EMD-based filtering (EMDF) of low-frequency noise for speech enhancement

An Empirical Mode Decomposition based filtering (EMDF) approach is presented as a post-processing stage for speech enhancement. This method is particularly effective in low frequency noise environments. Unlike previous EMD based denoising methods, this approach does not make the assumption that the contaminating noise signal is fractional Gaussian Noise. An adaptive method is developed to select the IMF index for separating the noise components from the speech based on the second-order IMF statistics. The low frequency noise components are then separated by a partial reconstruction from the IMFs. It is shown that the proposed EMDF technique is able to suppress residual noise from speech signals that were enhanced by the conventional optimallymodified log-spectral amplitude approach which uses a minimum statistics based noise estimate. A comparative performance study is included that demonstrates the effectiveness of the EMDF system in various noise environments, such as car interior noise, military vehicle noise and babble noise. In particular, improvements up to 10 dB are obtained in car noise environments. Listening tests were performed that confirm the results

Estimating State and Local Tax Exporting Between 1999 and 2012

In fiscal year 2012, state and local governments collected $1.4 trillion in taxes. Using various data sources, this paper presents state-by-state estimates of the amount that each state is able to export of its tax burden to non-residents, including the export effects of federal deductibility. Overall, based on the economic incidence assumptions outlined in this paper, between 12.5 percent and 45 percent of state and local tax collections were ultimately borne by out-of-state residents in FY 2012. This large range is the result of the uncertainty pertaining to the economic incidence of the property tax

Stakeholder Perception of the Ethics of an Industry: The Case of Organic Food in South India

<p class="03ABSTRACT"><strong>Abstract</strong></p><p class="03ABSTRACT">Increasing reliance on artificial and non-sustainable methods of agriculture had resulted in negatively affecting both the soil and the health of agriculturists. Organic agriculture abhors such conventional agricultural practices and inculcates the implementation of safer, socially responsible and environmentally sustainable agricultural practices. This paper analyses the stakeholders’ perception of responsibility and environmental sustainability by conducting qualitative research using case studies of several organic food supply chains based in Kerala, a state in the south of India. The interviews with key stakeholders along the supply chain network illustrate that the rationale for organic agriculture is based on principles of fairness, responsibility and sustainability. Furthermore, the results depict that perceptions of ethics vary amongst stakeholder groups. Thoughthe literature is extensive on business ethics and sustainability, research on stakeholder perception along the entire industry is minimal within academic literature and the paper contributes to this area. Furthermore, from a managerial perspective, this paper sheds light on the influence of business ethics within an industry and exhibits the importance and influence of social responsibility and environmental sustainability within an industry.</p><p class="04KEYWORD"> Keywords: Ethics, food, sustainability, responsibility, agriculture, organic</p

Practical Approaches to USO Costing and Financing

In this paper we set out a holistic approach that incorporates recent developments in assessing the net cost of the USO and presents a robust methodology for practical implementation. We analyse the issues relating to assessing the net costs of the USO with particular focus on the benefits associated with USO and current empirical approaches to calculating the net costs. We then present an overview of approaches that have been applied in various countries and highlight their strengths and shortcomings in light of the necessarily theoretical aspects discussed in the first part of the paper. Finally, we present a practical approach that we believe assesses robustly the net cost of the USO.Regulation, Post, Universal service obligation, Financing

Trust in Government in the Trump Era: A Comprehensive Study of U.S. Public Opinion on the Federal Government Under the Trump Administration

The election and presidency of Donald Trump has upended American politics in numerous ways. For his most ardent supporters, President Trump's efforts to change things in Washington; to deliver nationalist economic policies on trade, jobs, and immigration; and to advance culturally conservative rhetoric and racial appeals are worth the break with past presidential behavior and national unity. For his detractors, the actions of Trump and his administration represent a serious abrogation of presidential norms and mark a dangerous shift away from pluralist democracy and toward more authoritarian nationalism. Many other voters with less intense feelings about Trump are just trying to put the whole spectacle out of their minds and to find some semblance of normalcy in a politically fractured environment. For those who study public attitudes about government itself, the Trump presidency raises serious questions about whether the United States is experiencing real, long-lasting changes in voters' attitudes toward government, or if Americans are reacting in intense but more typical ways that are consistent with past trends. To examine these issues in more detail, the Center for American Progress, along with its colleagues at Hart Research Associates, designed a comprehensive national survey to measure basic beliefs about government and specific voter attitudes about the Trump administration. The online survey of 1,500 registered voters nationally was conducted March 19–25, 2018, and has an overall margin of error of +/- 2.6 percent. This study builds upon a major public opinion study that CAP and Hart conducted in 2015, which examined public attitudes about government and explored a variety of proposals for improving the performance and representation of the government in Washington. The results of that research are summarized in the unpublished May 2016 report, "Of the People, By the People, For the People? A National Study of Public Trust and Confidence in Government."1Based on the results of the current study and comparisons with earlier responses from the 2015 research and other publicly available data, we believe that reactions to the Trump administration represent a genuine break with past public views of government in significant ways. Most importantly, the partisan divisions on measures of trust and confidence in government found in earlier research are now fully solidified. Many American voters today are not basing their evaluations of government on objective criteria that weigh policy choices and overall performance in a neutral manner. Rather, in-party and out-party voters are reacting in entirely divergent ways to the government itself based primarily upon who is leading the government and which party is in control

N-Methylmesoporphyrin IX Fluorescence As A Reporter Of Strand Orientation In Guanine Quadruplexes

Guanine quadruplexes (GQ) are four-stranded DNA structures formed by guanine-rich DNA sequences. The formation of GQs inhibits cancer cell growth, although the detection of GQs invivo has proven difficult, in part because of their structural diversity. The development of GQ-selective fluorescent reporters would enhance our ability to quantify the number and location of GQs, ultimately advancing biological studies of quadruplex relevance and function. N-methylmesoporphyrin IX (NMM) interacts selectively with parallel-stranded GQs; in addition, its fluorescence is sensitive to the presence of DNA, making this ligand a possible candidate for a quadruplex probe. In the present study, we investigated the effect of DNA secondary structure on NMM fluorescence. We found that NMM fluorescence increases by about 60-fold in the presence of parallel-stranded GQs and by about 40-fold in the presence of hybrid GQs. Antiparallel GQs lead to lower than 10-fold increases in NMM fluorescence. Single-stranded DNA, duplex, or i-motif, induce no change in NMM fluorescence. We conclude that NMM shows promise as a turn-on\u27 fluorescent probe for detecting quadruplex structures, as well as for differentiating them on the basis of strand orientation

Empirical characteristics of different types of pedestrian streams

Reliable empirical data and proper understanding of pedestrian dynamics are necessary for fire safety design. However, specifications and data in different handbooks as well as experimental studies differ considerably. In this study, series of experiments under laboratory conditions were carried out to study the characteristics of uni- and bidirectional pedestrian streams in straight corridor. The Voronoi method is used to resolve the fine structure of the resulting velocity-density relations and spatial dependence of the measurements. The result shows differences in the shape of the relation for \rho > 1.0 m-2. The maximal specific flow of unidirectional streams is significantly larger than that of all bidirectional streams examined

The application of platelet rich fibrin in patients presenting with osteonecrosis of the jaw: A systematic literature review

The aim of this systematic literature review was to summarise the available evidence regarding the administration of platelet rich fibrin (PRF) in patients diagnosed with osteonecrosis of the jaw (ONJ). A PRISMA-conform sys- tematic literature review was conducted using a PICO-defined search strategy. MEDLINE was accessed and hits published before February 2020 were reviewed. All studies reporting on intraoperative administration of PRF into an osseous defect in patients presenting with ONJ were included. Eligibility of the studies was assessed by two independent reviewers according to prespecified criteria. Sixteen studies described the application of PRF for treatment of ONJ in 166 patients. Follow-up periods ranged from 30 to 1560 days. There was large heterogeneity regarding patient details and perioperative management. The only randomised controlled study (RCT) included suggested modest superiority in early recovery, infection rate and reported pain. No adverse events related to PRF were reported in any of the studies. The evidence regarding relative merits of PRF application versus standard of care in patients with ONJ is low. Current evidence is limited by small, non-consecutive patient samples and lack of a randomised control group. Because some observational reports and one RCT suggested improvements of early recovery, further studies are neede