Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Automatic Pitch Estimation in Choir Singing Recordings using Deep Learning Strategies Extended Abstract

This work presents a data-driven method for the automatic pitch1 estimation of a cappella choir singing performances. We focus on polyphonic music recordings, as choral music involves multiple singers typically grouped into four main voices (soprano, alto, tenor and bass). The task of pitch estimation becomes challenging in this context due to the variety of acoustic scenarios (from solo singers to big choirs) and the lack of annotated datasets for training and evaluation, especially for the polyphonic case. We built a dataset of choir singing that contains di erent types of performances (solo singers, unison 2 and choir). Then, we train several deep learning architectures to extract pitch information from monophonic singing voice signals, and adapt them afterwards to work with polyphonic signals by modeling the pitch distribution in unison performances. Preliminary experiments provide state-of-the-art accuracies in monophonic music signals and unison performances, while further parameter optimization needs to be done in the polyphonic case.
Effects of early afterdepolarizations on excitation patterns in an accurate model of the human ventricles

Early Afterdepolarizations, EADs, are defined as the reversal of the action potential before completion of the repolarization phase, which can result in ectopic beats. However, the series of mechanisms of EADs leading to these ectopic beats and related cardiac arrhythmias are not well understood. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the influence of this single cell behavior on the whole heart level. For this study we used a modified version of the Ten Tusscher-Panfilov model of human ventricular cells (TP06) which we implemented in a 3D ventricle model including realistic fiber orientations. To increase the likelihood of EAD formation at the single cell level, we reduced the repolarization reserve (RR) by reducing the rapid delayed rectifier Potassium current and raising the L-type Calcium current. Varying these parameters defined a 2D parametric space where different excitation patterns could be classified. Depending on the initial conditions, by either exciting the ventricles with a spiral formation or burst pacing protocol, we found multiple different spatio-temporal excitation patterns. The spiral formation protocol resulted in the categorization of a stable spiral (S), a meandering spiral (MS), a spiral break-up regime (SB), spiral fibrillation type B (B), spiral fibrillation type A (A) and an oscillatory excitation type (O). The last three patterns are a 3D generalization of previously found patterns in 2D. First, the spiral fibrillation type B showed waves determined by a chaotic bi-excitable regime, i.e. mediated by both Sodium and Calcium waves at the same time and in same tissue settings. In the parameter region governed by the B pattern, single cells were able to repolarize completely and different (spiral) waves chaotically burst into each other without finishing a 360 degree rotation. Second, spiral fibrillation type A patterns consisted of multiple small rotating spirals. Single cells failed to repolarize to the resting membrane potential hence prohibiting the Sodium channel gates to recover. Accordingly, we found that Calcium waves mediated these patterns. Third, a further reduction of the RR resulted in a more exotic parameter regime whereby the individual cells behaved independently as oscillators. The patterns arose due to a phase-shift of different oscillators as disconnection of the cells resulted in continuation of the patterns. For all patterns, we computed realistic 9 lead ECGs by including a torso model. The B and A type pattern exposed the behavior of Ventricular Tachycardia (VT). We conclude that EADs at the single cell level can result in different types of cardiac fibrillation at the tissue and 3D ventricle level.
Non-antiarrhythmic drugs for the prevention of atrial fibrillation: ACEIs, ARBs, statins and PUFAs.

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common cardiac arrhythmia and is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. It is most often a progressive disease secondary to continuous structural remodelling of the atria, which is related to changes associated with ageing, and to deterioration of underlying heart disease. Current management aims at preventing the recurrence of AF and its consequences (secondary prevention) and includes prevention of stroke, ventricular rate control, and rhythm control therapies including antiarrhythmic drugs and catheter ablation [1]. The concept of prevention of AF with interventions against the development of substrate and risk factors for AF has emerged as a result of experiments that suggested novel target for mechanism-based therapies. Upstream therapy refers to the use of non-antiarrhythmic drugs that modify the atrial substrate or target specific mechanisms of AF to prevent the occurrence or recurrence of arrhythmia. Such agents include mainly angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs), angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs), statins and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) [2].
Ethnicity and Self-Employment in Britain

This paper investigates the ethnic dimension of selfemployment in the British labor market. It examines how both 'push' and 'pull' factors may lead members of nonwhite, ethnic minority groups to enter selfemployment rather than paid-employment. Push factors include discrimination in paid-employment while pull factors refer to minority-specific entrepreneurial opportunities. Data from the General Household Survey and 1991 Census are employed to evaluate the empirical relevance of these issues and to explore differences between ethnic groups. Evidence of both push and pull factors is found. Copyright 1998 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd
A 40/43 Gb/s SONET OC-768 SiGe 4:1 MUX/CMU

A 40/43 Gb/s SONET OC-768 4:1 MUX/CMU is implemented in a 120 GHz f/sub T/ SiGe BiCMOS process. When co-packaged with a companion 16:4 multiplexer, the chip produces less than 3 ps of pattern dependent jitter and 175 fs RMS random jitter. A packaged BER of better than 10/sup -14/ is measured with 2/sup 31/-1 PRBS data inputs. The chip consumes 4.9 W from 1.8 V and -5.2 V supplies.
Design considerations for a large quadrotor with moving mass control

In this paper we present our ongoing efforts to build a heavy lift multirotor platform capable of lifting over 50kg of payload. Such a system requires a paradigm shift in the design of the UAV. Therefore we propose using miniature two stroke internal combustion engines to supply the necessary lift and endurance and combine them with a novel control concept based on the variations of the center of gravity (CoG) of the system. In this paper we present a detailed stability and sensitivity analysis of the proposed control scheme and discuss its underlining effect on the construction design parametrization. We present simulation results from a Gazebo based simulator that confirm the results of our mathematical analysis.
A Novel Method to Improve Model fitting for Stock Market Prediction

Forecasting the trends of stock market is of extreme importance and profitable stock market traders and also to the researchers who are always trying to find an analogy to describe the behaviour of stock market. Various data mining techniques have been implemented in the recent past to predict the behaviour of stock market. Every method tries to fit a model to the training data to predict the future. As it is obvious the accuracy of prediction depends on the model fitting. We propose a linear model for stock market prediction and further elaborate on improving the fit of the model. The proposed model and the correction method are tested on Istanbul stock exchange. The proposed model fits the dataset with an average error of 12% which is corrected by proposed method to average of 6%.
The Impact of Financial Participation and Employee Involvement on Financial Performance: A Re-estimation Using the 1998 WERS

This note re-iterates McNabb and Whitfield's (1998) empirical investigation of the relationship between workplace performance and various indicators of employee involvement. McNabb and Whitfield used the 1990 WIRS, whereas our re-estimation is for the 1998 WERS. Our results differ sharply from theirs; in particular, we discern no significant association between downward communication and firm performance, nor do we find that employee share ownership and profit related pay are substitutes. More generally, our findings underscore the difficulty of specifying the relationship between firm performance and employee involvement that is amply reflected in the diversity of findings in the wider literature. Copyright 2000 by Scottish Economic Society.
Iodine in Medicine and Pharmacy since its Discovery—1811–1961

To compress into one brief hour the whole medical history of iodine since its discovery by the French chemist, Bernard Courtois, one hundred and fifty years ago, is manifestly impossible. I propose, therefore, to follow only one or two of the more important threads that make-up the warp and woof of what for me has always been a fascinating story. Like so many other scientific advances, the discovery of iodine was a discovery quickened under the urgency and pressure of war. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, France, obedient to the dictates of Napoleon's ambitious dreams, was fighting with almost all her neighbours and she needed enormous quantities of gunpowder to do the job. Hemmed-in on land by the armies of Prussia and Austria, and blockaded at sea by the British Navy, her supplies of chemicals necessary for the manufacture of gunpowder were cut off. One of these chemical essentials was saltpetre nitrate. VVhat did France do? As she
Technical efficiency and CO2 abatement policies in the Dutch glasshouse industry

This paper develops a short-run microeconomic simulation model of the Dutch glasshouse industry in order to investigate the relation between technical efficiency and marginal abatement costs of CO2 emission. The model is also used to determine the effects of an emission tax and systems of tradable and non-tradable quota for groups of firms with different rates of technical efficiency. The results show that marginal abatement costs are very responsive to changes in technical efficiency. Furthermore, it is found that firms with a low technical efficiency are faced with a higher profit reduction under different abatement policies than firms with a high technical efficiency.
THE INFLUENCE OF DEMAND AND SUPPLY SHIFT FACTORS ON THE SOUTH AFRICAN RED MEAT INDUSTRY

In this paper a spatial partial equilibrium (SPE) model is used to determine the impact of changes in population from a “with” and “without” HIV/AIDS point of view, as well as changes in per capita income. The possible impact of abolishing the Lomé Convention is also investigated. In a “Without HIV/AIDS” population growth scenario demand for beef, sheep meat and pork will increase by 12.01 per cent, 12.22 per cent, and 11.92 per cent, respectively. In a “With HIV/AIDS” population growth scenario demand will only increase by 7.19 per cent, 7.31 per cent and 7.28 per cent for beef, sheep meat and pork, respectively. Most of the increase in demand is met by overseas imports. When per capita income increases the increase in pork consumption is lower than the increases in demand for beef and sheep meat. This can be attributed mainly to the fact that the aggregated income elasticity is considerably lower for pork than it is for the other two red meats. The weifare analysis shows, firstly that HIV/AIDS will have a considerable impact on the general welfare of the country, and secondly the important role government has to play in setting the table for improved economic conditions that will result in increases in the per capita income of people. Finally, the study shows that the abolishment of the Lomé Convention will not have any severe repercussions for the beef sub-sector in South Africa.
A Passive Lossless Snubber Applied to the AC–DC Interleaved Boost Converter

High switching frequency operation of static power converters is often required to reduce size, weight, and electromagnetic interference levels, at the cost of increased switching losses and reduced efficiency. Switching losses include the current and voltage overlap loss during the switching interval and the capacitance loss during turn-on. Recently, the use of passive soft switching methods has been emphasized as a better alternative to active methods, mainly because they do not require extra switches or additional control circuitry. This paper proposes a passive lossless snubber applied to the interleaved boost converter. The use of a soft commutation cell causes the main switches to be turned on and off under null current and null voltage conditions, respectively, as high efficiency results over the entire load range. The theoretical analysis including the description of the operating stages and the design procedure are included. Experimental results on a 2 kW prototype are presented and discussed to validate the proposal.
Instrumental Variables: A Study of Implicit Behavioral Assumptions Used in Making Program Evaluations.

This paper considers the use of instrumental variables to estimate the mean effect of treatment on the treated, the mean effect of treatment on randomly selected persons and the local average treatment effect. It examines what economic questions these parameters address. When responses to treatment vary, the standard argument justifying the use of instrumental variables fails unless person-specific responses to treatment do not influence decisions to participate in the program being evaluated. This requires that individual gains from the program that cannot be predicted from variables in outcome equations do not influence the decision of the persons being studied to participate in the program. In the likely case in which individuals possess and act on private information about gains from the program that cannot be fully predicted by variables in the outcome equation, instrumental variables methods do not estimate economically interesting evaluation parameters. Instrumental variable methods are extremely sensitive to assumptions about how people process information. These arguments are developed for both continuous and discrete treatment variables and several explicit economic models are presented.
Insecticide Resistance and Malaria Vector Control: The Importance of Fitness Cost Mechanisms in Determining Economically Optimal Control Trajectories

ABSTRACT The evolutionary dynamics of insecticide resistance in harmful arthropods has economic implications, not only for the control of agricultural pests (as has been well studied), but also for the control of disease vectors, such as malaria-transmitting Anopheles mosquitoes. Previous economic work on insecticide resistance illustrates the policy relevance of knowing whether insecticide resistance mutations involve fitness costs. Using a theoretical model, this article investigates economically optimal strategies for controlling malaria-transmitting mosquitoes when there is the potential for mosquitoes to evolve resistance to insecticides. Consistent with previous literature, we find that fitness costs are a key element in the computation of economically optimal resistance management strategies. Additionally, our models indicate that different biological mechanisms underlying these fitness costs (e.g., increased adult mortality and/or decreased fecundity) can significantly alter economically optimal resistance management strategies.
A multi-axis MEMS sensor with integrated carbon nanotube-based piezoresistors for nanonewton level force metrology

This paper presents the design and fabrication of a multi-axis microelectromechanical system (MEMS) force sensor with integrated carbon nanotube (CNT)-based piezoresistive sensors. Through the use of proper CNT selection and sensor fabrication techniques, the performance of the CNT-based MEMS force sensor was increased by approximately two orders of magnitude as compared to current CNT-based sensor systems. The range and resolution of the force sensor were determined as 84 μN and 5.6 nN, respectively. The accuracy of the force sensor was measured to be better than 1% over the device’s full range.
Loneliness and Social Isolation as Risk Factors for Mortality

Actual and perceived social isolation are both associated with increased risk for early mortality. In this meta-analytic review, our objective is to establish the overall and relative magnitude of social isolation and loneliness and to examine possible moderators. We conducted a literature search of studies (January 1980 to February 2014) using MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Social Work Abstracts, and Google Scholar. The included studies provided quantitative data on mortality as affected by loneliness, social isolation, or living alone. Across studies in which several possible confounds were statistically controlled for, the weighted average effect sizes were as follows: social isolation odds ratio (OR) = 1.29, loneliness OR = 1.26, and living alone OR = 1.32, corresponding to an average of 29%, 26%, and 32% increased likelihood of mortality, respectively. We found no differences between measures of objective and subjective social isolation. Results remain consistent across gender, length of follow-up, and world region, but initial health status has an influence on the findings. Results also differ across participant age, with social deficits being more predictive of death in samples with an average age younger than 65 years. Overall, the influence of both objective and subjective social isolation on risk for mortality is comparable with well-established risk factors for mortality.
Cholate-Stimulated Biofilm Formation by Lactococcus lactis Cells

ABSTRACT Bile acid resistance by Lactococcus lactis depends on the ABC-type multidrug transporter LmrCD. Upon deletion of the lmrCD genes, cells can reacquire bile acid resistance upon prolonged exposure to cholate, yielding the ΔlmrCD r strain. The resistance mechanism in this strain is non-transporter based. Instead, cells show a high tendency to flocculate, suggesting cell surface alterations. Contact angle measurements demonstrate that the ΔlmrCD r cells are equipped with an increased cell surface hydrophilicity compared to those of the parental and wild-type strains, while the surface hydrophilicity is reduced in the presence of cholate. ΔlmrCD r cells are poor in biofilm formation on a hydrophobic polystyrene surface, but in the presence of subinhibitory concentrations of cholate, biofilm formation is strongly stimulated. Biofilm cells show an enhanced extracellular polymeric substance production and are highly resistant to bile acids. These data suggest that non-transporter-based cholate resistance in L. lactis is due to alterations in the cell surface that stimulate cells to form resistant biofilms.
Bacteria associated with crabs from cold waters with emphasis on the occurrence of potential human pathogens

A diverse array of bacterial species, including several potential human pathogens, was isolated from edible crabs collected in cold waters. Crabs collected near Kodiak Island, Alaska, contained higher levels of bacteria than crabs collected away from regions of human habitation. The bacteria associated with the crabs collected near Kodiak included Yersinia enterocolitica, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and coagulase-negative Staphylococcus species; the pathogenicity of these isolates was demonstrated in mice. Although coliforms were not found, the bacterial species associated with the tissues of crabs collected near Kodiak indicate possible fecal contamination that may have occurred through contact with sewage. Compared with surrounding waters and sediments, the crab tissues contained much higher proportions of gram-positive cocci. As revealed by indirect plate counts and direct scanning electron microscopic observations, muscle and hemolymph tissues contained much lower levels of bacteria than shell and gill tissues. After the death of a crab, however, the numbers of bacteria associated with hemolymph and muscle tissues increased significantly. Microcosm studies showed that certain bacterial populations, e.g., Vibrio cholerae, can be bioaccumulated in crab gill tissues. The results of this study indicate the need for careful review of waste disposal practices where edible crabs may be contaminated with microorganisms that are potential human pathogens and the need for surveillance of shellfish for pathogenic microorganisms that naturally occur in marine ecosystems.
LTE signal propagation in a maritime environment: Validation of a hybrid MoM-ray tracing prediction method

The present work shows how we were able to deploy a hybrid Method of Moments (MoM) — Ray Tracing electromagnetic approach to predict the measured power over a Long Term Evolution (LTE) radio link over the sea during two different measurement campaigns. Empirical models and pure ray-tracing code by themselves were not able to accurately reproduce the measured features, which were found to be caused by the receiving antenna interactions with the ship metallic structure. The correct result was obtained through a hybrid approach which combines the far field of the antenna and its surroundings. This approach could prove beneficial in critical applications where a precise estimation of received power and coverage range is desirable.
Are Public Libraries Improving Quality of Education? When the Provision of Public Goods is Not Enough

This paper analyzes the relation between public, education-related infrastructure and the quality of education in schools. The analysis uses a case study of the establishment of two large, high-quality public libraries in low-income areas in Bogota, Colombia. It assesses the impact of these libraries on the quality of education by comparing national test scores (SABER 11) for schools close to and far from the libraries before (2000–02) and after (2003–08) the libraries were opened. The paper introduces a Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition on diﬀerence-in-diﬀerences estimates to assess whether variation of traditional determinants of mathematics, verbal, and science test scores explains the estimates. The analysis ﬁnds differences that are not statistically diﬀerent from zero that could be attributed to the establishment of the libraries. These results are robust to alternative speciﬁcations, a synthetic control approach, and an alternative measure of distance.
Integrating Prior Knowledge into Deep Learning

Deep learning allows to develop feature representations and train classification models in a fully integrated way. However, learning deep networks is quite hard and it improves over shallow architectures only if a large number of training data is available. Injecting prior knowledge into the learner is a principled way to reduce the amount of required training data, as the learner does not need to induce the knowledge from the data itself. In this paper we propose a general and principled way to integrate prior knowledge when training deep networks. Semantic Based Regularization (SBR) is used as underlying framework to represent the prior knowledge, expressed as a collection of first-order logic clauses (FOL), and where each task to be learned corresponds to a predicate in the knowledge base. The knowledge base correlates the tasks to be learned and it is translated into a set of constraints which are integrated into the learning process via backpropagation. The experimental results show how the integration of the prior knowledge boosts the accuracy of a state-of-the-art deep network on an image classification task.