Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comparative investigation of objective speech intelligibility prediction measures for noise-reduced signals in Mandarin and Japanese

In this paper, eight state-of-the-art objective speech intelligibility prediction measures are comparatively investigated for noisy signals before and after noise-reduction processing be-tween Mandarin and Japanese. Clean speech signals (Chinese words and Japanese words) were ﬁrst corrupted by three types of noise at two signal-to-noise ratios and then processed by normal-hearing listeners for recognition, whose intelligibility was subsequently predicted by objective measures. Further investigations were conducted for objective measures in predicting speech intelligibility of noise-reduced signals between subjective evaluation scores and objective prediction results, and of noisy signals before and after noise-reduction processing, in terms of correlation analysis and prediction errors. Results showed that the majority of objective measures behave differently for Mandarin and Japanese in predicting the subjective ratings, and the STOI measure consistently provided the best ability in predicting the effect on speech intelligibility of the noise-reduction processing for both Mandarin and Japanese.
Clinical Applications of Artificial Intelligence to Forecast Target Range of Radioimmunometric Intact Parathyroid Hormone in Hemodialysis Patients

Background: Application of artificial intelligence to predict and explore potential relationship between predictors and outcome in biologic nature has been increasingly used in many clinical scenarios. The purpose of this study was to apply and validate artificial neural network (ANN) and naive Bayes classifier (NBC), two models of artificial intelligence, in predicting the target range of plasma intact parathyroid hormone (iPTH) concentration for hemodialysis patients. Methods: The study population included 130 stable hemodialysis patients. The predictors consisted of demographic characteristics (gender, age), associated diseases (diabetes, hypertension), and blood biochemistries (hemoglobin, protein, albumin, calcium, phosphorus, alkaline phosphatase, and ferritin), calcium-phosphorus product, and transferrin saturation values. Plasma iPTH concentration measured by radioimmunometric assay was the dichotomous outcome variable, either target group (150 ng/L≤iPTH≤300 ng/L) or non-target group (iPTH ＜ 150 ng/L or iPTH ＞ 300ng/L) on the basis of Kidney Disease Outcomes Quality Initiative guidelines. The leave-one-out cross validation was employed to surmount the generalization problem caused by a small amount of study population. To compare the performance of the ANN and NBC models, discrimination was evaluated using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) and calibration was estimated using the Hosmer-Lemeshow goodness-of-fit statistic (H-statistic). Results: Pairwise comparison of each AUC showed that the ANN model significantly outperformed the NBC model (AUC=0.90±0.06 vs. 0.62±0.08, P＜0.01). The H-statistic values of the ANN and NBC models were 6.88 (P=0.08) and 6.97 (P=0.07), respectively. The ANN model with a lower H-statistic and a higher P value than the NBC model was associated with a better fit. Conclusion: The ANN model could serve as a promising tool to forecast the target range of plasma iPTH concentration in hemodialysis patients.
Forgetting the Flood? An Analysis of the Flood Risk Discount over Time

We examine whether property price differentials reflecting flood risk increase following a large flood event, and whether this change is temporary or permanent. We use single-family residential property sales in Dougherty County, Georgia, between 1985 and 2004 in a difference-in-differences spatial hedonic model framework. After the 1994 “flood of the century,” prices of properties in the 100-year floodplain fell significantly. This effect was, however, short-lived. In spatial hedonic models that explicitly incorporate both linear and nonlinear temporal flood-zone effects, we show that the flood risk discount disappeared between four and nine years after the flood, depending upon the specification. (JEL Q51, Q54)
A Configurable Floating-Point Discrete Hilbert Transform Processor for Accelerating the Calculation of Filter in Katsevich Formula

Katsevich formula is currently a hot topic for cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT). The filter in the formula can be computed by a regular discrete Hilbert transform (DHT). A configurable single precision floating-point (SPFP) DHT processor is proposed for accelerating the calculation of filter in Katsevich formula. The configurable processor is of memory based architecture with one pipelined butterfly processing engine (PE) and supports variable point sizes from 8 to 1024. The DHT processor is controlled by the address generator. According to the point size, the address generator yields one memory address pair per clock cycle to keep the processor accessing memories successively. The DHT is calculated easily via complex multiplications in the frequency domain. Two fast Fourier transforms (FFT) are required in the entire process. The radix-2 FFT algorithm with decimation-in-frequency (DIF) decomposition is utilized in the design to construct an efficiently signal flow graph (SFG) for DHT calculation. Arithmetic calculations, in the last FFT iteration, complex multiplications and the first IFFT iteration are replaced with conjugation and swapping operations, so two iterations are saved in the DHT SFG. Data are loaded and unloaded simultaneously after one frame data calculation is completed. The symmetric property of twiddle factors is utilized to decrease half size of the readonly memory (ROM). Truncation is used in the design to reduce data path width. The proposed DHT processor is written in Verilog HDL, so it is easy for ASIC implementation. Compared with previous works, the performance analysis shows that the proposed DHT processor has minimum clock latency. Key-Words: discrete Hilbert transform, FFT, floating-point adder, floating-point multiplier, ASIC, VLSI
Nanoscale FinFET Based SRAM Cell Design: Analysis of Performance Metric, Process Variation, Underlapped FinFET, and Temperature Effect

In this paper the analysis of SNM, RNM, WNM and static power variation with width of access, load and driver have been carried out for nanoscale FinFET based SRAM cell. FinFET based SRAM design has been proposed as an alternative solution to the bulk devices. It can be inferred from the results that with increase in the width of driver FinFET, the high SNM reduces and low SNM increases. This is due the fact that the leakage current is considerably reduced due to increased control of the FinFET device structure, resulting relatively in highIon/Ioffratio. Further, the effect of process variation on the SRAM cell performance was analyzed using Monte Carlo simulation on HSPICE. The Monte Carlo simulation results for RNM and WNM to quantify the effect of process variation arising due to variation in FinFET's widths. The simulation was carried out for 1000 values, assuming 3σ equal to 10% of the mean value. Two structures of the FinFET viz. the standard PTM model and an underlapped FinFET have been also used for the simulations. It was identified that while the relative levels of the noise margins were lower for the underlapped case, the standard deviation was considerably lower too. In this work we also analyze the effect of temperature on noise margins and static power for FinFET based SRAM cell. FinFET is suitable for future nanoscale memory circuits design due to its reduced Short Channel Effects (SCE) and leakage current.
Managerial Strategies to Influence Frontline Worker Understanding of Performance Measures in Nonprofit Child Welfare Agencies

In response to demands of funders and interorganizational competition, nonprofit human service organizations have invested in performance measurement to demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of internal operations. Literature suggests that frontline workers’ involvement in performance measurement is critical in supporting organizational efforts to improve performance. Yet, we lack information on how nonprofit managers convey performance standards to frontline workers and promote their engagement in performance measurement. This study draws on data from the 2011 National Survey of Private Child and Family Serving Agencies to identify strategies nonprofit managers used to engage frontline workers in performance measurement. Findings indicate that less than half of managers reported that their workers had a strong or very strong understanding of the agency’s performance measures. Managerial communication and board involvement in performance measurement were associated with greater worker understanding of performance measures. These managerial approaches may be key factors in frontline understanding of performance measures.
Parental Attributions And Discipline Of Child Behavior

Extant empirical evidence suggests that multiple risk and protective factors implicated in children’s development of behavior problems are intertwined. This study, therefore, investigated the relationships among parental depression and anger, attributions of control, discipline, parentchild relationship variables, and children’s behavior problems. Results were based on the responses of parents (55 mothers and 13 fathers) with children in Head Start and parents (52 mothers and 4 fathers) with children in Private School settings. All parents had children who ranged in age from 3to 8-years. Compared to Private School parents, Head Start parents had lower levels of nonviolent discipline, involvement, and autonomy granting and endorsed greater internalizing behavior problems in their children. Significant correlations were found among parent-child relationship characteristics, parental discipline practices, and child behavior problems in both samples. Regression analyses suggested that Private School parents’ use of psychological aggression and autonomy granting interact in the prediction of children’s internalizing behavior problems. Although Head Start parents’ higher attributions of child control for failure predicted lower levels of nonviolent discipline, and Private School parents’ use of psychological aggression predicted greater levels of children’s externalizing behavior problems, there was no evidence of parental discipline mediating the relationship between parental attributions and children’s behavior problems. These findings emphasize the importance of research involving disadvantaged and nondisadvantaged community samples in order to provide a context for understanding how parental discipline and children’s behavior problems are related to parent traits and parent-child relationship characteristics.
Distributed Weight Balancing Over Digraphs

A weighted digraph is balanced if, for each node, the sum of the weights of the edges outgoing from that node is equal to the sum of the weights of the edges incoming to that node. Weight-balanced digraphs play a key role in a number of applications, including cooperative control, distributed optimization, and distributed averaging. We propose distributed algorithms that operate over static topologies, for solving the weight-balancing problem when the weights are either non-negative real numbers or when they are restricted to be non-negative integers. For the case of real weights, the proposed algorithm is shown to admit a geometric convergence rate. For the case of integer weights, the proposed algorithm is shown to converge after a finite number of iterations that we explicitly bound. We also provide examples to illustrate the operation, performance, and potential advantages of the proposed algorithms.
Butyrate Protects Rat Liver against Total Hepatic Ischemia Reperfusion Injury with Bowel Congestion

Hepatic ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury is an unavoidable consequence of major liver surgery, especially in liver transplantation with bowel congestion, during which endotoxemia is often evident. The inflammatory response aggravated by endotoxin after I/R contributes to liver dysfunction and failure. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the protective effect of butyrate, a naturally occurring four-carbon fatty acid in the body and a dietary component of foods such as cheese and butter, on hepatic injury complicated by enterogenous endotoxin, as well as to examine the underlying mechanisms involved. SD rats were subjected to a total hepatic ischemia for 30 min after pretreatment with either vehicle or butyrate, followed by 6 h and 24 h of reperfusion. Butyrate preconditioning markedly improved hepatic function and histology, as indicated by reduced transaminase levels and ameliorated tissue pathological changes. The inflammatory factors levels, macrophages activation, TLR4 expression, and neutrophil infiltration in live were attenuated by butyrate. Butyrate also maintained the intestinal barrier structures, reversed the aberrant expression of ZO-1, and decreased the endotoxin translocation. We conclude that butyrate inhibition of endotoxin translocation, macrophages activation, inflammatory factors production, and neutrophil infiltration is involved in the alleviation of total hepatic I/R liver injury in rats. This suggests that butyrate should potentially be utilized in liver transplantation.
Day-to-day Variation in Autonomy-Supportive and Psychologically Controlling Parenting: The Role of Parents’ Daily Experiences of Need Satisfaction and Need Frustration

SYNOPSIS Objective. Autonomy-supportive and psychologically controlling parenting have been shown to relate to positive and negative developmental outcomes, respectively. Most research that addresses antecedents of these parenting constructs has focused on the predictive role of between-parent differences (e.g., personality). To gain insight in dynamics of within-parent changes in reported parenting, this study focused on daily fluctuations in reported autonomy-supportive and psychologically controlling parenting and examined the role of parents’ need satisfaction and need frustration in accounting for those fluctuations. Design. Mothers (M age = 45) and fathers (M age = 47) of 198 adolescents (M age = 15) participated in a 7-day diary study. Results. Multilevel modeling provided evidence for significant day-to-day variability in both parenting dimensions. Daily fluctuations in need satisfaction were related to daily fluctuations in reported autonomy-supportive parenting and daily fluctuations in need frustration were related to daily fluctuations in reported psychologically controlling parenting. These associations were not moderated by between-parent differences in those parenting dimensions. Conclusions. The findings provide evidence for the role of parents’ own needs-related experiences in their daily display of autonomy-supportive and psychologically controlling parenting.
Awareness and recall during general anesthesia

Anesthesia awareness is defined as both consciousness and recall of surgical events. New research has been conducted out to test this phenomenon. However, testing methods have not proven reliable, including those using devices based on electroencephalographic techniques to detect and prevent intraoperative awareness. The limitations of a standard intraoperative brain monitor reflect our insufficient understanding of consciousness. Moreover, patients who experience an intraoperative awareness can develop serious post-traumatic stress disorders that should not be overlooked. In this review, we introduce the incidence of intraoperative awareness during general anesthesia and discuss the mechanisms of consciousness, as well as risk factors, various monitoring methods, outcome and prevention of intraoperative awareness.
Mitochondrial (COI) and nuclear (EF-1α) DNA variability of Rhopalosiphum padi and Rhopalosiphum nymphaeae (Hemiptera: Aphididae) in Lithuania

Partial sequences of mitochondrial COI and nuclear EF-1α genes have been analysed across the Lithuanian samples of Rhopalosiphum padi and R. nymphaeae (Hemiptera: Aphididae). In addition, samples from the adjacent countries of the Eastern Baltic region of Europe (Latvia, Estonia and Poland) and available sequences from GenBank and Bold Systems were used. The range of intraspecific pairwise R. padi COI sample (n = 44) divergences (K2P model) was 0.00–2.49% (average 0.61%). Out of 10 haplotypes, one was predominant (n = 25), with Worldwide distribution. The range of intraspecific pairwise R. nymphaeae COI sample (n = 20) divergences (K2P model) was 0.00–1.31% (average 0.22%). Out of 6 haplotypes, one was predominant (n = 13), sampled in Lithuania, Ukraine and Turkey (Asian part). The range of intraspecific pairwise sample divergences (K2P model) of EF-1α fragment was 0.00–0.40% (average 0.10%) for R. padi (n = 20) and 0.00–0.60% (average 0.13%) for R. nymphaeae (n = 17). Two COI haplotypes (including the Worldwide distributed one) and three EF-1α haplotypes (including the most common one) were detected in Lithuanian populations of R. padi. The present study suggests that R. padi populations from the Eastern Baltic region are predominantly holocyclic.
The Tipping Point of Animacy

Faces capture humans’ attention; yet, beyond aesthetic appreciation, it is presumably not the face itself that interests people but the mind behind it. Minds think, feel, and act in ways that have direct consequences for well-being, but despite their importance, how minds are perceived in faces is not well understood. We investigated this mechanism by presenting participants with morphed images created from animate (human) and inanimate (mannequin) faces. Life and mind were perceived to “appear” at a consistent location on the morph continuum, close to the human endpoint. This location constituted a categorical boundary, as evidenced by increased sensitivity to differences in image pairs that straddled this tipping point. Additionally, the impression of life was gleaned from the eyes more than from other facial features. These results suggest that human beings are highly attuned to specific facial cues, carried largely in the eyes, that gate the categorical perception of life.
Resultados e opiniões dos alunos sobre a implantação do ensino a distância em aulas de fonética e fonologia na Universidade Airlangga

The demand of e-learning at higher education has increased significantly in the past several years. In Indonesia, the implementation of e-learning has been encouraged by the government since 2011. However, universities are still looking for the most appropriate e-learning system, and unsure of the effectiveness of e-learning program. This paper discusses the implementation of e-learning system at Airlangga University, one of the top five state-owned universities in Indonesia. The e-learning system implemented in this university follows the Seven Principles of Good Practice in Undergraduate Education, i.e. encourage contacts between student and faculty; develop reciprocity and cooperation among students; use active learning techniques; give prompt feedback; emphasize time on task; communicate high expectations; and respect diverse talents and ways of learning. The e-learning platform at this university is called AULA (Airlangga University e-Learning Application). The respondents of this study were the students who took the General Linguistics course, particularly for the lectures on Phonetics and Phonology. Based on the t-test calculation of the exam scores, we conclude that there is no significant difference between the results of the e-learning and those of the classroom learning. The results of questionnaires show that 85% of the students are satisfied with the implementation of e-learning as they think that the e-learning makes it easier for them to understand the materials, it is fun, and is convenient to access. For further implementation, the students suggested the additions of podcasts and games, more time for the quizzes, and improvement of the e-learning platform.
Why Women? Gender Mainstreaming in Undergraduate International Relations Discourse

Over the last 30 years, feminist international relations (IR) and gendered approaches to foreign policy and security have been gaining attention in both the academy and in government. However, the systems and institutions that exist in our country are strategically designed to maintain patriarchy and privilege masculinity, so this work isn’t necessarily permeating into what is taught to students in undergraduate classrooms. Using a feminist lens, I analyze if and how women, gender, and feminism are being integrated into undergraduate IR courses at various public higher education institutions upstate New York. I consider the various arguments cited by professors for not teaching feminist IR and the potential consequences of continuing to exclude feminism and gender from undergraduate international relations courses. I conclude that the only way to subvert the patriarchal dominance of both knowledge and practice is to become more curious about what we’re teaching and learning in international relations. Why Women? 5
Evaluasi Program Pembelajaran

Mastery in teaching IPS SD (Social Science of Elementary School) at high classes has become obligatory for elementray school teacher training program graduates. This subject requires them to integrate factual social themes in the basis of social sciences with the mind-set of elementaru school students at high classes. Lesson study program has been launched during the last semester, inducing steps of plan, do and see. Collaborative teaching model has factually promoted a new teaching experience even for lecturers owing to the performance development of lecturers, which hopefully encourages the students' learning appreciation against Social Science of Elementary School subject. This research is intended to have an out-look on the develpment of teaching performance for lecturers and encouragement of learning appreciation for students in Social Science of Elementary School.
On the transmission-computation-energy tradeoff in wireless and fixed networks

In this paper, a framework for the analysis of the transmission-computation-energy tradeoff in wireless and fixed networks is introduced. The analysis of this tradeoff considers both the transmission energy as well as the energy consumed at the receiver to process the received signal. While previous work considers linear decoder complexity, which is only achieved by uncoded transmission, this paper claims that the average processing (or computation) energy per symbol depends exponentially on the information rate of the source message. The introduced framework is parametrized in a way that it reflects properties of fixed and wireless networks alike. The analysis of this paper shows that exponential complexity and therefore stronger codes are preferable at low data rates while linear complexity and therefore uncoded transmission becomes preferable at high data rates. The more the computation energy is emphasized (such as in fixed networks), the less hops are optimal and the lower is the benefit of multi-hopping. On the other hand, the higher the information rate of the singlehop network, the higher the benefits of multi-hopping. Both conclusions are underlined by analytical results.
Assessing the value of unrated items in collaborative filtering

In collaborative filtering systems, a common technique is default voting. Unknown ratings are filled with a default value to alleviate the sparsity of rating databases. We show that the choice of that default value represents an assumption about the underlying prediction algorithm and dataset. In this paper, we empirically analyze the effect of a varying default value of unrated items on various memory-based collaborative rating prediction algorithms on different rating corpora, in order to understand the assumptions these algorithms make about the rating database and to recommend default values for them.