Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Adaptive transmission with finite code rates

This work examines a transmission system which adapts a finite set of code rates and a continuously varying transmit power. We propose a technique for finding the average reliable throughput (ART)-maximizing policy satisfying an average power constraint for a slow fading additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channel. ART is a measure motivated by the information outage and can, for example, be argued to characterize the long-term average throughput of a data packet transmission system with a transmit queue and a feedback protocol which requests retransmission of erroneously received packets. Given the size of the code rate set L, the ART-maximizing policy has the following properties. 1. For a given set of code rates, the optimum allocation policy suggests quantizing the fading state space into a set of L+1 corresponding intervals. For each quantization interval the optimal policy specifies a minimum transmitted power assignment which guarantees zero information outage. The optimum average power assignments across quantization intervals have a waterfilling relationship with respect to the interval channel quality measure. 2. The joint optimization of quantization intervals and the corresponding rate assignments are shown to have multiple local maxima. Nevertheless, this optimization problem can be reduced to a simple one-dimensional search over a parameter which determines the outage interval. Numerical results show that, in a Rayleigh-fading channel, there is only a 1-dB gap between the ergodic capacity and the throughput of a two-rate adaptive transmission system when the throughput is less than 6 bits/s/Hz. A special case of our optimal policy assignment is the optimal power and rate policy for an adaptive M-QAM system.
What are the Essential Cues for Understanding Spoken Language?

SUMMARY Classical models of speech recognition assume that a detailed, short-term analysis of the acoustic signal is essential for accurately decoding the speech signal and that this decoding process is rooted in the phonetic segment. This paper presents an alternative view, one in which the time scales required to accurately describe and model spoken language are both shorter and longer than the phonetic segment, and are inherently wedded to the syllable. The syllable reflects a singular property of the acoustic signal — the modulation spectrum — which provides a principled, quantitative framework to describe the process by which the listener proceeds from sound to meaning. The ability to understand spoken language (i.e., intelligibility) vitally depends on the integrity of the modulation spectrum within the core range of the syllable (3–10Hz) and reflects the variation in syllable emphasis associated with the concept of prosodic prominence (“accent”). A model of spoken language is described in which the prosodic properties of the speech signal are embedded in the temporal dynamics associated with the syllable, a unit serving as the organizational
The Use of Intradiscal Steroid Therapy for Lumbar Spinal Discogenic Pain: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Study Design. A prospective randomized study of the therapeutic effect of intradiscal steroid injection compared to a saline placebo. Objectives. To determine whether intradiscal steroid injection influences the clinical outcome at 1 year in patients with chronic low back pain of discogenic origin. Summary of Background Data. Steroids have been used empirically in the treatment of back pain. They have been used in the epidural space and around nerve roots and have been used as an alternative to chymopapain within the disc. Previous studies have, however, shown variable results. Methods. A total of 120 patients with chronic low back pain of discogenic origin were enrolled in the study. At discography, if they had concordant pain, they were randomized to injection of normal saline or methylprednisolone into the disc space. These patients were prospectively followed up for 12 months, and they were asked to report pain according to a visual analogue score and their Oswestry Disability Index was recorded. The primary outcome measure was determined as a percentage change in disability, and the results were analyzed using independent samples t test. The secondary outcome measure was a change in the pain score, and this was analyzed using the Mann-Whitney U test. Results. There was no significant difference in the primary outcome between the two groups (P = 0.71). The steroid group had a mean change of 2.28 (SE 2.49) in percentage disability, while the saline group had a mean change of 3.42 (SE 1.79). With respect to the change in pain score, there was no significant difference between the two groups (P = 0.72). Those patients who had saline injection had a median change in pain score of 0 (interquartile range −1 to 1), whereas those given steroid treatment had a median change in pain score of 0 (interquartile range −0.25 to 1). Conclusions. This study demonstrates that intradiscal steroid injections do not improve the clinical outcome in patients with discogenic back pain compared with placebo.
Psycho-emotional disablism: a differentiated process

This article presents analyses of data from a Norwegian survey. By way of descriptive statistics and linear regression analyses, the study investigates the relations between disability, psycho-emotional well-being, social participation, bullying and violence. It is demonstrated that disability is strongly associated with low psycho-emotional well-being. Relying on Carol Thomas' concept of ‘barriers to being’, it is argued that this finding testifies to a disabling process. Her work also suggests that this process is compounded with other disabling processes such as barriers to social participation. However, the empirical findings presented in this article do not suggest such convergence. Instead, bullying and violence prove to be more important than one might imagine. It is argued that disabling processes should be conceptualized as differentiated rather than compounded, and that research on violence could provide soil for theoretical development.
Compatibility Family Learning for Item Recommendation and Generation

Compatibility between items, such as clothes and shoes, is a major factor among customer's purchasing decisions. However, learning "compatibility" is challenging due to (1) broader notions of compatibility than those of similarity, (2) the asymmetric nature of compatibility, and (3) only a small set of compatible and incompatible items are observed. We propose an end-to-end trainable system to embed each item into a latent vector and project a query item into K compatible prototypes in the same space. These prototypes reflect the broad notions of compatibility. We refer to both the embedding and prototypes as "Compatibility Family. " In our learned space, we introduce a novel Projected Compatibility Distance (PCD) function which is differentiable and ensures diversity by aiming for at least one prototype to be close to a compatible item, whereas none of the prototypes are close to an incompatible item. We evaluate our system on a toy dataset, two Amazon product datasets, and Polyvore outfit dataset. Our method consistently achieves state-of-the-art performance. Finally, we show that we can visualize the candidate compatible prototypes using a Metric-regularized Conditional Generative Adversarial Network (MrCGAN), where the input is a projected prototype and the output is a generated image of a compatible item. We ask human evaluators to judge the relative compatibility between our generated images and images generated by CGANs conditioned directly on query items. Our generated images are significantly preferred, with roughly twice the number of votes as others.
The Road to Dystopia? Changes in the Penal Climate of the Netherlands

Postwar developments in Dutch penal policy encompass one period of sustained reduction in the scale of imprisonment (1947–74), producing the most humane penal system in Europe, followed by a second (1975 to date) in which that trend reversed, producing an imprisonment rate that exceeds the European average, with adverse consequences for the character of prison regimes. The causes of the initial period are not self‐evident, taking place while crime was rising, and based on a philosophy of minimizing the resort to custody. Key elements of that approach continued from 1975 to the mid‐1980s, during a period of sharply rising crime rates. The period of sustained recarceration after 1985, and its prolongation, into the 1990s and beyond, entailed a sweeping reconfiguration of penal policy. Managerial, instrumental, and incapacitative measures took precedence over previous goals of resocialization and restorative justice.
The order and simplicity of gentrification: a political challenge

As the concept of gentrification celebrates an even forty years, some of the most basic questions about the process itself remain contentious. What is gentrification? What are its root causes? There is surely no lack of answers, though these are largely stamped by disciplined convention. The purpose of this chapter is to revisit these basic questions and formulate answers that facilitate “having gentrification clearly in view” so it can “be scrutinized effectively” (Beauregard 1986, 54). I will argue for a broader definition of gentrification than is commonly found in the literature. Our overly narrow definitions render the concept genuinely chaotic by conflating contingent and necessary relations. This effectively interferes with probing underlying causes and slants our view towards particularities. I will also argue for a more inclusive perspective on the geography and history of gentrification. I will argue that the root causes of gentrification are: commodification of space, polarized power relations, and a dominance of vision over sight associated with what Wendell Berry calls ‘the vagrant sovereign’ (1977, p. 53). We are so busy pursuing superficial particular truths we loose touch with and fail to maintain these deeper more universal truths about gentrification. I will argue that we need to break with the present norm insisting upon emphasizing and focusing on the chaos and complexity of gentrification. We wrongly assume that seeking to identify order and simplicity in gentrification is tantamount to reductionism and simple-mindedness, and that critical thinking requires us to stick to the lodestars of chaos and complexity. This predominant attitude in gentrification research is not unrelated to more general trends in social science, “a remarkable turnaround in radical political sensibilities” (Sayer 2001, 687). (Less)
Cultural Intersections: The Life Story of a Roma Cultural Mediator

The article presents the life story of a young Roma cultural mediator who narrates (1) her life and professional decisions, still rather uncommon among young Roma women, and (2) the impact of her education and work experiences and achievements on her self perception. The narratives, from which the life story emerges, express the young Roma's efforts to interweave two different cultural perspectives; furthermore they emphasize how cultural diversity can be a way to be and to relate to others. The life story is told as a personal project negotiated between the Roma and the Gagé cultural heritages; the cultural constraints within and without cultural boundaries are highlighted, while character traits and imagination are presented as the main turning points in the young woman's life.
The influence of gestational stage on urinary iodine excretion in pregnancy.

INTRODUCTION Median urinary iodine concentration (UIC) is the most commonly used indicator of population iodine nutrition. However, its validity as an indicator of dietary intake relies on a stable relationship between dietary iodine intake and urinary excretion. Physiological alterations in normal pregnancy, such as increased glomerular filtration rate, potentially invalidate UIC as an assessment tool in pregnancy. OBJECTIVE The objective of the study was to document the impact of advancing gestation on UIC in normal pregnancy and determine whether the current reference intervals for general population iodine monitoring are appropriate for use in the context of pregnancy. DESIGN Tasmania has a well-described history of mild iodine deficiency (school-age median UIC of 84 microg/liter). We assessed UIC in 759 urine samples from 431 women attending the Antenatal Clinic at the Royal Hobart Hospital, Tasmania's primary teaching hospital. MAIN OUTCOME The overall median UIC during pregnancy was 75 microg/liter (95% confidence interval 70.03-79.97 microg/liter) at a median gestation of 19.4 wk. Stratification by gestation, however, revealed a dynamic relationship between ioduria and gestation. Median UIC was elevated in early pregnancy and subsequently declined with advancing gestation. CONCLUSION In this mildly iodine-deficient population, current reference intervals for UIC overestimated the adequacy of iodine nutrition during the first and early second trimester of pregnancy. Gestation-specific UIC reference intervals are required to classify iodine nutrition during pregnancy. This is particularly important in populations with borderline iodine deficiency.
BRCA1 Silencing Is Associated with Failure of DNA Repairing in Retinal Neurocytes

Retinal post-mitotic neurocytes display genomic instability after damage induced by physiological or pathological factors. The involvement of BRCA1, an important factor in development and DNA repair in mature retinal neurocytes remains unclear. Thus, we investigated the developmental expression profile of BRCA1 in the retina and defined the role of BRCA1 in DNA repair in retinal neurocytes. Our data show the expression of BRCA1 is developmentally down-regulated in the retinas of mice after birth. Similarly, BRCA1 is down-regulated after differentiation induced by TSA in retinal precursor cells. An end-joining activity assay and DNA fragmentation analysis indicated that the DNA repair capacity is significantly reduced. Moreover, DNA damage in differentiated cells or cells in which BRCA1 is silenced by siRNA interference is more extensive than that in precursor cells subjected to ionizing radiation. To further investigate non-homologous end joining (NHEJ), the major repair pathway in non-divided neurons, we utilized an NHEJ substrate (pEPI-NHEJ) in which double strand breaks are generated by I-SceI. Our data showed that differentiation and the down-regulation of BRCA1 respectively result in a 2.39-fold and 1.68-fold reduction in the total NHEJ frequency compared with that in cells with normal BRCA1. Furthermore, the analysis of NHEJ repair junctions of the plasmid substrate indicated that BRCA1 is involved in the fidelity of NHEJ. In addition, as expected, the down-regulation of BRCA1 significantly inhibits the viability of retina precursor cells. Therefore, our data suggest that BRCA1 plays a critical role in retinal development and repairs DNA damage of mature retina neurocytes.
Neural Architecture

While we are waiting for the ultimate biophysics of cell membranes and synapses to be completed, we may speculate on the shapes of neurons and on the patterns of their connections. Much of this will be significant whatever the outcome of future physiology. Take as an example the isotropy, anisotropy and periodicity of different kinds of neural networks. The very existence of these different types in different parts of the brain (or in different brains) defeats explanation in terms of embryology; the mechanisms of development are able to make one kind of network or another. The reasons for the difference must be in the functions they perform. The tasks which they solve in one case apparently refer to some space which is intrinsically isotropic, in another to a situation in which different coordinates mean different things. In the periodic case, the tasks obviously refer to some kind of modules and to their relations. The examples I have in mind are first the cerebral cortex, quite isotropic in the plane of the cortex, second the cerebellar cortex with very different sets of fibers at right angles to each other (one excitatory, as we know today, and the other inhibitory) and third some of the nerve nets behind the eye of the fly. Besides general patterns of symmetry, some simple statements of a statistical nature can be read off the histological picture. If a neuron is a device picking up excitation (and/or inhibition) on its ten to ten thousand afferent synapses and producing excitation (or inhibition) on ten to ten thousand synapses on other neurons, the density, geometrical distribution and reciprocal overlap of the clouds of afferent and of efferent synapses of individual neurons provide unquestionable constraints to neural computation. In the simple terms of the histological practitioner, this translates into the description of the shapes of dendritic and axonal trees, into counts of neurons and synapses, differential counts of synapses of the excitatory and inhibitory kind and measurements of the axonal and dendritic lengths.
School Climate and Academic Achievement in Suburban Schools

School climate research has indicated a relationship between the climate of a school and academic achievement. The majority of explanatory models have been developed in urban schools with less attention given to suburban schools. Due to the process of formation of suburban schools, there is a likelihood these campuses differ from the traditional urban school. The current study examined the predictive value of suburban school climate on academic achievement in a nationally representative sample of suburban campuses. The findings indicate behavior and racial/ethnic composition may impact achievement levels in suburban schools. The findings also indicate the location of the school and the surrounding crime may be a factor in suburban academic achievement.
Best practices in vehicle stop data collection and analysis

Purpose – Within the last 15 years, law enforcement agencies have increased their collection of data on vehicle stops. A variety of resource guides, research reports, and peer‐reviewed articles have outlined the methods used to collect these data and conduct analyses. This literature is spread across numerous publications and can be cumbersome to summarize for practical use by practitioners and academics. This article seeks to fill this gap by detailing the current best practices in vehicle stop data collection and analysis in state police agencies.Design/methodology/approach – The article summarizes the data collection techniques used to assist in identifying racial/ethnic disparities in vehicle stops. Specifically, questions concerning why, when, how, and what data should be collected are addressed. The most common data analysis techniques for vehicle stops are offered, including an evaluation of common benchmarking techniques and their ability to measure at‐risk drivers. Vehicle stop outcome analyses a.
A Psychodynamic Observer in a Chronic Psychiatric Ward

The everyday life of a ward for chronic psychotics was sampled in regular weekly sessions and the observations analysed to discover the unconscious interactions and shared defences that explained its social structure. Outwardly there was boredom, monotony, and an absence of interactions, emotions and events but underneath there were pervasive anxieties defensively subdued especially by the staff. Even tiny moves by patients to alter this atmosphere were instantly nullified. These anxieties had two sources: (a) a massive impotence in face both of chronicity and of identification with the patients as social rejects. (b) lurking fear of madness stagnation and cmptiness. This typical psychiatric facility for chronic patients functions as a defensive system that makes change and development safely impossible and demoralises the staff. Some remedial suggestions are offered.
Classification of the intention to generate a shoulder versus elbow torque by means of a time–frequency synthesized spatial patterns BCI algorithm

In this paper, we attempt to determine a subject's intention of generating torque at the shoulder or elbow, two neighboring joints, using scalp electroencephalogram signals from 163 electrodes for a brain–computer interface (BCI) application. To achieve this goal, we have applied a time–frequency synthesized spatial patterns (TFSP) BCI algorithm with a presorting procedure. Using this method, we were able to achieve an average recognition rate of 89% in four healthy subjects, which is comparable to the highest rates reported in the literature but now for tasks with much closer spatial representations on the motor cortex. This result demonstrates, for the first time, that the TFSP BCI method can be applied to separate intentions between generating static shoulder versus elbow torque. Furthermore, in this study, the potential application of this BCI algorithm for brain-injured patients was tested in one chronic hemiparetic stroke subject. A recognition rate of 76% was obtained, suggesting that this BCI method can provide a potential control signal for neural prostheses or other movement coordination improving devices for patients following brain injury.
Students’ Critical Thinking Improvement Through PDEODE and STAD Combination in The Nutrition and Health Lecture

Students’ critical thinking skills are very important in the 21st century. Learning strategies can play a role in enhancing students’ critical thinking skills in the Nutrition and Health lecture. The results of a survey in 2013 showed that the implementation of learning strategies had not given students the opportunity to practice their critical thinking skills optimally. The new strategy, a combination of PDEODE and STAD, can be used to overcome the occurring problems. The purpose of this research was to determine the increase in students’ critical thinking skills in the nutrition and health lecture after they were taught using a combination of PDEODE and STAD. This was a pre-experimental research using a one group pretest-posttest research design. The samples of this research were one class consisting of 41 university students. The results of the test were analyzed with quantitative methods, by using statistical analysis, paired samples T-test, and to know the effectiveness using gain scores. The results showed that the significance was 0.000 (p <0.05) and the gain score was 0.58. Thus, it can be concluded that the strategy of combining PDEODE and STAD can effectively improve the students’ critical thinking skills in the nutrition and health lecture.
An Effective Algorithm for Automatic Detection and Exact Demarcation of Breath Sounds in Speech and Song Signals

Automatic detection of predefined events in speech and audio signals is a challenging and promising subject in signal processing. One important application of such detection is removal or suppression of unwanted sounds in audio recordings, for instance in the professional music industry, where the demand for quality is very high. Breath sounds, which are present in most song recordings and often degrade the aesthetic quality of the voice, are an example of such unwanted sounds. Another example is bad pronunciation of certain phonemes. In this paper, we present an automatic algorithm for accurate detection of breaths in speech or song signals. The algorithm is based on a template matching approach, and consists of three phases. In the first phase, a template is constructed from mel frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCCs) matrices of several breath examples and their singular value decompositions, to capture the characteristics of a typical breath event. Next, in the initial processing phase, each short-time frame is compared to the breath template, and marked as breathy or nonbreathy according to predefined thresholds. Finally, an edge detection algorithm, based on various time-domain and frequency-domain parameters, is applied to demarcate the exact boundaries of each breath event and to eliminate possible false detections. Evaluation of the algorithm on a database of speech and songs containing several hundred breath sounds yielded a correct identification rate of 98% with a specificity of 96%