Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Model-based speech enhancement

Abstract A method of speech enhancement is developed that reconstructs clean speech from a set of acoustic features using a harmonic plus noise model of speech. This is a significant departure from traditional filtering-based methods of speech enhancement. A major challenge with this approach is to estimate accurately the acoustic features (voicing, fundamental frequency, spectral envelope and phase) from noisy speech. This is achieved using maximum a-posteriori (MAP) estimation methods that operate on the noisy speech. In each case a prior model of the relationship between the noisy speech features and the estimated acoustic feature is required. These models are approximated using speaker-independent GMMs of the clean speech features that are adapted to speaker-dependent models using MAP adaptation and for noise using the Unscented Transform. Objective results are presented to optimise the proposed system and a set of subjective tests compare the approach with traditional enhancement methods. Threeway listening tests examining signal quality, background noise intrusiveness and overall quality show the proposed system to be highly robust to noise, performing significantly better than conventional methods of enhancement in terms of background noise intrusiveness. However, the proposed method is shown to reduce signal quality, with overall quality measured to be roughly equivalent to that of the Wiener filter.
I-Draw: towards a freehand drawing assistant

In this paper we present I-Draw, a drawing tool to assist free hand drawings on physical surfaces. We explore the interaction design space that combines the digital capabilities with the traditional drawing process. I-Draw device has been conceptualised in terms of its interactive philosophy, features and affordances. We developed a proof-of-concept prototype of I-Draw and discuss the future directions. We believe I-Draw would open new drawing possibilities between physical and digital spaces.
Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis: A Diagnostic Conundrum

Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) is a syndrome of excessive immune activation causing widespread inflammation and tissue destruction leading to multi-organ dysfunction and failure. Making the diagnosis of HLH could be quite challenging due to the broad range of presenting symptoms and their lack of specificity. After ruling out considerations for differential diagnoses, recognizing the most common presenting signs and symptoms of HLH, including neurologic dysfunction, and having a high clinical suspicion for HLH in the setting of inflammatory/demyelinating diseases are important for prompt diagnosis and treatment.
Computational approaches for estimating fault zone properties using trapped waves

Fault zones are regions within the Earth’s crust that accommodate the frictional sliding known as faulting. These fault-zones contain a history of past earthquake events and other tectonic processes. This means they contain valuable information on how earthquake processes work, as well as the Earth’s geologic system. The rocks of mature fault-zones are often highly altered and deformed through earthquake processes, which can result in fault-zones having lower seismic velocities than the surrounding rock. It is these lower seismic velocities that allow the fault-zone to behave as a waveguide in which fault-zone trapped waves propagate. It is thought that measurements of fault-zone trapped waves can be used for high resolution (∼ 10 m) imaging of the elastic properties and geometry of fault zones. A novel, computationally efficient, finite element type solver for fault-zone trapped waves is developed. This solver allows for an anisotropic velocity model which varies across the fault. It is used to show how fault-zone trapped waves propagating in a, geologically realistic, gradational across-fault velocity model behave significantly differently from waves propagating in a layered across-fault velocity model. This solver is used in the foward model for a proposed inversion methodology. This methodology uses recordings of several faultzone trapped waves as well as the Bayesian approximation error approach to estimate a two-dimensional cross-section of a fault zone. This is significant because the overall approach allows for the velocity models to be gradational in the across-fault and downdip directions. In this thesis, preliminary investigations using fault-zone trapped waves from the Alpine Fault in the South Island of New Zealand are also carried out. These investigations suggest that the effective width and velocity contrast of the Alpine Fault is comparable to other major faults around the world.
Virtual Speaking Head for Hearing Impaired People in Crisis Time

Lot of deaf hearing impaired people is using lips reading as a main communication form. They prefer Virtual speaking head in crisis situation, as is fire, flood, bombs, different evacuation. A viseme is a representational unit used to classify speech sounds in the visual domain. A “viseme” describes the particular facial and oral positions and movements that occur alongside the voicing of phonemes. Design tool for creating correct speech visemes is designed. Its composed from 5 modules; module for creating phonemes, module for creating 3D speech visemes, module for facial expression and module for synchronization between phonemes and visemes and last one module to generate speech triphones. We are testing correctness of visemes on Slovak speech domains. Up to now, have not been developed the regular Slovak speech visemes. The paper describe developed tool. Slovak speech visemes and Virtual speaking head [16] as a helpful for hearing impaired people in crisis situations to orientate him.
Adaptive Indexing for Distributed Array Processing

Scientists are facing the data deluge in the scientific explorations. Big data are collected by the scientific instruments and experiments. The data are usually multidimensional arrays and stored in many files. Distributed computing techniques such as MapReduce make exploring the large datasets practical. The index is a well-known measure to shorten the query processing duration. Most of existing indexing methods need a full load of the raw data to build the index. In this paper, we proposed a distributed adaptive indexing method for the distributed array-oriented query processing. Our method does not require a full scan of the array data. For each subarray accessed by a subtask, we divide the array into multiple logical blocks with a proper block size. The normal processing routine is executed when handling a query. Meanwhile, the index for the blocks accessed by the query is built at a low cost. So the whole index grows along with processing queries. This incremental manner exploits the accessed data of historical queries and eliminates the long load procedure. The experiments show that our adaptive indexing implemented over Hadoop and Hive is effective for accelerating array-oriented query processing without introducing much overhead.
A validated method for analysis of Swerchirin in Swertia longifolia Boiss. by high performance liquid chromatography

Swertia spp. (Gentianaceae) grow widely in the eastern and southern Asian countries and are used as traditional medicine for gastrointestinal disorders. Swerchirin, one of the xanthones in Swertia spp. , has many pharmacological properties, such as, antimalarial, antihepatotoxic, and hypoglycemic effects. Because of the pharmacological importance of Swerchirin in this investigation, it was purified from Swertia longifolia Boiss. as one of the main components and quantified by means of a validated high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) technique. Aerial parts of the plant were extracted with acetone 80%. Phenolic and non-phenolic constituents of the extract were separated from each other during several processes. The phenolic fraction was injected into the semi-preparative HPLC system, which consisted of a C18 column and a gradient methanol: 0.1% formic acid mode. Using this method, we were able to purify six xanthones from the plant, in order to use them as standard materials. The analytical method was validated for Swerchirin as one of the most important components of the plant, with more pharmacological activities according to the validation parameters, such as, selectivity, linearity (r2 > 0.9998), precision (≤3.3), and accuracy, which were measured by the determination of recovery (98-107%). The limits of detection and quantization were found to be 2.1 and 6.3 μg/mL, respectively. On account of the speed and accuracy, the UV-HPLC method may be used for quantitative analysis of Swerchirin.
Novel Clustering Algorithm for Microarray Expression Data in A Truncated SVD Space

MOTIVATION This paper introduces the application of a novel clustering method to microarray expression data. Its first stage involves compression of dimensions that can be achieved by applying SVD to the gene-sample matrix in microarray problems. Thus the data (samples or genes) can be represented by vectors in a truncated space of low dimensionality, 4 and 5 in the examples studied here. We find it preferable to project all vectors onto the unit sphere before applying a clustering algorithm. The clustering algorithm used here is the quantum clustering method that has one free scale parameter. Although the method is not hierarchical, it can be modified to allow hierarchy in terms of this scale parameter. RESULTS We apply our method to three data sets. The results are very promising. On cancer cell data we obtain a dendrogram that reflects correct groupings of cells. In an AML/ALL data set we obtain very good clustering of samples into four classes of the data. Finally, in clustering of genes in yeast cell cycle data we obtain four groups in a problem that is estimated to contain five families. AVAILABILITY Software is available as Matlab programs at http://neuron.tau. ac.il/~horn/QC.htm.
Classification of unit types in the anteroventral cochlear nucleus: PST histograms and regularity analysis.

1. The responses of neurons in the anteroventral cochlear nucleus (AVCN) of barbiturate-anesthetized cats are characterized with regard to features of their responses to short tone bursts (STBs; 25 ms). A "decision tree" is presented to partition AVCN units on the basis of post-stimulus time histogram (PSTH) shape, first spike latency, and discharge rate and regularity calculated as functions of time during responses to STBs. The major classes of AVCN units (primary-like, primary-like-with-notch, chopper, and onset) have been described previously; in this paper, special attention is given to clarifying and systematizing boundaries between classes. Certain types of "unusual" units that may be confused with units in one of the major classes are also examined. 2. When STBs are presented synchronously (constant phase at onset), PSTHs of responses to very-low-frequency (less than 1.0 kHz) tones are difficult if not impossible to resolve into the classes listed above because all unit types phase-lock to low-frequency tones. However, when STBs are presented asynchronously, the responses of units with low best frequencies can be categorized on the basis of PSTH shape and first spike latency. 3. Primary-like, primary-like-with-notch, and onset units are distinguished primarily on the basis of PSTH shape. These three unit types have comparable minimum first spke latencies and synchronization to tones. One type of "unusual" response poses a particular hazard with respect to the generation of uncontaminated primary-like populations. Such "unusual" units have PSTHs that appear primary-like; these units are, however, distinguished by their unusually long first spike latencies. Unlike primary-like units, these "unusual" units show extremely poor synchronization to tones. 4. Chopper units are defined as having an initial response that is highly regular, resulting in the characteristic multimodal PSTH. "Unusual" units with multimodal PSTHs but whose initial responses are not highly regular (measured by the reproducibility of the initial firing pattern in response to multiple repetitions of a STB) are eliminated from the chopper populations. 5. In barbiturate-anesthetized cats, at least three patterns of chopper response can be distinguished on the basis of temporal patterns of rate and regularity adaptation. "Sustained" choppers show no adaptation of instantaneous rate (measured by the inverse of the mean interspike interval), and their discharge remains highly regular throughout the response. "Transiently adapting" choppers undergo a very rapid (less than 10 ms) decrease in instantaneous rate accompanied by a sharp increase in discharge irregularity. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
MULTEXT: Multilingual Text Tools and Corpora

MULTEXT (Multilingual Text Tools and Corpora) is the largest project funded in the Commission of European Communities Linguistic Research and Engineering Program. The project will contribute to the development of generally usable software tools to manipulate and analyse text corpora and to create multilingual text corpora with structural and linguistic markup. It will attempt to establish conventions for the encoding of such corpora, building on and contributing to the preliminary recommendations of the relevant international and European standardization initiatives. MULTEXT will also work towards establishing a set of guidelines for text software development, which will be widely published in order to enable future development by others. All tools and data developed within the project will be made freely and publicly available.
Innovating SMEs and Regions: The Need for Policy Intelligence and Interactive Policies

Based on the empirical findings achieved through comparative research involving 40 innovation policy instruments from 11 European regions, this paper proposes a shift in rationale and in the broad orientations of innovation policy to focus on addressing SMEs in their regional context. The main role for innovation policy, which aims to increase the capacity of a region and the capabilities of its SMEs to innovate, is to foster interactive learning within the firms and within the region. This calls for an interactive mode of policy intervention. The paper deals also with the question of how to build a coherent portfolio of policy instruments, taking into account both regional situations and specific SMEs needs in terms of innovation. The key message is that there is no 'one-size-fits-all' policy portfolio. Regional differences in innovation capabilities call for a tailored mix of policy instruments. One salient element of the conclusion is the need for more 'policy intelligence' in this complex field.
Cell therapy for critical limb ischemia: moving forward one step at a time.

Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is a common disorder and a major cause of morbidity and mortality.1 The most severely affected patients, with rest pain, ulcerations, or gangrene, are given a diagnosis of critical limb ischemia (CLI). These patients have a particularly poor prognosis, with high rates of limb amputation and mortality. Despite improvements in medical therapy for atherosclerosis and associated comorbidities as well as improvements in interventional and surgical techniques to improve limb perfusion, CLI continues to carry a major risk of limb amputation.2,3 A significant portion of patients with CLI are considered “no option” for revascularization, and no medical therapy has been shown to be capable of reducing the need for amputation. Therefore, novel therapies are needed to treat this disorder. Articles see p 15 and 26 In the late 1990s, there was a paradigm shift in our understanding of the mechanisms for neovascularization in adult mammals. Previously, it was thought that angiogenesis (ie, the sprouting of new vessels from previously existing vasculature) was the only means available for the formation of new vessels in adults. The discovery of bone marrow-derived circulating progenitor cells capable of contributing to differentiation into endothelial cells and contributing to neovascularization of ischemic tissue introduced the concept of postnatal vasculogenesis (ie, the formation of vessels de novo using the building blocks of progenitor cells). 4,5 Preclinical studies then provided evidence that a variety of stem and progenitor cell types, delivered locally into ischemic tissue, could exert therapeutic effects in models of ischemia.6–8 Subsequently, a new approach to the treatment of ischemic conditions has emerged and is rapidly evolving, with investigators advancing the use of progenitor cell-based therapies in patients with advanced ischemic conditions.9,10 The therapeutic use of progenitor cells poses certain unique …
The EMAC scheme for Navier-Stokes simulations, and application to flow past bluff bodies

The Navier-Stokes equations model the evolution of water, oil, and air flow (air under 220 m.p.h.), and therefore the ability to solve them is important in a wide array of engineering design problems. However, analytic solution of these equations is generally not possible, except for a few trivial cases, and therefore numerical methods must be employed to obtain solutions. In the present dissertation we address several important issues in the area of computational fluid dynamics. The first issue is that in typical discretizations of the Navier-Stokes equations such as the mixed finite element method, the conservation of mass is enforced only weakly, and this leads to discrete solutions which may not conserve energy, momentum, angular momentum, helicity, or vorticity, even though the physics of the Navier-Stokes equations dictate that they do. It is widely believed in the computational fluid dynamics community that the more physics is built into the discretization, the more accurate and stable the discrete solutions are, especially over longer time intervals. In chapter 3 we study conservation properties of Galerkin methods for the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations, without the divergence constraint strongly enforced. We show that none of the commonly used formulations (convective, conservative, rotational, and skew-symmetric) conserve each of energy, momentum, and angular momentum (for a general finite element choice). We aim to construct discrete formulations that conserve as many physical laws as possible without utilizing a strong enforcement of the divergence constraint, and doing so leads us to a new formulation that conserves each of energy, momentum, angular momentum, enstrophy in 2D, helicity and vorticity (for reference, the usual convective formulation does not conserve most of these quantities). In chapter 3 we also perform a number of numerical experiments, which verify the theory and test the new formulation. To study the performance of our novel formulation of the Navier-Stokes equations, we need reliable reference solutions/statistics. However, there is not a significant amount of reliable reference solutions for the Navier-Stokes equations in the literature. Accurate reference solutions/statistics
A Survey on Automated Metro Map Layout Methods

—We give a comprehensive overview of the state of the art in automated metro map layout. A large number of algorithms for computing metro maps have been developed over the last 10– 15 years by researchers in computer science and related ﬁelds. In this survey, we distinguish three subtasks of generating metro map layouts (schematic network layout, label placement, crossing minimization) and give a list of ten design rules that form the basis of the layout algorithms. Our discussion starts with fundamental work on path and road network schematization, covers algorithms for generating traditional schematic metro maps, and also describes recent methods for special-purpose and non-standard maps.
Are all games equally cloud-gaming-friendly? An electromyographic approach

Cloud gaming now makes any computer game playable on a thin client without the previous worries and frustrations about the hardware requirements. It frees players from the need to frequently upgrade their computers as they can now play games that are hosted on remote servers with a broadband Internet connection and a thin client. However, cloud games are intrinsically more susceptible to latency than online games because game graphics are rendered on cloud servers and thin clients do not possess game state information that is required by delay compensation techniques. In this paper, we investigate how the response latency in cloud gaming would affect users' experience and how the impact of latency on players' experience varies among different games. We show that not all games are equally friendly to cloud gaming. That is, the same degree of latency may have very different impacts on a game's quality of experience depending on the game's real-time strictness. We thus develop a model that can predict a game's real-time strictness based on the rate of players' inputs and the game screen dynamics. The model can be used to simultaneously enhance players' gaming experience and optimize the operation cost of data centers.
Latitude Dependence of Low‐Altitude O+ Ion Upflow: Statistical Results From FAST Observations

We introduce a statistical model to explain the latitudinal dependence of the occurrence rate and energy flux of the ionospheric escaping ions, taking advantage of advances in the spatial coverage and accuracy of FAST observations. We use a weighted piecewise Gaussian function to fit the dependence, because two probability peaks are located in the dayside polar cusp source region and the nightside auroral oval zone source region. The statistical results show that (1) the Gaussian Mixture Model suitably describes the dayside polar cusp upflows, and the dayside and the nightside auroral oval zone upflows. (2) The magnetic latitudes of the ionospheric upflow source regions expand toward the magnetic equator as Kp increases, from 81° magnetic latitude (MLAT) (cusp upflows) and 63° MLAT (auroral oval upflows) during quiet times to 76° MLAT and 61° MLAT, respectively. (3) The dayside polar cusp region provides only 3–5% O+ upflows among all the source regions, which include the dayside auroral oval zone, dayside polar cusp, nightside auroral oval zone, and even the polar cap. However, observations show that more than 70% of upflows occur in the auroral oval zone and that the occurrence probability increases at the altitudes of 3500–4200 km, which is considered to be the lower altitude boundary of ion beams. This observed result suggests that soft electron precipitation and transverse wave heating are the most efficient ion energization/acceleration mechanisms at the altitudes of FAST orbit, and that the parallel acceleration caused by field‐aligned potential drops becomes effective above that altitude.