Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Pushing the Envelope – Aside : Beyond the Spectral Envelope as the Fundamental Representation for Speech Recognition

Introduction State-of-the-art automatic speech recognition (ASR) systems continue to improve, and yet there remain many tasks for which the technology is inadequate. The core acoustic operation has essentially remained the same for decades: a single feature vector (derived from the power spectral envelope over a 20-30 ms window, stepped forward by ~10 ms per frame) is compared to a set of distributions derived from training data for an inventory of sub-word units (usually some variant of phones). While many systems also incorporate time derivatives [Furui, 1986] and/or projections from 5 or more frames to a lower dimension [Hunt & Lefebvre 1989, Haeb-Umbach et al 1994], the fundamental character of the acoustic features has remained quite similar. We believe that this limited perspective is a key weakness in speech recognizers. Under good conditions, human phone error rate for nonsense syllables has been estimated to be as low as 1.5% [Allen 1994], as compared with rates that are over an order of magnitude higher for the best Renals 1994]. In this light, our best current recognizers appear half-deaf, only making up for this deficiency by incorporating strong domain constraints. To develop generally applicable and useful recognition techniques, we must overcome the limitations of current acoustic processing. Interestingly, even human phonetic categorization is poor for extremely short segments (e.g., <100 ms), suggesting that analysis of longer time regions is somehow essential to the task. This is supported by information theoretic analysis showing discriminative dependence conditional on underlying phones, between features separated in time by up to several hundred milliseconds In mid 2002, we began working on a DARPA-sponsored project known as the " Novel Approaches " component of the Effective Affordable Reusable Speech-to-text (EARS) program. The fundamental goal of this multi-site effort was to " push " the spectral envelope away from its role as the sole source of acoustic information incorporated by the statistical models of modern speech recognition systems, particularly in the context of the conversational telephone speech recognition task. This ultimately would require both a revamping of the acoustical feature extraction and a fresh look at the incorporation of these features into statistical models representing speech. So far, much of our effort has gone towards the design of new features, and experimentation with their incorporation in a modern speech-to-text system. The new features have already provided significant improvements in such a system in the 2004 NIST evaluation of recognizers of …
Planning and Scheduling in the Process Industry

Usually, planning means the generation of production tasks for longer periods of time, given forecasts for prices and product demands. In contrast, scheduling means the assignment of resources to activities, sequencing of activities and determination of starting respectively ending times for the execution over a short period of time. Planning and scheduling are closely related as the decisions made at the planning level have a strong influence on scheduling. Ideally, the availability of resources would be taken into account fully on the planning level and thus scheduling would just be a part of planning. The complexity of the overall problem, however, in most cases excludes the possibility of detailed planning over long horizons and thus the two tasks are treated sequentially. From a methodological point of view, there is not much difference between the two problems. 8.1. 2 Characteristics of the problem This section gives some characteristics of the scheduling and planning problem rather than proposing a classification, as any set of listed constraints and properties defines a unique problem which has to be treated in a different manner. Scheduling and planning problems can roughly be divided into flow-shop, job-shop or open-shop problems. For chemical processing plants, this characterisation is not sufficient since additional constraints and specific characteristics have to be taken into account which result from features such as • shared resources • continuous units • limited connectivity by piping networks. Moreover, the way the plant is operated as well as features of the recipes may impose characteristics, which have to be taken into account: • Changeover procedures • Maintenance procedures
External Validation of the Cancer of the Prostate Risk Assessment Postsurgical Score for Prediction of Disease Recurrence after Radical Prostatectomy

Objective. The cancer of the prostate risk assessment (CAPRA-S) postsurgical score predicts recurrence, metastasis, and cancer-specific survival after radical prostatectomy (RP). We evaluated the relation between CAPRA-S score and biochemical recurrence (BCR) in prostate cancer after RP in our clinic. Materials and Methods. This study was performed on 203 patients with prostate carcinoma who underwent open RP and regional lymph node dissection in our clinic between 2008 and 2013. We calculated the CAPRA-S scores including prostate-specific antigen (PSA) at diagnosis, pathology Gleason score, surgical margin, seminal vesicle invasion, extracapsular extension, and lymph node involvement. The patients were divided into 3 risk groups (low, intermediate, and high risk) according to risk scores. Results. Recurrence occurred in 17.8% of the patients (36 patients out of 203 patients) with a median of 11.7-month follow-up. The average recurrence-free survival time is 44.6 months. Surgical margin invasion and seminal vesicle invasion significantly correlated with BCR especially in high risk group (11 and 13 of 15 patients, p < 0.05, resp.). Conclusion. CAPRA-S score can be easily calculated and it is useful in clinical practice in order to timely propose adjuvant therapies after surgery.
Revealed Traits: A Novel Method for Estimating Cross-Cultural Similarities and Differences in Personality

Cross-cultural research on personality has often led to surprising and countertheoretical findings, which have led to concerns over the validity of country-level estimates of personality (e.g., Heine, Buchtel, & Norenzayan, 2008). The present study explores how cross-cultural differences can be indexed via revealed trait estimates, which index the personality traits of individuals or groups indirectly through their likelihood of responding in particular ways to particular situations. In two studies, we measure self-reports of personality, revealed traits, and revealed preferences for different expected effects (e.g., experiencing excitement) of two cultural groups (U.S. and Singaporean participants). We found typical East–West differences in personality using self-report scales, such as lower levels of Conscientiousness- and Extraversion-related characteristics among Singaporean participants relative to U.S. participants. We found evidence of scale use extremity differences in self-report personality scales but not in revealed trait estimates. Using revealed traits, we found evidence of strikingly high levels of similarity in terms of overall action endorsement, revealed trait estimates, and revealed preferences. However, this was qualified by consistent differences in revealed trait estimates of Extraversion-related characteristics and less consistent differences in revealed trait estimates of Conscientiousness-related characteristics. We also found consistent differences in preferences for different expected effects; for example, Singaporean participants reported lower likelihood of performing actions expected to result in experiencing stimulation or excitement than U.S. participants. Results suggest that similarities in action endorsements and revealed traits may be driven by common preferences for social inclusion and benevolence, and differences may be driven by differing preferences for expending effort, experiencing stimulation, and social attention.
Effect of Different Adjuvants on Protection and Side-Effects Induced by Helicobacter suis Whole-Cell Lysate Vaccination

Helicobacter suis (H. suis) is a widespread porcine gastric pathogen, which is also of zoonotic importance. The first goal of this study was to investigate the efficacy of several vaccine adjuvants (CpG-DNA, Curdlan, Freund’s Complete and Incomplete, Cholera toxin), administered either subcutaneously or intranasally along with H. suis whole-cell lysate, to protect against subsequent H. suis challenge in a BALB/c infection model. Subcutaneous immunization with Freund’s complete (FC)/lysate and intranasal immunization with Cholera toxin (CT)/lysate were shown to be the best options for vaccination against H. suis, as determined by the amount of colonizing H. suis bacteria in the stomach, although adverse effects such as post-immunization gastritis/pseudo-pyloric metaplasia and increased mortality were observed, respectively. Therefore, we decided to test alternative strategies, including sublingual vaccine administration, to reduce the unwanted side-effects. A CCR4 antagonist that transiently inhibits the migration of regulatory T cells was also included as a new adjuvant in this second study. Results confirmed that immunization with CT (intranasally or sublingually) is among the most effective vaccination protocols, but increased mortality was still observed. In the groups immunized subcutaneously with FC/lysate and CCR4 antagonist/lysate, a significant protection was observed. Compared to the FC/lysate immunized group, gastric pseudo-pyloric metaplasia was less severe or even absent in the CCR4 antagonist/lysate immunized group. In general, an inverse correlation was observed between IFN-γ, IL-4, IL-17, KC, MIP-2 and LIX mRNA expression and H. suis colonization density, whereas lower IL-10 expression levels were observed in partially protected animals.
Positional uncertainty assessment and complex obstacle detection of an ultrasonic sensor ring with overlapped beam pattern

This paper presents the positional uncertainty assessment and the complex obstacle detection of an ultrasonic sensor ring with overlapped beam pattern. Due to beam overlap between adjacent ultrasonic sensors, the entire sensing range of an individual ultrasonic senor can be divided into three smaller sensing subzones. First, the concept of collision free region of each ultrasonic sensor with reference to the center of an ultrasonic sensor ring is introduced. Second, the effective beam width of an overlapped ultrasonic sensor ring is defined to assess the positional uncertainty in obstacle detection. Third, high resolution single obstacle detection can be made based on the combination of two adjacent ultrasonic sensors detecting a given obstacle. Fourth, high resolution multiple obstacle detection can be made based on the inequality relationships among the obstacle distances by three consecutive ultrasonic sensors.
Cosmological Difficulties with Modified Newtonian Dynamics (or: La Fin du MOND?)

The cold dark matter paradigm has been extremely successful for explaining a wide range of cosmological phenomena. Nevertheless, since evidence for non-baryonic dark matter remains indirect, all reasonable alternatives should be explored. One proposed idea, involving a fundamental acceleration scale a_0 = 1-2e-10 m/s^2, is called MOdified Newtonian Dynamics or MOND. MOND was suggested to explain the flat rotation curves of galaxies without the need for dark matter. Whether or not it can adequately fit the available data has been debated for almost 20 years (and we summarise many of these studies), but only recently have there been attempts to extend MOND to larger scale regimes. We discuss how the basic properties of MOND make it at best ambiguous to apply these ideas to cosmological scales. We emphasize the difficulties inherent in developing a full theory in which to embed MOND. Without such a theory there is no obviously consistent way to discuss the early Universe and the growth of perturbations. Recent claims that MONDian cosmology works very well are therefore not supportable. We also provide an argument for why a_0~cH_0 naturally, a coincidence which is often suggested as a motivation for taking MOND seriously. We discuss other alternative theories of gravity concluding, as others have, that no metric theory extensions appear workable for explaining rotation curves as well as other observed phenomena. The whole premise of many of these attempts is fatally flawed - galaxies are not pre-selected, discrete, isolated regions which formed monolithically and around which one can construct an axially-symmetric dynamical model in order to remove the need for dark matter. In the modern view, galaxies are part of a dynamic continuum of objects which collectively make up the evolving large-scale structure of the universe.
Investments in social ties, risk sharing and inequality

This paper investigates stable and efficient networks in the context of risk sharing, when it is costly to establish and maintain relationships that facilitate risk sharing. We find a novel trade-off between efficiency and equality: The most stable efficient networks also generate the most inequality. We then suppose that individuals can be split into groups, assuming that incomes across groups are less correlated than within a group but relationships across groups are more costly to form. The tension between efficiency and equality extends to these correlated income structures. More-central agents have stronger incentives to form across-group links, reaffirming the efficiency benefits of having highly central agents. Our results are robust to many extensions. In general, endogenously formed networks in the risk-sharing context tend to exhibit highly asymmetric structures, which can lead to stark inequalities in consumption levels.
Ensembles of diverse classifiers using synthetic training data

The goal of an ensemble construction with several classifiers is to achieve better generalization than that of a single classifier. And proper diversity among classifiers is considered as the condition for an ensemble construction. This paper investigates synthetic pattern for diversity among classifiers. It alters input feature values of some patterns with the values of other patterns to get synthetic patterns. The pattern generation from using exiting patterns seems emphasize both accuracy and diversity among individual classifiers. Ensemble based on the synthetic patterns is evaluated for both neural networks and decision trees on a set of benchmark problems and was found to show good generalization ability.
Do the rich vote Conservative because they are rich

Political economy models predict that the rich oppose redistribution, and hence vote for conservative parties. Although this seems to fit the data well, I show that this is not true when we control for unobservable characteristics. Using Norwegian survey data, I study to what extent voting is caused by income. Unobserved characteristics correlated with income are handled by using fixed effects panel data discrete choice models. Although a positive association between income and conservative voting persists when controlling for unobservables, the magnitude of the effect is reduced by a factor of five. To correct for measurement error, I instrument income with average income by profession. The magnitude of the coefficients is increased, but the main conclusions remain.
Framework for synthesis of virtual pipelines

Virtual pipelining allows designs of arbitrary size to execute on finite sized FPGA devices. It allows pipelined designs to be efficiently configured on an FPGA by overlapping the reconfiguration time of a pipeline stage with the execution time of previous pipeline stages. This technique produces performance improvement up to an order of 5 versus a nonpipelined execution of a design. We extend this principle for handling large designs that were previously too large to fit on an FPGA. This paper presents a framework for automatically synthesizing virtual pipelines on a Virtex FPGA. We also suggest criteria for extending our approach to nonVirtex FPGAs.
Comparison of 24 GHz low-noise mixers in CMOS and SiGe:C technologies

This paper presents a comparison of two low-noise mixers designed in Infineon's 0.13 µm CMOS and 0.35 µm SiGe:C processes. The mixers have been optimized for low-noise performance for narrow-band 24 GHz applications. Both circuits are based on the Gilbert cell and have similar topology. The chips are designed to fulfill high robustness requirements for industrial and automotive applications. The CMOS mixer provides a conversion gain of 7 dB and a double-sideband (DSB) noise figure of 7.5 dB . To the authors' knowledge, this is the lowest reported to date CMOS noise-figure in this frequency range. The SiGe mixer offers a higher gain of 10.5 dB and a lower DSB noise figure of 4.7 dB . Furthermore, it has better linearity of −7.2 dBm compared to −12 dBm input-referred 1dB compression point, measured for the CMOS circuit. The CMOS and SiGe circuits consume 2.8 mA from 1.5 V and 12 mA from a 3.3 V supply, respectively. Performance variation of key parameters has been analyzed in measurement over a wide range of temperatures from −40 °C to 125 °C . The SiGe chip offers better performance stability over temperature.
Child Welfare Workers

Although child welfare workers (CWW) are assigned a critical role to protect children, little focus has been placed on helping them cope with stress and secondary trauma that can occur when they observe and hear the affect-laden experiences described by clients. This article summarizes two focus groups which provided data to develop a two day training module for CWW to gain knowledge and skills through didactic and experiential learning. The model offers coping strategies to respond to job stress and vicarious traumatization. Benefits and implications for agency and school collaboration are discussed.
Consensus of networks of nonidentical robots with flexible joints, variable time-delays and immeasurable velocities

The present paper proposes two controllers for solving a consensus problem to a given desired position of networks composed of a class of under actuated mechanical systems: flexible joints robots. One of the controllers makes use of joint (motor) velocity signals while the other only uses joint positions. The only assumption on the directed and weighted interconnection graph is that it is connected. Further, the interconnection may induce variable time-delays. The paper presents some experiments, using three 3-Degrees of Freedom manipulators, which show the performance of the proposed approaches.
Platybasia in 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome Is Not Correlated with Speech Resonance

Background An abnormally obtuse cranial base angle, also known as platybasia, is a common finding in patients with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11DS). Platybasia increases the depth of the velopharynx and is therefore postulated to contribute to velopharyngeal dysfunction. Our objective was to determine the clinical significance of platybasia in 22q11DS by exploring the relationship between cranial base angles and speech resonance. Methods In this retrospective chart review at a tertiary hospital, 24 children (age, 4.0-13.1 years) with 22q11.2DS underwent speech assessments and lateral cephalograms, which allowed for the measurement of the cranial base angles. Results One patient (4%) had hyponasal resonance, 8 (33%) had normal resonance, 10 (42%) had hypernasal resonance on vowels only, and 5 (21%) had hypernasal resonance on both vowels and consonants. The mean cranial base angle was 136.5° (standard deviation, 5.3°; range, 122.3-144.8°). The Kruskal-Wallis test showed no significant relationship between the resonance ratings and cranial base angles (P=0.242). Cranial base angles and speech ratings were not correlated (Spearman correlation=0.321, P=0.126). The group with hypernasal resonance had a significantly more obtuse mean cranial base angle (138° vs. 134°, P=0.049) but did not have a greater prevalence of platybasia (73% vs. 56%, P=0.412). Conclusions In this retrospective chart review of patients with 22q11DS, cranial base angles were not correlated with speech resonance. The clinical significance of platybasia remains unknown.
Linear and elliptical magnetization reversal close to the Curie temperature

For further improvement of magnetic information storage density and writing speed, laser-induced writing procedures have been extensively explored recently. Within the framework of the Landau-Lifshitz-Bloch equation of motion, which does not conserve the length of the magnetization vector, we investigate thermally assisted switching analytically. We show that for temperatures close to (but still below) the Curie temperature two reversal modes appear, an elliptical mode and a linear one. We calculate the coercive fields and energy barriers for both elliptical and linear switching. Investigating the dynamics of linear reversal, which is the more relevant case close to the Curie temperature, we calculate the temperature dependence of the minimal time and field needed for thermally assisted switching below and above the Curie temperature.
Beamforming in MISO Systems: Empirical Results and EVM-Based Analysis

We show that efficient implementation of codebook-based beamforming Multiple Input Single Output (MISO) systems with good performance is feasible in the presence of channel-induced imperfections (due to imperfect channel estimate and feedback delay) and implementation-induced imperfections (due to real-world radio hardware effects). To present our results, we adopt a mixed approach of analytical, simulation, and experimental evaluation. Our analytical and simulation results take into account channel-induced imperfections but do not take into account implementation-induced imperfections (which are difficult to model in a tractable way). Thus, we complement these results with experimental results that do take into account both channel and implementation-induced imperfections. This mixed approach provides a more complete picture of expected performance. As part of our study we develop a framework for Average Error Vector Magnitude Squared (AEVMS)-based analysis of beamforming MISO systems which facilitates comparison of analytical, simulation, and experimental results on the same scale. In addition, AEVMS allows fair comparison of experimental results obtained from different wireless testbeds. We derive novel expressions for the AEVMS of beamforming MISO systems and show how the AEVMS relates to important system characteristics like the diversity gain, coding gain, and error floor.
3D point cloud based indoor mobile robot in 6-DoF pose localization using Fast Scene Recognition and Alignment approach

This paper describes an algorithm for localization of a robot which can efficiently estimate robot in 6 degrees-of-freedom (DoF) pose which consist of position and orientation with large scale point cloud data without giving the initial pose. We introduce the Fast Scene Recognition and Alignment algorithm to reduce the computation time needed for the point cloud alignment by matching robot's scene only with the retrieved Sub-Map in database. Our developed algorithm is to extract Sub-Maps descriptor by cascading several features, and learn a Distance-Metric to increase the precision of place recognition due to the environmental changes. We then align the robot's scene with Sub-Map to estimate robot pose. Our technique has been implemented and tested extensively in different buildings. The experimental results show that our Fast Scene Recognition and Alignment system can localize mobile robot in a variety of large scale 3D point cloud dataset efficiently.