The effects of binaural spectral resolution mismatch on Mandarin speech perception in simulated electric hearing

This study assessed the effects of binaural spectral resolution mismatch on the intelligibility of Mandarin speech in noise using bilateral cochlear implant simulations. Noise-vocoded Mandarin speech, corrupted by speech-shaped noise at 0 and 5?dB signal-to-noise ratios, were presented unilaterally or bilaterally to normal-hearing listeners with mismatched spectral resolution between ears. Significant binaural benefits for Mandarin speech recognition were observed only with matched spectral resolution between ears. In addition, the performance of tone identification was more robust to noise than that of sentence recognition, suggesting factors other than tone identification might account more for the degraded sentence recognition in noise.     

Minimum Required Local Storages of an Automated Assembly System

An optimal strategy for selection of the required local storages of the workstations and transporter stations of a finite capacity flexible assembly line system is presented while controlling the bottleneck problem. For this purpose, a mixed non-Markovian queueing network with infinite capacity nodes is presented to model its performance, a stochastic optimization model is provided and a heuristic algorithm is developed for solving it. Finally, an example is presented and the approximation results are compared with those from a simulation study.     

Reconfigurable T-junction DNA Origami

DNA self-assembly allows the construction of nanometre-scale structures and devices. Structures with thousands of unique components are routinely assembled in good yield. Experimental progress has been rapid, based largely on empirical design rules. Herein, we demonstrate a DNA origami technique designed as a model system with which to explore the mechanism of assembly. The origami fold is controlled through single-stranded loops embedded in a double-stranded DNA template and is programmed by a set of double-stranded linkers that specify pairwise interactions between loop sequences. Assembly is via T-junctions formed by hybridization of single-stranded overhangs on the linkers with the loops. The sequence of loops on the template and the set of interaction rules embodied in the linkers can be reconfigured with ease. We show that a set of just two interaction rules can be used to assemble simple T-junction origami motifs and that assembly can be performed at room temperature.     

Design,synthesis, biological evaluation,and docking study of new acridine-9-carboxamide linked to 1,2,3-triazole derivatives as antidiabetic agents targeting α-glucosidase

A new series of acridine-9-carboxamide-1,2,3-triazole derivatives 7a-m were designed, synthesized, and evaluated as novel α-glucosidase inhibitors. Acridine-9-carboxamide-1,2,3-triazole scaffold has been designed by combination of effective moieties from potent α-glucosidase inhibitors. Most of the synthesized compounds were more potent than standard inhibitor acarbose. Among the title compounds, the most potent compounds were compounds 7j , 7k , and 7a with IC₅₀ values of 120.2 ± 1.0, 151.1 ± 1.4, and 157.6 ± 1.6 μM, respectively (IC₅₀ value of acarbose = 750.0 ± 10.0 μM). Docking study of the most potent compounds demonstrated that these compounds formed stable complexes with α-glucosidase active site. Anti-α-amylase assay of compounds 7j , 7k , and 7a was performed and no activity was observed. in vitro cytotoxicity assay of the latter compounds revealed that these compounds were not cytotoxic toward human normal (HDF) and cancer (MCF-7) cell lines. ADME and toxicity prediction of compounds 7j , 7k , and 7a were also performed.     

Breather wave,periodic, and cross-kink solutions to the generalized Bogoyavlensky-Konopelchenko equation

The present article deals with multi-waves and breather wave solutions of the generalized Bogoyavlensky-Konopelchenko equation by virtue of the Hirota bilinear operator method and the semi-inverse variational principle. The obtained solutions for solving the current equation represent some localized waves including soliton, periodic, and cross-kink solutions in which have been investigated by the approach of the bilinear method. With certain parameter constraints in the multi-waves and breather, all cases of the periodic and cross-kink solutions can be captured from the one and two soliton(s). The obtained solutions are extended with numerical simulation to analyze graphically, which results into 1- and 2-soliton solutions and also periodic and cross-kink solutions profiles, that will be extensively used to report many attractive physical phenomena in the fields of acoustics, heat transfer, fluid dynamics, classical mechanics, and so on.     

Carbon-13 chemical shift assignment of some organophosphorus compounds: 1—Dialkyl and diaryl (alkylamido)phosphates with general formula Y2P(X)NHR

Carbon-13 chemical shifts and the POC, POCC, PNC and PNCC coupling constants of 18 compounds containing the amine moiety, and with the general formula Y₂P(X)NHR [Y=C₂H₅O, C₆H₅O, CH₂O, Y₂=1,2-dioxybenzene; X = O or S; R = H, CH₃, C₂H₅, PhCH₂CH₂, (CH₃)₂CH, C(CH₃)₃, C₆H₁₁, C₆H₅, C₆H₅NH] have been determined. The Y₂P(X) group shows a sterically induced effect on the amine moiety; the ¹³C chemical shift of the Y group is, however, almost unaffected on replacing P(O) by a P(S) group.     

Deuterium nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. II—distribution of deuterium in some labelled nitrogen heterocyclic compounds

Pyridine, methylpyridines, quinoline and isoquinoline have been labelled with deuterium using pre-reduced platinum dioxide (PtO₂·2H₂O) and heavy water. Their ²H chemical shifts from monodeuteriated TMS have been assigned. The extent of the labelling has been determined directly by ²H NMR spectroscopy.     

The non-Fermi-liquid nature of the metallic states of the Hubbard Hamiltonian

It has long since been argued that the metallic states of the single-band Hubbard Hamiltonian ? in two spatial dimensions (i.e. for d = 2) should be non-Fermi liquid, a possibility that would lead to the understanding of the observed anomalous behaviour of the doped copper-oxide-based superconducting compounds in their normal metallic states. Here we present a formalism which enables us to express, for arbitrary d, the behaviour of the momentum-distribution function nσ(k) pertaining to uniform metallic ground states of ? close to S _F; σ (the Fermi surface of the fermions with spin index σ, σ = ↑, ↓) in terms of a small number of constant parameters which are bound to satisfy certain inequalities implied by the requirement of the stability of the ground state of the system. These inequalities restrict the range of variation in nσ(k) for k infinitesimally inside and outside the Fermi sea pertaining to fermions with spin index σ and consequently the range of variation in the zero-temperature limit of nσ(k) for k on S _F; σ On the basis of some available accurate numerical results for nσ(k) pertaining to the Hubbard and the t-J Hamiltonian, we conclude that, at least in the strong-coupling regime, the metallic ground states of ? for d = 2 cannot be Fermi-liquid nor can they in general be purely Luttinger or marginal Fermi liquids. We further rigorously identify the pseudogap phenomenon, or 'truncation' of the Fermi surface, clearly observed in the normal states of underdoped copper-oxide-based superconductors, as corresponding to a line of resonance energies (i.e. these energies strictly do not relate to quasiparticles) located below the Fermi energy, with a concomitant suppression to zero of the jump in nσ(k) over the 'truncated' parts of the Fermi surface. Our analyses make explicit the singular significance of the non-interacting energy dispersion ε _k underlying ? in determining the low-energy spectral and transport properties of the metallic ground states of ?.