The Maryland State Department of Education "inappropriately stored" personal information of 1.4 million students and more than 230,000 teachers, leaving them vulnerable to potential bad actors, according to an audit published earlier this month.

New Jersey used an incorrect method to calculate Medicaid reimbursements for services provided to students with disabilities, according to a federal audit, but the state disputes that claim.

School authorities in Utah have failed to report educator misconduct, possibly allowing teachers to offend again by moving to other schools, according to a new audit.

"The objective of the audit was to assess whether the award of funding under the RJIP program was informed by appropriate departmental advice and that processes complied with the grants administration framework."--Page 8.

"The objective of this audit was to examine the extent to which Australian Government entities have implemented the Digital Continuity 2020 policy, and how effectively the National Archives of Australia is monitoring, assisting, and encouraging entities to meet the specified targets of the policy."--Pages 7-8.

The ICRC’s collections of sound recordings, film footage, videos and photos illustrate and document the activities of the ICRC and of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement as a whole from the end of the 19th century up to the present day, in all operational contexts

Paris : E. Leroux, 1874.

An audit of the early-childhood education offerings in Minnesota finds complexity and fragmentation as well as a lack of data about program effectiveness.

Barack Obama said the “rule of law is at risk” following the justice department’s decision to drop charges against former Trump advisor Mike Flynn, as he issued a stark warning about the long-term impact on the American way of life by his successor.

Régis Trapeau
Mar 28, 2018; 38:3252-3264
BehavioralSystemsCognitive

Sensory systems integrate multiple stimulus features to generate coherent percepts. Spectral surround suppression, the phenomenon by which sound-evoked responses of auditory neurons are suppressed by stimuli outside their receptive field, is an example of this integration taking place in the auditory system. While this form of global integration is commonly observed in auditory cortical neurons, and potentially used by the nervous system to separate signals from noise, the mechanisms that underlie this suppression of activity are not well understood. We evaluated the contributions to spectral surround suppression of the two most common inhibitory cell types in the cortex, parvalbumin-expressing (PV+) and somatostatin-expressing (SOM⁺) interneurons, in mice of both sexes. We found that inactivating SOM⁺ cells, but not PV+ cells, significantly reduces sustained spectral surround suppression in excitatory cells, indicating a dominant causal role for SOM⁺ cells in the integration of information across multiple frequencies. The similarity of these results to those from other sensory cortices provides evidence of common mechanisms across the cerebral cortex for generating global percepts from separate features.

SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT To generate coherent percepts, sensory systems integrate simultaneously occurring features of a stimulus, yet the mechanisms by which this integration occurs are not fully understood. Our results show that neurochemically distinct neuronal subtypes in the primary auditory cortex have different contributions to the integration of different frequency components of an acoustic stimulus. Together with findings from other sensory cortices, our results provide evidence of a common mechanism for cortical computations used for global integration of stimulus features.

Statistical regularities in natural sounds facilitate the perceptual segregation of auditory sources, or streams. Repetition is one cue that drives stream segregation in humans, but the neural basis of this perceptual phenomenon remains unknown. We demonstrated a similar perceptual ability in animals by training ferrets of both sexes to detect a stream of repeating noise samples (foreground) embedded in a stream of random samples (background). During passive listening, we recorded neural activity in primary auditory cortex (A1) and secondary auditory cortex (posterior ectosylvian gyrus, PEG). We used two context-dependent encoding models to test for evidence of streaming of the repeating stimulus. The first was based on average evoked activity per noise sample and the second on the spectro-temporal receptive field. Both approaches tested whether differences in neural responses to repeating versus random stimuli were better modeled by scaling the response to both streams equally (global gain) or by separately scaling the response to the foreground versus background stream (stream-specific gain). Consistent with previous observations of adaptation, we found an overall reduction in global gain when the stimulus began to repeat. However, when we measured stream-specific changes in gain, responses to the foreground were enhanced relative to the background. This enhancement was stronger in PEG than A1. In A1, enhancement was strongest in units with low sparseness (i.e., broad sensory tuning) and with tuning selective for the repeated sample. Enhancement of responses to the foreground relative to the background provides evidence for stream segregation that emerges in A1 and is refined in PEG.

SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT To interact with the world successfully, the brain must parse behaviorally important information from a complex sensory environment. Complex mixtures of sounds often arrive at the ears simultaneously or in close succession, yet they are effortlessly segregated into distinct perceptual sources. This process breaks down in hearing-impaired individuals and speech recognition devices. By identifying the underlying neural mechanisms that facilitate perceptual segregation, we can develop strategies for ameliorating hearing loss and improving speech recognition technology in the presence of background noise. Here, we present evidence to support a hierarchical process, present in primary auditory cortex and refined in secondary auditory cortex, in which sound repetition facilitates segregation.

Audible's new service is aimed at school-age children participating in distance learning but features selections likely to appeal to all

The app features a database of some two million artworks housed at more than 120 venues

<span class="topsy_trackback_comment"><span class="topsy_twitter_username"><span class="topsy_trackback_content">FCC Launches New Round of Audits of Radio Station EEO Performance http://bit.ly/anoP3q</span></span>

<span class="topsy_trackback_comment"><span class="topsy_twitter_username"><span class="topsy_trackback_content">Paramore go for a million-strong audience | RSS Feeds – IMC OnAir ...: Paramore recently re... http://bit.ly/dFBiD4 ParamoreForIndonesia</span></span>

<span class="topsy_trackback_comment"><span class="topsy_twitter_username"><span class="topsy_trackback_content">Paramore go for a million-strong audience | RSS Feeds – IMC OnAir ...: Paramore recently re... http://bit.ly/dFBiD4 ParamoreForIndonesia</span></span>

Application deadline: 17 May 2020 | Banking Settlements Centre | Location: Basel, Switzerland

Press release "Saudi G20 Presidency and the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) Innovation Hub invite global innovators to solve RegTech and SupTech challenges", 27 April 2020

A 9-year-old girl was found safe in the Lanaudière region, after she had gone missing Thursday evening in the woods behind her family's second home. 

One OM Malawi worker’s journey of faith has led to increasing AudioBible influence.

The grassroots programme of the Bosnia and Herzegovina Football Federation has been given special recognition during an ceremony hosted by the Bosnian Olympic Committee.

Adding second-stage automated auditory brainstem response (ABR) testing for infants who failed the initial OAE test in a two-stage neonatal hearing screening has been shown to reduce false referrals to the hearing clinic.

Infants with hearing loss may be missed by a 2-stage hearing screening because they pass the automated ABR test. In our study, a significant number of infants with hearing loss >45 decibel hearing level passed screening with automated ABR. (Read the full article)

Saudi Arabian equities slumped on concern the U.S. may take measures against the kingdom if it’s linked to the disappearance of Washington Post writer Jamal Khashoggi.

United States President Donald Trump told CBS’s 60 Minutes that he would added pressure on Saudi Arabia, vowing "severe punishment" should the kingdom’s leaders be linked to the disappearance of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.

Saudi Arabia has begun an internal investigation into the disappearance of a prominent journalist at its Istanbul consulate and could hold people accountable if the evidence warrants it, according to a Saudi official.

US President Donald trump has suggested that 'rogue killers' may be behind the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey.

An op-ed in Saudi-owned Al Arabiya news has warned of repercussions should the US impose sanctions on Saudi Arabia over the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Saudi Arabian stocks retreated as US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo arrived in the kingdom to meet with King Salman bin Abdulaziz over the disappearance of writer Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey.

The heads of Deutsche Bank and Siemens, two of Germany’s biggest companies, are among a dwindling number of high-profile delegates still scheduled to attend an investment conference in Saudi Arabia following the disappearance of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan rejected Riyadh’s account of the killing of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi at Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul, saying the murder was the result of a meticulously planned plot and calling on the Saudi king to hold all culprits to account.

The founder and chief of his eponymous investment bank traveled to Riyadh to extol the virtues of friendship. He stood out as many of the titans of U.S. finance sat out the kingdom’s signature investment summit amid international outrage over the killing of government critic Jamal Khashoggi.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has “blood on his hands” in the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a top aide to Turkey’s president said, in his country’s first direct accusation against the power behind the Saudi throne.

For a moment, Wall Street seemed to be inching away from Saudi Arabia. Now, it’s already inching back.

The stunning allegation reportedly comes from a forensic analysis Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos commissioned to determine the culprit behind the hack, which resulted in his private photos ending up in the hands of the National Enquirer.

According to a recent forensic analysis, a WhatsApp account from the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman allegedly sent government-bought spyware to Bezos' phone in May 2018, two UN human rights experts said on Wednesday.

With iOS 13.1 and iPadOS, Apple adds an Audio Sharing feature that lets you share with a friend what you're listening to on your Apple AirPods or select Beats headphones.

The Z8H 8K LED vibrates the frame of the television to emit audio and give the impression that the sound is coming directly from the screen itself.

According to Pew Research Center, 65 percent of Americans have read a print book in the past year, while 25 percent have read an ebook and 20 percent have listened to an audiobook.

The Scottish Parliament will next week (Tuesday 10 March) be invited to nominate Stephen Boyle to Her Majesty the Queen for appointment as the new Auditor General for Scotland.

Although the escape room was created with a primary focus to mobilise Christians, OM Riverboats and OM France worked together to make adjustments in the simulation to suit non-believers better.

An audiobook version of a Penn State faculty member's critically acclaimed nonfiction work about a secret, illegal 1947-49 operation to rescue newborn Israel has been produced by Rowman & Littlefield.

Bank Audi proposed using government assets as collateral to offset the losses of the Central Bank and commercial banks that were the result of lending to the state.

Program to include a re-enactment of the July 11, 1804 duel between Alexander Hamilton and political rival Aaron Burr which resulted in Hamilton’s passing on July 12, 1804.

Two more firms are eyeing a share of Reliance Industries Ltd's $65-billion digital unit Jio Platforms, according to Bloomberg News, setting them up to be a part of a growing list of firms that have...

India has decided to not to join RCEP trade deal as it did not address the key concerns. It is being told that the decision has been taken for farmers and smaller entreprenuers. Congress was trying to corner BJP on this but now the news is out from Thailand