Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A snippet in a snippet: Development of the Matryoshka principle for the construction of very short musical stimuli (plinks)

For the past 140 years, numerous studies have been conducted to examine minimum durations of samples needed for the recognition of acoustic parameters such as pitch, timbre or vocal phonemes. Recent studies in this field are often based on short clips (plinks) of popular songs, using target variables such as titles and interpreters. These studies provide strong evidence that a wide range of intra- and extramusical information can be identified above chance level for stimuli lasting much shorter than a second. Nevertheless, a review of precedent studies revealed a heterogeneity in stimulus generation processes that could have influenced overall recognition rates. As a piece of music unfolds in time, its timbral structure is subject to a variety of changes. We assume that the position of stimulus extraction, therefore, could influence the outcomes of a subsequent recognition task, for instance. In this study, we offer a systematic and objective stimulus extraction procedure that might help to control for (a) a possible confounding of stimulus duration and timbre (caused by the extraction of stimulus sets of various length from different song positions), (b) possible confoundings of song section and timbre (caused by the comparison of stimulus sets from divergent song sections), and (c) the suspected influence of subjective criteria on extract selection (caused by the non-randomized selection of extract positions). As an alternative approach, the suggested Matryoshka principle produces randomized sets of nested stimuli controlled for song position and objective selection. Each set represents an individual section and consists of five short excerpts, cut from each other in decreasing duration. Correlation analyses confirmed that these sets prove to be stable in terms of their mel-frequency cepstrum coefficients, the so-called “psycho-acoustic fingerprint” of a sound. Based on the software Random Plink Generator, the suggested procedure can help to contribute to an objective selection of stimuli in future plink research.
SDN Based Inter-Technology Load Balancing Leveraged by Flow Admission Control

In this paper, we have followed the idea of exploiting inter-technology load balancing leveraged by flow admission control with software defined networking (SDN). By means of the highly flexible interfaces, SDN is simply effective in the 5G network architecture where load balancing and dynamic flow admission control are considered as essence of networking. In one hand, load balancing presented in this paper reveals a drastic reduction of unsatisfied-user percentage almost by five times while, on the other hand, it enhances per-flow resource allocation more than %. In addition, this proposal substantially off-loads the core-network, avoids over-utilizing the cellular network and reserves resources based on cut-off priority. Explicitly, it allows a certain degree of freedom to choose the network options based on user-preference and their priorities. Finally, we compare our load balancing algorithm leveraged by flow admission control with an analytical model to ensure the correctness and efficiency.
Psychosocial and environmental correlates of active and passive transport behaviors in college educated and non-college educated working young adults

Background This study aimed to examine potential differences in walking, cycling, public transport and passive transport (car/moped/motorcycle) to work and to other destinations between college and non-college educated working young adults. Secondly, we aimed to investigate which psychosocial and environmental factors are associated with the four transport modes and whether these associations differ between college and non-college educated working young adults. Methods In this cross-sectional study, 224 working young adults completed an online questionnaire assessing socio-demographic variables (8 items), psychosocial variables (6 items), environmental variables (10 items) and transport mode (4 types) and duration to work/other destinations. Zero-inflated negative binomial regression models were performed in R. Results A trend (p<0.10) indicated that more college educated compared to non-college educated young adults participated in cycling and public transport. However, another trend indicated that cycle time and public transport trips were longer and passive transport trips were shorter in non-college compared to college educated working young adults. In all working young adults, high self-efficacy towards active transport, and high perceived benefits and low perceived barriers towards active and public transport were related to more active and public transport. High social support/norm/modeling towards active, public and passive transport was related to more active, public and passive transport. High neighborhood walkability was related to more walking and less passive transport. Only in non-college educated working young adults, feeling safe from traffic and crime in their neighborhood was related to more active and public transport and less passive transport. Conclusions Educational levels should be taken into account when promoting healthy transport behaviors in working young adults. Among non-college educated working young adults, focus should be on increasing active and public transport participation and on increasing neighborhood safety to increase active and public transport use. Among college educated working young adults, more minutes of active transport should be encouraged.
Expression, purification from inclusion bodies, and crystal characterization of a transition state analog complex of arginine kinase: A model for studying phosphagen kinases

Phosphagen kinases catalyze the reversible transfer of a phosphoryl group between guanidino phosphate compounds and ADP, thereby regenerating ATP during bursts of cellular activity. Large quantities of highly pure arginine kinase (EC 2.7.3.3), the phosphagen kinase present in arthropods, have been isolated from E. coli, into which the cDNA for the horseshoe crab enzyme had been cloned. Purification involves size exclusion and anion exchange chromatographies applied in the denatured and refolded states. The recombinant enzyme has been crystallized as a transition state analog complex. Near complete native diffraction data have been collected to 1.86 Å resolution. Substitution of a recombinant source for a natural one, improvement in the purification, and data collection at cryo temperatures have all yielded significant improvements in diffraction.
Global map building based on occupancy grids detected from dense stereo in urban environments

A method for global map building from occupancy grids is presented in this paper. Occupancy grids provide a low-level representation of the environment, suitable for autonomous navigation tasks, in urban driving scenarios. The occupancy grids used in our approach are computed with a method that outputs an occupancy grid with three distinct cell types: road, traffic isles and obstacles. First, we perform a temporal filtering of the false traffic isles present in the grids. Obstacle cells are separated into static (probably infrastructure) and dynamic. An enhanced occupancy grid is built, containing road, traffic isle, static obstacle and dynamic obstacle cells. The global map is obtained by integrating the enhanced occupancy grid along several successive frames. It can be used in various ways, such as alignment with external maps, or for terrain mapping.
Accurate and diverse recommendations via eliminating redundant correlations

In this paper, based on a weighted projection of a bipartite user-object network, we introduce a personalized recommendation algorithm, called network-based inference (NBI), which has higher accuracy than the classical algorithm, namely collaborative filtering. In NBI, the correlation resulting from a specific attribute may be repeatedly counted in the cumulative recommendations from different objects. By considering the higher order correlations, we design an improved algorithm that can, to some extent, eliminate the redundant correlations. We test our algorithm on two benchmark data sets, MovieLens and Netflix. Compared with NBI, the algorithmic accuracy, measured by the ranking score, can be further improved by 23 per cent for MovieLens and 22 per cent for Netflix. The present algorithm can even outperform the Latent Dirichlet Allocation algorithm, which requires much longer computational time. Furthermore, most previous studies considered the algorithmic accuracy only; in this paper, we argue that the diversity and popularity, as two significant criteria of algorithmic performance, should also be taken into account. With more or less the same accuracy, an algorithm giving higher diversity and lower popularity is more favorable. Numerical results show that the present algorithm can outperform the standard one simultaneously in all five adopted metrics: lower ranking score and higher precision for accuracy, larger Hamming distance and lower intra-similarity for diversity, as well as smaller average degree for popularity.
The Link between Brain Learning, Attention, and Consciousness

The processes whereby our brains continue to learn about a changing world in a stable fashion throughout life are proposed to lead to conscious experiences. These processes include the learning of top-down expectations, the matching of these expectations against bottom-up data, the focusing of attention upon the expected clusters of information, and the development of resonant states between bottom-up and top-down processes as they reach an attentive consensus between what is expected and what is there in the outside world. It is suggested that all conscious states in the brain are resonant states and that these resonant states trigger learning of sensory and cognitive representations. The models which summarize these concepts are therefore called Adaptive Resonance Theory, or ART, models. Psychophysical and neurobiological data in support of ART are presented from early vision, visual object recognition, auditory streaming, variable-rate speech perception, somatosensory perception, and cognitive-emotional interactions, among others. It is noted that ART mechanisms seem to be operative at all levels of the visual system, and it is proposed how these mechanisms are realized by known laminar circuits of visual cortex. It is predicted that the same circuit realization of ART mechanisms will be found in the laminar circuits of all sensory and cognitive neocortex. Concepts and data are summarized concerning how some visual percepts may be visibly, or modally, perceived, whereas amodal percepts may be consciously recognized even though they are perceptually invisible. It is also suggested that sensory and cognitive processing in the What processing stream of the brain obey top-down matching and learning laws that are often complementary to those used for spatial and motor processing in the brain's Where processing stream. This enables our sensory and cognitive representations to maintain their stability as we learn more about the world, while allowing spatial and motor representations to forget learned maps and gains that are no longer appropriate as our bodies develop and grow from infanthood to adulthood. Procedural memories are proposed to be unconscious because the inhibitory matching process that supports these spatial and motor processes cannot lead to resonance.
A Framework for Quality Assurance of Electronic Commerce Websites

In the last decade, electronic commerce has significantly contributed to national economic growth. This is evident in that “according to Forrester Research, the United States (US) online retail reached $175 billion in 2007 and is projected to grow to $335 billion by 2012”. (Source: http://www.sescommerce.com/ecommerce-growth.asp; accessed 9 May 2009) And yet, although the electronic commerce market value is growing fast, there are many electronic commerce Websites that are failing and disappearing from the market (Pather et al., 2003). The success of online business will for the large part depend on the quality of electronic commerce Websites. In keeping up with the expectations of online consumers, electronic commerce retailers will continue to face to the challenges of ensuring the quality of electronic commerce Websites. Although there have been intense discussions about quality in the literature, quality dimensions of electronic commerce are not well established and recent studies indicate that more research is needed (Mohanty et al. 2007). Lohse and Spiller (1998) stated that “the nature of electronic commerce is diverse”. Due to this nature, the quality of electronic commerce Websites can be viewed from several perspectives i.e. product quality, systems as product, service quality of provider, software product quality, system design, quality of the human-computer interaction (HCI) etc. (Balfagih et al, 2008). Further in analyzing the complexity of electronic commerce quality, one can apply various bodies of knowledge i.e. information systems, marketing, human-computer interaction and design (Balfagih et al, 2008). Hence, the evaluation of quality of electronic commerce Websites depends on the perspective and role of the assessor. The assessor may be an online shopper, repeat purchaser, potential consumer, electronic commerce business owner, service provider to the business owner, Web developer etc. This chapter proposes a framework that synthesizes previous multiple perspectives. Its aim is to aid research and practice in assuring quality of electronic commerce Websites. In this section, we have presented an overview the research background. In the following section, we discuss our review of literature on models for quality of electronic commerce Websites. Subsequently, we discuss the critiques of the literature and present the gaps that emerge out of our analysis of the literature. The gaps will be the basis for our recommendation on a framework to aid research and practice in assuring quality of electronic commerce Websites. Following that, we present the concept of software quality and software quality assurance. 9
Mood Recognition and Production: The Impact of Modality, Morphological Irregularity, and Input Manipulation

Abstract:The present study explores subjunctive recognition and production among low-proficiency learners in the written and aural modalities. It seeks to establish whether mood recognition and production are increased due to irregular morphology and/or input manipulation. A total of 97 participants enrolled in second-semester Spanish classes completed mood selection and production tasks in the written modality as well as mood recognition tasks in the aural modality. Results indicate that there was a significant interaction between irregular morphology, task type, and modality. Irregularity influenced subjunctive recognition and production in the written and aural modalities, but only in certain tasks. Regarding production, participants were able to produce the subjunctive in subjunctive-triggering contexts, using more irregular verbs than regular verbs. As for recognition, participants recognized the subjunctive in the aural and written modalities, and irregular morphology and input enhancement impacted recognition in the aural modality.
Allocation Schemes, Architectures, and Policies for Collaborative Port Scanning Attacks

Most network attackers perform port scanning individually, without synchronization, to find victim hosts. Such port scanning schemes suffer from two problems: first, there are too many duplicate scannings and too much contention among different port scanners; second, a complete port scanning takes a long time to finish. In this paper, we present a fast DHT-based collaborative port scanning scheme that aims to eliminate duplicate scanning, minimize contention, and significantly increase the scanning speed. In collaborative attacks, attackers communicate and collaborate with each other to launch much more powerful attacks. In the DHT-based collaborative port scanning scheme, attackers collaborate to search the network for ports that could be exposed to attacks. We propose different collaborative scanning strategies and analyze their advantages and disadvantages.We discuss the static, dynamic, and hybrid target selection and allocation schemes. We present the algorithm details and discuss the stop and revisit policy for the collaborative port scanners. We conduct experiments to evaluate the performance and overhead of the collaborative port scanning strategies. Experimental results suggest that the proposed collaborative port scanning system significantly increases the efficiency of port scanning and provide insights into many design and implementation issues.
Modeling An Intrusion Detection System Using Data Mining And Genetic Algorithms Based On Fuzzy Logic

Summary: Fuzzy logic based methods together with the techniques from Artificial Intelligence have gained importance. Data mining techniques like clustering techniques, Association rules together with fuzzy logic to model the fuzzy association rules are being used for classifying data. These together with the techniques of genetic algorithms like genetic programming are producing better results. The present paper proposes a model for intrusion detection systems for anomaly detection based on fuzzy association rules which use genetic programming. The model is implemented and tested on sample data with 40 variables and the results are documented in the paper. As the model includes the LGP,MEP and GEP where the three collectively tries to detect the intrusion to a great extent.
‘Giving back’ to one’s country following an international higher education scholarship: comparing in-country and expatriate alumni perceptions of engagement in social and economic change in Moldova

ABSTRACT This qualitative study explores how graduates of Western higher education view their contributions to their home country’s social and economic development by comparing groups of international scholarship alumni who have returned to live in Moldova and expatriate alumni. Results indicate that country of residency influences one’s perceived contributions to the home country: alumni regard those living in Moldova as being more effective in creating change and that living abroad diminishes one’s influence. Notably, some graduates equate daily life contending with Moldova’s difficult conditions with contributing to national development. Moreover, ‘cyclical mobility’ – short-term engagements in Moldova – is proposed as a promising approach to affect change from abroad. Finally, respondents report that mobility decisions are strenuous, as they consider multiple factors other than desire to ‘give back’. Findings provide insight and nuance to the long-term efficacy of international higher education, and scholarship programmes specifically, to spur development in low- and middle-income countries.
Mining Dependent Frequent Serial Episodes from Uncertain Sequence Data

In this paper, we focus on the problem of mining Probabilistic Dependent Frequent Serial Episodes (P-DFSEs) from uncertain sequence data. By observing that the frequentness probability of an episode in an uncertain sequence is a Markov Chain imbeddable variable, we first propose an Embeded Markov Chain-based algorithm that efficiently computes the frequentness probability of an episode by projecting the probability space into a set of limited partitions. To further improve the computation efficiency, we devise an optimized approach that prunes candidate episodes early by estimating the upper bound of their frequentness probabilities.
Considerations in dynamic time warping algorithms for discrete word recognition

The technique of dynamic time warping for time registration of a reference and test utterance has found widespread use in the area of discrete word recognition. As originally proposed, the algorithm placed strong constraints on the possible set of dynamic paths—namely, it was assumed that the initial and final frames of both the test and reference utterances were in exact time synchrony. Because of inherent practical difficulties with satisfying the assumptions under which the above constraints are valid, we have considered some modifications to the dynamic time‐warping algorithm. In particular an algorithm in which an uncertainty exists in the registration both for initial and final frames was studied. Another modification constrains the dynamic path to follow (within a given range) the path which is locally minimum at each frame. This modification tends to work well when the location of the final frame of the test utterance is significantly in error due to breath noise, etc. To test the different time warping algorithms a set of 10 isolated words spoken by 100 speakers was used. Several different comparisons between the algorithms were made and will be described in the talk.
Sharing Knowledge in Heterogeneous Environments

On October 8 and 9, 1999, the first Research Greenhouse brought together about 60 members of the Society for Organizational Learning (SoL) to share ideas on leadership, organizational learning, and change. The exchange of ideas took several forms including informal and formal conversations (“germination sessions”), poster and paper sessions, and panel debates. As the conference organizers Karen Ayas (SoL) and John Carroll (MIT Sloan School) emphasized the importance of reflecting on the Greenhouse, this paper is a summary of my reflections based on my experience, memories, available research papers, and session tapes and notes. I center on the topic of knowledge sharing across boundaries—a focus of the Greenhouse’s discourse and a subject of my own research.
Analytical Approach for the Generation of Highly Dynamic Gaits for Walking Robots

This paper presents an analytical approach for the generation of walking gaits with a high dynamic behaviour. The principle is to modify the dynamic effects generated by the robot directly by taking into account the intrinsic dynamics of the robot as well as the capability of its joint torques. In order to perform this, two criterions based on dynamics are proposed: the "dynamic propulsion criterion" and the "dynamic propulsion potential". This general approach is illustrated for an underactuated robot without foot, which can not be statically stable