The development of artificial intelligence technology has made it possible to realize automatic evaluation systems for singing, and relevant research has been able to achieve accurate evaluations ...with respect to pitch and rhythm, but research on singing-voice timbre evaluation has remained at the level of theoretical analysis. Timbre is closely related to expression performance, breath control, emotional rendering, and other aspects of singing skills, and it has a crucial impact on the evaluation of song interpretation. The purpose of this research is to investigate the automatic evaluation method of singing-voice timbre. At the present stage, timbre research generally has problems such as a paucity of datasets, a single evaluation index, easy overfitting or a model’s failure to converge. Compared with the singing voice, the research on musical instruments is more mature, with more available data and richer evaluation dimensions. We constructed a deep network based on the CRNN model to perform timbre evaluation, and the test results showed that cross-media learning of timbre evaluation is feasible, which also indicates that humans have a consistent timbre perception with respect to musical instruments and vocals.
Scyphozoan envenomation is featured as severe cutaneous damages due to the toxic effects of venom components released by the stinging nematocysts of a scyphozoan. However, the oedematogenic property ...and mechanism of scyphozoan venoms remain uninvestigated. Here, we present the oedematogenic properties of the nematocyst venom from
(NnNV), a giant stinging scyphozoan in China, for the first time, using in vivo and in vitro models with class-specific inhibitors. NnNV was able to induce remarkable oedematogenic effects, including induction of significant oedema in the footpad and thigh of mouse, and increase in vascular permeability in the dorsal skin and kidney. Moreover, batimastat, a specific metalloproteinase inhibitor, could significantly reduce the Evan's blue leakage in the damaged organs and attenuate paw oedema after 12 h, but exerted no influence on NnNV-induced thigh oedema. These observations suggested a considerable contribution of NnNV metalloproteinase-like components to the increased vasopermeability, and the participation was strongly suggested to be mediated by destroying the integrity of the vascular basement membrane. Moreover, partial isolation combined LC-MS/MS profiling led to identification of the protein species Nn65 with remarkable metalloproteinase activity. This study contributes to the understanding of the effector components underlying the cutaneous damages induced by scyphozoan stings.
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Bioprosthetic heart valves (BHVs) originating from pigs are extensively used for heart valve replacement in clinics. However, recipient immune responses associated with chronic ...calcification lead to structural valve deterioration (SVD) of BHVs. Two well-characterized epitopes on porcine BHVs have been implicated in SVD, including galactose-α1,3-galactose (αGal) and N-glycolylneuraminic acid (Neu5Gc) whose synthesis are catalyzed by α(1,3) galactosyltransferase (encoded by the GGTA1 gene) and CMP-Neu5Ac hydroxylase (encoded by the CMAH gene), respectively. It has been reported that BHV from αGal-knockout pigs are associated with a significantly reduced immune response by human serum. Moreover, valves from αGal/Neu5Gc-deficient pigs could further reduce human IgM/IgG binding when compared to BHV from αGal-knockout pigs. Recently, another swine xenoantigen, Sd(a), produced by β-1,4-N-acetyl-galactosaminyl transferase 2 (β4GalNT2), has been identified. To explore whether tissue from GGTA1, CMAH, and β4GalNT2 triple gene-knockout (TKO) pigs would further minimize human antibody binding to porcine pericardium, TKO pigs were successfully produced by CRISPR/Cas9 mediated gene targeting. Our results showed that the expression of αGal, Neu5G and Sd(a) on TKO pigs was negative, and that human IgG/IgM binding to pericardium was minimal. Moreover, the analysis of collagen composition and physical characteristics of porcine pericardium from the TKO pigs indicated that elimination of the three xenoantigens had no significant impact on the physical proprieties of porcine pericardium. Our results demonstrated that TKO pigs would be an ideal source of BHVs.
Surgical heart valve replacement is an established lifesaving treatment for diseased heart valve. Bioprosthetic heart valves (BHVs) made from glutaraldehyde-fixed porcine or bovine tissues are widely used in clinics but exhibit age-dependent structural valve degeneration (SVD) which is associated with the immune response against BHVs. Three major xenoantigens present on commercial BHVs, Galactosea α1,3 galactose (αGal), N-glycolylneuraminic acid (Neu5Gc) and glycan products of β-1,4-N-acetyl-galactosaminyl transferase 2 (β4GalNT2) are eliminated through CRISPR/Cas9 mediated gene targeting in the present study. The genetically modified porcine pericardium showed reduced immunogenicity but comparable collagen composition and physical characteristics of the pericardium from wild-type pigs. Our data suggested that BHVs from TKO pigs is a promising alternative for currently available BHVs from wild-type pigs.
This paper is part of a special issue on Music Technology. We study the type recognition of traditional Chinese musical instrument audio in the common way. Using MEL spectrum characteristics as ...input, we train an 8‐layer convolutional neural network, and finally achieve 99.3% accuracy. After that, this paper mainly studies the performance skill recognition of Chinese traditional musical instruments. Firstly, for a single instrument, the features were extracted by using the pre‐trained ResNet model, and then the SVM algorithm was used to classify all the instruments with an accuracy of 99%. Then, in order to improve the generalization of the model, the paper proposes the performance skill recognition of the same kind of instruments. In this way, the regularity of the same playing technique of different instruments can be utilized. Finally, the recognition accuracy of the four kinds of instruments is as follows: 95.7% for blowing instruments, 82.2% for plucked‐string instruments, 88.3% for strings instruments, and 97.5% for percussion instruments. We open source the audio database of traditional Chinese musical instruments and the Python source code of the whole experiment for further research.
Jellyfish envenomation is a common medical problem in many countries. However, the myotoxicity and effector molecules of scyphozoan venoms remain uninvestigated. Here, we present the myotoxicity of ...nematocyst venom from Nemopilema nomurai (NnNV), a giant venomous scyphozoan from China, for the first time, using in vivo models with inhibitors. NnNV was able to induce remarkable myotoxicity including significant muscle swelling, increasing the content of CK and LDH in serum, stimulating inflammation of muscle tissue, and destroying the structure of muscle tissue. In addition, the metalloproteinase inhibitors BMT and EDTA significantly reduced the myotoxicity induced by NnNV. Moreover, BMT and EDTA could decrease the inflammatory stimulation and necrosis of muscle tissue caused by the venom. These observations suggest that the metalloproteinase components of NnNV make a considerable contribution to myotoxicity. This study contributes to understanding the effector molecules of muscle injury caused by jellyfish stings and suggests a new idea for the treatment of scyphozoan envenomation.
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•Jellyfish Nemopilema nomurai nematocyst venom (NnNV) processes myotoxicity.•NnNV caused the swelling, inflammation and necrosis of muscle tissue.•Batimastat and EDTA can effectively inhibit muscle tissue injury caused by NnNV.•NnNV metalloproteinases may be the main myotoxic molecules.
The article presents the design and development of a virtual fretless Chinese stringed instrument App with the Duxianqin as an example, whose performance is expected to be no different from a real ...instrument. The digital simulation of fretless musical instruments is mainly divided into two parts: the simulation of the continuous pitch processing of the strings, and the simulation of the sound produced by plucking strings. The article returns to the theory of mechanics and wave theory and obtains the quantitative relationship between string frequency and its deformation and elongation. The Duxianqin selected in this article is a fretless instrument, which cannot be completely simulated by relying solely on sound source data. Playing and vocalization require real‐time synthesis through pitch processing, which has certain reference significance for the realization of other fretless instruments.
Multiple input multiple output with frequency diversity array (FDA-MIMO) radar has unique advantages in mainlobe deception jamming suppression and target location. However, if the training sample ...contains the target signal, it will lead to poor jamming suppression performance and large target measurement error. To deal with the problem, a method of coarse target location in the time domain is proposed based on the cumulative sampling analysis. Taking full advantages of the strongest correlation characteristic between the expected steering vector and the true target, the feature vector and feature value corresponding to the true target are found after feature decomposition. The time domain location of the target is roughly estimated during the cumulative sampling analysis from near to far. Then, a pure jamming training sample can be obtained by avoiding the location. Noise subspace projection algorithm is used to measure the angle and range of the target while suppressing mainlobe jamming. The simulation results show that the proposed method can roughly estimate the target location in the time domain when the mainlobe deception jamming completely covers the target. Compared with conventional methods, the performance of jamming suppression and target localization error are closer to the performance of ideal sampling.
Scyphozoan
envenomation is an unresolved threat to human health in Asian waters.
venom metalloproteinases show important toxicities in skin damage and inflammation, but there is still no purified ...protein for further studies. In this study, high proteinase activity fractions in tentacle autolysis were isolated by ammonium sulfate precipitation, DEAE Sepharose Fast Flow, and Superdex 75 chromatography successively. Purification was guided by azocasein hydrolysis activity and SDS-PAGE. The final products were analyzed by LC-MS/MS. Four elution peaks purified by Superdex 75 chromatography had multiple protein bands but did not show proteinase activity. These fractions would recover proteinase activity after mixing again. Regulation mechanisms were speculated as binding metalloproteinase regulator or disaggregating metalloproteinase inhibitor by LC-MS/MS analysis. For the first time, a synergistic effect in
proteinase activity was found in the purification process.
In this paper, based on a three-dimensional Bao system, a memristor-based hyper-chaotic Bao-like system is successfully constructed, and a simulated equivalent circuit is designed, which is used to ...verify the chaotic behaviors of the system. Meanwhile, a control method called periodically intermittent control with variable control width is proposed. The control width sequence in the proposed method is not only variable, but also monotonically decreasing, and the method can effectively stabilize most existing nonlinear systems. Moreover, the memristor-based hyper-chaotic Bao-like system is controlled by combining the proposed method with the Lyapunov stability principle. Finally, we should that the proposed method can effectively control and stabilize not only the proposed hyper-chaotic system, but also the Chua’s oscillator.
The introduction of high-speed railway has significantly enhanced transportation services for cities along its route, offering greater convenience to passengers and commuters. Through analysis of ...passenger flow data and economic data from cities along the high-speed railway line, we find the apparent siphon effect caused by the introduction of high-speed railway on larger cities. However, for medium and small cities, high-speed railway further weakens their attractiveness, leading to capital and labour outflow. This article provides an analysis of the impact of high-speed railway on cities along its route, utilizing passenger big data and investment data. It also offers recommendations for small and medium-sized cities to optimize their tourism resources and develop unique industries, aiming to mitigate the economic risks associated with the introduction of high-speed railway.
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