MBTFNet: Multi-Band Temporal-Frequency Neural Network For Singing Voice Enhancement

A typical neural speech enhancement (SE) approach mainly handles speech and noise mixtures, which is not optimal for singing voice enhancement scenarios. Music source separation (MSS) models treat vocals and various accompaniment components equally, which may reduce performance compared to the model that only considers vocal enhancement. In this paper, we propose a novel multi-band temporal-frequency neural network (MBTFNet) for singing voice enhancement, which particularly removes background music, noise and even backing vocals from singing recordings. MBTFNet combines inter and intra-band modeling for better processing of full-band signals. Dual-path modeling are introduced to expand the receptive field of the model. We propose an implicit personalized enhancement (IPE) stage based on signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) estimation, which further improves the performance of MBTFNet. Experiments show that our proposed model significantly outperforms several state-of-the-art SE and MSS models

Developing Fatigue Pre-crack Procedure to Evaluate Fracture Toughness of Pipeline Steels Using Spiral Notch Torsion Test

The spiral notch torsion test (SNTT) has been utilized to investigate the crack growth behavior of X52 steel base and welded materials used for hydrogen infrastructures. The X52 steel materials are received from a welded pipe using friction stir welding techniques. Finite element models were established to study the crack growth behavior of steel SNTT steel samples, which were assumed to be isotropic material. A series SNTT models were set up to cover various crack penetration cases, of which the ratios between crack depth to diameter (a/D ratio) ranging from 0.10 to 0.45. The evolution of compliance and energy release rates in the SNTT method have been investigated with different cases, including different geometries and materials. Indices of characteristic compliance and energy release rates have been proposed. Good agreement has been achieved between predictions from different cases in the same trend. These work shed lights on a successful protocol for SNTT application in wide range of structural materials. The further effort needed for compliance function development is to extend the current developed compliance function to the deep crack penetration arena, in the range of 0.55 to 0.85 to effectively determine fracture toughness for extremely tough materials

Study of Histopathological and Molecular Changes of Rat Kidney under Simulated Weightlessness and Resistance Training Protective Effect

To explore the effects of long-term weightlessness on the renal tissue, we used the two months tail suspension model to simulate microgravity and investigated the simulated microgravity on the renal morphological damages and related molecular mechanisms. The microscopic examination of tissue structure and ultrastructure was carried out for histopathological changes of renal tissue morphology. The immunohistochemistry, real-time PCR and Western blot were performed to explore the molecular mechanisms associated the observations. Hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining showed severe pathological kidney lesions including glomerular atrophy, degeneration and necrosis of renal tubular epithelial cells in two months tail-suspended rats. Ultrastructural studies of the renal tubular epithelial cells demonstrated that basal laminas of renal tubules were rough and incrassate with mitochondria swelling and vacuolation. Cell apoptosis in kidney monitored by the expression of Bax/Bcl-2 and caspase-3 accompanied these pathological damages caused by long-term microgravity. Analysis of the HSP70 protein expression illustrated that overexpression of HSP70 might play a crucial role in inducing those pathological damages. Glucose regulated protein 78 (GRP78), one of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) chaperones, was up-regulated significantly in the kidney of tail suspension rat, which implied that ER-stress was associated with apoptosis. Furthermore, CHOP and caspase-12 pathways were activated in ER-stress induced apoptosis. Resistance training not only reduced kidney cell apoptosis and expression of HSP70 protein, it also can attenuate the kidney impairment imposed by weightlessness. The appropriate optimization might be needed for the long term application for space exploration

Novel Urine Cell-Free DNA Methylation Markers for Hepatocellular Carcinoma

An optimized hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)-targeted methylation next generation sequencing assay was developed to discover HCC-associated methylation markers directly from urine for HCC screening. Urine cell-free DNA (ucfDNA) isolated from a discovery cohort of 31 non-HCC and 30 HCC was used for biomarker discovery, identifying 29 genes with differentially methylated regions (DMRs). Methylation-specific qPCR (MSqPCR) assays were developed to verify the selected DMRs corresponding to 8 genes (GRASP, CCND2, HOXA9, BMP4, VIM, EMX1, SFRP1, and ECE). Using archived ucfDNA, methylation of GRASP, HOXA9, BMP4, and ECE1, were found to be significantly different (p \u3c 0.05) between HCC and non-HCC patients. The four markers together with previously reported GSTP1 and RASSF1A markers were assessed as a 6-marker panel in an independent training cohort of 87 non-HCC and 78 HCC using logistic regression modeling. AUROC of 0.908 (95% CI, 0.8656-0.9252) was identified for the 6-marker panel with AFP, which was significantly higher than AFP-alone (AUROC 0.841 (95% CI, 0.778-0.904), p = 0.0026). Applying backward selection method, a 4-marker panel was found to exhibit similar performance to the 6-marker panel with AFP having 80% sensitivity compared to 29.5% by AFP-alone at a specificity of 85%. This study supports the potential use of methylated transrenal ucfDNA for HCC screening

Nano-structured ferroelectromagnetic superlattices by laser MBE for spintronics

344 p.Recently, there have been extensive research activities in nanosciences and nanotechnologies and in intensive search for new and multifunctional materials for both scientifical exploration and wide technological applications. Ferroelectromagnetism, the coexistence of magnetic and electrical subsystems, engenders the material with the "product" property, thus allowing an additional degree of freedom in design of sensors, actuators, transducers, storage memory, and many electronic devices. Therefore, the ferroelectromagnetism with the product of electrical and magnetic properties is extremely suitable and useful for spintronics for the electrically induced spin property, including spin-valve transistor, spin light-emitting diodes, non-volatile magnetic memory.ARC 4/0

Developing Fatigue Pre-crack Procedure to Evaluate Fracture Toughness of Pipeline Steels Using Spiral Notch Torsion Test

The spiral notch torsion test (SNTT) has been utilized to investigate the crack growth behavior of X52 steel base and welded materials used for hydrogen infrastructures. The X52 steel materials are received from a welded pipe using friction stir welding techniques. Finite element models were established to study the crack growth behavior of steel SNTT steel samples, which were assumed to be isotropic material. A series SNTT models were set up to cover various crack penetration cases, of which the ratios between crack depth to diameter (a/D ratio) ranging from 0.10 to 0.45. The evolution of compliance and energy release rates in the SNTT method have been investigated with different cases, including different geometries and materials. Indices of characteristic compliance and energy release rates have been proposed. Good agreement has been achieved between predictions from different cases in the same trend. These work shed lights on a successful protocol for SNTT application in wide range of structural materials. The further effort needed for compliance function development is to extend the current developed compliance function to the deep crack penetration arena, in the range of 0.55 to 0.85 to effectively determine fracture toughness for extremely tough materials

Alteration of Regional Homogeneity within the Sensorimotor Network after Spinal Cord Decompression in Cervical Spondylotic Myelopathy: A Resting-State fMRI Study

There is a lack of longitudinal research to evaluate the function of neurons’ adaptive changes within the sensorimotor network (SMN) following recovery after cervical cord decompression. Regional homogeneity (ReHo) may provide information that is critical to fully understand CSM-related functional neural synchrony alterations. The purpose of this study was to assess the ReHo alterations of resting state-functional MRI (rs-fMRI) within pre- and postdecompression CSM and healthy controls (HC) and its correlations with clinical indices. Predecompression CSM demonstrated a significantly lower ReHo in the left primary sensory cortex and primary motor cortex (PostG/PreG) but enhanced ReHo in the right superior parietal lobule (SPL) compared with HC. In comparison with predecompression CSM, the postdecompression CSM showed increased ReHo in the left PostG/PreG but significantly lower ReHo in the right SPL compared with HC patients. Abnormal ReHo regions in pre- or postdecompression CSM showed no significant correlation with the Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA) scores, Neck Disability Index (NDI) scores, and disease duration (P>0.05). This result demonstrated disrupted regional homogeneity within SMN in CSM. This adaptive change in the brain may favor the preservation of sensorimotor networks before and after cervical cord decompression and clinical symptoms independent of ReHo within SMN

Diatom-inspired 2D nitric oxide releasing anti-infective porous nanofrustules

Two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterials (NM) have emerged as promising platforms for antibacterial applications. However, the inherent “flatness” of 2D NM often limits the loading of antimicrobial components needed for synergistic bactericidal actions. Here, inspired by the highly ornamented siliceous frustules of diatoms, we prepared 2D ultrathin (<20 nm) and rigid “nanofrustule” plates via the out-of-plane growth of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) directed silica mesostructures on the surfaces of 2D graphene oxide nanosheets. The nanofrustules were characterized by the presence of mesoporous channels with a pore size of 3 nm and a high specific surface area of 674 m2 g−1. S-nitrosothiol-modification on the silica surfaces enables the development of a novel anti-infective nitric oxide (NO) releasing NO-nanofrustule system. The cage-like mesoporous silica architecture enabled a controlled and sustainable release of NO from the NO-nanofrustules under physiological conditions. The NO-nanofrustules displayed broad antibacterial effects against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli with a minimum inhibitory concentration of 250 μg ml−1. Mechanistic studies revealed that the antibacterial property of NO-nanofrustules was attained via a unique “capture-and-release” mode-of-action. The first step entailed the capture of the bacteria by the NO-nanofrustules to form micro-aggregates. This was followed by the release of high levels of NO to the captured bacteria to elicit a potent anti-infective effect. In combination with the lack of cytotoxicity in human dermal cells, the 2D hybrid NO-nanofrustules may be utilized to combat wound infections in clinical settings.Ministry of Education (MOE)Nanyang Technological UniversityThe authors gratefully acknowledge support from the Singapore’s Ministry of Education (MOE) Academic Research Fund Tier 1 (RG38/20 2020-T1-001-152) and the Nanyang Technological University (NTU)-Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) Initiative for Sustainable Nanotechnology Program (NTU-HSPH 18002)