Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A multilingual approach to joint Speech and Accent Recognition with DNN-HMM framework

Human can perform multi-task recognition from speech. For instance, human can recognize speech, as well as a peculiar accent of the speech simultaneously. However, present state-of-the-art speech recognition system can rarely do that. In this paper, we propose a multilingual approach to recognizing English speech, as well as the related accent that the speakers convey using DNN-HMM framework. Specifically, we assume different accents of English as different languages. We then merge them together and train a multilingual speech recognition system. During decoding, we conduct two sets of experiments. One is a monolingual Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) system, with the accent information only embedded at the phone level, realizing word-based accent recognition, and the other is a multilingual ASR system, with the accent information embedded at both word and phone level, realizing an approximated utterance-based accent recognition.
How permeable is the edge of the Arctic vortex: Model studies of winter 1999–2000

[1] The edge of the Arctic vortex constitutes a strong barrier to transport; however, the extent of isolation of the vortex air as a function of altitude and season is relatively poorly quantified. In this study, by examining the transport of midlatitude air parcels across the vortex edge into the vortex, we analyze the permeability of the vortex edge. With the three-dimensional version of CLaMS (Chemical Lagrangian Model of the Stratosphere) we explore the dilution of the vortex air due to mixing in winter 1999–2000. An artificial, passive tracer was initialized on 1 December 1999 inside the polar vortex with a value of 100% and with a value of zero outside the polar vortex. Using several different definitions of the vortex edge, the resulting intrusions of midlatitude air into the vortex show the same mean features. This demonstrates that the diagnosed dilution does not strongly depend on the details of the definition of the vortex edge. At about the end of March 2000, the vertical structure of the vortex consisted of well-isolated, pure vortex layers around 500 K and 750 K, with some more diluted layers in between and at the vortex bottom. The influence of wave activity on the evolution of the intrusion layers is studied. The divergence of the Eliassen-Palm flux shows such a high variability during the whole period that it is not possible to assess a direct causality of certain intrusion layers and some specific patterns. Some characteristics of the vortex edge, in particular the shape of the gradient of potential vorticity (PV), can influence the dilution of the vortex. In cases without a distinct maximum in the PV gradient, the defined “vortex edge” may vary substantially from day to day. The comparison of some properties of the vortex (wind speed, PV field, area of the vortex, the maximum of the PV gradient) of undisturbed versus diluted layers and the variation in time of the intrusions were analyzed. All observed intrusions begin in conditions of weak PV gradient, indicating that the value of the maximum of the PV gradient may be used as a quantitative measure of the permeability of the vortex edge.
Negative probabilities in Gene Regulatory Networks

—We introduce a natural framework to identify sign-indeﬁnite co-expressions between genes based on the known expressions and given the sign of their respective correlations. Speciﬁcally, given information concerning the afﬁnity among genes (i.e., connectivity in the gene regulatory network) and knowledge whether they promote/inhibit co-expression of the respective protein production, we seek rates that may explain the observed stationary distributions at the level of proteins. We propose to encapsulate their “promotion vs. inhibition” functionality in a sign-indeﬁnite probability transition matrix– a matrix whose row-sums equal to one, but is otherwise sign indeﬁnite. The purpose of constructing such a representation for the interaction network with sign-indeﬁnite contributions in protein regulation, is to quantify the structure and signiﬁcance of various links, and to explain how these may affect the geometry of the network, highlighting the signiﬁcance of the regulatory functions of certain genes. We cast the problem of ﬁnding the interaction (sign-indeﬁnite) transition matrix as a solution to a convex optimization problem from which all the relevant geometric properties may be easily derived.
Multispecies stable isotopes of benthic foraminifers reveal past changes of organic matter decomposition and deepwater oxygenation in the Arabian Sea

[1] The stable isotope composition of one epifaunal and three infaunal benthic foraminiferal species of a sediment core from 1800 m water depth of the western Arabian Sea was determined to evaluate deepwater oxygenation, organic matter remineralization, and early diagenetic processes during the past 190,000 years. The δ18O records reveal species-specific metabolic effects, susceptibility to changes in carbonate ion concentration, and supralysoclinal calcite dissolution. The foraminiferal δ13C records reveal changes in the stable carbon isotope gradients of pore water dissolved inorganic carbon (δ13CDIC) and in the microhabitat depth of infaunal species. Maximum δ13CDIC offsets between bottom and pore waters ranged between mean values of 0.8 and 1.2‰ corresponding to estimates of deepwater oxygen concentration between approximately 1 and 2.7 mL L−1. Intervals of improved deepwater oxygenation coincided with high benthic foraminiferal diversity and indicate the admixture of well-oxygenated deepwater masses during interglacials. During interglacial maxima the δ13C difference between epifauna and shallow infauna indicates highest organic matter remineralization rates at times of maximum organic matter fluxes.
Sentiment‐scaled CAPM and market mispricing

This study explores the conditional version of the capital asset pricing model on sentiment to provide a behavioural intuition behind the value premium and market mispricing. We find betas ( β ) and the market risk premium to vary over time across different sentiment indices and portfolios. More importantly, the state β derived from this sentiment ‐ scaled model provides a behavioural explanation of the value premium and a set of anomalies driven by mispricing. Different from the static β – return relation that gives a flat security market line, we document upward security market lines when plotting portfolio returns against their state β s and portfolios with higher state β s earn higher returns.
Projected Changes to Streamflow Characteristics over Western Canada as Simulated by the Canadian RCM

AbstractIntensification of the global hydrological cycle and increase in precipitation for some regions around the world, including the northern mid- to high latitudes, is expected in a changing climate. Changes in the amount of seasonal precipitation and the intensity and frequency of extreme precipitation events directly affect the magnitude of seasonal streamflows and the timing and severity of floods and droughts. In this study, the Canadian Regional Climate Model (CRCM) projected changes to streamflow characteristics (i.e., hydrologic regime, mean annual streamflows, and the timing, frequency, and magnitude of extreme flows—low and high) over selected basins in western Canada and assessment of errors associated with these characteristics in the current climate are presented. An ensemble of five current (1961–90) and five future (2041–70) simulations, corresponding to the Special Report on Emissions Scenarios (SRES) A2 scenario, are used in the assessment of projected changes; the ensemble of simulati.
Nature of the lower crust and moho in eastern Nevada from “wide‐angle” reflection measurements

Wide angle recordings at offsets between 20 and 40 km in the Ruby Mountains consistently show 5 strong reflections between 4 and 11 s with enough moveout to estimate velocities to the base of the crust. The uppermost “layer” with a temperature corrected velocity of 6.2 km/s and thickness of 9 km corresponds to quartzofeldspathic rocks such as metasedimentary rocks, migmatites and deformed granites and is underlain by a 7-km-thick “layer” with velocities of 6.4 km/s which corresponds to quartzofeldspathic material interlayered with amphibolites. The lower crust consists of a heterogeneous, 9 km-thick zone with velocities of 6.7 to 6.8 km/s corresponding to mafic rocks interlayered with smaller amounts of quartzofeldspathic rock. The lowermost crust is marked by the “X” reflection overlying a 3-km-thick “layer” with velocities between 7.4-7.8 km/s corresponding to anomolous material, possibly layered cumulates. The subhorizontal, layered structure of the crust is caused primarily by ductile extension, which may well be superposed on material added to the crust by underplating. At most, approximately one third of the present crust could have been added by underplating in the Cenozoic.
Observations and conceptual modelling of morphological coupling in a double sandbar system

Nearshore sandbars, located in <10 m water depth, can contain remarkably periodic alongshore undulations in both cross‐shore position and depth. In a double sandbar system, the alongshore spacing of these morphological patterns in the inner sandbar may be identical to those in the outer sandbar. Although this morphological coupling has been observed previously, its frequency and predominance remain unclear. In this paper, we use a 9.3‐year dataset of daily low‐tide time exposure images from the double‐barred beach at Surfers Paradise (Gold Coast, Australia) to analyse the temporal and spatial characteristics of morphological coupling within a double sandbar system. We distinguish five types of morphological coupling between the inner and outer sandbars, of which four coincide with a downstate progression of the outer bar. Coupling is either in‐phase (with a landward perturbation of the inner bar facing an outer‐bar horn) or out‐of‐phase (with a seaward perturbation of the inner bar facing an outer‐bar horn), where the coupled inner‐bar features either consist of rip channels or, predominantly, perturbations of the low‐tide terrace. Cross‐correlation of the image‐derived inner‐ and outer‐bar patterns shows coupling to be a common phenomenon in the double sandbar system studied here, with coupling in 40% of the observations. In contrast to previous observations of sandbar–shoreline coupling at single‐barred beaches, in‐phase coupling (85% of all coupled bar patterns) predominates over out‐of‐phase coupling (15%). Based on our observations and bathymetries assimilated from the images for a restricted set of coupling events, we hypothesize that the angle of offshore wave incidence, wave height and depth variations along the outer sandbar determine the type of flow pattern (cell circulations versus meandering currents) above the inner bar and hence steer the type of coupling. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The subtropical mesospheric jet observed by the Nimbus 7 Limb Infrared Monitor of the Stratosphere

Nimbus 7 Limb Infrared Monitor of the Stratosphere observations of wave-mean flow interactions in the winter 1978–1979 middle atmosphere are surveyed, extending up to 0.05 mbar. These observations describe the evolution of the subtropical mesospheric jet and its polar mixed layer. Quasi-steady mean wind patterns are disrupted by three transitions in this winter: one primarily affecting the mesosphere (December 15, 1978), a minor warming affecting both regions (January 26–February 8, 1979), and a major warming largely confined to the stratosphere (February 22, 1979). The zonally averaged flow is barotropically unstable in the wings of the subtropical mesospheric jet. All the major decelerations of the mean flow are correlated with DF, the body force per unit mass directly attributable to planetary Rossby waves, indicating that these waves make a significant contribution to the momentum budget in the lower half of the mesosphere.
NOVAS EVIDÊNCIAS DE REMANESCENTES OCEÂNICOS NA FAIXA ARAÇUAÍ: AS ROCHAS META-ULTRAMÁFICAS DE SÃO JOSÉ DA SAFIRA

Neoproterozoic oceanic slivers have been characterized in the Aracuai Belt, eastern Brazil. Close to the SaoJose da Safira town, Minas Gerais State, meta-ultramafic rocks consist of serpentinite with preservedperidotite cores, talc-anthophyllite schists, a diopside-rich rock, and tremolite schist. They are closelyassociated with banded iron formation (magnetic oxide, sulfide and silicate types), muscovite schist andgraphite schist. This rock assemblage is interpreted as an ophiolitic melange emplaced by thrusts betweentwo different units. One of them, correlated to the Salinas Formation, consists of quartz-mica schist (withgarnet, staurolite, kyanite, and/or sillimanite), sedimentary-derived calc-silicate rock, and sparseorthoamphibolite. The unit correlated to the Capelinha Formation consists of orthoquartzite, hematite andmica quartzites. All described rocks were transported from NE to SW in response to a dextral, obliquethrustsystem. Geochemical data from metaultramafic rocks of Sao Jose da Safira indicate an ophioliticorigin. The comparison with data from other Neoproterozoic oceanic remnants (Abadiânia and Fuchuan)corroborates this interpretation.
Re-evaluating the Role of Bleu in Machine Translation Research

We argue that the machine translation community is overly reliant on the Bleu machine translation evaluation metric. We show that an improved Bleu score is neither necessary nor sufficient for achieving an actual improvement in translation quality, and give two significant counterexamples to Bleu’s correlation with human judgments of quality. This offers new potential for research which was previously deemed unpromising by an inability to improve upon Bleu scores.
Using mobile phones to engage citizen scientists in research

[1] Mobile phone-based tools have the potential to revolutionize the way citizen scientists are recruited and retained, facilitating a new type of “connected” citizen scientist—one who collects scientifically relevant data as part of his or her daily routine. Established citizen science programs collect information at local, regional, and continental scales to help answer diverse questions in the geosciences and environmental sciences. Hundreds of thousands of citizen scientists contribute to recurring research projects such as the Audubon Society's annual Christmas Bird Count, which drew more than 60,000 observers in 2009, or the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Volunteer Monitoring program, through which trained volunteers improve the monitoring of water quality in lakes and streams across the United States. These programs have relied on traditional recruiting techniques and written observations. New methods for engaging participants through technology, specifically, mobile applications, or apps, provide unprecedented ways for participants to have immediate access to their own and others' observations and research results.
MESOZOIC TO EARLY QUATERNARY MAMMAL FAUNAS OF VICTORIA, SOUTH‐EAST AUSTRALIA

Abstract: Twenty‐two terrestrial and over 20 marine mammal faunas are currently recognized in the fossil record of Victoria, representing one of the most complete records of mammal evolution in Australia. Although the earliest recorded terrestrial mammals come from the Early Cretaceous, the majority of the faunas are concentrated in the Pliocene and Pleistocene, whereas the marine mammal record spans the Late Oligocene–Holocene. Despite the generally fragmentary nature of the fossil remains, many of the faunas are diverse and offer insights into the changes in palaeoecology and palaeoenvironmental conditions of the region over time. The terrestrial mammal faunas follow the global trend with the appearance of more arid‐adapted species in the late Pliocene; however, a number of Pliocene–Pleistocene coastal sites indicate the continued presence of wet forest refugia, with several relict species occurring in the Early Pleistocene. Most of the faunas are well dated, providing a basis for the production of a biostratigraphic framework, essential for the more accurate dating of mammals in Australia. Two new diverse mammal sites, Childers Cove and Portland, are a welcome addition to the Pliocene records of both terrestrial and marine mammals. Marine mammal research is only in its early stages, but the Victorian record is fundamental in understanding the evolution of cetaceans in the southern oceans. The known diversity of species has increased substantially as a result of recent research. Some well‐preserved specimens, including complete skulls, have implications for cetacean systematics, including basal mysticetes. However, much more work needs to be focused on the cataloguing, preparation, description and interpretation of the faunas to take full advantage of this excellent record.
Dissolution kinetics of carbonate rocks: 1. Effects of lithology on dissolution rate

Laboratory dissolution of Middle Ordovician rock samples from central Pennsylvania was studied at 23°C and 1 atm carbon dioxide pressure. Carbonate dissolution rates were compared at 22% bicarbonate saturation with respect to both calcite and dolomite. The results show that carbonate lithology exerts a strong influence on the dissolution rate and hence on the degree of cavity development in karst aquifers. The dissolution rate is most significantly affected by dolomite and impurity content. The rate decreases as percentages of dolomite and disseminated insolubles increase. Maximum dissolution rates occur for carbonate rocks with 1.0–2.5% MgO content and having abundant silty streaks. The sparite content is inversely related to cave development but is independent of dissolution rates measured under the laboratory conditions adopted in this study.
Decomposed Normalized Maximum Likelihood Codelength Criterion for Selecting Hierarchical Latent Variable Models

We propose a new model selection criterion based on the minimum description length principle in a name of the decomposed normalized maximum likelihood criterion. Our criterion can be applied to a large class of hierarchical latent variable models, such as the Naive Bayes models, stochastic block models and latent Dirichlet allocations, for which many conventional information criteria cannot be straightforwardly applied due to irregularity of latent variable models. Our method also has an advantage that it can be exactly evaluated without asymptotic approximation with small time complexity. Our experiments using synthetic and real data demonstrated validity of our method in terms of computational efficiency and model selection accuracy, while our criterion especially dominated the other criteria when sample size is small and when data are noisy.
Practical global illumination with irradiance caching

Since its invention 20 years ago, irradiance caching has been successfully used to accelerate global illumination computation in the Radiance lighting simulation system. Its widespread use had to wait until computers became fast enough to consider global illumination in production rendering. Since then, its use is ubiquitous. Virtually all commercial and open-source rendering software base the global illumination computation upon irradiance caching. Although elegant and powerful, the algorithm often fails to produce artifact-free images. Unfortunately, practical information on implementing the algorithm is scarce. The objective of the class is twofold. The first and main objective is to expose the irradiance caching algorithm along with all the details and tricks upon which the success of its practical implementation is dependent. Various image artifacts that the basic algorithm can produce will be shown along with a recipe to suppress them. We will also put strong emphasis on practical aspects of irradiance caching integration in production environments and discuss the particularities used in two big production houses, namely PDI/DreamWorks and Pixar. The second objective is to acquaint the audience with the recent research results that increase the speed and extend the functionality of basic irradiance caching. Those include: exploiting temporal coherence to suppress temporal flickering; extending the caching mechanism to rendering glossy surfaces; accelerating the algorithm by porting it to the GPU. Advantages and disadvantages of those methods will be discussed.
A new mutation operator for evolution strategies for constrained problems

We propose a new mutation operator - the biased mutation operator (BMO) -for evolution strategies, which is capable of handling problems for constrained fitness landscapes. The idea of our approach is to bias the mutation ellipsoid in relation to the parent and therefore lead the mutations into a beneficial direction self-adaptively. This helps to improve the success rate to reproduce better offspring. Experimental results show this bias enhances the solution quality within constrained search domains. The number of the additional strategy parameters used in our approach equals to the number of dimensions of the problem. Compared to the correlated mutation, the BMO needs much less memory and supersedes the computation of the rotation matrix of the correlated mutation and the asymmetric probability density function of the directed mutation.
School Working Papers Series 2002 SWP 2002 / 52 Assessing Web-based Electronic Services Adoption Model ( ESAM )

Web-based e-service end-user adoption and implementation requires an assessment of consumer contextual factors. This paper investigates factors which affect end-user experience and perception, motivation, support, control, and usage frequency in the online/offline user task environment and its affect on web-based e-service adoption and implementation. Understanding end-user’s continuous usage behavior and developing web-based e-services to meet user specific requirement is the center of attention for web-based e-service providers. Integrating end-user situation specific personalization factors into web-based e-service tasks may enhance web-based e-service usability. The survey captured 403 responses on user attributes towards a specific university website, this paper concludes by suggesting a conceptual framework for a web-based e-service adoption model (E-SAM).
Fully probabilistic assessment of safety against flooding along the Dutch coast

This paper describes a fully probabilistic safety assessment of the Dutch North Sea coast, in which stochastic properties of both hydraulic loads and strength of the flood defences have been taken into account. The study has led to an overview of failure probabilities along the coast with high spatial resolution. Both dikes and dunes have been considered. Failure probabilities at individual locations have been combined to flooding probabilities per dike ring area. The vast majority of the Dutch coastal defences is quite secure in terms of flooding. This study demonstrates that generally, the Dutch dunes provide a higher degree of safety than the sea dikes. When incorporating the consequences of flooding to the analysis, the calculated flooding probabilities can be used to determine flood risks. The probabilistic method, presented in this paper, enables accurate balancing between avoided flood risks and investments to reinforce the flood defences.