Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Multilevel parametric-base F0 model for speech synthesis

Abstract This paper proposes a new F0 model for speech synthesis basedon the parameterization of the logF0 contour of the syllables.This parameterization consists of the N -order discrete cosinetransform (DCT) plus some additional parameters such as thegradient of the syllable average pitch. A statistical model of thesyllable pitch contour is then created by clustering the param-eterized vectors with a decision tree. Similar statistical modelsare also created for other linguistic levels other than the syllable.For synthesis, the statistical model of each level is used to deﬁnea log-likelihood function for the input text. These functions arethen weighted and added into a global log-likelihood functionwhich is then maximized with respect to the DCT coefﬁcients ofthe syllable model. The ﬁnal logF0 contour is obtained from theinverse transformation of the syllable DCT coefﬁcients. A sub-jective test showed a clear preference for the proposed modelagainst our previous HMM-based baseline.Index Terms: speech synthesis, HMM-based synthesis,prosody, discrete cosine transform
Analysis of user needs and information features in natural language queries seeking music information

Our limited understanding of real‐life queries is an obstacle in developing music information retrieval (MIR) systems that meet the needs of real users. This study aimed, by an empirical investigation of real‐life queries, to contribute to developing a theorized understanding of how users seek music information. This is crucial for informing the design of future MIR systems, especially the selection of potential access points, as well as establishing a set of test queries that reflect real‐life music information‐seeking behavior. Natural language music queries were collected from an online reference Website and coded using content analysis. A taxonomy of user needs expressed and information features used in queries were established by an iterative coding process. This study found that most of the queries analyzed were known‐item searches, and most contained a wide variety of kinds of information, although a few features were used much more heavily than the others. In addition to advancing our understanding of real‐life user queries by establishing an improved taxonomy of needs and features, three recommendations were made for improving the evaluation of MIR systems: (i) incorporating user context in test queries, (ii) employing terms familiar to users in evaluation tasks, and (iii) combining multiple task results.
FPGA IMPLEMENTATION OF VERY LARGE ASSOCIATIVE MEMORIES Scaling Issues

Associative networks have a number of properties, including a rapid, compute efficient best-match and intrinsic fault tolerance, that make them ideal for many applications. However, large networks can be slow to emulate because of their storage and bandwidth requirements. In this chapter we present a simple but effective model of association and then discuss a performance analysis we have done in implementing this model on a single high-end PC workstation, a PC cluster, and FPGA hardware.
Organizational Knowledge Creation Theory: Evolutionary Paths and Future Advances

Organizational knowledge creation is the process of making available and amplifying knowledge created by individuals as well as crystallizing and connecting it to an organization's knowledge system. In other words, what individuals come to know in their (work-)life benefits their colleagues and, eventually, the larger organization. The theory explaining this process — the organizational knowledge creation theory — has developed rapidly in academia and been broadly diffused in management practice over the last 15 years. This article reviews the theory's central elements and identifies the evolving paths taken by academic work that uses the theory as a point of departure. The article furthermore proposes areas in which future research can advance the theory of organizational knowledge creation.
Efficient method of moment analysis based on imaging and edging

Electromagnetic modeling of composite metallic and dielectric structures (antennas, scatterers, microwave circuits, etc.) in the frequency domain can be efficiently performed by applying the method of moments (MoM) to the surface integral equations (SIEs). Particularly, a high efficiency is achieved by using double polynomial approximations for currents over quadrilateral patches, where expansion orders are directly proportional to the electrical length of these patches. The exception occurs when a global solution for currents is strongly affected by local quasi-static effects (end effect and proximity effect). For example, the authors consider a microstrip line whose transversal dimensions are small comparable with the wavelength. The main goal is to determine non-uniform segmentation which enables the treatment of local quasi-static effects with the lowest number of unknowns. In that sense two techniques are proposed: imaging and edging.
Gertrude Cox in Egypt: A Case Study in Science Patronage and International Statistics Education during the Cold War

Argument Gertrude Cox, first chair of North Carolina State University's Department of Experimental Statistics, worked as a consultant for the Ford Foundation to Cairo University's Institute of Statistical Studies and Researches in 1964. An analysis of this work provides a case study in the internationalization of the statistics profession, the systems of patronage available to scientists in the second half of the twentieth century, and the history of women in science. It highlights some of the complexities in the process of internationalization in science, showing that even when scientists cross national boundaries to promote their discipline, they may have as a goal the advancement of their own nationalistic interests, or those of their patrons. In documenting Cox's commitment to serving her professional community, this case study will show that some particularly feminine qualities of Cox's approach to her work enabled her to accomplish what her male colleagues tried unsuccessfully to do.
The Assessment of Validity and Reliability of Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Functions in Iranian Pre-School Children

Background: Executive functions are among abilities which school children require for learning in the future and deficit in executive functions in preschool children can continue into the older age and leads to serious problems in children in relation to doing their homework and other personal affairs. Objectives: The objective of the present study is to determine the validity, reliability and factor structure of the per-school version of behavioral rating inventory of executive functions (parent’s form) in Iranian children. Patients and Methods: The present study comprised 592 children aged from 2 - 5 years selected from pre-school centers of the city of Isfahan in 2013 - 2014 using cluster random sampling method, with their parents answering the questions asked in this inventory. The correlation coefficient among items with a total score of factors, Cronbach’s alpha coefficient, confirmatory factor analysis, and the correlation coefficient among the subscales were used to measure the reliability and internal consistency of the inventory. Results: Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed embedding items and the five-factor structure of the inventory including inhibition, shift, and emotional control, working memory and planning. In addition, Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was at satisfactory level for each of the factors and the total score of the scale (≥ 0.60). Conclusions: In general, it can be concluded that the behavior rating inventory of executive function (BRIEF) for preschool-aged children is a reliable and valid instrument for measuring executive functions of Iranian children, and can be used as a suitable means for psychological research and clinical situations.
Towards a scalable software model checker for higher-order programs

In our recent paper, we have shown how to construct a fully-automated program verification tool (so called a "software model checker") for a tiny subset of functional language ML, by combining higher-order model checking, predicate abstraction, and CEGAR. This can be viewed as a higher-order counterpart of previous software model checkers for imperative languages like BLAST and SLAM. The naive application of the proposed approach, however, suffered from scalability problems, both in terms of efficiency and supported language features. To obtain more scalable software model checkers for full-scale functional languages, we propose a series of optimizations and extensions of the previous approach. Among others, we introduce (i) selective CPS transformation,(ii) selective predicate abstraction, and (iii) refined predicate discovery as optimization techniques; and propose (iv) functional encoding of recursive data structures and control operations to support a larger subset of ML. We have implemented the proposed methods, and obtained promising results.
A deep auto-encoder based low-dimensional feature extraction from FFT spectral envelopes for statistical parametric speech synthesis

In the state-of-the-art statistical parametric speech synthesis system, a speech analysis module, e.g. STRAIGHT spectral analysis, is generally used for obtaining accurate and stable spectral envelopes, and then low-dimensional acoustic features extracted from obtained spectral envelopes are used for training acoustic models. However, a spectral envelope estimation algorithm used in such a speech analysis module includes various processing derived from human knowledge. In this paper, we present our investigation of deep autoencoder based, non-linear, data-driven and unsupervised low-dimensional feature extraction using FFT spectral envelopes for statistical parametric speech synthesis. Experimental results showed that a text-to-speech synthesis system using deep auto-encoder based low-dimensional feature extraction from FFT spectral envelopes is indeed a promising approach.
The Evaluation of a Drama Approach to AIDS Education

This study illustrates the implementation of an attitude questionnaire and a knowledge test in the evaluation of a drama intervention aimed at the transmission of knowledge and change of attitudes about AIDS among Zulu‐speaking high school pupils. No significant changes in the existing, relatively positive, attitudes were indicated except in one important area relating to promiscuity. A substantial improvement in the knowledge of AIDS‐related facts was achieved. It is suggested that a qualitative approach should ideally forego a quantitative approach in order to identify the cultural context within which the project will be situated.
The value of cognitive interviewing for optimizing a patient experience survey

This mixed-methods study uses both cognitive interviewing and a quantitative field test to provide empirical evidence on the value of cognitive interviewing for questionnaire development. Ten interviews were conducted with a questionnaire on patient experiences with cataract surgery (75-item consumer quality index cataract), using both thinking-aloud and probing techniques. Interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim, problems were coded with the commonly used systems of Levine et al. and Willis, and results were compared with item non-response in a field test. The coding systems revealed similar numbers and type of problems: 55 items showed a total of 174 problems. However, most problematic items (67%) had an adequate response in the field test. Results stress the importance of cognitive interviewing as a pre-survey evaluation method to early identification of questionnaire problems, and it is recommended to use the coding system of Willis for it provides specific directions for questionnaire optimization.
Politecnico di Torino system for the 2007 NIST language recognition evaluation

This paper describes the system submitted by Politecnico di Torino for the 2007 NIST Language Recognition Evaluation. The system, which was among the best participants in this evaluation, is a combination of classifiers based on three acoustic models and on two sets of Parallel Phone tokenizers. It exploits several state-of-the-art techniques that have been successfully applied in recent years both in speaker and in language recognition. We illustrate the models, the classification techniques and the performance of the system components, and of their combination, in the NIST-07 close-set 30 sec General Language Recognition task. We also highlight the difficulties in setting appropriate decision thresholds whenever the training data of a language are scarce, or the test data are collected through previously unseen channels.
Avian Influenza H9N2 Seroprevalence among Poultry Workers in Pune, India, 2010

Avian influenza (AI) H9N2 has been reported from poultry in India. A seroepidemiological study was undertaken among poultry workers to understand the prevalence of antibodies against AI H9N2 in Pune, Maharashtra, India. A total of 338 poultry workers were sampled. Serum samples were tested for presence of antibodies against AI H9N2 virus by hemagglutination inhibition (HI) and microneutralization (MN) assays. A total of 249 baseline sera from general population from Pune were tested for antibodies against AI H9N2 and were negative by HI assay using ≥40 cut-off antibody titre. Overall 21 subjects (21/338 = 6.2%) were positive for antibodies against AI H9N2 by either HI or MN assays using ≥40 cut-off antibody titre. A total of 4.7% and 3.8% poultry workers were positive for antibodies against AI H9N2 by HI and MN assay respectively using 40 as cut-off antibody titre. This is the first report of seroprevalence of antibodies against AI H9N2 among poultry workers in India.
The Impact of Autism Services on Mothers' Occupational Balance and Participation

This mixed-methods study examined the impact of professional services on employment and leisure participation of mothers of children with autism. In Phase 1, 139 mothers with a child with autism completed a comprehensive survey addressing their experiences with services and occupational participation. In Phase 2, in-depth interviews, informed by grounded theory methodology, were conducted with a sub-sample of 19 mothers to discuss their experiences with services and the relationship between services, employment, and leisure participation. Findings revealed that discontinuity of services was a significant predictor of disrupted employment and/or leisure. A process of occupational imbalance and sacrifice emerged related to mothers' foregoing participation in personally meaningful occupations to focus time on navigating and participating in professional services for their child. Our findings suggest that many professionals who work with individuals with autism conceptually value family-centered care; yet, actual services often ignore family issues and focus exclusively on the child.
Expanding Dual Enrollment

This study investigated the dual enrollment outcomes associated with a 2005 policy change intended to expand dual enrollment participation in Virginia. Results indicated that overall access to and participation in dual enrollment courses increased following the policy change. However, data showed this increase was not uniform, and minority groups remained significantly underrepresented when compared with their representation in the general student population. Furthermore, we examined the changes in postsecondary enrollment of dual enrollment students. Although a similar percentage of students enrolled in higher education before and after the policy change, we found variation in the timing and the type of institution in which students enrolled, with students after the policy change enrolling in 4-year institutions sooner after high school graduation than students in the cohort prior to the change. Implications related to educational opportunity and unintended consequences of the policy change are discussed.
Dynamic Topology Management in Optical Data Center Networks

In recent years, there has been an exponential growth in the traffic of cloud data centers networks (DCNs). More and more users are outsourcing their computing demands and services to DCNs. To handle such increases in the workload and traffic in a scalable manner, many technologies have been proposed to provide dynamic topology to the network so as to adapt to the traffic. One representative scheme is the optical switching architecture (OSA) as it provides tremendous flexibility. However, OSA requires too much time (10 ms) to reconfigure the topology. Reconfiguring the topology in one step not only brings much performance degradation to the delay sensitive flows, but also incurs large traffic losses in high throughput low latency DCNs. Therefore, a progressive topology reconfiguration scheme is required to guarantee the performance of delay sensitive flows and reduce the traffic loss. To this end, we propose a topology management algorithm (TMA) in this paper to design such a progressive topology reconfiguration scheme. With TMA, a sequence of intermediate topologies and routing schemes are derived. We leverage these intermediate topologies to realize the reconfiguration progressively, while maintaining the topology connectivity and reducing the total traffic loss during the topology reconfiguration. Through extensive real-trace driven simulation experiments, we find that TMA can reduce the traffic loss during topology reconfiguration with little overhead.
Practitioner review: do performance-based measures and ratings of executive function assess the same construct?

BACKGROUND Both performance-based and rating measures are commonly used to index executive function in clinical and neuropsychological assessments. They are intended to index the same broad underlying mental construct of executive function. The association between these two types of measures was investigated in the current article. METHOD AND RESULTS We examined the association between performance-based and rating measures of executive function in 20 studies. These studies included 13 child and 7 adult samples, which were derived from 7 clinical, 2 nonclinical, and 11 combined clinical and nonclinical samples. Only 68 (24%) of the 286 relevant correlations reported in these studies were statistically significant, and the overall median correlation was only . 19. CONCLUSIONS It was concluded that performance-based and rating measures of executive function assess different underlying mental constructs. We discuss how these two types of measures appear to capture different levels of cognition, namely, the efficiency of cognitive abilities and success in goal pursuit. Clinical implications of using performance-based and rating measures of executive function are discussed, including the use of these measures in assessing ADHD.
Indirect readout: detection of optimized subsequences and calculation of relative binding affinities using different DNA elastic potentials

Essential biological processes require that proteins bind to a set of specific DNA sites with tuned relative affinities. We focus on the indirect readout mechanism and discuss its theoretical description in relation to the present understanding of DNA elasticity on the rigid base pair level. Combining existing parametrizations of elastic potentials for DNA, we derive elastic free energies directly related to competitive binding experiments, and propose a computationally inexpensive local marker for elastically optimized subsequences in protein–DNA co-crystals. We test our approach in an application to the bacteriophage 434 repressor. In agreement with known results we find that indirect readout dominates at the central, non-contacted bases of the binding site. Elastic optimization involves all deformation modes and is mainly due to the adapted equilibrium structure of the operator, while sequence-dependent elasticity plays a minor role. These qualitative observations are robust with respect to current parametrization uncertainties. Predictions for relative affinities mediated by indirect readout depend sensitively on the chosen parametrization. Their quantitative comparison with experimental data allows for a critical evaluation of DNA elastic potentials and of the correspondence between crystal and solution structures. The software written for the presented analysis is included as Supplementary Data.
Listening to the Voices of Anorexia

Summary This paper is based on a collaborative research inquiry with women who were formerly anorectic. Drawing on histories of female fasting, feminist cultural criticism, and women's psychology, the study examines the themes of voice and communication and develops relational research practices that allow a person to experience herself as whole. Reflexive and narrative ideas and conversational practices from family therapy are incorporated into an intensive case study method. Since the research proved beneficial to the participants, it may have important implications for more effective forms of therapy.
Early detection of human cytomegalovirus viremia in bone marrow transplant recipients by DNA amplification

Surveillance blood cultures for human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) are commonly used to identify the bone marrow transplant (BMT) recipients with the highest risk of serious HCMV disease and for whom early interventional ganciclovir therapy would be beneficial. We monitored 36 allogeneic BMT recipients weekly for the presence of HCMV in the blood from 0 to 100 days posttransplantation. Viable HCMV in leukocytes (WBC) was detected by shell vial and tube culture methods. HCMV DNA in WBC and plasma was detected by PCR and DNA hybridization using primers and a probe from the EcoRI fragment D region of HCMV AD169. A uracil-N-glycosylase-dUTP PCR protocol was used to prevent false-positive results due to amplicon carryover. Seventeen patients had multiple consecutive positive samples containing HCMV DNA in plasma or WBC. In 14 of 17 patients, HCMV was also detected by blood culture. HCMV DNA was detected sporadically in six patients, none of whom had positive cultures. One patient had HCMV viremia detected by WBC culture only. The remaining 12 patients had no positive PCR assays or blood cultures. For the patients with positive blood cultures, PCR detection of HCMV DNA in plasma preceded detection of HCMV in culture by a mean of 8 days and detection in WBC preceded detection in culture by 6 days. HCMV disease (interstitial pneumonia) was documented for two patients with viremia (blood culture and PCR positive) and one patient without viremia (blood culture and PCR negative). The earlier recognition of high-risk patients provided by detection of HCMV DNA in plasma or WBC may improve the efficacy of early interventional antiviral therapy.