Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Wake-up-word speech recognition application for first responder communication enhancement

Speech Recognition systems, historically, have proven to be cumbersome and insufficiently accurate for a range of applications. The ultimate goal of our proposed technology is to fundamentally change the way current Speech Recognition (SR) systems interact with humans and develop an application that is extremely hardware efficient. Accurate SR and reasonable hardware requirements will afford the average first responder officer, e.g., police officer, a true break-through technology that will change the way an officer performs his duties. The presented technology provides a cutting-edge solution for human-machine interaction through the utilization of a properly solved Wake-Up-Word (WUW) SR problem. This paradigm-shift provides the basis for development of SR systems with truly "Voice Activated" capabilities, impacting all SR based technologies and the way in which humans interact with computers. This shift is a radical departure from the current "push-to-talk" paradigm currently applied to all speech-to-text or speech-recognition applications. To be able to achieve this goal, a significantly more accurate pattern classification and scoring technique is required, which in turn provides SR systems enhanced performance for correct recognition (i.e., minimization of false rejection) as well as correct rejection (i.e., minimization of false acceptance). A revolutionary and innovative classification and scoring technique is used that is a significant enhancement over an earlier method presented in reference [1]. The solution in reference [1] has been demonstrated to meet the stringent requirements of the WUW-SR task. Advanced solution of [1] is a novel technique that is model and algorithm independent. Therefore, it could be used to significantly improve performance of existing recognition algorithms and systems. Reduction of error rates of over 40% are commonly observed for both false rejections and false acceptance. In this paper the architecture of the WUW-SR based system as interface to current SR applications is presented. In this system WUW-SR is used as a gateway for truly Voice Activated applications utilizing the current solution without "push-to-talk" paradigm. The technique has been developed with hardware optimization in mind and therefore has the ability to run as a "background" application on a standard Windows-based PC platform.
Training Future School and Clinical Psychology Leaders in Consultation for Early Childhood Education Settings

ABSTRACT This paper describes how training school and clinical psychology graduate students in early childhood mental health consultation (ECMHC) has the potential to fill gaps in the ECMHC workforce, enhance the capacity of early care and education (ECE) providers to effectively support the mental health needs of children and families, and help ECE programs provide equitable services to children and families. We first present the need for explicit ECMHC training in school and clinical psychology doctoral programs, and how didactic coursework and practica could align with national competencies for high-quality ECMHC. We then illustrate how graduate programs might aspire to greater impact by 1) shifting to promotion and prevention, systems- and organizational-based practice orientations, and equity and cultural competence principles; and 2) leveraging ECE programming to infuse ECMHC practice. We conclude with a call to action for graduate programs to address this need for mental health professionals with specialized ECMHC competencies.
Multi-transceiver free-space-optical structures for mobile ad-hoc networks

Radio frequency-based communication has been the dominant way of wireless networking throughout the last two decades. Although new medium access control (MAC) technologies have been adapted to provide better per-node throughput, we have arrived to a point where the frequency spectrum saturates because of the overwhelmingly high data load caused by ever-increasing usage of multimedia content. To remedy this problem of diminishing end-to-end per-node throughput, we propose a novel “optical antenna” model that is tessellated with multiple free-space-optical (FSO) transmitter and receiver (transceiver) pairs that exploit spatial reuse of the shared medium and are capable of handling extremely high data rates using optical modulation techniques. However, because of the highly directional nature of FSO transceivers, nodes face a serious issue to communicate reliably: line-of-sight (LOS) alignment. First, we propose four different types of FSO antennas, each with a number of optical transceivers. Then, we present an auto-alignment protocol to opportunistically probe and detect available links to neighbors in a mobile setting. Later, we present the propagation model of optical communication for a single link and required simulation extensions to realistically simulate networks of multi-transceiver FSO nodes. Next, we present a set of simulation results that demonstrate the characteristics of an optical wireless link. We evaluate the performance of different node designs under a number of system parameters such as: different environment settings (indoor and outdoor), mobility, visibility, and node density. After this base set of simulations, we identify the major problem with networks of mobile FSO nodes with highly directional multiple transceivers: intermittent connectivity. To remedy this issue, we propose two different buffering schemes: node-wide buffering and per-flow buffering. We, then, present the results of major simulation settings using the two buffering mechanisms. We conclude that such buffering mechanisms are vital for the realization of free-space-optical mobile ad-hoc networks. We also investigate other possible ways to use this directional nature of FSO transceivers and consider efficient relative localization of nodes on a 3 dimensional terrain. Later, we focus on a prototype implementation of such a multi-element FSO antenna and auto-alignment protocol and demonstrate that the proposed system is implementable using off-the-shelf components. We conclude by providing results of various mobility experiments using our prototype.
A Review of the Energy Situation in Turkey

In this review paper general information about the energy situation of Turkey is outlined. The ongoing energy policy of the recent governments of Turkey is given and the regulations that are in place regarding energy are mentioned. Then, a summary about various energy sources such as oil, coal, natural gas, nuclear energy, geothermal energy and wind energy etc. is given. Regarding oil, Turkey's petroleum production and consumption, reserves and refineries are described. Then, similar emphasis is made for coal and thermal-electric power plants. The total electricity transmission grid installed across the country is argued in terms of years and finally environmental concerns and privatization attempts about the energy situation are explained.
The mycological study of conifers in Tbilisi and its surroundings

Extensive microbiological research was carried out in Tbilisi (capital of Georgia) and its surroundings to determine the causes of massive disease and dieback of urban coniferous plantations. The biological material was picked up in June–July 2020 from trees with various degrees of the disease in 42 different localities. 247 conifers (15 species) were examined microbiologically. 1 169 samples of microscopic fungi were isolated. Based on cultural-morphological and molecular-genetic (PCR) studies, 34 strains were identified to the species level, 17 to the genus level, and 1 strain to the family level. Ascomycota were represented by 15 families and 33 species, Basidiomycota by 1 family and 2 species and Zygomycota by 2 families and 2 species. Among the isolated strains, 9 species were clearly dominant and found in all studied coniferous species: Alternaria alternata (Fr.) Keissl, Sphaeropsis sapinea (Fr.) Dyko & B. Button, Epicoccum nigrum Link. , Sordaria lappae Potebnia, Curvularia spp. , Dothiorella spp, Nothophoma quercina (Sydow & P. Sydow) Q. Chen & L. Cai, Phoma odoratissimi Q. Chen, Didymella aliena (Fries) Q. Chen & L. Cai. It may be supposed that massive activation of pathogenic fungi is the result of weakening of plant immunity on the background of increasing abiotic stresses in Tbilisi over the years; which led to an imbalance between latent pathogens and host plants and eventually to the depressing consequences of trees dieback.
NOISE-IMMUNE SILICON NANOWIRE/CMOS HYBRID BIOSENSOR USING TOP-DOWN APPROACH

A noise-immune silicon nanowire (SiNW)/complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) hybrid biosensor is demonstrated by using a conventional wafer-scale top-down technology. We propose a new sensing metric, the direct voltage output of the biosensor combined with the n-/p-type SiNWs and CMOS circuitry, for robust signal processing. Finally, the noise-immune digitized signals from the time-varying pH levels are successfully obtained with low power consumption for mobile diagnosis systems.
Fuzzy Orthogonal Optimization for Determining the Optimal Resistance Spot Welding Parameters

Resistance spot welding (RSW) is one of the most commonly used form of manufacturing process. To efficiently search for the optimal RSW parameters in a new welding power control scheme to obtain the maximum tensile strength of welded joints, a design of experiments (DoE) using orthogonal arrays has been conducted. However the lack of success of conventional DoE is attributed to two facts that the weld quality is quantitatively measured and level-based evaluated, and the welding expulsion compromises the continuity of response surface, which is an underlying hypothesis of normal DoE analysis. Hereby a fuzzy analysis methodology for the experimentation design, referred as fuzzy orthogonal experiments (FOE) in this paper, has been proposed. With the fuzzification of factor levels and experimental objectives, the proposed method is able to explore the results of arbitrarily given factors without additional experiments, and identifies the varying tendency under condition of discontinuity experimental responses. The FOE application for a specifically planned RSW process presents a detailed FOE analyzing procedures, and yields the optimal parameter settings. The case study shows that FOE outperforms the traditional orthogonal DoE for its minimized experiment numbers and robust response tendency analysis.
Intersetorialidade nas Políticas Públicas sobre Drogas: Relações entre Saúde e Assistência Social

As políticas, programas e serviços no campo de álcool e outras drogas devem ocorrer a partir dos princípios da integralidade e intersetorialidade, assegurando a participação social. Nessa direção, o objetivo do presente trabalho foi compreender como se dão as relações entre as redes de saúde e assistência social, com vistas a assegurar ações orientadas pela intersetorialidade no cuidado aos usuários de substâncias psicoativas em um município de Minas Gerais, Brasil. Foram realizadas entrevistas individuais com os gestores destes setores, além de um grupo focal com profissionais que atuam no Sistema Único de Saúde e Sistema Único de Assistência Social. Os resultados foram organizados nos seguintes eixos de análise: (1) (des)articulação da rede: impasse para o trabalho intersetorial; (2) redes em movimento: práticas profissionais no cotidiano de cuidado; (3) tensões entre diferentes atores na rede de cuidado em álcool e drogas. Tais resultados expressam a realidade de grande parte dos municípios brasileiros, em que as ações no âmbito das políticas públicas ocorrem de maneira desarticulada, sendo ainda o princípio da intersetorialidade um horizonte a ser construído.
Case Study on Solutions of Stuck Pipe in HDD Project

Stuck pipes, usually leads to low productivity, frequently occurs in horizontal direction drilling (HDD) projects crossing rivers especially in complexity geo-condition area due to the anisotropic distribution of horizontal geo-condition and misusage of drilling tools. The experience gained while drilling vertical and directional oil wells was used for estimation of stuck pipe with respect to the site condition in Lan-zheng-Yangzi river crossing project. Soil and rock mechanics take a critical role in order to analyze the deep reasons of stuck pipe, and then, solutions were suggested for this project. This paper will focus on the solution of stuck pipe combining wellbore washing with case and pulling method, which was proved feasible for stuck pipe in HDD project.
Mitigation of liquefaction triggering due to bio-gas-induced desaturation using element tests and the strain energy approach

Currently, conventional remediation of liquefaction triggering may have many environmental effects, and this important issue has led researchers to look for more sustainable methods. In this research, one of the new bio-improvement methods (biogas) has been used to generate gas bubbles within a soil, susceptible to liquefaction. Using this method, two bio materials create ammonium ions and carbonate, in which ammonium ion is converted into nitrate due to the presence of bacteria in water, and they are eventually converted to nitrogen gas in an anaerobic condition. The nitrogen bubbles created in water reduce the soil’s degree of saturation, which in effect increases the soil’s resistance to liquefaction occurrence. In this study, two sources of urease enzyme were used to reduce the soil degree of saturation. The effects of various parameters, including the optimum concentration of each substance for optimum time to generate gas bubbles, as well as the effect of the oxygen amount in water were investigated using monotonic triaxial tests. The results illustrated that the addition of the mentioned two substances to the oxab (water with 60 ppm oxygen) or tap water decreased the pore water pressure due to desaturation. Finally, the energy approach was used to test the substance containing the amount of oxab with the highest decrease in pore water generation, here called “optimum selection,” in the cyclic triaxial device, and the results were analyzed to evaluate liquefaction occurrence. The outcome of these results revealed that compared with the strain energy of the non-treated sample, the treated sample had a much higher strain energy; in other words, the treated sample needed a larger amount of loading to trigger liquefaction.
Evapotranspiration Model of Maize Field with Ridge Culture Under Alternate Furrow Irrigation

To precisely predict evapotranspiration of a maize field with ridge culture under alternate furrow irrigation, a modified Shuttleworth–Wallace (S‐W) model was developed by estimating soil surface resistances in irrigated and non‐irrigated zones with a proportional coefficient of the wet area, and calculating canopy resistance with the temperature difference between the upper and lower layer canopy. A field experiment with ridge‐tillage maize with alternate furrow irrigation was carried out in the 2009 and 2010 seasons. Leaf transpiration was measured using a LI‐6400 photosynthesis system, and soil evaporation measured by micro‐lysimeter. Soil moisture, stomatal conductance and meteorological factors were collected to estimate soil surface resistance and canopy resistance. Results show that the relative errors between the simulated and observed values of daily soil evaporation were 0.0–10.3%, while the values were 1.4–7.1% for daily crop transpiration. Moreover, the mean absolute error and the root mean square error for simulating daily soil evaporation was 0.2 and 0.3 mm d‐1, respectively, while the values for daily transpiration estimation were 1.5 and 1.8 mm d‐1, respectively. The index of agreement was greater than 0.785, and the determination coefficient higher than 0.90. Therefore, the modified S‐W model can well predict evapotranspiration of ridge‐culture maize with alternate furrow irrigation. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Integration of blockchain technologies into IoT security

The role of wearable connected devices in healthcare is rapidly gaining importance. Collection of data through these smart devices is a key instrument in advancing biomedical research and in tracking of health indicators of an individual. Highly sensitive medical data requires advanced protection mechanisms to maintain data privacy and validation in a resource-efficient manner to protect it from forgery or unauthorized use. Blockchain is one of those technologies that can be used in various forms to improve data privacy. The proposed research suggests a way to implement blockchain in an ecosystem of medical IoT devices to achieve non-repudiation and better protection of collected data. The architecture assumes that all push and pull operations on IoT data are being logged into two blockchains – public and private. The arrangement allows to have protected track of data enquiries and updates to achieve user confidence and non-repudiation.
A streaming data prediction method based on long short-term memory model and grey model

The popularity of intelligent devices has driven the application and development of Internet of Things (IoT). Data generated by sensor networks are more inclined to be transmitted and processed in the form of streaming data. The appearance of edge computing can effectively relieve the pressure of network bandwidth. However, at the edge of the network, the traffic is often uncertain, which leads to the fluctuation of network bandwidth and load. Therefore, it is of great significance to predict the future traffic according to the previous data transmission volume and current data volume of each node of the network. In order to improve the efficiency of edge unloading and the resource utilization of edge computing server, a method based on long short-term memory (LSTM) model and grey model is proposed to predict the traffic over a period of time, and the device and equipment corresponding to the method are given. The simulation results show that the method can effectively solve the data storage and calculation of IoT terminals, and improve the accuracy of IoT edge traffic prediction.
Ferroresonance study using Galerkin method with pseudo-arclength continuation method

The ferroresonance phenomenon shows at least two different steady states for the same applied voltage, depending on initial conditions. The Galerkin method is well suited for computing periodic steady states, but often shows difficulties in terms of initialization or convergence. To overcome these difficulties, a continuation method solution is proposed: the pseudo-arclength method. This method has been applied to draw certain characteristic curves (flux magnitude versus applied voltage) for the fundamental, third subharmonic, and third harmonic series ferroresonance case. A number of solution branches with the determination of limit points (turning and bifurcation points) are presented. >
The role of dead reckoning and inertial sensors in future general aviation navigation

Possible configurations for a general aviation autonomous navigation system are studied. Doubtless, an advanced GPS receiver is a "must have" system component. GPS has had some outages due to unintentional interference or even intentional jamming and aircraft should be able to navigate through such an event. Natural candidates for GPS backup are inertial sensors, magnetic compass, and air-speed sensors. All these sensors can be calibrated during GPS availability. Moreover, for dead reckoning systems, wind velocity can be estimated as well. This paper presents an original statistical model for wind variations that matches actual data very well. Using this model and a parametric family of inertial measurement sensors, horizontal position errors during a GPS outage are compared for a variety of configurations: a dead reckoning system, stand alone inertial sensors and inertial sensors integrated with the dead reckoning system.
Learning from Project Management Implementation by Applying a Management Innovation Lens

Management innovation is a complex and dynamic process of organizational change that is not well understood. Drawing from the innovation and organizational change literatures, and using project management as an example of one particular form of management innovation, we operationalize this project management innovation process by identifying types of innovation events defined by the pace and scope of the change implemented. Linking innovation events into a journey, we map complex innovation journeys and provide empirically based insight into how value is created and destroyed through the selection and dynamics of innovation events that either support or detract from historical project management trajectories. We conclude by providing practical insights for those who contemplate undertaking such a journey.
Decentralised unit commitment in a market structure: problem formulation and solution advancement

Electricity markets based on power pools, in which the owners of generating units submit their marginal-price schedules, implicitly leave the problem of unit commitment and its associated constraints and costs aside. The paper addresses the unit-commitment problem faced by participants if they are to self-commit their units in a market structure. This strategic problem is formulated through a probabilistic-dynamic-programming model, where the probability of a particular generator being online during a specific market period is set by its owner. The solutions adopted for that problem are Nash equilibria in mixed strategies. The paper presents an example with a small group of generating units, where a comparison is made between the results for the integrated utility and for the market structure. This example is solved making use of a direct Monte Carlo method.
Assessing Trainee Performance in Field and Simulation-based Training: Development and Pilot Study Results

Motorized Patrol Operations (MPO) provide Marine Corps commanders with effective means to watch and protect large areas of operations, as well as the ability to quickly adapt to different mission requirements. Marine leaders conducting a patrol must be vigilant and, above all, well trained, as constant changes in enemy tactics and an increasing need for motorized patrols require MPO leaders to make quick and effective decisions without command guidance. The actions taken by an MPO leader are dictated by split-second analysis and rapid decision making, which are difficult skills to teach and assess. Pre-deployment training takes a crawl-walk-run approach to teaching these skills, frequently involving a combination of classroom instruction, live field exercises and increasingly, simulated exercises. Effective performance assessment and feedback are important to both live and simulated training. Without appropriate performance measures, it is difficult to systematically assess the readiness of trainees and the effectiveness of the training curriculum. Furthermore, without any guiding instructional framework, feedback given to trainees is dependent on the style of the individual instructors. Current methods of performance assessment for MPO still are largely informal in nature, relying on the abilities of instructor/observers to accurately remember or take notes on key aspects of performance. This can result in excluding critical aspects of performance and instructor bias in interpreting the results of the training exercise. In this paper, we describe a recent effort to develop observable performance measures that assess MPO leader performance during both live and simulated training, using the COMPASS Methodology. We also describe the results from a pilot study in which we assess the utility and usability of these performance measures in both simulated and live exercises, as implemented in an observer-based assessment tool. We conclude with a discussion of potential implications of our results and future directions this research may take.