Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Environmental adaptation for robust speech recognition

Lack of robustness with respect to environmental variability is a continuing problem for speech recognition. Many studies have shown that automatic speech recognition systems perform poorly when there are differences in the acoustics of the training and testing environment. Several approaches have previously been considered to compensate for environmental variability, including techniques based on autoregressive analysis, the use of auditory models, and the use of array processing, among many other approaches. This dissertation describes a number of new algorithms that improve the ability of speech recognition systems to adapt to new acoustical environments. These new testing environments are assumed to differ from the training environment because of the presence of both unknown addition noise and distortion from unknown linear filtering. The algorithms are based on previous research in which significant environmental robustness had been achieved by modifying the cepstral coefficients that are input as features to speech recognition systems. The present work extends the previous results along the dimensions of improved recognition accuracy, reduced dependence on specialized training data, reduced computational cost, and greater integration of environmental compensation into the matching algorithm of the speech decoder. The new algorithms are evaluated in terms of their effectiveness in improving environmental robustness and their computational complexity, among other attributes. It is found that further increases in robustness can be obtained by combining algorithms that process features that are inputs to the system with algorithms that modify the system's internal representation of speech. Linear interpolation of compensation vectors from different environments is generally helpful when the system was tested in an environment that was not one of the prototypes used to develop compensation vectors. In a standard ARPA evaluation of a 5000-word system that recognized sentences recorded in unknown environments, combination of these techniques typically decreases the rate of word errors by 66% compared to no environmental processing at all, and by 40% when the standard technique of cepstral mean normalization is included in the baseline system.
Measures of Student Engagement in Computer Science

Data relating to university students' engagement is collected internationally via several large-scale student surveys such as the North American National Survey of Student Engagement. The instruments employed measure the extent to which students put their efforts into activities associated with effective learning. It is claimed that these process measures act as a reliable proxy for student attainment, and there appears to be some evidence to support this. So far, there has been little work done to investigate engagement instruments and the data they generate from a subject perspective. This paper brings together data relating to Computer Science (CS) across the range of major engagement surveys. The results of this meta-analysis appear to indicate that CS rates lower than average on many of the major engagement benchmarks and in some cases, considerably so. Particular benchmark areas giving cause for concern are identified prompting questions as to how these results should be interpreted and used in the context of a particular learning domain. We also critique aspects of the surveys themselves, suggesting that further research is needed to better understand their appropriateness for individual subjects or for groups of subjects with shared traits. The paper argues that more qualitative data is required and that other measures (such as student expectation and some subject-specific measures) are needed for a greater understanding of the CS student experience.
Modeling Portfolio Defaults Using Hidden Markov Models with Covariates

We extend the Hidden Markov Model for defaults of Crowder, Davis, and Giampieri (2005) to include covariates. The covariates enhance the prediction of transition probabilities from high to low default regimes. To estimate the model, we extend the EM estimating equations to account for the time varying nature of the conditional likelihoods due to sample attrition and extension. Using empirical U.S. default data, we find that GDP growth, the term structure of interest rates and stock market returns impact the state transition probabilities. The impact, however, is not uniform across industries. We only find a weak correspondence between industry credit cycle dynamics and general business cycles.
The Study on the effect of the Job Satisfaction by Personal Assistant for the Disabled on the Service Quality

This study is designed to analyze the effect of the Job satisfaction which is composed of job itself, work place condition, reward, workload, social awareness by personal assistant for the Disabled on the service quality and to perceive the importance of job satisfaction of person assistance for the disabled, finding ways of enhancing job satisfaction in social welfare practice. For this purpose, total 218 personal assistants for the disabled`data were collected and analyzed. The results were personal assistant for the disabled`trait of sociology of population and general trait, job satisfaction, service quality, the correlation of job satisfaction and service quality, and the effect of job satisfaction on service quality. The results showed that personal assistant`job itself, reward, had a positive impact on service quality. On the basis of these results, significant practical implication are as follows; Firstly, there needs to be a expansion of education program for the job satisfaction of personal assistant for the disabled. Secondly, in relation to the reward of personal assistant for the disabled, the improvement of wage structure is requested.
Rational design of a small molecule-responsive intramer controlling transgene expression in mammalian cells

Aptamers binding proteins or small molecules have been shown to be versatile and powerful building blocks for the construction of artificial genetic switches. In this study, we present a novel aptamer-based construct regulating the Tet Off system in a tetracycline-independent manner thus achieving control of transgene expression. For this purpose, a TetR protein-inhibiting aptamer was engineered for use in mammalian cells, enabling the RNA-responsive control of the tetracycline-dependent transactivator (tTA). By rationally attaching the theophylline aptamer as a sensor, the inhibitory TetR aptamer and thus tTA activity became dependent on the ligand of the sensor aptamer. Addition of the small molecule theophylline resulted in enhanced binding to the corresponding protein in vitro and in inhibition of reporter gene expression in mammalian cell lines. By using aptamers as adaptors in order to control protein activity by a predetermined small molecule, we present a simple and straightforward approach for future applications in the field of Chemical Biology. Moreover, aptamer-based control of the widely used Tet system introduces a new layer of regulation thereby facilitating the construction of more complex gene networks.
Semantic Image Classification using Consistent Regions and Individual Context

This paper proposes an efficient approach for semantic image classification by integrating additional contextual constraints such as class co-occurrences into a randomized forest classification framework. The randomized forest classifier performs an initial yet local classification on the pixel level by using powerful covariance matrix based descriptors as feature representation. Furthermore, we exploit multiple unsupervised image partitions to provide a reliable spatial region support and to capture the real object boundaries. An information theoretic driven approach detects consistently classified regions and generates a representative segmentation incorporating the classification result on the pixel level. Moreover, we use a conditional random field formulation to obtain a final labeling including context information individually generated for each test image. To illustrate state-of-the-art performance, we run experiments on the two versions of the MSRC [21] dataset with 9 and 21 object classes and on the PASCAL VOC2007 [5] image collection.
Cell cycle regulation of embryonic stem cells and mouse embryonic fibroblasts lacking functional Pax7

ABSTRACT The transcription factor Pax7 plays a key role during embryonic myogenesis and in adult organisms in that it sustains the proper function of satellite cells, which serve as adult skeletal muscle stem cells. Recently we have shown that lack of Pax7 does not prevent the myogenic differentiation of pluripotent stem cells. In the current work we show that the absence of functional Pax7 in differentiating embryonic stem cells modulates cell cycle facilitating their proliferation. Surprisingly, deregulation of Pax7 function also positively impacts at the proliferation of mouse embryonic fibroblasts. Such phenotypes seem to be executed by modulating the expression of positive cell cycle regulators, such as cyclin E.
Comprehension of long distance number agreement in probable Alzheimer's disease

Two cross-modal naming experiments examined the role of working memory in processing sentences and discourses of various lengths. In Experiment 1, 10 memory impaired patients with probable Alzheimer's disease (AD) and 10 healthy elderly control participants showed similar sensitivity to violations of subject-verb number agreement in a short sentence condition and similar degradation to this sensitivity in a long sentence condition. Performance in neither length condition correlated with performance on working memory tasks, suggesting that the processes involved in interpreting a grammatical dependency between adjacent and nonadjacent elements are different from those required in the working memory tasks. In Experiment 2, the same 10 AD patients were less sensitive than the 10 control participants to pronounantecedent number agreement violations in a short discourse condition, but neither group was affected by additional length. In this experiment, performance in both the short and long conditions correlated with working memory performance. These results show that grammatical and discourse dependencies pose different memory and processing demands, and that these differences are not simply due to differences in the amount of intervening material between dependent words. The results also suggest that while the working memory deficits characteristic of AD do not interfere with on-line grammatical processing within sentences, they do compromise on-line discourse processing across sentences. Two cross-modal naming experiments examined the role of working memory in processing sentences and discourses of various lengths. In Experiment 1, 10 memory impaired patients with probable Alzheimer's disease (AD) and 10 healthy elderly control participants showed similar sensitivity to violations of subject-verb number agreement in a short sentence condition and similar degradation to this sensitivity in a long sentence condition. Performance in neither length condition correlated with performance on working memory tasks, suggesting that the processes involved in interpreting a grammatical dependency between adjacent and nonadjacent elements are different from those required in the working memory tasks. In Experiment 2, the same 10 AD patients were less sensitive than the 10 control participants to pronounantecedent number agreement violations in a short discourse condition, but neither group was affected by additional length. In this experiment, performance in both the short and long conditions correlated with working memory performance. These results show that grammatical and discourse dependencies pose different memory and processing demands, and that these differences are not simply due to differences in the amount of intervening material between dependent words. The results also suggest that while the working memory deficits characteristic of AD do not interfere with on-line grammatical processing within sentences, they do compromise on-line discourse processing across sentences.
Quantitative Aspects of Africa’s Past Economic Development

This paper provides a comparative analysis of pre-modern economic conditions in sub-Saharan Africa. We find that largeand medium-sized cities, our proxy for pre-modern economic development, were less prevalent in Africa than in South and Central America, a comparable region. Empirical analyses of the Standard Cross-Cultural Sample (SCCS), which includes 186 pre-industrial societies around the world, confirm and generalize the results. Ethnic diversity and pathogenic loads sometimes help explain pre-colonial disparities within the tropics whereas demographic, geographic, and technological differences play a minor role. We also find that modern influences (broadly defined) do not fully account for Africa’s current poverty. JEL classification: J11; O11; P51 Communications to: Javier A. Birchenall Department of Economics, 2127 North Hall University of California, Santa Barbara CA 93106 Phone/fax: (805) 893-5275 E-mail: jabirche@econ.ucsb. edu ∗A previous version of this paper circulated with the title “Africa’s past economic development and its determinants. ” I would like to thank Philip Babcock, Bob Fogel, David Carr, Juan Carlos Cordoba, Stanley Engerman, Ana Maria Ibáñez, Hyeok Jeong, Michael Kevane, Gary Libecap, Ted Miguel, Kris Mitchener, Pekka Hämäläinen, Phil Hoffman, Jeff Nugent, Bonnie Queen, James Robinson, Jean-Laurent Rosenthal, Raaj Sah, Romain Wacziarg, Warren Whatley, and seminar participants at USC, Universidad de los Andes, the All-UC economic history group meeting, PACDEV, SFSU, UCSB, and the Econometric society for very useful comments. I would like to specially acknowledge the many suggestions and criticisms by Peter Lindert, my discussant at the All-UC EH meeting.
Non‐Gaussian Error Distribution of Hubble Constant Measurements

We construct the error distribution of Hubble constant (H0) measurements from Huchra’s compilation of 461 measurements of H0 and the WMAP experiment central value H0 = 71 km s -1 Mpc -1. This error distribution is non‐Gaussian, with significantly larger probability in the tails of the distribution than predicted by a Gaussian distribution. The 95.4% confidence limits are 7.0 σ in terms of the quoted errors. It is remarkably well described by either a widened n = 2 Student t distribution or a widened double exponential distribution. These conclusions are unchanged if we use instead the central value H0 = 67 km s -1 Mpc -1 found from a median statistics analysis of a major subset of H0 measurements used here.
When Does Evolution Optimize? On the Relation Between Types of Density Dependence and Evolutionarily Stable Life History Parameters

In this paper we (i) put forward a simple notational device clarifying the, undeniable but generally ignored, role of density dependence in determining evolutionarily stable life histories, (ii) use this device to derive necessary and sufficient conditions for (a) the existence of an evolutionary extremization principle, and (b) the reduction of such a principle to straight r- or RO-maximization, (iii) use the latter results to analyze a simple concrete example showing that the details of the population dynamical embedding may influence our evolutionary predictions to an unexpected extent.
Long term effect (more than five years) of intrathecal baclofen on impairment, disability, and quality of life in patients with severe spasticity of spinal origin

Objectives: To evaluate long term change in impairment, disability, and health related functional status in patients with severe spasticity who received intrathecal baclofen. Methods: A long term (more than five years) observational longitudinal follow up study assessing 21 patients who received intrathecal baclofen given by programmable pump. Patients had chronic disabling spasticity which did not respond to oral antispasmolytic agents. Clinical efficacy was assessed by the Ashworth scale and spasm score; disability by the expanded disability status scale (EDSS), ambulation index (AI), and incapacity status scale (ISS); and health related quality of life by the sickness impact profile (SIP) and the Hopkins symptom checklist (HSCL). Results: Compared with pretreatment values, there was a significant improvement in clinical efficacy (Ashworth scale and spasm score, p<0.05) but a small but significant worsening of disability (EDSS, AI, and ISS, p<0.05). Comparing pretreatment with 26 weeks after pump implantation, a worsening was observed in disability (EDSS and ISS, p<0.05) and perceived health status (SIP, psychosocial dimension, p<0.05). Conclusions: Long term administration of intrathecal baclofen delivered by an implanted programmable pump resulted in improved clinical efficacy but not in improvement in disability or perceived health status.
Strong Traces Model of Self-Assembly Polypeptide Structures

A novel self-assembly strategy for polypeptide nanostructure design was presented in [Design of a single-chain polypeptide tetrahedron assembled from coiled-coil segments, Nature Chemical Biology 9 (2013) 362–366]. The first mathematical model (polypeptide nanostructure can naturally be presented as a skeleton graph of a polyhedron) from [Stable traces as a model for self-assembly of polypeptide nanoscale polyhedrons, MATCH Commun. Math. Comput. Chem. 70 (2013) 317–330] introduced stable traces as the appropriate mathematical description, yet we find them deficient in modeling graphs with either very small (≤ 2) or large (≥ 6) degree vertices. We introduce strong traces which remedy both of the above mentioned drawbacks. We show that every connected graph admits a strong trace by studying a connection between strong traces and graph embeddings. Further we also characterize graphs which admit parallel (resp. antiparallel) strong traces.
Self-Reported Psychosocial Health in Obese Patients before and after Weight Loss

Psychosocial profiles were examined in 255 morbidly obese patients attending a hospital service offering access to standard weight loss therapies. 129 patients were reassessed after at least 6-month follow-up. At baseline, 51.8% and 32.7% of patients, respectively, had evidence of anxiety and depressive disorders, 24% had severe impairments in self esteem, and 29.7% had an increased risk of eating disorders. At follow-up, weight loss from baseline was significant in all 3 therapies: diet only is 0.74 ± 1.8 kg; pharmacotherapy is 6.7 ± 4.2 kg; and surgery is 20.1 ± 13.6 kg. Anxiety scores improved in all three groups (P < .05). Patients having pharmacotherapy or surgery had significant improvements in physical and work function and public distress compared to those having dietary treatment only (P < .05). Our observational data suggest that weight management services can lead to psychosocial benefit in morbidly obese patients. Well-designed studies are necessary to examine the link between weight loss and emotional health.
Traumatic Dislocation of Implanted Collamer Phakic Lens: A Case Report and Review of the Literature

Purpose : Present a case of dislocation of an Implantable Collamer Lens (ICL) that occurs after blunt trauma and review the published literature on this topic. Methods : Case report and literature review using PubMed. Results : A 44 year-old male presented to the emergency department with sudden onset of blurry vision after blunt trauma to the left eye. Three years prior, he had undergone bilateral ICL placement for high myopia. On examination, the superotemporal haptic was noted to be dislocated into the anterior chamber, but there was no endothelial touch by the dislocated lens. The patient had an associated hyphema that was medically managed, and 2 weeks after the injury, the patient underwent ICL repositioning. A review of the literature was performed and five previous cases of ICL dislocation were identified. Three of these occurred after blunt trauma. One of these cases was associated with endothelial touch and decompensation and eventually required a descement’s stripping endothelial keratoplasty (DSAEK). Conclusion : Dislocation of ICLs after blunt trauma is a rare but important potential sequela of the procedure and can lead to corneal decompensation if there is lens-endothelial touch. All patients who suffer blunt dislocation of ICL should be followed long-term after repositioning for signs of endothelial loss and dysfunction.
A Jet-ADAF model for Sgr A*

The recent Chandra observation of the radio source at the center of our Galaxy, Sgr A * , puts new constraints on its theoretical models. The spectrum is very soft, and the source is rapidly variable. We consider different models to explain the observations. We find that the features of the X-ray spectrum can be marginally explained with an advection-dominated accretion flow (ADAF) model while it does not well fit the radio spectrum. An ADAF with strong winds (ADIOS) model is not favored if we assume that the wind does not radiate. Alternatively, we propose a coupled jet plus accretion disk model to explain the observations for Sgr A * . The accretion flow is described as an ADAF fed by Bondi-Hoyle accretion of hot plasma in the Galactic Center region. A small fraction of the accretion flow is ejected near the black hole, forming a jet after passing through a shock. As a result, the electron temperature increases to ~$2 \times 10^{11}~{\rm K}$, which is about 10 times higher than the highest temperature attained in the ADAF. The model is self-consistent since the main jet parameters are determined by the underlying accretion disk at the inner edge. The emergent spectrum of Sgr A * is the sum of the emission from jet and underlying ADAF. The very strong Comptonization of synchrotron emission from the jet can dominate the bremsstrahlung from the ADAF, therefore, a very short variability timescale is expected and the predicted X-ray slope and the radio spectrum is in very good agreement with the observations.
Efficient Staggered Decoding for Sequence Labeling

The Viterbi algorithm is the conventional decoding algorithm most widely adopted for sequence labeling. Viterbi decoding is, however, prohibitively slow when the label set is large, because its time complexity is quadratic in the number of labels. This paper proposes an exact decoding algorithm that overcomes this problem. A novel property of our algorithm is that it efficiently reduces the labels to be decoded, while still allowing us to check the optimality of the solution. Experiments on three tasks (POS tagging, joint POS tagging and chunking, and supertagging) show that the new algorithm is several orders of magnitude faster than the basic Viterbi and a state-of-the-art algorithm, CARPEDIEM (Esposito and Radicioni, 2009).