 23 (61 %) of the Region 3 sites. External malformations were detected in 110 of 6632 individuals representing seven of 13 frog species and one of three toad species examined for an overall total of 1.7% affected (percentages for affected species ranged from 0.4-5.2%). In Region 5, 17 NWR\u27s and one National Park were surveyed. Malformed frogs were collected at 10 (56%) of the Region 5 sites. External malformations were detected in 58 of 2267 individuals representing six of 11 frog species and one of two toad species examined for an overall total of 2.6% affected (percentages for affected species ranged from 1.8-15.6%). The majority of malformations observed in frogs and toads collected in Regions 3 and 5 were partially or completely missing hind limbs and digits (50%) or malformed hind limbs and digits (14%). A few individuals had an extra limb or toe, missing or malformed front limb, missing eye or malformation of the mandible. Despite small sample sizes at some sites, malformations were confirmed to be present in eight species of frogs and two species of toads on Federal lands in USFWS Regions 3 and 5. Further study is needed to determine the extent and distribution of amphibian malformations in these Regions. Data from this study were provided to the national database on distribution of malformed amphibians

Convicts and coolies : rethinking indentured labour in the nineteenth century

This article seeks to shift the frame of analysis within which discussions of Indian indentured migration take place. It argues that colonial discourses and practices of indenture are best understood not with regard to the common historiographical framework of whether it was 'a new system of slavery', but in the context of colonial innovations in incarceration and confinement. The article shows how Indian experiences of and knowledge about transportation overseas to penal settlements informed in important ways both their own understandings and representations of migration and the colonial practices associated with the recruitment of indentured labour. In detailing the connections between two supposedly different labour regimes, it thus brings a further layer of complexity to debates around their supposed distinctions

Biomechanical, ultrastructural, and electrophysiological characterization of the non-human primate experimental glaucoma model.

Laser-induced experimental glaucoma (ExGl) in non-human primates (NHPs) is a common animal model for ocular drug development. While many features of human hypertensive glaucoma are replicated in this model, structural and functional changes in the unlasered portions of trabecular meshwork (TM) of laser-treated primate eyes are understudied. We studied NHPs with ExGl of several years duration. As expected, ExGl eyes exhibited selective reductions of the retinal nerve fiber layer that correlate with electrophysiologic measures documenting a link between morphologic and elctrophysiologic endpoints. Softening of unlasered TM in ExGl eyes compared to untreated controls was observed. The degree of TM softening was consistent, regardless of pre-mortem clinical findings including severity of IOP elevation, retinal nerve fiber layer thinning, or electrodiagnostic findings. Importantly, this softening is contrary to TM stiffening reported in glaucomatous human eyes. Furthermore, microscopic analysis of unlasered TM from eyes with ExGl demonstrated TM thinning with collapse of Schlemm's canal; and proteomic analysis confirmed downregulation of metabolic and structural proteins. These data demonstrate unexpected and compensatory changes involving the TM in the NHP model of ExGl. The data suggest that compensatory mechanisms exist in normal animals and respond to elevated IOP through softening of the meshwork to increase outflow