Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Reduced Complexity and High Quality 8 kb/s CS-ACELP Speech Codec

There is an increasing demand for the low-cost and high-efficient speech coders used in personal multimedia communications and Voice over IP applications. In this paper we present the general aspects of ITU-T recommendation G.729 8 kb/s CS-ACELP coding scheme, then propose several methods to reduce its complexity with a very slight degradation in speech quality. The more efficient proposed methods for encoder are “fast open-loop pitch estimation based on pre-search in down sampled signal domain” and “using previously computed pitch delay instead of current pitch based on the difference between the previous and the current LSP coefficients”, and for decoder is “the low-cost postfiltering by using an efficient long term postfilter”. The performance of the proposed methods was measured in terms of segmental SNR and DMOS listening test. Key-Words: Speech processing, AbS coding, CELP-based coder, CS-ACELP algorithm, DCR test
Title Stata.com Regress Postestimation Time Series — Postestimation Tools for Regress with Time Series Description for Estat Archlm Menu for Estat Syntax for Estat Archlm

Postestimation commands The following postestimation commands for time series are available for regress: Command Description estat archlm test for ARCH effects in the residuals estat bgodfrey Breusch–Godfrey test for higher-order serial correlation estat durbinalt Durbin’s alternative test for serial correlation estat dwatson Durbin–Watson d statistic to test for first-order serial correlation estat sbknown perform tests for a structural break with a known break date estat single perform tests for a structural break with an unknown break date
Against the “Networked Information Economy”: Rethinking Decentralization, Community, and Free Software Development

The free, libre, and open source software (FLOSS) movement is often cited as an example of fundamental changes in production associated with the rise of information networks. Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams see it as an example of wi\inomics, a powerful new form of eco nomic production based on sharing and self-organization.1 Yochai Benk ler argues that the form of social or peer production evident in FLOSS can compete with or even displace traditional forms of capitalist organi zation and sees it as a symptom of the "networked information economy," replacing the "industrial information economy," which has been in force since the late-nineteenth century.2 The main feature of this networked information economy is the much greater role within it for decentralized individual action?
Robotics for Risky Interventions and Environmental Surveillance-Maintenance

The ICARUS EU-FP7 project deals with the development of a set of integrated components to assist search and rescue teams in dealing with the difficult and dangerous, but life-saving task of finding human survivors. The ICARUS tools consist of assistive unmanned air, ground and sea vehicles, equipped with victim detection sensors. The unmanned vehicles collaborate as a coordinated team, communicating via ad hoc cognitive radio networking. To ensure optimal human-robot collaboration, these tools are seamlessly integrated into the C4I equipment of the human crisis managers and a set of training and support tools is provided to them to learn to use the ICARUS system.
Dynamic adaptive hypermedia systems for e-learning

The ultimate goal of adaptive educational hypermedia systems (AEHS) is to provide a learning experience that is individualized to the particular needs of the learners, from the point of view of knowledge level, goals, motivation, individual differences etc. The focus of our thesis is on the learning style as the adaptation criterion, since it is one of the individual differences that play an important role in learning, according to educational psychologists. The first step towards providing adaptivity is selecting a good taxonomy of learning styles. We advocate the use of a "unified learning style model" (ULSM), which integrates characteristics from several models proposed in the literature, thus establishing a unified core vocabulary. The traditional method for diagnosing learning style implies having the students fill in a dedicated psychological questionnaire. What we propose in this thesis is an implicit modeling method, which is based on the analysis and interpretation of student behavior in the system, not requiring any additional effort from the part of the students and bypassing the reliability and validity problems of the existing learning style questionnaires. The approach was validated through experimental research, obtaining good precision results. The next step of our research was to identify the adaptation technologies that best serve learners with different learning styles and define the corresponding adaptation rules. The effectiveness was confirmed by means of an experimental study: the results obtained (student behavior, performance, efficiency and satisfaction) proved the positive effect that our adaptation to learning styles has on the learning process. Based on the methods and techniques proposed for modeling and adaptation, we designed and implemented a dedicated e-learning platform, called WELSA (Web-based Educational system with Learning Style Adaptation), which includes several functionalities: i) a course player for the students, enhanced with learner tracking capabilities and an adaptation component; ii) an analysis tool, used for identifying students' learning preferences; iii) a course editor for the teachers, to help them author courses in the required format. The final step of our research was the global evaluation of WELSA system. The analysis of students' answers to the survey instruments revealed the high degree of learner satisfaction with the system, as well as their desire to use WELSA system on an everyday basis. The subject required an interdisciplinary approach, demanding the synergy of computer science and instructional sciences (adaptive hypermedia, learning management systems, user modeling, educational psychology). The findings and results obtained in this thesis open up many research perspectives for the AEHS field in general and the learning style based adaptive educational systems in particular.
Sexually Reproducing Cellular Automata *

Sexual reproduction is modeled and investigated in the formal framework of John von Neumann’s theory of self-reproducing cellular automata. It is argued that the transition from asexual to sexual reproduction necessitates a change in number and structure of the genetic tapes involved. To an asexually reproducing cellular automaton only one genetic tape is attached, viz. the description which enables the automaton to construct cell for cell a replica of itself. The sexually reproducing automaton, however, must possess two, nearly identical, genetic tapes of a deviating structure, i.e. programs partitioned into sections embodying the various construction and behavioral algorithms to be executed. It is shown that the recombination of the parents’ characteristics in the offspring closely conforms to recombination in nature. Similarities and differences with biological systems are discussed.
Global Operations Networks: Exploring New Perspectives and Agendas

In this chapter, by merging the Danish linked employer-employee database with a large-scale Danish offshoring survey, we investigate, the difference in employment between offshoring and nonoffshoring firms that are active in manufacturing industries and business services in Denmark. The findings of the analyses show that there are clear differences between Danish offshoring and nonoffshoring firms in employment growth and how the employee skill composition changes over time. The change in employment composition differs considerably between manufacturing industries and business services and in whether firms offshore administrative and technical business functions or other types of business functions.
A Nonparametric Multiclass Partitioning Method for Classification By:l~ May 20 1982 a Nonparametric Multi Class Partitioning Method for Classification

c classes are characterized by unknown probability distributions. A data sample containing labelled vectors from each of the c classes is available. The data sample is divided into test and training samples. A classifier is designed based on the training sample and evaluated with the test sample. The classifier is also evaluated based on its asymptotic properties as sample size increases. A multi class recursive partitioning algorithm which generates a single binary decision tree for classifying all classes is given. The algorithm has the same desirable statistical and computational properties as Friedman's (1977) 2-class algorithm. Prior probabilities and losses are accounted for. A tree termination algorithm which terminates binary decision trees in a statistically optimal manner is given. r,or~ don and Olshen's (1978) results on the asymptotic Bayes risk efficiency of 2-class recursive partitioning algorithms are extended to the c-class case and applied to the combined partitioning/termination algorithm. Asymptotic efficiency and consistent risk estimates are obtained with independent test and training sequences. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I would like to thank Professor Sanjoy Mitter for his intellectual and financial support throughout the course of this research. I would also like to acknowledge Don Gustafson whose ideas contributed heavily to the initial phase of the work.
Constraints on

We consider cosmic chronometer (CC) data for the Hubble parameter, quasar (QSO) luminosities data of X-rays and ultraviolet rays emission, and the latest measurements of the present value of the Hubble parameter from 2018 Planck mission (PL18), and SH0ES observations (SHOES) to constrain the present value of cosmic curvature density parameter. We consider three kinds of dark energy models: the ΛCDM model, the wCDM model, and the CPL parametrization. In all these three models, we ﬁnd higher values of the matter-energy density parameter, Ω m0 compared to the one obtained from the Planck 2018 mission of CMB observation. Also, we ﬁnd evidence for a nonﬂat and closed Universe at 0.5 σ to 3 σ conﬁdence levels. The ﬂat Universe is almost 2 to 3 σ , 1 to 1.5 σ , and 0.5 to 1 σ away from the corresponding mean values, obtained in ΛCDM model, wCDM model, and CPL parametrization respectively obtained from diﬀerent combinations of datasets. For example, for the combination of CC and QSO data, we ﬁnd Ω k0 = − 0 . 45 ± 0 . 19, Ω k0 = − 0 . 36 ± 0 . 24, and Ω k0 = − 0 . 145 +0 . 215 − 0 . 226 in the ΛCDM model, wCDM model, and the CPL parametrization respectively. The evidence for nonzero cosmic curvature is lesser in dynamical dark energy models compared to the ΛCDM model. That means the evidence of nonzero cosmic curvature depends on the behavior of the equation of state of the dark energy. Since the values of the cosmic curvature are degenerate to the equation of state of the dark energy, we also consider a model independent analysis to constrain the cosmic curvature using the combination of Gaussian process regression analysis and artiﬁcial neural networks analysis. In the model independent analysis, we also ﬁnd evidence for a closed Universe, and the ﬂat Universe is almost 1 σ away. In the model independent analysis, the constraint on Ω k0 h 2 parameter from the combination of CC and QSO data is given as Ω k0 h 2 = − 0 . 30 +0 . 34 − 0 . 30 . So, both the model dependent and independent analyses favor a closed Universe from the combinations of CC, QSO, and H 0 observations.
A SCIENCE OPEN COLLECTION OF NANOSAFETY CLUSTER PUBLICATIONS

Central to a strong NanoSafety Cluster (NSC) is eﬃcient dissemination of knowledge. However, the ﬂood of peer-reviewed literature requires one to make a selection of articles to read. Indeed, in the period 2003-2013 the number of nanosafety papers increased from just 60 published during 2003 to 2846 published in 2013 Krug (2014), and that trend has certainly continued through 2016. Twenty years ago, PhD students would just read the table of contents a selection of journals. Rich Site Summary (RSS) feeds are the modern reincarnation of this process Murray-Rust, Rzepa, Williamson, and Willighagen (2004). At the same time, research has become a lot more interdisciplinary and nanosafety research is an eminent example of that. NYU new-media professor Clay Shirky explained, however, that it is not an information overload, but a ﬁlter fail Asay (2009). It is not that we have too much to read, but that we fail to select the right papers to read. That requires intelligent indexing, allowing readers to ﬁnd the articles speciﬁcally about the nanomaterial they are interested in, with exactly that biological eﬀect they expect or found in their own work.
Refereeing and Peer Review. Part 1. Opfnion and Conjecture on the Effectiveness of Refereeing

Peer review is so much a part of the fabric of scholarly inquiry that it is often taken for granted. I have written many essays over the years that are directly or indirectly related to peer review. These include several on authorshipl-~ and editing, ~ faculty evaluation, ~ identifying Nobel-class science through citation analysis~-~—and even a few on various aspects of refereeing itself. l~lz But I have never before discussed the intricacies of the system in detail. Since the subject is central to scholarly life, we have decided to devote a three-part essay in Current ConterrtR to it. The first two parts will cover refereeing for publication. Part 1 examines how the refereeing system works and lists some of the common opinions about its advantages and disadvantages. Part 2 will cover scientific studies of refereeing and some proposed alternatives to the present system. Part 3 will follow later and will focus on the peer review of grant proposals. Note that I distinguish between a re~eree (one who evaluates an article before it is published) and a reviewer (one who evaluates already published material or, in the case of grant reviews, research-grant proposals). I generally use the term referee to mean one who advises editors on the publishability of a scholarly manuscript. The process by which this advice is solicited I usually call refereeing, but occasionally reviewAugust 4, 1986
Whatever emerges should be intrinsically useful

The practical work presented in this paper uses a GA to evolve a cellular automata (CA) implementation of a binary numbers adder. One very useful way to compress the enormous search space and eventually find an optimal CA consists in adopting a macro-coding of the states and the rule table. It is further discussed how this work illustrates and defends our favorite position in the currently vivid epistemological debate around the notion of “emergence”. This position is Crutchfield’s “intrinsic emergence” one, in which to say that a macro-property is emergent requires that this “property” supplies some mechanical and non-human observer with additional functionality
Algorithm + strategy = parallelism

The process of writing large parallel programs is complicated by the need to specify both the parallel behaviour of the program and the algorithm that is to be used to compute its result. This paper introduces evaluation strategies: lazy higher-order functions that control the parallel evaluation of non-strict functional languages. Using evaluation strategies, it is possible to achieve a clean separation between algorithmic and behavioural code. The result is enhanced clarity and shorter parallel programs. Evaluation strategies are a very general concept: this paper shows how they can be used to model a wide range of commonly used programming paradigms, including divide-and-conquer parallelism, pipeline parallelism, producer/consumer parallelism, and data-oriented parallelism. Because they are based on unrestricted higher-order functions, they can also capture irregular parallel structures. Evaluation strategies are not just of theoretical interest: they have evolved out of our experience in parallelising several large-scale parallel applications, where they have proved invaluable in helping to manage the complexities of parallel behaviour. Some of these applications are described in detail here. The largest application we have studied to date, Lolita, is a 40,000 line natural language engineering system. Initial results show that for these programs we can achieve acceptable parallel performance, for relatively little programming effort.
PEER EFFECTS IN ECONOMIC ATTITUDES

Recent genetic evidence shows that fundamental economic attitudes, such as risk aversion and altruism, are largely determined by unspecified environmental factors. Using random assignment of MBA students to peer groups and predetermined survey responses of economic attitudes, we provide causal evidence that peer influence is one such environmental factor. We find positive peer effects in risk aversion, consistent with conformity, negative peer effects in honesty and altruism, consistent with self-interest, and no peer effects in trust. Overall, we show that fundamental attitudes, traditionally assumed to be immutable, are, in fact, heavily influenced by social interactions, even in adults.
International Workshop on Personal Computing for Web-supported Learning Communities. Special Theme of the next Issue: Sensor-based Learning Support and Technologies

In the first paper, Petropoulou, Kasimatis, Dimopoulos and Retalis introduce the cloud-based learning analytics tool LAe-R which aims at assessing students' performance using an enhanced version of the existing " classic " rubric method. The tool has been implemented as a plugin for Moodle and has been evaluated with 32 teachers, showing very promising findings. The second article, written by Gidion, Capretz, Meadows and Grosch, deals with a large-scale investigation about students' frequency of use and satisfaction with media for studying and learning. About 20,000 students were invited to participate in this study and questions were answered by over 1,200 students. As a result, the study showed that students use a mix of traditional and new media. In the third article, Vallance, Murayama and Sperling introduce iFun, a mobile curriculum mapping app which provides information to determine curriculum strengths, gaps, misalignment, and repetition. The article focuses particularly on the development process of the app in a multidisciplinary team. We sincerely hope that the issue will help in keeping you abreast of the current research and developments in Learning Technology. We also would like to take the opportunity to invite you to contribute your own work in this Bulletin, if you are involved in research and/or implementation of any aspect of advanced learning technology. For more details, please refer to the author guidelines at Articles that are not in the area of the special theme are most welcome as well and will be published in the regular article section. 2 Abstract— A challenging and demanding task for the teachers in e-learning environments is the assessment of students' performance. Several learning management systems (LMS) like Moodle offer several assessment tools such as quizzes, scales, " classic " rubrics, etc. In this paper, we present a new cloud based assessment tool, called Learning Analytics Enriched Rubric (LAe-R) which is seamlessly integrated into Moodle. LAe-R is based on the concept of the " enriched rubrics " , which is becoming a popular assessment technique in education. This technique is a blend of marking criteria and grading levels of a " classic/traditional " rubric and performance indicators stemmed from analysis of learners' interaction and learning behavior in a LMS based e-learning environment. Finally, in this paper we present the findings of a case study scenario showed that LAe-R is a very usable tool and is highly appreciated by teachers and students.
On the Evolution of an Optimal Rate of Sexual Reproduction

A model of seasonal selection acting on a prime locus with a modifier locus that determines the sexuality rate of the individual has been proposed. A fluctuating environment was assumed, such that in each generation some catastrophe may occur, in which case the only individuals that survive carry an allele resistant to the current catastrophe on the prime locus and the other individuals are most likely exterminated. Under such selection pressure, the proportion of the whole population that is exterminated depends on the number of possible catastrophes. For three catastrophes, possibly half to two-thirds but no more of the population may die (see Weinshall 1986). We have investigated how this process affects the modifier locus that determines the sexuality rate where, for some $\tau$, a $\tau$-sexual individual is one that produces a proportion $\tau$ of its descendants sexually and the rest asexually. We have shown that, in general, as long as the catastrophes are intensive enough, there is one and only one evolutionarily stable sexuality rate $\tau$, in the sense that a $\tau$-sexual population is stable in the face of any mutant in the modifier locus. Likewise, in any other type of population, a $\tau$-sexual mutant is likely to become fixed even if it appears at first in small frequencies. This stable sexuality rate decreases with the cost of sex and with the duration of the rest period between two consecutive catastrophes. It increases with the number of possible catastrophes. At any rate, if the intensity of a catastrophe is high enough, some positive sexuality rate is always favored over complete asexuality. Moreover, if the cost of sex is not too high (e.g., a sexual descendant demands up to 1.4 times the resources needed for an asexual descendant), the fixed sexuality rate is one; in other words, there is complete sexuality.
Analysis and Compensation of Numerical Damping in a One-Dimensional Aeroelastic Problem

In this paper we present analysis methods for a family of staggered schemes that are used in the numerical simulation of fluid-structure interaction problems. The analysis has two goals: to identify the numerical damping errors, in particular those due to the discrete coupling between the fluid and the structure, and to improve the accuracy of the numerical results by compensating these errors. The first analysis method presented is based on the modified equation of the numerical scheme, and the second method is an eigenvector analysis. Both methods provide corrections of the coupled integration schemes in order to eliminate numerical effects, when the system's frequency is known. Other methods are proposed in order to achieve the same goal when this frequency is not known a priori.
Running Head: Dynamic Seating on Classroom Behavior Dynamic Seating: Effects on Primary School Student Classroom Behavior Dynamic Seating on Classroom Behavior Dynamic Seating: Effects on Primary School Student Classroom Behavior Background

OBJECTIVE: This study analyzed data obtained from two studies on the effects of dynamic METHOD: Through the Sensory Processing Measure (SPM) and student self-report, the effects of traditional desks, Zuma ® chairs, Disc 'O' Sit © cushions, standing desks, FootFidget ® with typical desks, and FootFidget ® with standing desks on 2nd and 4th grade student classroom behavior were analyzed. RESULTS: A repeated measures analysis of variance test revealed significant differences on student work neatness when using traditional desks, Disc 'O' Sit © cushions, Zuma ® chairs, and standing desks. When analyzed as a group, differences were significant for work completion or attention. CONCLUSION: Results from this study suggest that no single type of dynamic seating intervention is universally effective to improve classroom behavior of all students. Thus, dynamic seating interventions should reflect the unique sensory needs of the individual student.