Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Parameter Estimation for -GMM Based on Maximum Likelihood Criterion

-integration and -GMM have been recently proposed for integrated stochastic modeling. However, there has not been an approach to date for estimating model parameters for -GMM in a statistical way, based on a set of training data. In this letter, parameter updating formulas are mathematically derived based on maximum likelihood criterion using an adapted expectation-maximization algorithm. With this method, model parameters for -GMM are reestimated in an iterative way. The updating formulas were found to be simple and systematically compatible with the GMM equations. This advantage renders the -GMM a superset of the GMM but with similar computational complexity. This method has been effectively applied to realistic speaker recognition applications.
Evaluating Rhythmic descriptors for Musical Genre Classification

Organising or browsing music collections in a musically meaningful way calls for tagging the data in terms of e.g. rhythmic, melodic or harmonic aspects, among others. In some cases, such metadata can be extracted automatically from musical files; in others, a trained listener must extract it by hand. In this article, we consider a specific set of rhythmic descriptors for which we provide procedures of automatic extraction from audio signals. Evaluating the relevance of such descriptors is a difficult task that can easily become highly subjective. To avoid this pitfall, we assessed the relevance of these descriptors by measuring their rate of success in genre classification experiments. We conclude on the particular relevance of the tempo and a set of 15 MFCC-like descriptors.
DNA damage and altered gene expression of enzymes for metabolism and DNA repair by tamoxifen and toremifene in the female rat liver

Effects of hepatocarcinogenic TAM and non‐hepatocarcinogenic TOR on the formation of hepatic DNA adducts and on the gene expression of hepatic drug‐metabolizing enzymes and DNA repair enzymes/proteins were comparatively examined in female Sprague‐Dawley rats treated with TAM (20 or 40 mg/kg/day, i.g.) or TOR (40 mg/kg/day, i.g.) for 1, 2 or 8 weeks. Hepatic TAM‐DNA adducts were formed even after 1 week of treatment with TAM at either dose, and the adduct levels increased in a dose‐ and treatment period‐dependent manner, whereas no DNA adducts were detected in any of the TOR‐treated rats. Conversely, TAM and TOR showed almost the same capacity for increasing the gene expression of drug‐metabolizing enzymes responsible for metabolic activation and detoxification, at least up to the 2‐week treatment mark. Accordingly, differences in DNA adduct formation between TAM‐ and TOR‐treated rats would not be primarily dependent on the capacity for inducing hepatic drug‐metabolizing enzymes. In addition, a drastic increase in the gene expression of cytochrome P4503A2 (CYP3A2), an activation enzyme of TAM, by the 8‐week treatment with TAM might have contributed to the increased formation of DNA adducts. Gene expressions of DNA repair enzymes/proteins responsible for a nucleotide excision repair system were not significantly changed in any of the rats treated with either drug. The present findings suggest that the difference between TAM and TOR in hepatocarcinogenic potency is dependent on the capacity to form DNA adducts rather than modulating the expression of drug‐metabolizing enzymes and DNA repair enzymes/proteins. (Cancer Sci 2006; 97: 468– 477)
Fair Pay or Power Play? Pay Equity, Managerial Power, and Compensation Adjustments for CEOs

This study examines how firms use benchmarking information about peers to determine the compensation that they offer to chief executive officers (CEOs). It jointly addresses two distinct perspectives: pay equity and managerial power. Pay inequity provides strong motivation for CEOs to restore equity, by promoting the logic of external fairness and urging boards of directors to implement peer benchmarking and adjust the focal CEO’s compensation levels. Although pay inequity may motivate CEOs to restore equity, their reaction to inequity may be effective only when they have sufficient power over the board of directors to influence the pay-setting process. Results from a sample of 1,555 CEOs generally support predictions about the moderating effects of CEO power in the relationship between a focal CEO’s pay and peer CEOs’ pay. The compensation for underpaid CEOs with relatively greater power over the board is associated with their peers’ compensation, suggesting that peer benchmarking is more aggressively used to adjust CEO compensation upward. For overpaid CEOs, the relationship between the focal CEO’s pay and peer CEOs’ pay is weaker when the CEOs have greater influence over the board, suggesting that such CEOs are able to avoid the use of benchmarking and downward adjustments of pay.
Factors Affecting University Instructors' Continuance Intention to Use Learning Management Systems: The Blackboard System Case

Although academic institutions have invested heavily in Learning Management Systems (LMS) to support e-learning platform, few studies have examined the factors affecting their usage, particularly by university instructors. To fill this research gap, this study proposes a framework based on the expectation-confirmation model (ECM) to examine the influence of several critical independent factors related to organizational, technological and individual characteristics on university instructorsâ perceived usefulness of Blackboard system as one well-known LMS, which in turn will affect their continuance intention to use this technology. Data was gathered from 158 university instructors at a university in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Structural equation modeling technique was used to validate the causal relationships between the different variables.
Loudness of non‐steady‐state sounds

Abstract: Basic research in psychoacoustics and its applications are discussed. Psychophysical laws should be robust in order to be used for practical purposes. The importance of the development and use of appropriate psychophysical methods in relation to the present study is introduced. When laboratory findings are applied to real‐life situations, there are various problems that have to be considered. It is necessary to control for complicated variables, to cover a wide area of stimuli, from static stimuli to dynamic stimuli, and to take into consideration the effects of cognitive factors and ecological validity. Using the loudness of non‐steady‐state sounds as an example, the process from basic psychoacoustic research to its practical applications is introduced.
Analysis of Bio-Impedance Measurement Method via Electromagnetic Induction Using Probe-Coil

The bio-impedance measurement method via electromagnetic induction has the non-contact character which overcomes influences of the electrode's contact impedance to measurements. However its measurement results have a highly complicated relationship with impedance properties of measured objects. In order to discover the regularity, this paper deduces an analytical resolution model using a probe-coil and analyzes affections of conductivity and lift-off to mutual inductance variation. The achieved disciplinary characters are valuable not only to this measurement method using the probe-coil but also to the data analysis in Electromagnetic Tomography (EMT).
Making a case for flexible 802.11 architectures

In the past years, researchers have been advocating for flexible 802.11 devices that dynamically adapt to the varying network conditions, looking for efficient alternatives to the 802.11 standard MAC. In this work we demonstrate that this flexibility is readily available at the MAC level, and its operation can be tuned by re-programming the firmware inside the wireless chipsets that are built on relatively generic hardware modules. We show this by implementing the new amendment IEEE 802.11aa in legacy equipments by simply coding the frame exchange schemes at the firmware level. Nevertheless, we claim that the lack of flexibility in the way these modules interact results in a bottleneck that severely degrades performance. In our work, we prove this inefficiency of the 802.11 hardware architecture that hinders high throughput features, as in our case study of 802.11aa reliable multicast. To solve this problem, we provide new directions for the revision of the current hardware architecture and propose a new vision for the future design of wireless chipsets.
Dynamic modeling, stability, and energy efficiency of a quadrupedal walking machine

In the past, the dynamics of walking machines was studied based on very simple or simplified leg structures. A more complete dynamic model is essential for the further development of a practical walking machine. In this paper, the dynamic model of a realistic quadrupedal walking machine is derived for simulation and real-time control purposes. The walker has four cylindrical pantograph legs, and the whole system consists of twenty-nine links. The walking gait is wave gait with at least three feet on the ground at any time. Significant efforts have been made to improve the computational efficiency of the inverse dynamics, and the required CPU time is less than 10 ms on an IBM 3090. The derived dynamic model is then applied to study two practical issues of walking: dynamic stability and mechanical efficiency of different legs and gaits. Simulation results show clear advantages of one leg type over another, and of some walking strategies in terms of adjusting velocities, strokes, and duty factors for greater efficiency. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Social Capital

Social capital is positively associated with adult health and well-being. We know little, however, about the impact of social capital for women, especially those from developing nations. Knowledge of this relationship is important not only for women but also for social workers engaged with this population. This study examines the impact of social capital on the health and well-being of 6,099 women in Indonesia. Results indicate that education and trust positively correlate with health and well-being. The findings are relevant for social workers at a direct practice and programmatic level to offer services designed for improved health and well-being.
THE FUNDAMENTAL PLANE OF ACCRETION ONTO BLACK HOLES WITH DYNAMICAL MASSES

Black hole accretion and jet production are areas of intensive study in astrophysics. Recent work has found a relation between radio luminosity, X-ray luminosity, and black hole mass. With the assumption that radio and X-ray luminosities are suitable proxies for jet power and accretion power, respectively, a broad fundamental connection between accretion and jet production is implied. In an effort to refine these links and enhance their power, we have explored the above relations exclusively among black holes with direct, dynamical mass-measurements. This approach not only eliminates systematic errors incurred through the use of secondary mass measurements, but also effectively restricts the range of distances considered to a volume-limited sample. Further, we have exclusively used archival data from the Chandra X-ray Observatory to best isolate nuclear sources. We find log LR = (4.80 ± 0.24) + (0.78 ± 0.27)log MBH + (0.67 ± 0.12)log LX, in broad agreement with prior efforts. Owing to the nature of our sample, the plane can be turned into an effective mass predictor. When the full sample is considered, masses are predicted less accurately than with the well-known M–σ relation. If obscured active galactic nuclei are excluded, the plane is potentially a better predictor than other scaling measures.
Aims and contradictions of cultural diversity policies in the arts: a case study of the Rich Mix Centre in East London

In recent years, the concept of diversity has become prominent in cultural policy, echoing community arts philosophies of the 1960s and 1970s that questioned the notion of universal artistic value and argued for greater recognition of the relationship between cultural identity and inequality. Cultural diversity policies today implicitly challenge the liberal‐humanist discourse of ‘the best’, and emphasise what is ‘relevant’ to particular communities. Official policy rhetoric can often hide contradictions that are only apparent in practice. How does ‘diversity’ shape the way organisations engage with audiences and does this contradict the still present discourse of ‘universalism’, with its emphasis on value judgements? This paper explores this tension through the study of Rich Mix, a multi‐functional arts centre in London's multi‐ethnic East End. It argues that Rich Mix is caught between discourses of universalism and diversity, leading to confusion over the project's rationale and ambivalence amongst artists about how their art is judged.
Implementation of Network Coding for Social Mobile Clouds [Applications Corner]

In this work, the authors advocated for the need of social elements to make egoistic users cooperate with each other in certain situations. After discussing different forms of cooperation (specifically forced, altruistic, technology-enabled, and socially enabled), we introduced a number of example use cases. As discussed, the technology-enabled cooperation will cover a large number of these use cases. Furthermore, network coding is a technology that will make user cooperation more efficient and attractive to users. But in cases where the technology-enabled cooperation is not attractive enough, the social elements will play an important role. By means of social networks, examples were given of how social benefits can be created to persuade users to cooperate. More examples will be found in the future as social networking technology develops, but the initial examples underline the feasibility of that approach.
Learning Mathematics Through Dance

Mathematics educators and cognitive scientists are exploring the importance of embodied, multisensory, arts-infused experiences as a central component of mathematics learning, countering pedagogic traditions that valued only abstract, disembodied representations. Dance has great potential for sensory, fully-embodied mathematical engagement -- but how can abstract mathematical concepts be danced? I introduce the work of acclaimed Canadian modern dancer Sarah Chase and her explorations involving number theory, connecting her work to a Bridges 2009 paper on multisensory representations in number theory and exploring attentional aspects of her cross-patterning movement work and simultaneous verbal storytelling. This paper will be accompanied by an original short film of Sarah Chase’s dancebased teaching.
Police Officer Job Satisfaction: Does agency size make a difference?

One of the more interesting aspects of employment is job satisfaction. Despite the growing body of knowledge on job satisfaction, much of it has been limited to certain occupations such as factory workers, teachers, and social workers. More recently, the literature has begun to expand in its coverage and includes policing, as an occupation, in which job satis faction can have impact and influence behavior. However, despite the occupation under study, there are common job, worker, and organization al characteristics attached to the work environment that one can explore in a particular occupation. The area that appears to receive limited atten tion is organizational characteristics. This paper addresses one such orga nizational characteristic, size, and whether there is a difference in per ceptions of job satisfaction among police officers from different size municipal agencies. The data was collected from fourteen municipal agencies using a specifically designed job satisfaction questionnaire. The results suggest that organizational size does make a difference on offi cers' perceptions of job satisfaction.
Validity of children's direct estimates of time spent television viewing

Using a representative sample of Dutch 10‐ to 16‐year‐olds (N = 581), the study was designed to determine if the criterion‐related validity of two types of child‐reported direct estimates of time spent television viewing depended on gender, age, socioeconomic status (SES), and level of school achievement. Validity was assessed in terms of the correlations found between direct estimates and a child‐reported diary measure of viewing. The validity coefficients of the direct estimates were found to be unrelated to gender, but comparatively higher among older children (aged 10‐16), high‐SES children, and, though not significantly, among high‐achieving children.
Nighttime Video Smoke Detection Based on Active Infrared Video Image

Compared with traditional methods, video smoke detection has many advantages, such as fast response, noncontact and so forth. For the sake of detecting smoke in the nighttime with 0 lux around, the paper presents a smoke recognition method based on active infrared CCD video image. Experimental results show that it can well recognize smoke to reach the aim of smoke-detection in the nighttime, by extracting the feature that smoke reveals while the plume of smoke upwards, analyzing feature values, studying smoke recognition methods and comparing with the interferences.
Parents’ narratives of physically educating their children at the interplay of home and school

Scholars within physical education (PE) have paid relatively little attention to social class. Studies have tended to quantify inequities in participation in leisure activities and overlooked the processes of how social class structures attitudes towards particular forms of physical culture, including PE, and how they are practised. In this context, the paper focuses upon the dynamics between families and schools, and the economics of embodiment. It provides insights from parents/guardians’ narratives of social location and positionality in physical culture and how these stories-as-lived influence their children’s physical identities, whilst socialising them into the rules of a culture and class. Data have been generated from in-depth interviews and have been thematically analysed drawing upon the analytic tools of Bourdieu’s theory of social reproduction and narrative inquiry’s concept of plot. The findings reveal that middle class parents/guardians narrated stories about cultivating their children’s physical capital as central to their upbringing. In contrast, working class parents/guardians told tales couched in a laissez faire attitude with regard to their children’s physical literacy and participation in physical culture. Interestingly, neither middle class nor working class parents/guardians talked about the significance of school PE lessons for their children’s physical capital. This seemingly shared ambivalence was, nonetheless, configured in significantly different ways reflecting their differing social locations, lifestyles and narrative repertories. The narrative consequences for the children are arguably great and contribute to the social reproduction of physical capital, rather than social transformation as policy-makers desire.
Enhanced on-line signature verification based on skilled forgery detection using Sigma-LogNormal Features

One of the biggest challenges in on-line signature verification is the detection of skilled forgeries. In this paper, we propose a novel scheme, based on the Kinematic Theory of rapid human movements and its associated Sigma LogNormal model, to improve the performance of on-line signature verification systems. The approach combines the high performance of DTW-based systems in verification tasks, with the high potential for skilled forgery detection of the Kinematic Theory of rapid human movements. Experiments were carried out on the publicly available BiosecurID multimodal database, comprising 400 subjects. Results show that the performance of the DTW-based system improves for both skilled and random forgeries.
Role of Interleukin-12 in Primary Influenza Virus Infection

ABSTRACT The effect of endogenous interleukin-12 (IL-12) on the influenza virus immune response in BALB/c mice was evaluated. Following primary influenza virus infection, IL-12 mRNA and protein are detected in the lung, with live virus being required for cytokine induction. Endogenous IL-12 contributes to early NK cell-dependent gamma interferon (IFN-γ) production (days 3 and 5) but not late T-cell-dependent IFN-γ secretion (day 7). IL-12 contributes to the inhibition of early virus replication but is not required for virus clearance. IL-12 also modestly contributes to the activation of cytotoxic T lymphocytes. Thus, in this model of experimental influenza virus infection, endogenous IL-12 contributes primarily to the early development and activation of the innate immune response.
Motion-based background subtraction using adaptive kernel density estimation

Background modeling is an important component of many vision systems. Existing work in the area has mostly addressed scenes that consist of static or quasi-static structures. When the scene exhibits a persistent dynamic behavior in time, such an assumption is violated and detection performance deteriorates. In this paper, we propose a new method for the modeling and subtraction of such scenes. Towards the modeling of the dynamic characteristics, optical flow is computed and utilized as a feature in a higher dimensional space. Inherent ambiguities in the computation of features are addressed by using a data-dependent bandwidth for density estimation using kernels. Extensive experiments demonstrate the utility and performance of the proposed approach.
Spirituality: What We Can Teach and How We Can Teach It

In the new millennium, spirituality has been accepted as an integral part of social work practice, enabling a holistic and strength‐based approach to individuals, groups, and communities. This acceptance has been encouraged by the current interest in both religious and spiritual issues. The rationale for such inclusion is grounded in a review of the historical relationship between spirituality and social work, in the ethical mandates that underlie both the NASW Code of Ethics and the Standards for Cultural Competence in Social Work, and in the evolving definitions of social work areas of practice as biopsychosociocultural‐spiritual. Thus, it must be viewed as an essential component of social work education. Because of the nature of spirituality and spiritual experiences and the potential for wide divergence in views, definitions, experiences, and understanding, spirituality is especially challenging to teach. Research indicates that students also identify spirituality as an essential component of social work practice and that they often feel ill prepared and equipped to address spiritual issues in practice after completing their social work education. Models, resources, and literature in this field have been developed by many researchers, particularly as they relate to special populations or fields within social work; yet the challenges persist. Spirituality may be taught as a discrete course, generally as an elective, and suggestions for material to be included in such a course are offered in the areas of knowledge acquisition, skill development, and self‐awareness. However, it is recognized that material on spirituality should be infused throughout the social work curriculum, primarily in core courses such as practice, diversity, human behavior in the social environment, research, policy, and ethics, and specific suggestions are offered to encourage such inclusion. To increase students' knowledge of the varieties of spiritual experiences of potential clients, a small random sample of the general population was interviewed regarding spiritual beliefs and experiences. Interviewees were asked to define spirituality, to share their experiences, and to suggest ways in which meaningful dialogue about spirituality might be encouraged in social work practice.