Multiple Streams Synchronization in Collaborative Multimedia Systems

With the recent increase of the communication bandwidth and processor power, new types of applications have emerged. Among them, there are multimedia application, in which users are able to control, combine, and manipulate different types of media, such as text, sound, video, computer graphics, and animation. A key requirement in any multimedia application is to synchronize the delivery of various media streams to the user. To achieve this, the sender has to provide the temporal relations between the streams as they are captured. Since the receiver uses this information in streams presentation, its accuracy is very important. Our main contribution is to provide a suit of synchronization algorithms for audio, video and X-windows streams that work correctly in the presence of load variations. First, we propose a mechanism for assigning a correct synchronization specification to media units that takes into account the workload variation at the sender; although this issue is critical, it has been largely ignored in previous work. Second, for detecting the skew between the streams, we propose a synchronization condition that works in the general case of streams having different media unit durations. Based on this condition, we develop an adaptive lip-synchronization algorithm. By estimating the display time of video frames, our algorithm is robust and stable in the presence of both network and workstation load. To synchronize the X-windows stream with the audio/video stream we propose a novel approach that combines dropping X packets with delaying the X client. Finally, we extend our algorithms to a distributed environment. We do this by proposing (1) a mechanism for extracting the synchronization information from mixed audio streams, and (2) a lightweight mechanism to achieve global clock synchronization

The development of value-added yogurt based on pumpkin peel powder as a bioactive powder

This study aimed to explore the utilization of pumpkin by-products as a bioactive powder in the development of value-added yogurt. Pumpkin peel resulting from food processing contains antioxidant components like phenolics, flavonoids, and carotenoids, compounds characterized by high bioactivity. This study investigated the potential of incorporating pumpkin peel powder (PPP) into yogurt to enhance its nutritional value and sensory attributes. Results indicated that the incorporation of PPP into yogurt resulted in improvements in nutritional composition, particularly in terms of β-carotene and bioactive compounds. Additionally, the addition of PPP positively influenced the textural properties of the yogurt. The sensory evaluation revealed that the incorporation of pumpkin peel had no negative impact on the overall acceptability of the yogurt, with some samples (YPP2) even exhibiting preferred sensory characteristics compared to the control. The utilization of PPP as a bioactive powder in yogurt presents a promising strategy for reducing food waste and creating innovative, value-added dairy products. The development of such products can not only contribute to sustainable food production but also provide consumers with more diverse food choices with enhanced characteristics

Modulation of the silica sol-gel composition for the promotion of direct electron transfer to encapsulated cytochrome

The direct electron transfer between indium-tin oxide electrodes (ITO) and cytochrome c encapsulated in different sol-gel silica networks was studied. Cyt c@silica modified electrodes were synthesized by a two-step encapsulation method mixing a phosphate buffer solution with dissolved cytochrome c and a silica sol prepared by the alcohol-free sol-gel route. These modified electrodes were characterized by cyclic voltammetry, UV-vis spectroscopy, and in situ UV-vis spectroelectrochemistry. The electrochemical response of encapsulated protein is influenced by the terminal groups of the silica pores. Cyt c does not present electrochemical response in conventional silica (hydroxyl terminated) or phenyl terminated silica. Direct electron transfer to encapsulated cytochrome c and ITO electrodes only takes place when the protein is encapsulated in methyl modified silica networks.We gratefully acknowledge Jesus Yanez and Prof. Jose Miguel Martin-Martinez from the Laboratory of Adhesion and Adhesives (University of Alicante) for their assistance in the measurements of contact angle. We also acknowledge the Financial support from the Spanish Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad and FEDER y Ciencia (MAT2010-15273), Generalitat Valenciana (PROMETEO2013/038), and the Fundacion Ramon Areces (CIVP16A1821). Alonso Gamero-Quijano is grateful to Generalitat Valenciana (Santiago Grisolia Program) for the funding of his research fellowship.Gamero-Quijano, A.; Huerta, F.; Morallón, E.; Montilla, F. (2014). Modulation of the silica sol-gel composition for the promotion of direct electron transfer to encapsulated cytochrome. Langmuir. 30(34):10531-10538. https://doi.org/10.1021/la5023517S1053110538303

Measurement of ϒ production in pp collisions at √s = 2.76 TeV

The production of ϒ(1S), ϒ(2S) and ϒ(3S) mesons decaying into the dimuon final state is studied with the LHCb detector using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3.3 pb−1 collected in proton–proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of √s = 2.76 TeV. The differential production cross-sections times dimuon branching fractions are measured as functions of the ϒ transverse momentum and rapidity, over the ranges pT < 15 GeV/c and 2.0 < y < 4.5. The total cross-sections in this kinematic region, assuming unpolarised production, are measured to be σ (pp → ϒ(1S)X) × B ϒ(1S)→μ+μ− = 1.111 ± 0.043 ± 0.044 nb, σ (pp → ϒ(2S)X) × B ϒ(2S)→μ+μ− = 0.264 ± 0.023 ± 0.011 nb, σ (pp → ϒ(3S)X) × B ϒ(3S)→μ+μ− = 0.159 ± 0.020 ± 0.007 nb, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic

Predicting gene functions from text using a cross-species approach

We propose a cross-species approach for assigning Gene Ontology terms to LocusLink genes based on evidence extracted from biomedical journal articles. We make use of information from orthologous genes to derive and merge two sets of GO codes for a given target gene. For the first set, we restrict GO code assignments to be selected from only those codes which have already been assigned to the target gene’s ortholog. Since this approach results in high precision but low recall, for the second set, we allow any GO code to be a candidate, but then eliminate those codes which are illogical to pair with a GO code that is known to be associated with the orthologous gene. Experimental results on three datasets show that the F-measure obtained with this algorithm is consistently higher than the F-measure of other current solutions. 1

MACROECONOMIC IMPACT OF DECENTRALIZATION

The concept of decentralization has a variety of expressions, but the meaning generally accepted refers to the transfer of authority and responsibility of the public functions from central government to sub-national public entities or even to the private sector. Decentralization process is complex, affecting many aspects of social and economic life and public management, and its design and implementation cover several stages, depending on the cyclical and structural developments of the country. From an economic perspective, decentralization is seen as a means of primary importance in terms of improving the effectiveness and efficiency of public services and macroeconomic stability due to the redistribution of public finances while in a much closer logic of the government policy objectives. But the decentralization process behaves as well some risks, because it involves the implementation of appropriate mechanisms for the establishment of income and expenditure programming at the subnational level, which, if is not correlated with macroeconomic policy imperatives can lead to major imbalances, both financially as in termes of economic and social life. Equally, ensuring the balance of the budget at the local level is imperative to fulfill, this goal imposing a legal framework and specific procedures to size transfers of public funds, targeted or untargeted. Also, public and local authorities have to adopt appropriate laws and regulations such that sub-national public entities can access loans - such as bank loans or debentures from domestic or external market - in terms of a strict monitoring national financial stability. In all aspects of decentralization - political, administrative, financial -, public authorities should develop and implement the most effective mechanisms to coordinate macroeconomic objectives and both sectoral and local interests and establish clear responsibilities - exclusive or shared - for all parties involved in the modernization process of the state

GOOD GOVERNANCE AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN THE XXI CENTURY

Nowadays, information, goods, people circulate and brew. The evolution of science and technology, market and capital dynamics, the generalization of models of development and living, these changes affect the relationship with the biosphere and threaten its balance at the same time the one becomes aware of the complexity and probably their fragility. Governance, from local to global, is at the heart of those quantitative but also qualitative changes. Governance is the complex regulator system of the human society which manages both the internal and relations with the outside world, which at the same time guarantees the stability and allows adaptation. Governance is an architecture, a set of practices born of practical challenges that societies face, forming a system that allows to formulate general principles. Stating general principles of good governance will help to build a stable and sustainable society, the common frame of reference against which one can lie and act within and outside the public service. Thus, the governance is based on a territorial approach and the principle of active subsidiarity. Governance been based on a universal ethic of responsibility, it puts the economy in its place and defines what is the market and what does not belong, defines the cycle of development, implementation and monitoring of public policies, organizes cooperation and synergies between actors

SOVEREIGN DEBT RESTRUCTURING AND “VULTURE FUNDS”

Defining sovereign debt - debt issued or guaranteed by a public entity: central and / or regional public authorities, central banks, public institutions or enterprises - must include the risks that its management may generate, mainly the risk of default. If an medium period of time - 3-5 years – the macroeconomic growth of a state, and as the result the increase of the public revenues constantly lies below the growth of sovereign debt, these will cause an insolvability risk to cover it, and that state should proceed to restructure its debt. Financial stability of public authorities and sovereign debt occurred since the beginning of the creation of democratic states, and instruments for debt restructuring have been continuously adapted to economic and social conjuncture. Initially, states faced a necessity of funding were borrowed from foreign governments and / or large consortia bank, and when their debts had to be restructured it has been created the international institutional framework to negotiate between debtor countries and public creditors - Paris Club - and to coordinate negotiations between public authorities and major debtor consortia - London Club. In the last decade 'vulture funds' occurred, which are hedge funds acquiring from the secondary financial market debt the securities, including public debt, to a much lower share nominal value. Subsequently, vulture funds claim states issuing debt repayment at values close or equal to the face value - in this way can make a profit of more than 100% of the financial investment they made it on the secondary market. If these countries do not comply, generally being unable to honor their public debt, vultures funds act the countries in international courts, which usually prevails because vultures funds’ action is legal under current conditions

NLP Support for Faceted Navigation in Scholarly Collections

Hierarchical faceted metadata is a proven and popular approach to organizing information for navigation of information collections. More recently, digital libraries have begun to adopt faceted navigation for collections of scholarly holdings. A key impediment to further adoption is the need for the creation of subject-oriented faceted metadata. The Castanet algorithm was developed for the purpose of (semi) automated creation of such structures. This paper describes the application of Castanet to journal title content, and presents an evaluation suggesting its efficacy. This is followed by a discussion of areas for future work.