Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
BLIND SOURCE SEPARATION USING REPETITIVE STRUCTURE

ABSTRACTBlind source separation algorithms typically involve decorrelat-ing time-aligned mixture signals. The usual assumption is that allsources are active at all times. However, if this is not the case, weshow that the unique pattern of source activity/inactivity helps sep-aration. Music is the most obvious example of sources exhibitingrepetitive structure because it is carefully constructed. We presenta novel source separation algorithm based on spatial time-time dis-tributions that capture the repetitive structure in audio. Our methodoutperforms time-frequency source separation when source spec-tra are highly overlapping.1. INTRODUCTIONSource separation techniques attempt to decompose a set of time-aligned mixture signals (e.g., a song) into their constituent sourcesignals (e.g., instrument tracks). The usual assumption is that allsources are active at all times. However, many sources exhibitrepetitive structure in the form of activation patterns. We utilizethis structure in order to separate sources.As a motivating example, consider a repeating source such as abell tower or public address system that obscures the separation ofother local signals such as people talking. Because the bell towerchimed an hour ago among a different mix of sounds, we expect tobetter separate it in the current instance, e.g., either by producing acleaner recording of the bells or by removing their contribution tothe mixture. A bell tower sounds very similar every time it chimeswhether or not the exact melody is duplicated. We identify when asource repeats itself and use this to separate it from a mixture. Thisis in contrast to blind source separation (BSS) techniques that uti-lize correlations between mixtures computed globally on an entiresignal or locally at different time or time-frequency points. Thesetechniques decorrelate time-aligned mixture signals, whereas wedecorrelate between mixtures at different points in time.In general, BSS attempts to separate N source signals from Mmixtures by estimating the sources and mixing matrix according tothe following:x(t) = As(t), (1)where x = [x
Common Asymptotic Behavior of Solutions and Almost Periodicity for Discontinuous, Delayed, and Impulsive Neural Networks

The paper considers a general neural network model with impulses at a given sequence of instants, discontinuous neuron activations, delays, and time-varying data and inputs. It is shown that when the neuron interconnections satisfy an M-matrix condition, or a dominance condition, then the state solutions and the output solutions display a common asymptotic behavior as time t → +∞. It is also shown, via a new technique based on prolonging the solutions of the delayed neural network to -∞, that it is possible to select a unique special solution that is globally exponentially stable and can be considered as the unique global attractor for the network. Finally, this paper shows that for almost periodic data and inputs the selected solution is almost periodic; moreover, it is robust with respect to a large class of perturbations of the data. Analogous results also hold for periodic data and inputs. A by-product of the analysis is that a sequence of almost periodic impulses is able to induce in the generic case (nonstationary) almost periodic solutions in an otherwise globally convergent nonimpulsive neural network. To the authors' knowledge the results in this paper are the only available results on global exponential stability of the unique periodic or almost periodic solution for a general neural network model combining three main features, i.e., impulses, discontinuous neuron activations and delays. The results in this paper are compared with several results in the literature dealing with periodicity or almost periodicity of some subclasses of the neural network model here considered and some hints for future work are given.
Multibit Assignment Steganography in Palette Images

This letter proposes a novel multibit assignment steganography for palette images, in which each gregarious color that possesses close neighboring colors in the palette is exploited to represent several secret bits. A method for producing a usable multibit assignment is presented. For any pixel with a gregarious color, a data-hider can always find a suitable neighbor of the original color that corresponds to a prefix of secret bit-sequence and then replaces the original color with the found neighboring color. Experiment results show that the proposed steganography provides a good payload-distortion performance.
A Sequential Online 3D Reconstruction System Using Dense Stereo Matching

This paper proposes a sequential online 3D reconstruction system using dense stereo matching for a non-expert user, which can sequentially reconstruct accurate and dense 3D point clouds when the new image is captured. The proposed system is based on a novel processing pipeline of sequential online 3D reconstruction with two key techniques: (i) camera parameter estimation of Structure from Motion (SfM) and (ii) dense stereo correspondence matching using Phase-Only Correlation (POC). The user can confirm the reconstruction result and add supplementary images to the system in order to reconstruct a complete 3D model as needed. Through a set of experiments, the proposed system exhibits efficient performance in terms of reconstruction accuracy and computation time compared with the conventional system.
Learning analytics to identify exploratory dialogue within synchronous text chat

While generic web analytics tend to focus on easily harvested quantitative data, Learning Analytics will often seek qualitative understanding of the context and meaning of this information. This is critical in the case of dialogue, which may be employed to share knowledge and jointly construct understandings, but which also involves many superficial exchanges. Previous studies have validated a particular pattern of 'exploratory dialogue' in learning environments to signify sharing, challenge, evaluation and careful consideration by participants. This study investigates the use of sociocultural discourse analysis to analyse synchronous text chat during an online conference. Key words and phrases indicative of exploratory dialogue were identified in these exchanges, and peaks of exploratory dialogue were associated with periods set aside for discussion and keynote speakers. Fewer individuals posted at these times, but meaningful discussion outweighed trivial exchanges. If further analysis confirms the validity of these markers as learning analytics, they could be used by recommendation engines to support learners and teachers in locating dialogue exchanges where deeper learning appears to be taking place.
Development and Evaluation of Communication-Based Measures of Situation Awareness

Abstract : The present investigation sought to develop and field test two new behavioral measures of situation awareness (SA) that rated the content of small unit radio transmissions. Initially, a four-person team generated an item pool of 318 critical incidents of communication behavior, each intended to represent either an outstanding, typical, or poor level of SA on the part of small unit leaders. A group of 24 independent evaluators then rated the degree to which they thought each of the 318 items was related to the concept of SA. The 20 items having the highest levels of agreement among the independent evaluators within each SA level were chosen to comprise the Radio Communications Checklist of Leader Awareness (RCCOLA) and the Future Expectations of Likely Leader Awareness (FELLA) scale. Six field trials were then conducted with each of seven squad leaders and their respective squads. Based on their monitoring of squad and platoon radios, two independent raters completed separate RCCOLA checklists during each of the 42 total trials, as well as separate FELLA scales after the completion of each trial. Interrater agreement was generally high for both measures. Based on their methods of construction, we can also assume they possess some content-related validity.
Temperature-insensitive analog vector-by-matrix multiplier based on 55 nm NOR flash memory cells

We have fabricated and successfully tested an analog vector-by-matrix multiplier, based on redesigned 10×12 arrays of 55 nm commercial NOR flash memory cells. The modified arrays enable high-precision individual analog tuning of each cell, with sub-1% accuracy, while keeping the highly optimized cells, with their long-term state retention, intact. The array has an area of 0.33 μm2 per cell, and is at least one order of magnitude more dense than the reported prior implementations of nonvolatile analog memories. The demonstrated vector-by-vector multiplier, using gate coupling to additional periphery cells, has ∼2% precision, limited by the aggregate effect of cell noise, retention, mismatch, process variations, tuning precision, and capacitive crosstalk. A differential version of the multiplier has allowed us to demonstrate sub-3% temperature drift of the output signal in the range between 25 °C and 85 °C.
A Multi-Phase Methodology for Investigating Localisation Policies within the GCC: The Hotel Industry in the KSA and the UAE

Due to a high unemployment rate among local people and a high reliance on expatriate workers, the governments in the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) countries have been implementing programmes of localisation (replacing foreign workers with GCC nationals). These programmes have been successful in the public sector but much less so in the private sector. However, there are now insufficient jobs for locals in the public sector and the onus to provide employment has fallen on the private sector. This paper is concerned with a study, which is a work in progress (certain elements are complete but not the whole study), investigating the effective implementation of localisation policies in fourand five-star hotels in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The purpose of the paper is to identify the research gap, and to present the need for the research. Further, it will explain how this research was conducted. Studies of localisation in the GCC countries are under-represented in scholarly literature. Currently, the hotel sectors in KSA and UAE play an important part in the countries’ economies. However, the total proportion of Saudis working in the hotel sector in KSA is slightly under 8%, and in the UAE, the hotel sector remains highly reliant on expatriates. There is therefore a need for research on strategies to enhance the implementation of the localisation policies in general and in the hotel sector in particular. Further, despite the importance of the hotel sector to their economies, there remains a dearth of research into the implementation of localisation policies in this sector. Indeed, as far as the researchers are aware, there is no study examining localisation in the hotel sector in KSA, and few in the UAE. This represents a considerable research gap. Regarding how the research was carried out, a multiple case study strategy was used. The fourand five-star hotel sector in KSA is one of the cases, while the fourand five-star hotel sector in the UAE is the other case. Fourand five-star hotels in KSA and the UAE were chosen as these countries have the longest established localisation policies of all the GCC states and there are more hotels of these classifications in these countries than in any of the other Gulf countries. A literature review was carried out to underpin the research. The empirical data were gathered in three phases. In order to gain a pre-understanding of the issues pertaining to the research context, Phase I involved eight unstructured interviews with officials from the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (three interviewees); the Saudi Human Resources Development Fund (one); the Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority (three); and the Abu Dhabi Development Fund (one).
PIAS1 Activates the Expression of Smooth Muscle Cell Differentiation Marker Genes by Interacting with Serum Response Factor and Class I Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Proteins

ABSTRACT Although a critical component of vascular disease is modulation of the differentiated state of vascular smooth muscle cells (SMC), the mechanisms governing SMC differentiation are relatively poorly understood. We have previously shown that E-boxes and the ubiquitously expressed class I basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) proteins, including E2-2 and E12, are important in regulation of the SMC differentiation marker gene, the SM α-actin gene. The aim of the present study was to identify proteins that bind to class I bHLH proteins in SMC and modulate transcriptional regulation of SMC differentiation marker genes. Herein we report that members of the protein inhibitor of activated STAT (PIAS) family interact with class I bHLH factors as well as serum response factor (SRF). PIAS1 interacted with E2-2 and E12 based on yeast two-hybrid screens, mammalian two-hybrid assays, and/or coimmunoprecipitation assays. Overexpression of PIAS1 significantly activated the SM α-actin promoter and mRNA expression, as well as SM myosin heavy chain and SM22α, whereas a small interfering RNA for PIAS1 decreased activity of these promoters, as well as endogenous mRNA expression, and SRF binding to SM α-actin promoter within intact chromatin in cultured SMC. Of significance, PIAS1 bound to SRF and activated SM α-actin promoter expression in wild-type but not SRF−/− embryonic stem cells. These results provide novel evidence that PIAS1 modulates transcriptional activation of SMC marker genes through cooperative interactions with both SRF and class I bHLH proteins.
The relative advantages of sparse versus distributed encoding for associative neuronal networks in the brain

In some neuronal networks in the brain which are thought to operate as associative memories, a sparse coding of information can enhance the storage capacity. The extent to which this statement is valid in general is discussed here, by considering some simple formal models of associative memory which include different neurobiological constraints. In nets of linear neurons, trained with either a Hebbian (purely incremental) or a Stanton and Sejnowski learning rule, sparse coding increases the number of independent associations that can be stored. When neurons are nonlinear, for a diversity of learning rules, sparse coding may result in an increase in the number of patterns that can be discriminated. The analysis is then used to help interpret recent evidence on the encoding of information in the taste and visual systems, as obtained from recordings in primates. Following the taste pathway, it is found that the breadth of tuning of individual neurons becomes progressively finer, consistent with the idea that.
Supervised Band Selection Using Local Spatial Information for Hyperspectral Image

In order to alleviate the subsequent computation burden and storage requirement, band selection has been widely adopted to reduce the dimensionality of hyperspectral images, and the current methods mainly consist of the supervised and the unsupervised. Although these supervised methods have better performance, those unsupervised methods dominate the band selection field. In this letter, based on the unique properties of hyperspectral images, we propose a very simple but effective supervised band selection algorithm based on the local spatial information of the hyperspectral image and wrapper method. By using both the information of labeled and unlabeled pixels of the hyperspectral image, our proposed algorithm consistently outperforms the classical wrapper method. We use five widely used real hyperspectral data to demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed algorithms. We also analyze the relationship between our band selection algorithm and the well-known Markov random field classifier.
Conformal Nonlinear Fluid Dynamics from Gravity in Arbitrary Dimensions

We generalize recent work to construct a map from the conformal Navier Stokes equations with holographically determined transport coefficients, in d spacetime dimensions, to the set of asymptotically locally AdSd+1 long wavelength solutions of Einstein's equations with a negative cosmological constant, for all 2$>d>2. We find simple explicit expressions for the stress tensor (slightly generalizing the recent result by Haack and Yarom (arXiv:0806.4602)), the full dual bulk metric and an entropy current of this strongly coupled conformal fluid, to second order in the derivative expansion, for arbitrary 2$>d>2. We also rewrite the well known exact solutions for rotating black holes in AdSd+1 space in a manifestly fluid dynamical form, generalizing earlier work in d = 4. To second order in the derivative expansion, this metric agrees with our general construction of the metric dual to fluid flows.
Repellent Activity of the Essential Oil from the Heartwood of Pilgerodendron uviferum (D. Don) Florin against Aegorhinus superciliosus (Coleoptera: Curculionidae)

The weevil Aegorhinus superciliosus Guérin (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), which is endemic to Central-Southern Chile and Argentina, is one of the major berry pests in Chile and the most important pest in the La Araucanía Region (38°44′9″S, 72°35′25″W). Due to the poor effectiveness and problems surrounding the implementation of the traditional control methods using organophosphate and carbamate insecticides, new strategies for controlling this pest are needed. In this communication, we evaluated the behavioral responses of male and female A. superciliosus to volatile compounds released from the essential oil (EO) obtained from the heartwood of Pilgerodendron uviferum (D. Don) Florin using olfactometric bioassays. The composition of the EO was analyzed using gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). According to these analyses, δ-cadinol (24.16%), cubenol (22.64%), 15-copaenol (15.46%) and δ-cadinene (10.81%) were the principal components of the EO. The Pilgerodendron uviferum EO, which is almost exclusively composed of sesquiterpenes (99.5%), exhibited a repellent effect against A. superciliosus adults, regardless of the sex or concentration used (56.6 mg/cm3 and 1.58 × 10−2 mg/cm3). The EO has low volatility and greater persistence than the EOs composed of monoterpenes and is considered a good model in the search for raspberry weevil repellents.
Exploring instruction-fetch bandwidth requirement in wide-issue superscalar processors

The effective performance of wide-issue superscalar processors depends on many parameters, such as branch prediction accuracy, available instruction-level parallelism, and instruction-fetch bandwidth. This paper explores the relations between some of these parameters, and more particularly, the requirement in instruction-fetch bandwidth. We introduce new enhancements to boost effectively the instruction-fetch bandwidth of conventional fetch engines. However, experiments strongly show that performance improves less for a given instruction-fetch bandwidth gain as the base fetch bandwidth increases. At the level of bandwidth exhibited by the proposed schemes, the performance improvement is small. This clearly brings to light potential relations between the fetch bandwidth and the other parameters. We provide a model to explain this behaviour and quantify some relations. Based on the experimental observation that the available parallelism in an instruction window of size N grows as the square root /spl radic/N, we derive from the model that the instruction fetch bandwidth requirement increases as the square root of the distance between mispredicted branches. We also show that the instruction fetch bandwidth requirement increases linearly with the parallelism available in a fixed-size instruction window.
Riboswitches: Ancient and Promising Genetic Regulators

Bait and switch: Metabolite‐sensing riboswitches make use of RNA structural modulation to regulate gene expression, as illustrated in the scheme, in response to subtle changes in metabolite concentrations. This review describes the current knowledge about naturally occurring riboswitches and their growing potential as antibacterial cellular targets and as molecular biosensors.
The Efficiency of a Two-Stage Reluctance Accelerator Through Pulse Shaping

An investigation considering the efficiency gains of electrical pulse-shaping for a two-stage reluctance accelerator system has been undertaken. An optimum gross efficiency of (1.36 ± 0.02)% was achieved, amounting to an increase of (290 ± 20)% relative to the performance of an equivalent single-stage accelerator. The performance increase due to pulse-shaping for a two-stage setup was found to surpass that achieved for this single-stage setup in terms of both efficiency and velocity. This investigation highlights the potential of pulse-shaping methods to increase the feasibility and flexibility of electrical acceleration for a variety of practical applications. The intention of this paper was to exhibit the potential of reluctance acceleration technology in multi-stage, initially by using a two-stage system. Possible avenues for further investigation are proposed, to build upon the results of this study.
In-Hospital Complications of Percutaneous Intraaortic Balloon Counterpulsation

Complications related to intraaortic balloon counterpulsation pumping (IABP) remain a problem despite the development of small caliber balloon catheter shafts and introducer sheaths. The authors report their experience in counterpulsation-related complications of 201 consecutive patients who underwent 212 percutaneous counterpulsation balloon insertions from June 1989 to June 1996 by use of balloons with 8-9.5 French shafts. Of these, 82% were men and 36 (18%) were women, with a mean age of 61 ±12 years. Indications for counterpulsation were acute myocardial infarction (AMI) (67%), severe left ventricular failure without AMI (20%), dilated cardiomyopathy (4%), unstable angina (3%), high-risk supported percutaneous coronary angioplasty (2%), and others (4%). IABP was instituted at the bedside in the intensive care unit in 82 patients (39%) and in the catheterization laboratory in 130 (61%). Median duration of counterpulsation was 48 hours (range 30 minutes to 25 days) with successful weaning from counterpulsation in 70% (148 of 212) of procedures. Overall in-hospital mortality rate was 45% (90 of 201). The overall complication rate was 22/212 (10.4%). Major complications were present in 10/212 procedures (4.7%): 6 patients with limb ischemia (1 death directly attributed to this complication, 1 with associated septicemia and limb amputation, 3 requiring surgical thromboembolectomy, and 1 with persistent limb ischemia treated medically until his death caused by intractable left ventricular failure), 2 with important bleeding (1 fatal despite vascular surgical repair and 1 requiring blood transfusion) and 2 with balloon rupture requiring vascular surgery. Minor complications were present in 12 procedures (5.7%), 6 with limb ischemia, 3 with local bleeding, and 3 with catheter dysfunction. All of these resolved after balloon removal and required no further intervention. When limb ischemia did develop it occurred after a median delay of 24 hours following balloon insertion (range 2 to 98 hours). The only predictor of limb ischemia among baseline clinical and procedure-related variables was an age greater than 60 years. Compared with previous recent studies, the rate of complications observed in this study performed with small balloon catheters was acceptably low. Limb ischemia was the most frequent complication, often occurred early, and required further inter vention in half the cases.