Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Modeling and Predicting Quality in Spoken Human-Computer Interaction

In this work we describe the modeling and prediction of Interaction Quality (IQ) in Spoken Dialogue Systems (SDS) using Support Vector Machines. The model can be employed to estimate the quality of the ongoing interaction at arbitrary points in a spoken human-computer interaction. We show that the use of 52 completely automatic features characterizing the system-user exchange significantly outperforms state-of-the-art approaches. The model is evaluated on publically available data from the CMU Let's Go Bus Information system. It reaches a performance of 61.6% unweighted average recall when discriminating between 5 classes (good to very poor). It can be further shown that incorporating knowledge about the user's emotional state does hardly improve the performance.
Very Short Utterances and Timing in Turn-Taking

This work explores the timing of very short utterances in conversations, as well as the effects of excluding intervals adjacent to such utterances from distributions of betweenspeaker interval durations. The results show that very short utterances are more precisely timed to the preceding utterance than longer utterances in terms of a smaller variance and a larger proportion of no-gap-no-overlaps. Excluding intervals adjacent to very short utterances furthermore results in measures of central tendency closer to zero (i.e. no-gap-no-overlaps) as well as larger variance (i.e. relatively longer gaps and overlaps). Index Terms: Human speech production, Prosody
Factors influencing willingness for participation in a randomized exercise intervention study in breast cancer patients during radiotherapy

a Unit of Physical Activity and Cancer, Department of Preventive Oncology, German Cancer Research Center a d National Center for Tumor Diseases, Im Neuenheimer Feld 460, 69120 Heid elberg, b Unit of Environmental Epidemiology, German Cancer R search Center, Im Neuenheimer Feld 280, 69120 Heid elb rg c Department of Medical Oncology, National Center for Tumor Diseases, Im Neuenheimer Feld 460, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany d Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Hei delberg Medical Center, Im Neuenheimer Feld 400, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany e Department of Preventive Oncology, National Cente r for Tumor Diseases Im Neuenheimer Feld 460, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany
Sliding mode control for constraint stabilization in multi-body system dynamic analysis

For real-time simulation a limited computation time is available for each step and explicit numerical schemes are mandatory. In the case of constraint dynamical systems, a index reduction of the differential algebraic equation system is necessary to solve the system explicitly with respect to a specific time derivative of the original constraint. Different techniques exist to mitigate the resulting drift effect. A control-based approach, the Baumgarte stabilization, introduces a linear constraint violation error behaviour. In this paper, a non-linear control scheme for constraint stabilization is proposed. The sliding mode concepts allows a fast attenuation of the constraint error and thus, an improved numerical accuracy is possible. The continuous time control law is directly embedded into the system equations and solved by the numerical solver at discrete time instants. Typical problems such as chattering and suitable parametrizations are addressed. Both schemes are examined by the use of a theoretical example to demonstrate the performance improvement.
Discriminative weight training-based optimally weighted MFCC for gender identification

In this paper, we apply a discriminative weight training to a support vector machine (SVM) based gender identification. In our approach, the gender decision rule is derived by the SVM incorporating the optimally weighted mel-frequency cepstral coefficient (MFCC) based on a minimum classification error (MCE) method which is different from the previous works in that optimal weights are differently assigned to each MFCC which is considered more realistic. According to the experimental results, the proposed approach is found to be effective for gender identification based on the SVM.
A Comparison of Intermediate-Mass Black Hole Candidate Ultraluminous X-Ray Sources and Stellar-Mass Black Holes

Cool thermal emission components have recently been revealed in the X-ray spectra of a small number of ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) with LX ≥ 1040 ergs s-1 in nearby galaxies. These components can be well fitted with accretion disk models, with temperatures approximately 5-10 times lower than disk temperatures measured in stellar-mass Galactic black holes when observed in their brightest states. Because disk temperature is expected to fall with increasing black hole mass, and because the X-ray luminosity of these sources exceeds the Eddington limit for 10 M☉ black holes (LEdd ≃ 1.3 × 1039 ergs s-1), these sources are extremely promising intermediate-mass black hole candidates. In this Letter, we directly compare the inferred disk temperatures and luminosities of these ULXs, with the disk temperatures and luminosities of a number of Galactic black holes. The sample of stellar-mass black holes was selected to include different orbital periods, companion types, inclinations, and column densities. These ULXs and stellar-mass black holes occupy distinct regions of a LX-kT diagram, suggesting these ULXs may harbor intermediate-mass black holes. We briefly discuss the important strengths and weaknesses of this interpretation.
The Child, His "Illness", and the Others

A description and explanation of a neo-lacanian child analysis.Dr. Mannoni, a leading proponent of the theories of Jacques Lacan and a prominent child psychologist in her own right, holds that the psychoanalysis of children is a process in which the analyst must understand two inter-connected dialogues - the dialogue taking place within the child and the dialogue between the child and his environment, principally his family. She considers that the child's 'surroundings consist, first and foremost, of the collective utterance in which he is caught up'. Thus a child's illness and recovery are determined by what the adults say, or fail to say, in his presence. In short, the child is as sick as the adults need him to be, and the psychoanalyst must listen to them in order to understand.In the light of her own experience, Dr. Mannoni reviews the historical development of the major schools of thought and, where pertinent, suggests amendments to existing theories, particularly in the treatment of psychosis; and, with the aid of several case histories, lucidly demonstrates the philosophical structure behind the exciting results of her own work.
Iterative Constraint-based Repair for Multiagent Scheduling

We propose a new integrated architecture for distributed planning and scheduling that exploits constraints for problem decomposition and coordination. Our goal is to develop an efficient method to solve densely constrained planning / scheduling problems in a distributed manner without sacrificing solution quality. We implemented a prototype system, called CAMPS, in which hierarchy of intelligent agents try to coordinate their actions for "satisficing" planning / scheduling results by handling several intra- and inter-agent constraints. In this paper, we show the repair-based methodology for distributed planning / scheduling and the constraint-based mechanism for dynamic coalition formation among agents.
Signal Transduction in Electrically Stimulated Bone Cells

Background: Electrical stimulation is used to treat nonunions and to augment spinal fusions. We studied the biochemical pathways that are activated in signal transduction when various types of electrical stimulation are applied to bone cells. Methods: Cultured MC3T3-E1 bone cells were exposed to capacitive coupling, inductive coupling, or combined electromagnetic fields at appropriate field strengths for thirty minutes and for two, six, and twenty-four hours. The DNA content of each dish was determined. Other cultures of MC3T3-E1 bone cells were exposed to capacitive coupling, inductive coupling, or combined electromagnetic fields for two hours in the presence of various inhibitors of signal transduction, with or without electrical stimulation, and the DNA content of each dish was determined. Results: All three signals produced a significant increase in DNA content per dish compared with that in the controls at all time-points (p < 0.05), but only exposure to capacitive coupling resulted in a significant, ever-increasing DNA production at each time-period beyond thirty minutes. The use of specific metabolic inhibitors indicated that, with capacitive coupling, signal transduction was by means of influx of Ca2+ through voltage-gated calcium channels leading to an increase in cytosolic Ca2+ (blocked by verapamil), cytoskeletal calmodulin (blocked by W-7), and prostaglandin E2 (blocked by indomethacin). With inductive coupling and combined electromagnetic fields, signal transduction was by means of intracellular release of Ca2+ leading to an increase in cytosolic Ca2+ (blocked by TMB-8) and an increase in activated cytoskeletal calmodulin (blocked by W-7). Conclusions: The initial events in signal transduction were found to be different when capacitive coupling was compared with inductive coupling and with combined electromagnetic fields; the initial event with capacitive coupling is Ca2+ ion translocation through cell-membrane voltage-gated calcium channels, whereas the initial event with inductive coupling and with combined electromagnetic fields is the release of Ca2+ from intracellular stores. The final pathway, however, is the same for all three signals—that is, there is an increase in cytosolic Ca2+ and an increase in activated cytoskeletal calmodulin. Clinical Relevance: Electrical stimulation in various forms is currently being used to treat fracture nonunions and to augment spinal fusions. Understanding the mechanisms of how bone cells respond to electrical signals—that is, understanding signal transduction and the metabolic pathways utilized in electrically induced osteogenesis—will allow optimization of the effects of the various bone-growth-stimulation signals.
Exploiting partial visibility in the real-time display of virtual natural environments

With the increasing popularity of virtual environment applications there has been much research into algorithms to efficiently display polygonal databases. Most research has been devoted to developing rendering algorithms for the efficient display of databases containing many large geometric structures, such as those describing indoor and urban environments. However, relatively little work has been devoted to the efficient display of databases containing many small geometric structures (such as those describing natural environments). In this paper, we describe the problems with the current rendering algorithms when rendering complex scenes made of many small rendering primitives, and identify an approach that addresses these problems.
Caregiver Perceptions of Wandering Behavior in the Adrd (Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias) Patient

The dissertation examined family caregivers’ perceptions of wandering behavior after their loved one has been diagnosed with ADRD (Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias). Semi-structured in-depth face-to-face interviews of a convenience sample of 22 caregivers in the Dallas metropolitan area were conducted. Responses were analyzed using a grounded theory approach. The use of qualitative methods facilitated the study of how caregivers of a loved one with ADRD understood and explained in their own voice the wandering behavior associated with the disease and how their views of the behavior informed the caregiving process. In particular, this research examined why some caregivers tend to recognize wandering behavior as significant early on while the ADRD patient is still living in the home (and community) and modifications can be made to keep him or her there despite the behavior, and why some caregivers do not. Findings indicated that caregivers were concerned about the general safety of their loved one. Precautions were taken within the home for conditions related to frailty, but were much less likely to be taken to address wandering behavior and its negative consequences. Three groups of caregivers emerged: (a) those who primarily reacted to their loved one’s problem behaviors including wandering, and intervened minimally; (b) those who were proactive, making modifications in their routines and environment to protect their loved one after a trigger event; and (c) those who had a mixed response, who did the best that they could with what they had. This last group of caregivers took on additional roles, modified their homes for safety, but environmental stressors and inadequate supports limited their interventions. Implications of the findings for aging in place and community, further research, policy-making, and practitioners are discussed.
Identification of a Novel Domain of HIV Tat Involved in Monocyte Chemotaxis*

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) Tat is chemotactic for monocytes and dendritic cells, an activity that could play a key role in the expansion of HIV infection of accessory cells. To date, domains of Tat previously found to interact with cell surface molecules have shown only partial chemotactic activity toward monocytes. Using overlapping Tat peptides, we identify a novel region of Tat with a potent chemotactic activity for monocytes, reaching levels equal to Tat itself. This peptide also provokes monocyte polarization similar to Tat and is able to compete with Tat for induction of monocyte migration. Specific high affinity (k d = 3 × 10−9 m) cell surface binding sites on monocyte cell surfaces for this region of Tat are demonstrated. These data indicate that the majority of Tat effects on monocytes are mediated by a novel region in the cysteine-rich and core domains. These domains are highly conserved among different HIV isolates, suggesting an important role in the establishment of HIV infection.
The chandra small magellanic cloud wing survey - the search for X-ray binaries

We have detected 523 sources in a survey of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) Wing with Chandra. By cross-correlating the X-ray data with optical and near-infrared catalogues we have found 300 matches. Using a technique that combines X-ray colours and X-ray to optical flux ratios we have been able to assign preliminary classifications to 265 of the objects. Our identifications include four pulsars, one high-mass X-ray binary (HMXB) candidate, 34 stars and 185 active galactic nuclei (AGNs). In addition, we have classified 32 sources as ’hard’ AGNs which are likely absorbed by local gas and dust, and nine ’soft’ AGNs whose nature is still unclear. Considering the abundance of HMXBs discovered so far in the Bar of the SMC the number that we have detected in the Wing is low.
The Reproduction of Mothering

Discussions about the " nature " of mothering and the role of social forces in the reproduction of the values entrenched within it go to the heart of current debates about the position of women in the 21 st century. In this context, the concept itself takes on a normative dimension which serves to construct gender power hierarchies. Nancy Chodorow's 1978 book – The Reproduction of Mothering – explores these dynamics in detail, looking at how women learn to be mothers and how their actions reproduce the values associated with this function. Chodorow seeks to uncover how the social function of reproduction defines social relations. Starting from the assumption that 'women's mothering is one of the few universal and enduring elements of the sexual division of labour' (Chodorow, 1978: 3), she argues that that 'women's mothering as an organisation of parenting is embedded in and fundamental to the social organisation of gender' (Chodorow, 1978: 34). Chodorow's work poses a significant challenge to the accepted naturalness of women's role as carers. Over the last thirty years, it has helped to uncover the function of social, political and economic institutions in constructing the norms associated with mothering. Ultimately, her analysis has helped feminist scholars to raise important questions about the interaction between the public and the private sphere, as well as the social construction of gender norms. Adrienne Rich's (1977) book Of a Woman Born also provides a narrative for the complex web of forces and interactions that are entrenched within the (political) institution of motherhood. She argues that political and economic institutions use the ideology of motherhood to define or limit women's role in society. Through this process mothering becomes a vehicle for the reproduction of patriarchal structures. This ideological framework is in turn internalised by women, thus providing legitimacy to this economically and culturally defined interpretation of the role. As a result, it shapes women's experiences and defines individual expectations of women's contributions to society. As Rich (1977: 42) explains, 'the institution of motherhood is not identical with bearing and caring for children . ', but the widely accepted view that the two are inextricably linked serves to normalise women's experiences, thus helping to construct and maintain power hierarchies. These two scholars present a powerful challenge to " traditional " constructions of women's mothering and the role it plays in maintaining gender power structures. They draw attention to the fact that …
DATA MINING : An environmental quality analysis in the Negro River Basin ( Colombia )

This paper presents the assessment of the concurrent environmental quality evaluated in the conditions in the Watershed of the Negro River, integrating the variables of the water quality (BOD, TSS, N-NO2 y Ptotal) and precipitation. Using the data mining technique establishes membership functions and describes data and analyzed variables. In the body of surface water, there is a detriment of the environmental quality in the medium and low basin, which is an obvious contamination of the river and therefore the need to do short-term intervention actions in the basin.
On the Local Correctness of L^1 Minimization for Dictionary Learning

The idea that many important classes of signals can be well-represented by linear combinations of a small set of atoms selected from a given dictionary has had dramatic impact on the theory and practice of signal processing. For practical problems in which an appropriate sparsifying dictionary is not known ahead of time, a very popular and successful heuristic is to search for a dictionary that minimizes an appropriate sparsity surrogate over a given set of sample data. While this idea is appealing, the behavior of these algorithms is largely a mystery; although there is a body of empirical evidence suggesting they do learn very effective representations, there is little theory to guarantee when they will behave correctly, or when the learned dictionary can be expected to generalize. In this paper, we take a step towards such a theory. We show that under mild hypotheses, the dictionary learning problem is locally well-posed: the desired solution is indeed a local minimum of the $\ell^1$ norm. Namely, if $\mb A \in \Re^{m \times n}$ is an incoherent (and possibly overcomplete) dictionary, and the coefficients $\mb X \in \Re^{n \times p}$ follow a random sparse model, then with high probability $(\mb A,\mb X)$ is a local minimum of the $\ell^1$ norm over the manifold of factorizations $(\mb A',\mb X')$ satisfying $\mb A' \mb X' = \mb Y$, provided the number of samples $p = \Omega(n^3 k)$. For overcomplete $\mb A$, this is the first result showing that the dictionary learning problem is locally solvable. Our analysis draws on tools developed for the problem of completing a low-rank matrix from a small subset of its entries, which allow us to overcome a number of technical obstacles; in particular, the absence of the restricted isometry property.
Aggregated segmentation of fish from conveyor belt videos

Automation of fishery survey through the aid of visual analysis has received increasing attention. In this paper, a novel algorithm for the aggregated segmentation of fish images taken from conveyor belt videos is proposed. The watershed algorithm driven by an automatic marker generation scheme successfully separates clustered fish images without damaging their boundaries. A target selection based on appearance classification then rejects non-fish objects. By applying histogram backprojection and kernel density estimation, an innovative algorithm for combining object masks of one tracked fish from multiple frames into a refined single one is also proposed. Experimental results show that accurate fish segmentation from conveyor belt videos is achieved.
Vectorizing Cartoon Animations

We present a system for vectorizing 2D raster format cartoon animations. The output animations are visually flicker free, smaller in file size, and easy to edit. We identify decorative lines separately from colored regions. We use an accurate and semantically meaningful image decomposition algorithm, supporting an arbitrary color model for each region. To ensure temporal coherence in the output, we reconstruct a universal background for all frames and separately extract foreground regions. Simple user-assistance is required to complete the background. Each region and decorative line is vectorized and stored together with their motions from frame to frame. The contributions of this paper are: 1) the new trapped-ball segmentation method, which is fast, supports nonuniformly colored regions, and allows robust region segmentation even in the presence of imperfectly linked region edges, 2) the separate handling of decorative lines as special objects during image decomposition, avoiding results containing multiple short, thin oversegmented regions, and 3) extraction of a single patch-based background for all frames, which provides a basis for consistent, flicker-free animations.
Last passage time models applied to phase noise of ring oscillators used in some PAN (personal area network) wireless standards

Due to the less stringent requirements of some PAN (personal area network) wireless standards such as (802.15.3, ZigBee(802.15.4)), low cost ring oscillators operating in low power are frequently applied to perform frequency synthesis in the receivers. In this paper last passage time models are applied to model the phase noise of such ring oscillators. This model leads to significant improvement in power/ phase noise trade-off. It shows that the power required is 3–4 times larger than what conventional first passage time model predicts, thus providing better design guideline. Comparison between first passage and last passage time probability density functions are also presented to highlight their differences.