Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A feature extraction method for speech recognition based on temporal tracking of clusters in spectro-temporal domain

In this paper, a novel approach is proposed for secondary feature extraction based on clusters tracking in spectro-temporal domain. Because of high dimensionality of the spectro-temporal features space, this domain is unsuitable for practical speech recognition systems. In order to reduce the dimensions of the feature space, weighted K-means (WKM) clustering technique is applied to spectro-temporal domain. The elements of mean vectors and covariance matrices of clusters are considered as the feature vector of each frame. However the cluster locations change gradually over the time. The main approach is based on the idea that the variations in clusters locations should be temporally tracked frame by frame and the parameters of these variations are considered in the extraction of secondary feature vectors of each speech frame. Several models are used to register the clusters in the new coming frame. In addition, a new architecture is proposed to classify the speech frames by a combining classifier using both tracked and non-tracked secondary features. The assessments were conducted for the proposed feature vectors on classification of several subsets of TIMIT database phonemes. Using tracked secondary feature vectors, the result was improved to 77.4% on voiced plosives classification which was relatively 1.8% higher than the results of non-tracked secondary feature vectors. The results on other subsets showed good improvement in classification rate too.
Scenario-based Assessment of Physicians' Information Needs

Physicians' information needs routinely arise during their practice. Several studies have demonstrated that a useful way to understand the nature of the needs is to examine questions posed by physicians during the course of medical care. This paper presents an analysis of clinical questions collected when physicians were engaged in reviewing clinical cases. The main objective of the study was to investigate characteristics of the physicians' information needs to provide insight into the development of a conceptual guidance approach in information retrieval. The analysis focused on categories, search contexts, and patterns of the questions with respect to the scenarios. The results of the study showed that physicians' information needs exhibited distinct characteristics according to the scenarios, and that their needs could be expressed with a relatively small number of question patterns. These observations supported our approach of using patterns of information needs in facilitating digital information access.
Audio Bank: A high-level acoustic signal representation for audio event recognition

Automatic audio event recognition plays a pivotal role in making human robot interaction more closer and has a wide applicability in industrial automation, control and surveillance systems. Audio event is composed of intricate phonic patterns which are harmonically entangled. Audio recognition is dominated by low and mid-level features, which have demonstrated their recognition capability but they have high computational cost and low semantic meaning. In this paper, we propose a new computationally efficient framework for audio recognition. Audio Bank, a new high-level representation of audio, is comprised of distinctive audio detectors representing each audio class in frequency-temporal space. Dimensionality of the resulting feature vector is reduced using non-negative matrix factorization preserving its discriminability and rich semantic information. The high audio recognition performance using several classifiers (SVM, neural network, Gaussian process classification and k-nearest neighbors) shows the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Queueing analysis for cognitive radio networks with lower-layer considerations

In this paper, the queue dynamics of secondary users (SUs) in a multi-SU and multi-channel cognitive radio network is analyzed to obtain the expressions of quality of service (QoS) metrics. Specially, in the analysis, we take several lower-layer mechanisms and settings into account, including automatic repeat request (ARQ), finite-size buffer, adaptive modulation and coding (AMC) and non-ignorable spectrum sensing errors. By modeling the queue dynamics as a Markov chain, we derive the analytical expressions of queue length, packet dropping rate and packet collision rate. Based on these expressions, the QoS metrics including delay, packet loss rate and throughput are calculated further. Through simulation, our queueing analysis is verified and the QoS metrics are investigated.
ArQuE: Architecture-Centric Quality Engineering

The ArQuE project has developed an integrated and comprehensive method that enables goal-oriented,architecture-centric development and strategic quality engineering. The consolidated expertise from applying the ArQuE approach at different industry partners shows the applicability and scalability in the embedded systems domain. The approach leads to reduced maintenance effort and simplified evolution of the respective software systems. The experiences made and knowledge gained in the instantiations of the approach for the industrial systems document the overall project success and give evidence that the overall return on investment of the Argue approach is positive.
Examining Factors Impacting Online Survey Response Rates in Educational Research: Perceptions of Graduate Students

Background: In educational research, online survey has become one of the most popular methods of data collection. Academic researchers, including faculty and students, expect and require a good response rate to their research projects for reliable results. Purpose: In this paper, the authors examine a wide range of factors related to survey response rates in academic research. Examples include email checking habits, survey design, and attitudes toward research. Setting: An online survey environment Intervention: Not applicable. Research Design: A cross-sectional quantitative research method was used to analyze the factors that influence participants’ email survey response rate. Data were collected at a single point in time. The authors did not directly measure changes that come over time in this study. Data Collection and Analysis: After receiving the Institutional Research Board’s approval, the researchers distributed the survey via the American Educational Research Association (AERA) Graduate Student Discussion List subscribers. A sample of 454 responses was used in the final analysis-- with a 78.9 % response rate. The authors used descriptive statistics (percentage, average mean) and inferential statistics (chi-square and correlations) to report the data analysis and findings. Findings: Results indicated that research survey response rate was highly influenced by interests of participants, survey structure, communication methods, and assurance of privacy and confidentiality. The findings also suggested that male participants were more likely to respond to surveys if they received a reminder, and older participants were more likely to respond if they were promised a reward. Keywords: academic research; education graduate students; online surveys; postal surveys; survey response rate
DroidMate: A Robust and Extensible Test Generator for Android

DroidMate is a fully automated GUI execution generator for Android apps. DroidMate explores an app, i.e. (a) repeatedly reads at runtime the device GUI and monitored calls to Android APIs methods and (b) makes a decision what next GUI action (click, long-click, text entry, etc.) to execute, based on that data and provided exploration strategy. The process continues until some termination criterion is met.DroidMate is:- fully automatic: after it has been set up, the exploration itself does not require human presence. - extensible: without recompiling DroidMate, anybody can run it with their own exploration strategy, termination criterion or set of monitored methods. - robust: tested on 126 apps being in top 5 in all Google Play categories except Games, it ran successfully on 123 of them. - easy to setup: it works on Android devices and emulators out-of-the-box, without root or OS modifications. - easy to modify: documented sources, built and tested with continuous integration server, are publicly available.
Nonlinear system identification using constellation based multiple model adaptive estimators

This paper describes the application of the constellation based multiple model adaptive estimation (CBMMAE) algorithm to the identification and parameter estimation of nonlinear systems. The method was successfully applied to the identification of linear systems both stationary and nonstationary, being able to fine tune its parameters. The method starts by establishing a minimum set of models that are geometrically arranged in the space spanned by the unknown parameters, and adopts a strategy to adaptively update the constellation models in the parameter space in order to find the model resembling the system under identification. By downscaling the models parameters the constellation is shrunk, reducing the uncertainty of the parameters estimation. Simulations are presented to exhibit the application of the framework and the performance of the algorithm to the identification and parameters estimation of nonlinear systems.
Dynamic Modeling of Cascading Failure in Power Systems

The modeling of cascading failure in power systems is difficult because of the many different mechanisms involved; no single model captures all of these mechanisms. Understanding the relative importance of these different mechanisms is important for choosing which mechanisms need to be modeled for particular applications. This work presents a dynamic simulation model of both power networks and protection systems, which can simulate a wider variety of cascading outage mechanisms relative to existing quasi-steady-state (QSS) models. This paper describes the model and demonstrates how different mechanisms interact. In order to test the model, we simulated a batch of randomly selected N-2 contingencies for several different static load configurations, and found that the distributions of blackout sizes and event lengths from the simulator correlate well with historical trends. The results also show that load models have significant impacts on the cascading risks. Finally, the dynamic model was compared against a simple dc-power-flow based QSS model; we find that the two models tend to agree for the early stages of cascading but produce substantially different results for later stages.
Expression of Transcription Activator ComK of Bacillus subtilis in the Heterologous Host Lactococcus lactis Leads to a Genome-Wide Repression Pattern: a Case Study of Horizontal Gene Transfer

ABSTRACT Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) is generally considered a possible mechanism by which bacteria acquire new genetic properties. Especially when pathogenicity genes are involved, HGT might have important consequences for humans. In this report we describe a case study of HGT in which a transcriptional activator, ComK of Bacillus subtilis, was introduced into a heterologous host species, Lactococcus lactis. ComK is the central regulator of competence development, activating transcription by binding to a ComK-binding site, a so-called K-box. Interestingly, L. lactis does not contain a comK gene, but it does contain almost 400 putatively functional K-boxes, as well as homologues of a number of competence genes. In this study, the effect of HGT of B. subtilis comK into L. lactis was investigated by determining the effects on the transcription profile using DNA microarray analyses. Production of wild-type ComK was shown to stimulate the transcription of 89 genes and decrease the expression of 114 genes. Notably, potential direct effects (i.e., genes preceded by a K-box) were found mainly among repressed genes, suggesting that ComK functions as a repressor in L. lactis. This is a remarkable difference between L. lactis and B. subtilis, in which ComK almost exclusively activates transcription. Additional DNA microarray analyses with a transcription activation-deficient but DNA-binding ComK variant, ComKΔC25, demonstrated that there were similar effects on gene regulation with this variant and with wild-type ComK, confirming that the direct effects of ComK result from interference with normal transcription through binding to available K-boxes. This study demonstrates that horizontal gene transfer can have dramatic effects that are very different than those that are expected on basis of the original functionality of a gene.
The evaluation of a multi-modal cognitive-behavioural approach to treating an adolescent with conduct disorder

Conduct Disorder (CD) is a repetitive and persistent pattern of behaviour in which the basic rights of others or major age-appropriate societal norms or rules are violated. It is one of the most common problems in South African schools, particularly in those that are poverty-stricken. The child who participated in the study lived in the shelter that was for homeless and disadvantaged children. He attended at Amasango School where the majority of children in the shelter attended. There were many conduct-disordered children in the shelter and the school, particularly in the school. They disrupted classes making in difficult for teachers to carry out their education activities. The aim of this study was to draw on the standard procedures of the CBT in order to design interventions that would be effective in reducing aggressive behaviour in an adolescent who had CD Adolescent-Type and who lived at the shelter. This case study evaluated the effectiveness of a multi-modal CBT programme in a 16 year-old Black male who had been displaying aggressive behaviour for about a year. The treatment consisted of 23 sessions and included teacher counseling, contingency management, self-control and selfinstructional training. The treatment was evaluated qualitatively by means of interviews with the child and teacher and quantitatively by means of repeated applications of behaviour checklists completed by the teacher. The results showed a decrease in the client's aggressive behaviour and an increase in prosocial behaviour. The client ultimately ceased from all aggressive behaviour towards his peers and this outcome was sustained during his last two months in therapy.
RAS testing in metastatic colorectal cancer: excellent reproducibility amongst 17 Dutch pathology centers

In 2013 the European Medicine Agency (EMA) restricted the indication for anti-EGFR targeted therapy to metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) with a wild-type RAS gene, increasing the need for reliable RAS mutation testing. We evaluated the completeness and reproducibility of RAS-testing in the Netherlands. From 17 laboratories, tumor DNA of the first 10 CRC cases tested in 2014 in routine clinical practice was re-tested by a reference laboratory using a custom next generation sequencing panel. In total, 171 CRC cases were re-evaluated for hotspot mutations in KRAS, NRAS and BRAF. Most laboratories had introduced complete RAS-testing (65%) and BRAF-testing (71%) by January 2014. The most employed method for all hotspot regions was Sanger sequencing (range 35.7 – 49.2%). The reference laboratory detected all mutations that had been found in the participating laboratories (n = 92), plus 10 additional mutations. This concerned three RAS and seven BRAF mutations that were missed due to incomplete testing of the participating laboratory. Overall, the concordance of tests performed by both the reference and participating laboratory was 100% (163/163; κ-static 1.0) for RAS and 100% (144/144; κ-static 1.0) for BRAF. Our study shows that RAS and BRAF mutations can be reproducibly assessed using a variety of testing methods.
In vitro fruiting of Armillaria species

Introduction Thirty-three different isolates of various Armi//aria species were grown on sterilized orange slices under a controlled temperature and light regime. Nine isolates of A. ostoyae (North American Biological Species I, NABS I), three of NABS VII, one of NABS IX, one of NABS X, and two unidentified isolates formed basidiomes. Most of the basidiomes had uncharacteristic and inverted caps. Three different basidiomes contained viable spores, two from A. ostoyae and one from an unidentified species. Thirteen (9 NABS I, 3 NABS VII, 1 NABS X) of the identified and two of the unidentified isolates that fruited were obtained from conifers and one (NABS IX) from a hardwood. This seems to be the first report of in vitro production of basidiomes by NABS VII, IX, and X.
Incremental Semantics for Dialogue Processing: Requirements, and a Comparison of Two Approaches

Truly interactive dialogue systems need to construct meaning on at least a word-byword basis. We propose desiderata for incremental semantics for dialogue models and systems, a task not heretofore attempted thoroughly. After laying out the desirable properties we illustrate how they are met by current approaches, comparing two incremental semantic processing frameworks: Dynamic Syntax enriched with Type Theory with Records (DS-TTR) and Robust Minimal Recursion Semantics with incremental processing (RMRS-IP). We conclude these approaches are not significantly different with regards to their semantic representation construction, however their purported role within semantic models and dialogue models is where they diverge.
On motion and force controllability of grasping hands with postural synergies

The complexity of robotic hands is needed to adapt devices to the many kinds of tasks, but the large number of motors needed to fully actuate the DoFs comes at the cost of size, complexity and weight of devices. A possible approach to solve this problem consists of reducing the number of actuators thus resulting more efficient, simpler and reliable than their fully actuated alternatives. Reducing control inputs seems to inspire also biological systems and in particular motor control of human hands, which share with robotic hands the large number of DoFs. Recent studies demonstrated that a few control variables, named postural synergies, are able to account for most of the variance in the patterns of hand movements and configurations of hands. This paper focuses on hands with postural synergies. Reducing the number of control inputs, from fully actuated joints to few synergies, might reduce the dimension of the force and motion controllability subspaces thus compromising the dexterity of the grasp, however, this is not true in general but strongly depends on how synergies are distributed. The paper investigates to what extent a hand with many DoFs can exploit postural synergies to control force and motion of the grasped object.
THREAT MODEL FOR USER SECURITY IN E-LEARNING SYSTEMS

This paper suggest a generic threat model for the processes in e-learning systems. After a breaf discussion of the particularities of e-learning systems from the security point of view, the role of threat models in system security is explained. Then a characterization of the attackers is made, together with the assets and entry points identification and threats identification and classification. The most probable attacks for e-learning system are described regardless of the specific implementation, to help the e-learning system developers to eliminate or mitigate these attacks if possible in the design stage not waiting for actual attacks to occur.
Biogenesis of synaptic vesicle-like structures in a pheochromocytoma cell line PC-12

The presence of unique proteins in synaptic vesicles of neurons suggests selective targeting during vesicle formation. Endocrine, but not other cells, also express synaptic vesicle membrane proteins and target them selectively to small intracellular vesicles. We show that the rat pheochromocytoma cell line, PC12, has a population of small vesicles with sedimentation and density properties very similar to those of rat brain synaptic vesicles. When synaptophysin is expressed in nonneuronal cells, it is found in intracellular organelles that are not the size of synaptic vesicles. The major protein in the small vesicles isolated from PC12 cells is found to be synaptophysin, which is also the major protein in rat brain vesicles. At least two of the minor proteins in the small vesicles are also known synaptic vesicle membrane proteins. Synaptic vesicle-like structures in PC12 cells can be shown to take up an exogenous bulk phase marker, HRP. Their proteins, including synaptophysin, are labeled if the cells are surface labeled and subsequently warmed. Although the PC12 vesicles can arise by endocytosis, they seem to exclude the receptor-mediated endocytosis marker, transferrin. We conclude that PC12 cells contain synaptic vesicle-like structures that resemble authentic synaptic vesicles in physical properties, protein composition and endocytotic origin.
NEUROCONTROL OF TEMPERATURES WITH OWE NEURAL NETWORK ARCHITECTURE IN CONTINUOUS STEEL ANNEALING FURNACE

Artificial Neural Network (ANN) is an attractive solution for the identification and control of complex systems. This technique can be very heavy for processes depending on many parameters like, for example, in steel-making. In such cases, solutions such as Orthogonal Weight Estimator (OWE) architectures are recommanded. They make it possible the definition of a generic neuronal architecture, adapted to the main parameters of the problem and a dynamic estimation of the weights of this architecture with regard to contextual parameters. This application to a furnace shows that these contextual parameters can correspond to the temporal evolution of a temperature and tackles the difficult issue of transient states.
Story Link Detection With Entity Resolution

News archives present a vast base of cultural and social knowledge. However, their size is also the cause for difficult navigation through the sequence of articles, belonging to a certain topic thread. In the ideal scenario, one could navigate over the whole sequence of articles, where every article would link to other relevant articles, discussing the same event. Continuing progress in entity resolution and extraction has enabled the possibility to apply semantic background knowledge to the task of story link detection (SLD), adding additional information to existing article text and annotations. In this paper, we propose a method of extracted entity resolution to measure its effect on performance the task of topic link detection. We developed a system which extracts additional entities from article text and links them to entities from our background knowledge base. Current experiments of this ongoing work show that although entity resolution via text similarity outperforms using plain text in the case of story link detection, it only achieves SLD performance comparable to human annotations in some cases.
Integration of range and image sensing for photo-realistic 3D modeling

The automated extraction of photo-realistic 3D models of the world that can be used in applications such as virtual reality, tele-presence, digital cinematography and urban planning, is the focus of this paper. The combination of range (dense depth estimates) and image sensing (color information) provides data-sets which allow us to create photo-realistic models of high quality. The challenges are the simplification of the 3D data set, the extraction of meaningful features in both the range and 2D images and the fusion of those data-sets using the extracted features. We address all these challenges and provide results on data we gathered in outdoor scenes by a range and image sensor based on a mobile robot. Our ultimate goal is an autonomous 3D model creation system which minimizes the amount of human interaction.