Complete Matching Research Articles

Approximations to the Voice of a Cochlear Implant: Explorations With Single-Sided Deaf Listeners.

Fourteen single-sided deaf listeners fit with an MED-EL cochlear implant (CI) judged the similarity of clean signals presented to their CI and modified signals presented to their normal-hearing ear. The signals to the normal-hearing ear were created by (a) filtering, (b) spectral smearing, (c) changing overall fundamental frequency (F0), (d) F0 contour flattening, (e) changing formant frequencies, (f) altering resonances and ring times to create a metallic sound quality, (g) using a noise vocoder, or (h) using a sine vocoder. The operations could be used singly or in any combination. On a scale of 1 to 10 where 10 was a complete match to the sound of the CI, the mean match score was 8.8. Over half of the matches were 9.0 or higher. The most common alterations to a clean signal were band-pass or low-pass filtering, spectral peak smearing, and F0 contour flattening. On average, 3.4 operations were used to create a match. Upshifts in formant frequencies were implemented most often for electrode insertion angles less than approximately 500°. A relatively small set of operations can produce signals that approximate the sound of the MED-EL CI. There are large individual differences in the combination of operations needed. The sound files in Supplemental Material approximate the sound of the MED-EL CI for patients fit with 28-mm electrode arrays.

Use of Mobile Health Apps and Wearable Technology to Assess Changes and Predict Pain During Treatment of Acute Pain in Sickle Cell Disease: Feasibility Study.

BackgroundSickle cell disease (SCD) is an inherited red blood cell disorder affecting millions worldwide, and it results in many potential medical complications throughout the life course. The hallmark of SCD is pain. Many patients experience daily chronic pain as well as intermittent, unpredictable acute vaso-occlusive painful episodes called pain crises. These pain crises often require acute medical care through the day hospital or emergency department. Following presentation, a number of these patients are subsequently admitted with continued efforts of treatment focused on palliative pain control and hydration for management. Mitigating pain crises is challenging for both the patients and their providers, given the perceived unpredictability and subjective nature of pain.ObjectiveThe objective of this study was to show the feasibility of using objective, physiologic measurements obtained from a wearable device during an acute pain crisis to predict patient-reported pain scores (in an app and to nursing staff) using machine learning techniques.MethodsFor this feasibility study, we enrolled 27 adult patients presenting to the day hospital with acute pain. At the beginning of pain treatment, each participant was given a wearable device (Microsoft Band 2) that collected physiologic measurements. Pain scores from our mobile app, Technology Resources to Understand Pain Assessment in Patients with Pain, and those obtained by nursing staff were both used with wearable signals to complete time stamp matching and feature extraction and selection. Following this, we constructed regression and classification machine learning algorithms to build between-subject pain prediction models.ResultsPatients were monitored for an average of 3.79 (SD 2.23) hours, with an average of 5826 (SD 2667) objective data values per patient. As expected, we found that pain scores and heart rate decreased for most patients during the course of their stay. Using the wearable sensor data and pain scores, we were able to create a regression model to predict subjective pain scores with a root mean square error of 1.430 and correlation between observations and predictions of 0.706. Furthermore, we verified the hypothesis that the regression model outperformed the classification model by comparing the performances of the support vector machines (SVM) and the SVM for regression.ConclusionsThe Microsoft Band 2 allowed easy collection of objective, physiologic markers during an acute pain crisis in adults with SCD. Features can be extracted from these data signals and matched with pain scores. Machine learning models can then use these features to feasibly predict patient pain scores.

Mechanisms of alloimmunization in sickle cell disease.

Red blood cell (RBC) transfusion is an important treatment for some complications of sickle cell disease (SCD). On the contrary, transfusion may lead to alloimmunization to RBC antigens, with such alloantibodies putting patients at risk for acute or delayed hemolysis, and increasing the difficulty of finding compatible RBCs. Patients with SCD are more susceptible to developing RBC alloantibodies than other multiply transfused patient populations, for reasons that are not completely understood. In this review, we summarize the available data about risk factors and underlying mechanisms associated with RBC alloimmunization in SCD. Although RBC antigen matching between blood donors and transfusion recipients can decrease alloimmunization, complete matching at all loci is not feasible. Patients with SCD show evidence of increased inflammation at baseline and in times of illness. Resultant changes to the innate and adaptive immune systems presumably influence the development of RBC alloantibodies as well as RBC autoantibodies. The inflammation and immune dysregulation associated with SCD may be therapeutic targets for preventing the formation of antibodies and/or for mitigating the dangers of existing RBC alloantibodies. As long as RBC transfusion therapy remains an important treatment for SCD, the quest to improve its safety profile will continue.

Complete matching for quasidistribution functions in large momentum effective theory

We complete the procedure of extracting parton distribution functions (PDFs) using large momentum effective theory (LaMET) at leading power accuracy in the hadron momentum. We derive a general factorization formula for the quasi PDFs in the presence of mixing, and give the corresponding hard matching kernel at $\mathcal O(\alpha_s)$, both for the unpolarized and for the polarized quark and gluon quasi-PDFs. Our calculation is performed in a regularization-independent momentum subtraction scheme. The results allow us to match the nonperturbatively renormalized quasi-PDFs to normal PDFs in the presence of mixing, and therefore can be used to extract flavor-singlet quark PDFs as well as gluon PDFs from lattice simulations.

Dense Image-Matching via Optical Flow Field Estimation and Fast-Guided Filter Refinement

The development of an efficient and robust method for dense image-matching has been a technical challenge due to high variations in illumination and ground features of aerial images of large areas. In this paper, we propose a method for the dense matching of aerial images using an optical flow field and a fast-guided filter. The proposed method utilizes a coarse-to-fine matching strategy for a pixel-wise correspondence search across stereo image pairs. The pyramid Lucas–Kanade (L–K) method is first used to generate a sparse optical flow field within the stereo image pairs, and an adjusted control lattice is then used to derive the multi-level B-spline interpolating function for estimating the dense optical flow field. The dense correspondence is subsequently refined through a combination of a novel cross-region-based voting process and fast guided filtering. The performance of the proposed method was evaluated on three bases, namely, the matching accuracy, the matching success rate, and the matching efficiency. The evaluative experiments were performed using sets of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) images and aerial digital mapping camera (DMC) images. The results showed that the proposed method afforded the root mean square error (RMSE) of the reprojection errors better than ±0.5 pixels in image, and a height accuracy within ±2.5 GSD (ground sampling distance) from the ground. The method was further compared with the state-of-the-art commercial software SURE and confirmed to deliver more complete matches for images with poor-texture areas, the matching success rate of the proposed method is higher than 97% while SURE is 96%, and there is 47% higher matching efficiency. This demonstrates the superior applicability of the proposed method to aerial image-based dense matching with poor texture regions.

DEVELOPMENT OF MULTIPLEX PCR ASSAY FOR MEAT PRODUCTS AUTHENTICATION: TARGETING DOUBLE GENE

Authentication of the species origins of animal-originated food products is a rapidly growing field because of its direct relevance to public health as well as people’s religious and cultural traditions. Current polymerase chain reaction assay (PCR) based methods to authenticate the animal materials in food chain are based on mainly single gene targets which are generally longer in length and thus breakdown during food processing treatments. Consequently, there is a chance of a false negative result. For the first time, here we targeted double gene sites in short-amplicon length multiplex PCR (mPCR) for confirmed detection and differentiation of bovine, buffalo and porcine materials in food chain. Multiple targets detection in single assay saves analytical cost and time. The design of primer sets for mPCR assay is more complex and complicated because all biomarkers are annealed to their respective targets under a single set of PCR conditions. Inaccurately designed primers might prompt less amplification or formation of primer-dimer and/or non-specific products. Here we approached the techniques to design biomarkers for the development of double gene targeted mPCR assay. Mitochondrial cytochrome b (cytb) and NADH dehydrogenase subunit 5 (ND5) genes were targeted to design six different biomarkers, two for each of cow (121 and 106 bp), buffalo (90 and 138 bp) and pig (73 and 146 bp). The in-silico specificity of the developed primers was checked against three targets and 28 non-target species. Complete sequence matching was found only with target species, and 3−18 nucleotides (12.5−80%) mismatches were found with other species. The pairwise distance was also computed using the neighbour-joining method; the lowest and highest distances were observed between 0.144 and 1.993. These indicated adequate genetic distances among the studied species, eliminating the probability of any cross-target detection and thus facilitated the target detection through mPCR assay.

From magnetoresistor element to in-plane sensitive Hall device

This paper contributes to the development of in-plane sensitive Hall-effect configurations based on a new sensor concept. An original coupling of pairs of identical two-contact (2C) magnetoresistors transduce an in-plane magnetic field, i.e., parallel to the silicon chip surface into a Hall voltages by means of four-contact (4C) and eight-contact (8C) devices. Two different arrangements are accomplished – hybrid realization with a discrete resistor bridge and fully integrated implementation. The pair’s ohmic contacts of the magnetoresistors are cross-coupled and parallel connected. These configurations has linear and odd output signal as a function of the magnetic field and supply current. The quadratic and even magnetoresistance of innovative solutions is completely suppressed, which ensures high measurement accuracy alongside with identification of the magnetic field polarity. The experimental prototypes feature simplified technological fabrication, sensitivity about 100 V/AT, low output temperature drift and high linearity. The lowest detected magnetic induction at current of 3 mA over frequency range 5 Hz ÷ 500 Hz at a signal-to-noise ratio equal to unity is around 10–12 μT. A benchmarking of the characteristics was performed with both new configurations as well as with an in-plane sensitive four-contact Hall element with closed design. It is established that the new arrangements have advantage and confirms the innovativeness of the proposed concept. The complete electrical, temperature and technological matching of proposed Hall devices is very promising for many practical applications.

Using short tandem repeat analysis for choriocarcinoma diagnosis: a case series

BackgroundChoriocarcinoma is a highly aggressive, malignant trophoblastic neoplasm that can be gestational or non-gestational in origin. Accurate discrimination between these two subtypes, the causative pregnancy type, and the pregnancy-to-treatment interval for gestational choriocarcinoma are vital for clinical management.MethodsFifteen choriocarcinomas were genotyped using multiplex fluorescent polymerase chain reaction amplification of 15 short tandem repeat (STR) loci and the amelogenin locus (XY determination). Genotype patterns at each locus from tumoral and maternal tissues were compared, and any prior or concurrent mole/placenta was also compared when available. According to STR results showing the presence or absence of the paternal chromosomal complement, the gestational or non-gestational origin of the tumor and the nature of the causative pregnancy was identified.ResultsFourteen tumors were gestational. Of these, seven were androgenetic/homozygous XX, and two were androgenetic/heterozygous XX, indicating that the causative pregnancies were molar pregnancies. Among the nine molar pregnancies, five were of the occult type. A menopausal patient developed a tumor from a mole that occurred seven years ago, identified by the genetically identical allele from the tumor and prior mole. One tumor originating from a previous mole was interrupted by term delivery. Two tumors found eight weeks postpartum were identified as originating from a prior occult mole. A pelvic choriocarcinoma was separated from a genetically distinct third trimester intrauterine placenta. Five gestational tumors were biparental: 2 XX, 3 XY. Of three ovarian tumors, two were confirmed gestational (1 androgenetic/homozygous XX; 1 biparental XY), and one was an ovarian tumor (XX) with a complete match of the genotype for all 15 loci, therefore ascertaining its non-gestational origin.ConclusionGestational choriocarcinoma can originate in an androgenetic or biparental manner. The majority are androgenetic/homozygous XX, while a large number of them might be occult molar pregnancies. The origin of ectopic androgenetic choriocarcinoma with concurrent intrauterine placenta might be from either dispermic twin gestation (mole and coexistent nonmolar fetus) or an antecedent molar pregnancy. Choriocarcinoma shortly postpartum might not be associated with the last placenta. STR analysis can be useful in distinguishing gestational choriocarcinoma from non-gestational, as well as the causative pregnancy, and serve as a helpful examination tool for guiding clinical management.

Looking for Mickey Mouse™ But Finding a Munchkin: The Perceptual Effects of Frequency Upshifts for Single-Sided Deaf, Cochlear Implant Patients.

Purpose Our aim was to make audible for normal-hearing listeners the Mickey Mouse™ sound quality of cochlear implants (CIs) often found following device activation. Method The listeners were 3 single-sided deaf patients fit with a CI and who had 6 months or less of CI experience. Computed tomography imaging established the location of each electrode contact in the cochlea and allowed an estimate of the place frequency of the tissue nearest each electrode. For the most apical electrodes, this estimate ranged from 650 to 780 Hz. To determine CI sound quality, a clean signal (a sentence) was presented to the CI ear via a direct connect cable and candidate, and CI-like signals were presented to the ear with normal hearing via an insert receiver. The listeners rated the similarity of the candidate signals to the sound of the CI on a 1- to 10-point scale, with 10 being a complete match. Results To make the match to CI sound quality, all 3 patients need an upshift in formant frequencies (300-800 Hz) and a metallic sound quality. Two of the 3 patients also needed an upshift in voice pitch (10-80 Hz) and a muffling of sound quality. Similarity scores ranged from 8 to 9.7. Conclusion The formant frequency upshifts, fundamental frequency upshifts, and metallic sound quality experienced by the listeners can be linked to the relatively basal locations of the electrode contacts and short duration experience with their devices. The perceptual consequence was not the voice quality of Mickey Mouse™ but rather that of Munchkins in The Wizard of Oz for whom both formant frequencies and voice pitch were upshifted. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.9341651.

Salvage Hemiablation High Intensity Focused Ultrasound for unilateral radio-recurrent prostate cancer

To report the oncological and functional outcomes of salvage hemiablation high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) in patients with unilateral radio-recurrent prostate cancer. Patients with biochemical recurrence (BCR) after primary radiation therapy and evidence of unilateral organ confined recurrence based on a complete match between mpMRI and MRI targeted biopsies were included. Patients with distant metastasis were excluded. Patients were followed with serial serum PSA determinations. BCR were defined using the Phoenix criteria. Complications were graded according to the Clavien score. IIEF-5 questionnaire was used to assess erectile dysfunction. Urinary incontinence was reported using physician reported rates. A total of 10 consecutive patients (median age: 71 years, IQR: 69-76) were prospectively enrolled. The median pre-treatment PSA and post-treatment PSA nadir were 3.1ng/mL (IQR: 1.54-8.59) and 1.52ng/mL (IQR: 0.76-2.2), respectively. At a median follow-up of 41.5 (IQR: 18-58) months, 50% of patients experience BCR. BCR free-survival rates at 24 and 36 months were 75% (CI95%: 31-93) and 60% (CI95%: 20-85), respectively. Urinary in continence grade II occurred in two patients and the remaining patients were pad-free. One patient developed de novo erectile dysfunction requiring PDE5I. The erectile function scores decreased from a mean of 10.1 to 8.7. Hemiablation HIFU is an alternative to whole gland therapy in patients with unilateral radio- recurrent prostate cancer, which offers limited urinary and rectal morbidity, and preserves functional outcomes. 3.

Extreme Diversity of Mycoviruses Present in Isolates of Rhizoctonia solani AG2-2 LP From Zoysia japonica From Brazil.

Zoysia japonica, in Brazil, is commonly infected by Rhizoctonia solani (R. solani) in humid and cool weather conditions. Eight isolates of R. solani, previously identified as belonging to the AG2-2 LP anastomosis group, isolated from samples from large path symptoms, were collected from three counties in São Paulo state (Brazil) and investigated for the presence of mycoviruses. After detection of double-strand RNA (dsRNA) in all samples, RNA_Seq analysis of ribosomal RNA-depleted total RNA from in vitro cultivated mycelia was performed. Forty-seven partial or complete viral unique RNA dependent-RNA polymerase (RdRp) sequences were obtained with a high prevalence of positive sense ssRNA viruses. Sequences were sufficiently different from the first match in BLAST searches suggesting that they all qualify as possible new viral species, except for one sequence showing an almost complete match with Rhizoctonia solani dsRNA virus 2, an alphapartitivirus. Surprisingly four large contigs of putative viral RNA could not be assigned to any existing clade of viruses present in the databases, but no DNA was detected corresponding to these fragments confirming their viral replicative nature. This is the first report on the occurrence of mycoviruses in R. solani AG2-2 LP in South America.

Matching of a Linearly Varying Amplitude Electromagnetic Wave with an Absorbing Substrate

This work considers the reflection of an electromagnetic wave off a structure consisting of two or three non-absorbing layers on an absorbing semi-infinite substrate. A plane wave with a linearly varying amplitude and a given carrier frequency is taken as the incident wave. The conditions on the layers parameters for a complete matching of a varying amplitude incident wave with the substrate are determined. The effect of small variations in the parameters of the layers on the complete matching is investigated.

SMEFT top-quark effects on \u0394F = 2 observables

We investigate model independent top-quark corrections to ΔF = 2 processes for the down-type quarks within the framework of the Standard Model Effective Field Theory. Dimension-six ΔF = 1 operators contribute to them through renormalization group evolutions and matching conditions. We provide a complete one-loop matching formula from the top quarks for ΔF = 2 transitions. We also demonstrate these corrections on Delta {M}_{B_s} in the left-right symmetric model, which are compared with the conventional calculation.

SINS/Landmark Integrated Navigation Based on Landmark Attitude Determination.

Based on the situation that the traditional SINS (strapdown inertial navigation system)/CNS (celestial navigation system) integrated navigation system fails to realize all-day and all-weather navigation, this paper proposes a SINS/Landmark integrated navigation method based on landmark attitude determination to solve this problem. This integrated navigation system takes SINS as the basic scheme and uses landmark navigation to correct the error of SINS. The way of the attitude determination is to use the landmark information photographed by the landmark camera to complete feature matching. The principle of the landmark navigation and the process of attitude determination are discussed, and the feasibility of landmark attitude determination is analyzed, including the orthogonality of the attitude transform matrix, as well as the influences of the factors such as quantity and geometric position of landmarks. On this basis, the paper constructs the equations of the SINS/Landmark integrated navigation system, testifies the effectiveness of landmark attitude determination on the integrated navigation by Kalman filter, and improves the navigation precision of the system.

Development and Evaluation of Record Linkage Rules in a Safety-Net Health System Serving Disadvantaged Communities

Background There is a need for flexible, accurate record-linkage systems with transparent rules that work across diverse populations. Objectives We developed rules responsive to challenges in linking records for an urban safety-net health system; we calculated performance characteristics for our algorithm. Methods We evaluated encounters during January 1, 2012 through September 30, 2018. We compared our algorithm, using name (first-last), date-of-birth (DOB), and last four of social security number to our electronic health record (EHR) system's reconciliation process. We applied our algorithm to unreconciled real-time Admission-Discharge-Transfer registration data, and compared match results to reconciled identities from our enterprise data warehouse. We manually validated matches for randomly sampled discordant pairs; we calculated sensitivity/specificity. We evaluated predictors of discordance, including census tract information. Results Of 771,477 unique medical record numbers, most (95%) were concordant between systems; a substantial minority (5%) was discordant. Of 38,993 discordant pairs, most (n = 36,539; 94%) were detected by our local algorithm. The sensitivity of our algorithm was higher than the EHR process (99% vs. 81%), but with lower specificity (98.6% vs. 99.9%). Our highest-yield rules, beyond full first and last name plus complete DOB match, were first three initials of first name, transposed first-last names, and DOB offsets (+1 and +365 days). Factors associated with discordance were homelessness (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 2.4; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.2–2.6) and living in a census tract with high levels of poverty (aOR = 1.4; 95% CI, 1.3–1.4). Conclusion Our algorithm had superior sensitivity compared to our EHR process. Homelessness and poverty were associated with unmatched records. Improved sensitivity was attributable to several critical input-variable processing steps useful for similar difficult-to-link populations.

Surface deformation analysis of collapsed lungs using model-based shape matching

PurposeTo facilitate intraoperative localization of lung nodules, this study used model-based shape matching techniques to analyze the inter-subject three-dimensional surface deformation induced by pneumothorax. Methods: Contrast- enhanced computed tomography (CT) images of the left lungs of 11 live beagle dogs were acquired at two bronchial pressures (14 and 2 cm,hbox {H}_2hbox {O}). To address shape matching problems for largely deformed lung images with pixel intensity shift, a complete Laplacian-based shape matching solution that optimizes the differential displacement field was introduced.ResultsExperiments were performed to confirm the methods’ registration accuracy using CT images of lungs. Shape similarity and target displacement errors in the registered models were improved compared with those from existing shape matching methods. Spatial displacement of the whole lung’s surface was visualized with an average error of within 5 mm.ConclusionThe proposed methods address problems with the matching of surfaces with large curvatures and deformations and achieved smaller registration errors than existing shape matching methods, even at the tip and ridge regions. The findings and inter-subject statistical representation are directly available for further research on pneumothorax deformation modeling.

Synthesis optimization, photoluminescence and thermoluminescence studies of Eu3+ doped calcium aluminozincate phosphor

Calcium aluminozincate phosphor, Ca3Al4ZnO10 (CAZ) doped with Eu3+ has been synthesized using solid-state reaction (SSR), combustion (CS) and sol-gel (SG) methods for relatively improved luminescence performance and to optimize synthesis method. The X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), photoluminescence (PL) and PL decay measurements have been recorded for the detailed investigation of the luminescence properties of the as-synthesized phosphor. The thermoluminescence (TL) spectral study has been done to estimate the trap depth of the defect centres. The XRD peaks confirm the complete matching of the diffraction peaks of the as-synthesized sample with the standard data for Ca3Al4ZnO10. The morphology of the sample synthesized via SG method shows agglomerated particles with average particle size smaller than the samples synthesized via CS and SSR method. The detailed investigation shows significant red emission enhancement in Eu3+ doped CAZ phosphor synthesized via SG method. The obtained results suggest that the Eu3+ doped CAZ phosphor synthesized via SG method could be a great choice as red emitter for applications in solid state lighting.

Matching for FCNC effects in the flavour-symmetric SMEFT

We calculate the complete tree and one-loop matching of the dimension-six Standard Model Effective Field Theory (SMEFT) with unbroken U(3)5 flavour symmetry to the operators of the Weak Effective Theory (WET) which are responsible for flavour changing neutral current effects among down-type quarks. We also explicitly calculate the effects of SMEFT corrections to input observables on the WET Wilson coefficients, a necessary step on the way to a well-defined, complete prediction. These results will enable high-precision flavour data to be incorporated into global fits of the SMEFT at high energies, where the flavour symmetry assumption is widespread.

Maximum Exact Matches for High Throughput Genome Subsequence Assembly

Genome subsequence assembly plays an important role in personalized medicine and genome variation. Third generation sequencing mechanisms were very crucial problems of subsequence assembly. For example mapping the subsequences or finding the identical positions in them is one of the rigid challenges in Bioinformatics. In this paper, we introduce a novel methodology of MapReduce Maximum Exact Matches (MR-MEM) which effectively utilizes the MapReduce program while finding and mapping between genome subsequences using parallel suffix and prefix index structure. The proposed technique works by aligning fragments according to the reference genome. A fragment subsequence is initially matched with the genome to identify the probable matching locations. These identified locations are then analyzed for complete matches. We find the best matching fragment that is assigned to the location by finding the hamming distance between the query sequence and genome reference. The implementation results show that the proposed approach exhibits faster and accurate alignments by providing very low gaps and very high exact alignments.

Admittance matching analysis and optimization of transmission through an ultracompact hybrid plasmonic waveguide Bragg grating

Hybrid plasmonic waveguide Bragg gratings (HPWBGs) are promising and essential components in ultracompact integrated circuits. In this paper, the transmission spectra of HPWBGs composed of two types of HPWs with different low-index dielectric layers are calculated through the transfer matrix method. Admittance match theory is used to analyze and improve transmission properties. Two admittance-matching conditions (the complete matching and the conjugate matching) are illustrated to optimize the transmission spectra effectively in specific passband, and the properties of bandgaps are also influenced. The results demonstrate the feasibility of the admittance match theory in modulating the transmission spectra of HPWBGs and this work provide a design approach for HPWBGs with a small footprint.