Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Intelligent Real-Time Music Accompaniment for Constraint-Free Improvisation

Computational Intelligence encompasses tools that allow the fast convergence and adaptation to several problems, a fact that makes them eligible for real-time implementations. The paper at hand discusses the utilization of intelligent algorithms (i.e. Differential Evolution and Genetic Algorithms) for the creation of an adaptive system that is able to provide real-time automatic music accompaniment to a human improviser. The main goal of the presented system is to generate accompanying music based on the local human musician's tonal, rhythmic and intensity playing style, incorporating no prior knowledge about the improvisers intentions. Compared to existing systems previously proposed, this work introduces a constraint-free improvisation environment where the most important musical characteristics are automatically adapted to the human performer's playing style, without any prior information. This fact allows the improviser to have maximal control over the tonal, rhythmic and intensity improvisation directions.
Language Identification of Person Names using Cascaded SVMs

A number of state-of-the-art approaches to Language Identification of person names use Support Vector Machines (SVM). Using this approach, a large number of languages in the data set can make the feature space outgrow software restrictions, not allowing the use of all useful features. This paper presents a novel technique for using binary classifiers in cascade as a post-processing step to a multi-class classifier to improve performance. A data set of 10 languages was extracted from various online sources, most prominently e-petition sites. Using this data, a multi-class SVM classifier and ten binary classifiers were trained. Running binary classifiers in the prediction order given by the multi-class classifier may help correcting mistakes, the theory being that the binary classifiers can be trained on more data and therefore have superior performance on individual languages. The hypothesis could not be fully tested, but experimental results are encouraging. This paper also explores new kinds of features to be used in training. One meaningful new feature is combinations of n-gram counts. Finally, a good trade off between training set size and features used is derived through experimentation. Address for correspondence: Beijing City, Dongcheng District, Juer Hutong no. 85, Apartment 512, Li Jianglong, 100009 CHINA. E-mail: erik.sterneberg@gmail.com
Analysing Parallel and Passive Web Browsing Behavior and its Effects on Website Metrics

Getting deeper insights into the online browsing behavior of Web users has been a major research topic since the advent of the WWW. It provides useful information to optimize website design, Web browser design, search engines offerings, and online advertisement. We argue that new technologies and new services continue to have significant effects on the way how people browse the Web. For example, listening to music clips on YouTube or to a radio station on Last.fm does not require users to sit in front of their computer. Social media and networking sites like Facebook or micro-blogging sites like Twitter have attracted new types of users that previously were less inclined to go online. These changes in how people browse the Web feature new characteristics which are not well understood so far. In this paper, we provide novel and unique insights by presenting first results of DOBBS, our long-term effort to create a comprehensive and representative dataset capturing online user behavior. We firstly investigate the concepts of parallel browsing and passive browsing, showing that browsing the Web is no longer a dedicated task for many users. Based on these results, we then analyze their impact on the calculation of a user's dwell time -- i.e., the time the user spends on a webpage -- which has become an important metric to quantify the popularity of websites.
Combinatorial Algorithm for Restricted Max-Min Fair Allocation

We study the basic allocation problem of assigning resources to players to maximize fairness. This is one of the few natural problems that enjoys the intriguing status of having a better estimation algorithm than approximation algorithm. Indeed, a certain Configuration-LP can be used to estimate the value of the optimal allocation to within a factor of 4+ ε. In contrast, however, the best-known approximation algorithm for the problem has an unspecified large constant guarantee. In this article, we significantly narrow this gap by giving a 13-approximation algorithm for the problem. Our approach develops a local search technique introduced by Haxell [13] for hypergraph matchings and later used in this context by Asadpour, Feige, and Saberi [2]. For our local search procedure to terminate in polynomial time, we introduce several new ideas, such as lazy updates and greedy players. Besides the improved approximation guarantee, the highlight of our approach is that it is purely combinatorial and uses the Configuration-LP only in the analysis.
Contribution des attitudes et motivations maternelles à l'expérience paternelle suivant la naissance d'un premier enfant

Cette etude fait appel a la theorie de l’autodetermination et au concept de mere sentinelle (gatekeeper) pour approfondir notre comprehension de l’experience parentale des peres. Elle vise a expliquer la satisfaction parentale et conjugale du pere, ainsi que sa participation aux soins de l’enfant en considerant les motivations, les attitudes et les croyances des meres. Quatre-vingt-treize couples de futurs parents ont rempli des questionnaires pre et postnatal. Le modele acheminatoire indique que la satisfaction paternelle s’explique par l’introjection et la regulation externe des meres, mais non par leur endossement d’attitudes ou de croyances de type sentinelle. La satisfaction conjugale paternelle s’explique, indirectement, par une regulation maternelle introjectee, qui est liee au soutien offert par la mere a la satisfaction des trois besoins psychologiques fondamentaux de leur conjoint (mediateur). Enfin la participation paternelle aux soins de l’enfant est liee a la regulation identifiee de la mere et a son endossement de croyances moins traditionnelles. %%%%The present study calls upon self-determination theory and the concept of maternal gatekeeping to further the understanding of fathers’ early experience of parenthood. It aims to explain fathers’ parental and marital satisfaction, as well as their participation in child care by considering mothers’ motivations, attitudes and beliefs. Ninety-three couples expecting the birth of their first child completed pre and postnatal questionnaires. A path model suggests that introjected and externally regulated extrinsic maternal motivations, but not their endorsement of maternal gatekeeping attitudes and beliefs, significantly account for fathers’ parental satisfaction. Mothers’ introjected extrinsic motivation indirectly explains fathers’ marital satisfaction, through mothers’ support of the satisfaction of their three fundamental psychological needs (mediator). Finally, fathers’ participation in child care is accounted for by mothers’ identified extrinsic motivation and endorsement of less traditional beliefs.
Online Contact, Face-to-Face Contact, and Multilingualism: Young Swedish-Speaking Finns Develop Trilingual Identities

Based on the tenets of the social context model of second language acquisition, the present article examined the combined effect of online and face-to-face contact in developing multilingual skills and identities among young Swedish-speaking Finns (N = 304). The hypotheses were tested for Finnish as a second language and English as a third language using parallel models. The results were largely identical for both languages. Specifically, online contact enhanced language confidence which, in turn, contributed to language identity. However, online contact had a more substantial effect on confidence as well as identity among those who had little face-to-face contact with speakers of the given language. Findings and their implications are discussed.
3D-Data Representation with ImageJ

— After having developed three ImageJ plugins that use 3D display techniques of image data ( Color Inspector 3D, 3D Surface Plot, and Volume Viewer ), the idea came up that these plugins do share a lot of common algorithms that could also be used for other plugins which need a 3D display of (image) data. The workshop concerning 3D-Data Representation with ImageJ that will be given at the “ImageJ User and Developer Conference” will consist of two parts. In the first part the usage of the plugins mentioned above using 3D-data display techniques will be described. Typical applications and image analysis features will be explained. The second part of the workshop will explain how the 3D programming techniques shared by these plugins can be used by other plugins. At the time of the ImageJ conference there will be an “easy to use” JAVA framework, which will allow an uncomplicated construction of plugins using 3D display techniques.
Renewable Energy Subsidies: Second-Best Policy or Fatal Aberration for Mitigation?

This paper evaluates the consequences of renewable energy policies on welfare and energy prices in a world where carbon pricing is imperfect and the regulator seeks to limit emissions to a (cumulative) target. The imperfectness of the carbon price is motivated by political concerns regarding distributional effects of increased energy prices. Hence, carbon prices are considered to be temporarily or permanently absent or endogenously constrained by their effect on energy prices. We use a global general equilibrium model with an intertemporal fossil resource sector and calculate intertemporally optimal policies from a broad set of policy instruments including carbon taxes, renewable energy subsidies and feed-in-tariffs, among others. If carbon pricing is permanently missing, mitigation costs increase by a multiple (compared to the optimal carbon pricing policy) for a wide range of parameters describing extraction costs, renewable energy costs, substitution possibilities and normative attitudes. Furthermore, we show that small deviations from the second-best subsidy can lead to strong increases in emissions and consumption losses. This confirms the rising concerns about the occurrence of unintended side effects of climate policy – a new version of the green paradox. Smart combinations of carbon prices and renewable energy subsidies, however, can achieve ambitious mitigation targets at moderate additional costs without leading to high energy price increases.
Effects of grammatical roles and topicality on Vietnamese referential form production

We conducted two studies on the use of null and overt pronouns and noun phrases in Vietnamese, with a focus on referents’ grammatical roles, grammatical parallelism and topicality. Vietnamese overt pronouns differ from English-type languages as they also function as kin terms. The first study investigated narratives and finds that referential form choice is influenced by the grammatical role and grammatical position of the antecedent: When the subject of the current clause refers to the subject of the preceding clause (subject parallelism), we find a high rate of (null and overt) pronouns. Lack of parallelism triggers mostly NPs. When the object of the current clause refers to the object of the preceding clause (object parallelism), we also find more pronouns than in non-parallel cases. Interestingly, null pronouns only occur in parallel cases. Crucially, we find no clear differences in the distribution of null vs. overt pronouns, suggesting that grammatical roles and parallelism have the same effects on both pronoun types. Using passivization to manipulate topicality, Experiment 2 further investigated the null vs. overt pronoun choice and found that pronouns are strongly preferred for topicalized subjects in passives and that null pronouns exhibit a stronger sensitivity to topicality than overt pronouns. To our knowledge, these experiments are the first experimental investigation of a kin-term-based pronoun system.
A systematic review of sensorimotor function during adolescence: a developmental stage of increased motor awkwardness?

Background Although adolescent motor awkwardness and increased injury susceptibility have often been speculated and researched, studies regarding adolescent regressions in motor control have yielded inconsistent conclusions. Thus, the relationship between adolescent maturation and injury risk remains unclear. The purpose of this study was to systematically review the literature relative to two questions: (1) Which sensorimotor mechanisms are not fully mature by the time children reach adolescence? and (2) Is adolescence a period when children exhibit delays or regressions in sensorimotor mechanisms? Methods Systematic searches for keywords were performed in February 2010 using PubMed MEDLINE (from 1966), CINAHL (from 1982) and SPORTDiscus (from 1985) databases. Articles were reviewed relative to predetermined criteria, and the methodological quality of each included study was assessed. Results The search identified 2304 studies, of which 33 studies met the inclusion criteria. All 33 identified studies provided results associated with Question 1, 6 of which also yielded results pertaining to Question 2. The search results indicated that many aspects of sensorimotor function continue to mature throughout adolescence, and at least some children experience delays or regressions in at least some sensorimotor mechanisms. The results also exposed several significant weaknesses in our knowledge base. Conclusion The identified knowledge gaps are critical barriers because they hinder methods for identifying children at high risk and diminish the efficacy of targeted prevention programmes. Implications regarding research on adolescent injury risk are discussed and recommendations for future research such as improved methodological designs and integration of non-linear analyses are provided.
The Design of a Fuzzy Logic Controller of an ATM Switch and its Simulation

Available Bit Rate (ABR) streams are carried whenever bandwidth is available to do so. When transporting MPEG streams over ATM networks, the link utilization cannot be brought close to 100% no matter how efficient the connection control admission scheme is, but can be improved by ABR traffic. Due to the unpredictable fluctuations and burstiness of the MPEG streams, it is difficult to accurately control the ABR flow rate. A traffic control mechanism based on fuzzy logic is therefore required to effectively transport ABR traffic so that network operators can use most of the unused bandwidth. In this paper, we present the design of an optimized Fuzzy Logic Controller (FLC) of an ATM switch for the rate control of an ABR stream. Unlike the previous work where synthetic data and trial and error were used for tuning an FLC, the merits of our method are that we used simulations and real MPEG data to generate the input-output data for the optimal design of the FLC, and that our technique enables the output of the FLC to be symmetrical.
Physical activity as an exogenous risk factor in motor neuron disease (MND): A review of the evidence

Motor neuron disease (MND) is a devastating neurodegenerative condition associated with considerable disability and a poor prognosis. Despite improvements in symptomatic management in recent years, few therapies are available which modify survival. However, the challenge to find successful treatments would be greatly assisted by clearer elucidation of the underlying pathoaetiology. Many potential exogenous risk factors have been proposed as part of a gene-environment interaction in the aetiology of MND. A growing interest in the role of vigorous physical activity in the development of MND has followed reports of a higher than expected incidence of the disease in professional sports people. Such an association is also supported by current hypotheses concerning the cellular and genetic mechanisms of MND. However, evidence from epidemiological research remains conflicting and inconclusive. This article reviews the existing literature regarding physical activity as a risk factor for MND and the potential biological and genetic plausibility for this association.
Bidimensionality Theory and Algorithmic Graph Minor Theory Lecture Notes for MohammadTaghi Hajiaghayi ’ s Tutorial

Many graph problems cannot be computed in polynomial time unless P = NP , which most computer scientists and mathematicians doubt. Examples are the Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP), vertex cover, and dominating set. TSP is to find a Hamiltonian cycle with the least weight in a complete weighted graph. A vertex cover of a graph is a subset of the vertices that covers all edges. A dominating set in a graph is a subset of the vertices such that each vertex is contained in the set or has a neighbour in the set. The decision problem is to answer the question whether there is a vertex cover resp. a dominating set with at most k elements. The optimization problem is to find a vertex cover resp. a dominating set of minimal size. How can we solve these problems despite their computational complexity? The four main theoretical approaches to handle NP -hard problems are the following.
A Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) Avifauna from the Maevarano Formation, Madagascar

ABSTRACT Recent field efforts in the Mahajanga Basin of northwestern Madagascar have recovered a diverse Late Cretaceous terrestrial and freshwater vertebrate fauna, including a growing diversity of avialans. Previous work on associated bird skeletons resulted in the description of two named avialans (Rahonavis, Vorona). Other materials, including two synsacra and numerous appendicular elements, represent at least five additional taxa of basal (non-neornithine) birds. Among the materials described herein are two humeri tentatively referred to Rahonavis and numerous elements (e.g., humeri, ulnae, tibiotarsi, tarsometatarsi) assigned to Vorona. A near-complete carpometacarpus exhibits a minor metacarpal that exceeds the major metacarpal in length, documenting an enantiornithine in the fauna. Moreover, two additional, small humeri, an ulna, a femur, and a tarsometatarsus also compare favorably with enantiornithines. Finally, two other isolated humeri and a synsacrum are referable to Ornithurae. The latter specimen is notable in the presence of distinct, transversely oriented lumbosacral canals along the inner surface of the bony neural canal. This reveals for the first time a hard-tissue correlate of an anatomical specialization related to increased sensorimotor integration, one likely related to the unique form of avialan bipedal locomotion. Bird fossils recovered from the Maevarano Formation document one of the most size- and phylogenetically diverse Cretaceous-age Gondwanan avifaunas, including representative (1) basal pygostylian, (2) enantiornithine, (3) nonenantiornithine, ornithothoracine, and (4) ornithurine taxa. This Maastrichtian avifauna is notable in that it demonstrates the co-existence of multiple clades of basal (non-neornithine) birds until at least the end of the Mesozoic.
Constructive Organizational Values Climate and Organizational Citizenship Behaviors: A Configurational View

The discretionary efforts of employees to go above and beyond illustrated by organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) provide an important path to organizational success. Organizational work environment characteristics, notably, organizational climates, serve as fundamental mechanisms for eliciting OCBs. However, existing research on organizational climate and OCBs frequently adopts a variable-centered approach that breaks down climate into individual dimensions. In contrast to past research, our goal is to respond to calls to more fully contextualize organizational climate by offering a configuration of climate attributes. Drawing on a typology of research problematizing, we replace the metaphor of individual dimensions with a metaphor of a climate configuration. To theorize and test the relationship between organizational climate and OCBs, we examine organizational values embodied in the competing values framework through a mesolevel organizational climate perspective. Building on the literature on managing paradox, we propose a constructive organizational values climate configuration, which captures how the different dimensions of the competing values framework coexist and work together. In turn, we propose that constructive organizational values climate predicts three types of OCBs: helping, taking charge, and creative behavior. Furthermore, drawing on regulatory focus theory and on the change-oriented and affiliative roots of OCBs, we offer two distinct mediators that shed light on the underlying processes. We test the proposed theory with data from 737 respondents residing in 166 work units in a wide variety of organizations.
Frequency shifts of photoassociative spectra of ultracold metastable helium atoms: A new measurement of the s-wave scattering length

We observe light-induced frequency shifts in one-color photoassociative spectra of magnetically trapped 4He* atoms in the metastable 23S1 state. A pair of ultracold spin-polarized 23S1 helium atoms is excited into a molecular bound state in the purely long-range 0u+ potential connected to the 23S1-23P0 asymptote. The shift arises from the optical coupling of the molecular excited bound state with the scattering states and the bound states of two colliding 23S1 atoms. We measure the frequency-shifts for several ro-vibrational levels in the 0u+ potential and find a linear dependence on the photoassociation laser intensity. Comparison with a theoretical analysis provides a good indication for the s-wave scattering length a of the quintet (5Σg+) potential, a = 7.2 ± 0.6 nm, which is significantly lower than most previous results obtained by non-spectroscopic methods.
Traffic Engineering Using Overlay Network

Due to integrated high-speed networks accommodating various types of services and applications, the quality of service (QoS) requirements for those networks have also become diverse. The network resources are shared by the individual service traffic in the integrated network. Thus, the QoS of all the services may be degraded indiscriminately when the network becomes congested due to a sudden increase in traffic for a particular service if there is no traffic engineering taking into account each service's QoS requirement. To resolve this problem, we present a method of controlling individual service traffic by using an overlay network, which makes it possible to flexibly add various functionalities. The overlay network provides functionalities to control individual service traffic, such as constructing an overlay network topology for each service, calculating the optimal route for the service's QoS, and caching the content to reduce traffic. Specifically, we present a method of overlay routing that is based on the Hedge algorithm, an online learning algorithm to guarantee an upper bound in the difference from the optimal performance. We show the effectiveness of our overlay routing through simulation analysis for various network topologies.
Power-efficient frequency allocation algorithms for self-organized networks

In this paper we compare three novel schemes for dynamic frequency allocation and transmission power assignment for cognitive radio networks. These spectrum allocation schemes are based on reinforcement learning and power optimization procedures. We propose the so-called RL+Power and RL+Power Coupled schemes and compare them with an existing constant power scheme. Simulation results show that the RL+Power Coupled scheme improves the QoS of the system by up to 5 dB in terms of SINR and by up to 10% in terms of user satisfaction when compared against the two other schemes in a high cell load environment.