Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Mixture Linear Prediction in Speaker Verification Under Vocal Effort Mismatch

This paper describes an approach to robust signal analysis using iterative parameter re-estimation of a mixture autoregressive (AR) model. The model's focus can be adjusted by initialization of the target and non-target states. The variant examined in this study uses an i.i. d. mixture AR model and is designed to tackle the spectral biasing effect caused by the voice excitation in speech signals with variable fundamental frequency. In our speaker verification experiments, this method performed competitively against standard spectrum analysis techniques in non-mismatch conditions and showed significant improvements in vocal effort mismatch conditions.
IDENTIFYING INFLUENTIAL FACTORS FOR YELP BUSINESS RATINGS

In this paper, we investigate potential factors that may influence business performance on Yelp. We considered businesses’ overall star ratings as a measure of their performance. In order to account for user sentiment and location dynamics we constructed additional features from business and user review data. We experimented with regression (Linear and Decision-Tree) as well as classification (Naive Bayes, Decision Tree and Random Forest) models and found that regression models achieved lower error that classification models. We found that across feature selection techniques, the important factors included sentiment of reviews, business location, neighbourhood, ambience of place, etc. However, user review sentiments tend to greatly influence star ratings in comparison to other factors.
Characterization of a Class of "Convexificable" Resource Allocation Problems

This paper investigates the possibility of having convex formulations of optimization problems for interference coupled wireless systems. An axiomatic framework for interference functions proposed by Yates in 1995 is used to model interference coupling in our paper. The paper shows, that under certain very natural assumptions -- the exponential mapping is the unique transformation (up to a constant), for ``convexification'' of resource allocation problems for linear interference functions. The paper shows that it is sufficient to check for the joint convexity of the sum of weighted utility functions of inverse signal--to--interference (plus noise)--ratio, if we would like the resulting resource allocation problem to be convex. The paper characterizes the largest class of interference functions, which allow a convex formulation of a problem for interference coupled wireless systems. It extends previous literature on log--convex interference functions and provides boundaries on the class of problems in wireless systems, which are jointly convex and hence can be efficiently solved at least from a numerical perspective.
Performance Analysis of a New Transmission Scheme for Multi-Relay Channels

Cooperative diversity provides reliable communications between nodes in a network through relay nodes. In this paper, we introduce a new transmission protocol for relay fading channels. We examine the performance of the proposed protocol using both the amplify-and-forward (AF) and decode-and-forward (DF) modes. Our results prove that using this protocol, one can achieve full spatial diversity at full rate. We also show that our protocol with M relays is equivalent to a delay diversity scheme with M+1 transmit antennas. At the receiver side, a maximum likelihood sequence detector is used to recover the transmitted symbols. Comparing our protocol with existing ones, we noted large performance degradations in all protocols when the relay is operating in the DF mode where detection errors exist. This is different from the AF mode, where diversity is always maintained and only a SNR loss is incurred (relative to the ideal case of error-free relay transmission). This, in turn, suggests that even with the large cost/complexity involved in the DF mode, the ensuing performance may be poor compared to the AF mode. Motivated by this fact, we obtain a bit-error rate upper bound for a multi-relay configuration where all relay nodes operate in the AF mode. At high signal-to-noise ratio (SNRs), this error bound is shown to be tight when compared to simulation results
XFlow : Internet-Scale Extensible Stream Processing

Existing stream processing systems are designed for clustered deploym nts, and cannot adequately meet the scalability and adaptivity requirements of Internet-scale monitoring applica tions. Furthermore, these systems are optimized for a specific metric, which may limit their applicability to diverse app lications and environments. This paper presents XFlow, a generic distributed data collection, process ing, and dissemination system that addresses these limitations. XFlow can express and optimize a variety of glo bal optimization metrics and constraints. It uses decentralized algorithms that work on localized, aggreg ated views of the system, while avoiding local optima. The system progressively refines the query deployment, the structure of the underlying overlay network, as well as the statistics collection process, based on the desired o bjectives. To facilitate light-weight dynamic changes, XFlow uses a publish-subscribe model to decouple s ource and clients, as well as processing operators. The result is a loosely-coupled, flexible architecture con sisting of multiple overlay trees that can gracefully scale and adapt to churn in system membership and workload . We provide an overview of XFlow’s architecture and discuss in detail its de centralized optimization model. We demonstrate the flexibility and the effectiveness of XFlow using real-wo rld streams and experimental results obtained from deployment on PlanetLab. The experiments reveal that X Flow can effectively optimize various performance metrics in the presence of varying network and workload c n itions.
The Effect of Implementing KWL and QAR Strategies on Students' Reading Comprehension with Different Motivation

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui pengaruh pembelajaran KWL dan QAR terhadap motivasi siswa dalam membaca. Metode menggunakan rancangan desain faktorial 2x2. Populasi berjumlah 216 siswa, 72 siswa sebagai sampel dengan Random Sampling. Data menggunakan kuisioner motivasi dan tes membaca dengan ANAVA dua jalur. Hasil diperoleh: (1) hasil belajar membaca siswa yang menggunakan QAR= 85.33 lebih tinggi dibandingkan dengan KWL= 77.56, thitung 7.837 > ttabel = 1.67, (2) Hasil membaca siswa yang memiliki motivasi tinggi = 83.67 lebih tinggi dibandingkan yang memiliki motivasi rendah = 79.22, thitung 3.551 > ttabel = 1.67, dan (3) terdapat interaksi antara strategi mengajar dan motivasi, Fobservasi = 4.670 > Ftabel = 3.98. Siswa bermotivasi tinggi memperoleh hasil lebih tinggi dengan KWL, sedangkan bermotivasi rendah mendapat nilai lebih tinggi dengan QAR.This study was intended to examine the implementation of KWL and QAR strategies on students' motivation in reading comprehension. The research used an experimental research with factorial design 2x2. The population was 216 students. The sample were 72 students with Random Sampling technique. The data were collected through motivation questionnaire and reading test and analyzed by using Two-Way ANOVA. The finding showed: (1) the students' reading comprehension who were taught by QAR strategy was 85.33 higher than those who were taught by using KWL strategy was 77.56 with tcount = 7.837 > ttable = 1.67, (2) the students having high motivation was 83.67 higher than low motivation was 79.22 with tcount = 3.551 > ttable = 1.67 and (3) there was interaction between teaching strategies and motivation on students' reading comprehension, Fobserved = 4.670 > Ftable = 3.98. The students having high motivation got higher scores if they were taught KWL strategy, while students having low motivation got higher scores if they were taught QAR strategy.
MIREX 2012 QBSH Task : YINLONG ’ s Solution

This extended abstract describes my submission to the QBSH (Query by Singing/Humming) task of MIREX (Music Information Retrieval Evaluation eXchange) 2012. The system takes advantage of note-based and framebased matching methods to improve the accuracy of the Query by Singing/Humming system. First, Earth Mover’s Distance (EMD), which is note-based and much faster, is adopted to eliminate most unlikely candidates. Then, Dynamic Time Warping (DTW), which is frame-based and more accurate, is executed on these surviving candidates. Finally, a weighted voting fusion strategy is employed to fusion the result of the two similarity measurement, the final decision is the one with highest scores.
Insertions of up to 17 amino acids into a region of alpha-tubulin do not disrupt function in vivo

Microtubules in yeasts are essential components of the mitotic and meiotic spindle and are necessary for nuclear movement during cell division and mating. The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae has two alpha-tubulin genes, TUB1 and TUB3, either of which alone is sufficient for these processes when present in a high enough copy number. Comparisons of sequences from several species reveals the presence of a variable region near the amino terminus of alpha-tubulin proteins. We perturbed the structure of this region in TUB3 by inserting into it 3, 9, or 17 amino acids and tested the ability of these altered proteins to function as the only alpha-tubulin protein in yeast cells. We found that each of these altered proteins was sufficient on its own for mitotic growth, mating, and methods of yeast. We conclude that this region can tolerate considerable variation without losing any of the highly conserved functions of alpha-tubulin. Our results suggest that variability in this region occurs because it can be tolerated, not because it specifies an important function for the protein.
Analysis on the Pathogenesis of Symptomatic Pulmonary Embolism with Human Genomics

BACKGROUND: In the present study, the whole human genome oligo microarray was employed to investigate the gene expression profile in symptomatic pulmonary embolism (PE). METHODS: Twenty patients with PE and 20 age and gender matched patients without PE as controls were enrolled into the present study in the same period. The diagnosis of PE was based on the clinical manifestations and findings on imaging examinations. Acute arterial and/or venous thrombosis was excluded in controls. The whole human genome oligo microarray was employed for detection. Statistical analysis was performed with t test following analysis of very small samples of repeated measurements and Gene Ontology (GO) analysis. RESULTS: Genomic data showed no damage to vascular endothelial cells in PE patients. Genomic data only found increased mRNA expression of a small amount of coagulation factors in PE patients. In the PE group, anticoagulant proteins, Fibrinolytic system and proteins related to platelet functions only played partial roles in the pathogenesis of PE. In addition, the mRNA expressions of a fraction of adhesion molecules were markedly up-regulated. Gene Ontology analysis showed the genes with down-regulated expressions mainly explain the compromised T cell immunity. Symptomatic VTE patients have compromised T cell immunity. CONCLUSION: The damage to vascular endothelial cells is not necessary in the pathogenesis of VTE, and only a fraction of factors involved in the shared coagulation cascade are activated. Genomic results may provide a new clue for clinical diagnosis, treatment and prevention of VTE.
Know the Right People? Recommender Systems for Web 2.0

Web 2.0 applications like Flickr, YouTube, or Del.icio. us are increasingly popular online communities for creating, editing and sharing content. However, the rapid increase in size of online communities and the availability of large amounts of shared data make discovering relevant content and finding related users a difficult task. Web 2.0 applications provide a rich set of structures and annotations that can be mined for a variety of purposes. In this paper we propose a formal model to characterize users, items, and annotations in Web 2.0 environments. Based on this model we propose recommendation mechanisms using methods from social network analysis, collaborative filtering, and machine learning. Our objective is to construct collaborative recommender systems that predict the utility of items, users or groups based on the multi-dimensional social environment of a given user.
Performance of early retransmission scheme in streaming media

In this paper, we propose a new variant of TCP with an early retransmission scheme as an enhancement to make it more suitable for streaming media. We call this new protocol TCP-ER. We performed extensive ns2 simulations to show that: 1) The early retransmission scheme can considerably reduce the number of retransmission timeouts and packet delay jitter in a variety of network environments. 2) TCP-ER has a higher throughput in severely congested network conditions whereas stays relatively fair with typical TCP implementations(specifically TCP-SACK) as congestion gets alleviated. 3) Under same network conditions, constrained streaming over TCP-ER has a considerably lower number of late packets than its normal TCP counterpart.
Alterations in Monocyte CD16 in Association with Diabetes Complications

Monocytes express many cell surface markers indicative of their inflammatory and activation status. Whether these markers are affected by diabetes and its complications is not known and was investigated in this study. Blood was obtained from 22 nondiabetic and 43 diabetic subjects with a duration of diabetes >10 years, including 25 without and 18 with clinically significant complications. The number of CD45+CD14+ monocytes and the percentage expressing the proinflammatory marker CD16 were determined by flow cytometry. Other markers of monocyte activation and expression of chemokine receptors were also examined. The relationship between monocyte CD16 and clinical data, selected cytokines, and chemokines was also investigated. Diabetes had no effect on total white cell number but increased monocyte number. Diabetes also significantly decreased the number of CD16+ monocytes but only in those with diabetic complications. Other markers of monocyte activation status and chemokine receptors were not affected by diabetes or complications status. Diabetes induced plasma proinflammatory cytokines and they were lower in diabetic subjects with complications compared to those without complications. These results suggest that the circulating monocyte phenotype is altered by diabetic complications status. These changes may be causally related to and could potentially be used to predict susceptibility to diabetic complications.
Stage-Specific Plasticity in Ovary Size Is Regulated by Insulin/Insulin-Like Growth Factor and Ecdysone Signaling in Drosophila

Animals from flies to humans adjust their development in response to environmental conditions through a series of developmental checkpoints, which alter the sensitivity of organs to environmental perturbation. Despite their importance, we know little about the molecular mechanisms through which this change in sensitivity occurs. Here we identify two phases of sensitivity to larval nutrition that contribute to plasticity in ovariole number, an important determinant of fecundity, in Drosophila melanogaster. These two phases of sensitivity are separated by the developmental checkpoint called “critical weight”; poor nutrition has greater effects on ovariole number in larvae before critical weight than after. We find that this switch in sensitivity results from distinct developmental processes. In precritical weight larvae, poor nutrition delays the onset of terminal filament cell differentiation, the starting point for ovariole development, and strongly suppresses the rate of terminal filament addition and the rate of increase in ovary volume. Conversely, in postcritical weight larvae, poor nutrition affects only the rate of increase in ovary volume. Our results further indicate that two hormonal pathways, the insulin/insulin-like growth factor and the ecdysone-signaling pathways, modulate the timing and rates of all three developmental processes. The change in sensitivity in the ovary results from changes in the relative contribution of each pathway to the rates of terminal filament addition and increase in ovary volume before and after critical weight. Our work deepens our understanding of how hormones act to modify the sensitivity of organs to environmental conditions, thereby affecting their plasticity.
Analyzing collective view of future, time-referenced events on the web

Humans have always desired to guess the future in order to adapt their behavior and maximize chances of success. In this paper, we conduct exploratory analysis of future-related information on the web. We focus on the future-related information which is grounded in time, that is, the information on forthcoming events whose expected occurrence dates are already known. We collect data by crawling search engine index and analyze collective view of future time-referenced events discussed on the web.
Optical Counterpart of the Ultraluminous X-Ray Source IC 342 X-1

We present Chandra and HST observations of the ultraluminous X-ray source (ULX) IC 342 X-1. The Chandra and HST images are aligned using two X-ray-emitting foreground stars. The astrometry-corrected position for X-1 is R . A . = 03h45m55.61s, decl . = + 68°04′55.3″ (J2000.0), with an error circle of 0.2″. One extended optical source is found in the error circle, which could be the optical counterpart of X-1. The source shows an extended feature in HST images at long wavelengths, which is likely to be a superposition of two point sources, although it is possible that the dimmer one could be a jet. Both sources are much redder than typical for ULX optical counterparts. The brighter one has an absolute magnitude MV = − 5.2 ± 0.2 and (B − V)0 = 0.66 ± 0.13, and the dimmer star is not detected in B and has (B − V)0 > 2.1. Their colors are consistent with an F8-G0 Ib supergiant or a carbon star, respectively. However, it is likely that part or most of the optical emission may be due to X-rays reprocessed by the companion star or the accretion disk. The stellar neighborhood of IC 342 X-1 lacks O stars and has a minimum age of ~10 Myr. This excludes the possibility that the surrounding nebula is powered by an energetic explosion of a single massive star that formed a black hole. We suggest that the nebula is most likely powered by an outflow from the X-ray source.
Neuronal and Cognitive Plasticity: A Neurocognitive Framework for Ameliorating Cognitive Aging

What is the neurocognitive basis for the considerable individual differences observed in functioning of the adult mind and brain late in life? We review the evidence that in healthy old age the brain remains capable of both neuronal and cognitive plasticity, including in response to environmental and experiential factors. Neuronal plasticity (e.g., neurogenesis, synaptogenesis, cortical re-organization) refers to neuron-level changes that can be stimulated by experience. Cognitive plasticity (e.g., increased dependence on executive function) refers to adaptive changes in patterns of cognition related to brain activity. We hypothesize that successful cognitive aging requires interactions between these two forms of plasticity. Mechanisms of neural plasticity underpin cognitive plasticity and in turn, neural plasticity is stimulated by cognitive plasticity. We examine support for this hypothesis by considering evidence that neural plasticity is stimulated by learning and novelty and enhanced by both dietary manipulations (low-fat, dietary restriction) and aerobic exercise. We also examine evidence that cognitive plasticity is affected by education and training. This is a testable hypothesis which could be assessed in humans in randomized trials comparing separate and combined effects of cognitive training, exercise, and diet on measures of cognitive and brain integrity. Greater understanding of the factors influencing the course of cognitive aging and of the mechanisms underlying those factors could provide information on which people could base choices that improve their ability to age successfully.
Wicked Problems in Design Thinking

Introduction Despite efforts to discover the foundations of design thinking in the fine arts, the natural sciences, or most recently, the social sciences, design eludes reduction and remains a surprisingly flexible activity. No single definition of design, or branches of professionalized practice such as industrial or graphic design, adequately covers the diversity of ideas and methods gathered together under the label. Indeed, the variety of research reported in conference papers, journal articles, and books suggests that design continues to expand in its meanings and connections, revealing unexpected dimensions in practice as well as understanding. This follows the trend of design thinking in the twentieth century, for we have seen design grow from a trade activity to a segmentedprofession to afield for technical research and to what now should be recognized as a new liberal art of technological culture. It may seem unusual to talk about design as a liberal art, particularly when many people are accustomed to identifying the liberal arts with the traditional "arts and sciences" that are institutionalized in colleges and universities. But the liberal arts are undergoing a revolutionary transformation in twentieth-century culture, and design is one of the areas in which this transformation is strikingly evident. To understand the change that is now underway, it is important to recognize that what are commonly regarded as the liberal arts today are not outside of history. They originated in the Renaissance and underwent prolonged development that culminated in the nineteenth century as a vision of an encyclopedic education of beaux arts, belles lettres, history, various natural sciences and mathematics, philosophy, and the fledgling social sciences. This circle of learning was divided into particular subject matters, each with a proper method or set of methods suitable to its exploration. At their peak as liberal arts, these subject matters provided an integrated understanding of human experience and the array of available knowledge. By the end of the nineteenth century, however, existing subjects were explored with progressively more refined methods, and new subjects were added to accord with advances in knowledge. As a This essay is based on a paper presented at 'Colloque Recherches sur le Design: Incitations, Implications, Interactions," the first French university symposium on design research held October 1990 at l'Universit6 de Technologie de Compiegne, Compiegne, France.
A discriminant manifold non-negative matrix factorization algorithm for facial expression recognition

In this paper, a novel discriminant manifold nonnegative matrix factorization (DMNMF) algorithm is proposed. To exploit the spatial neighborhood structure and prior defined class-based discriminant properties, a constraint is adopted to the objective function. The constraint is constructed based on the manifold learning and graph embedding theory. Firstly, a neighbor graph is used which encodes the spatial geometric information in original face samples; secondly a penalty graph is added which considers the discriminant class information. By using the constraints, the obtained parts-based representations of DMNMF vary smoothly along the geodesics of the data manifold and they are more discriminant for recognition. To guarantee the stationarity, the project gradient method is used for the optimization. Experiments are conducted on the JAFFE database and the Cohn-Kanade database. The results on both databases demonstrate that DMNMF provides better facial expression representations and achieves better recognition performance, compared with NMF and some variant algorithms.