Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Atherapy System for Articulation Disorder Correction

There is a need for support system to provide better articulation instruction and practice in special education classes for children with articulation disorder. MATLAB, a multi-paradigm numerical computing environment which allows matrix manipulations, plotting of functions and data, implementation of algorithms etc. is a tool used to achieve the aim and objectives of our project. The main aim of our project is to encourage students to achieve one of the primary milestone articulations of phonemes. To provide training in articulating phonemes by continual practice through MATLAB and to promote interactive learning method during therapy sessions are few prime objectives. This system would be very user friendly for therapist during the therapy session as they provide visual cues. These visual cues will encourage articulation disabled kid to learn in a fun way. Whole process was divided into three phases. The first phase was to obtain the reliable and efficient microphone based on characteristics. Where, the phonemes are recorded using different set of microphones; each microphone’s frequency response characteristic was analyzed and appropriate microphone was selected for articulation therapy. Second, the data base (Reference) was created using the recordings from the suitable microphone that was articulated by the children (7-8 years) without any articulation disorder. Finally phonemes are recorded from articulation disordered children (7-9years) and compared the frequency response characteristics with that of the reference. On recording the speech sounds and comparing the characteristics with the help of MATLAB tool, suggestions will be given to correct the articulation through visual cues. Using those suggestions the therapist can guide the children with articulation disorder to correct their articulation. Keywords—Articulation disorder; Normatives; Visual cues;
Distributed Java Virtual Machine

Because Java has a built-in support for multi-threading and thread-synchronisation, parallel Java applications that are traditionally executed on a single Java Virtual Machine (JVM) can be constructed easily. Because of the emergence of cluster computing that are a cost-effective substitute for multi-core computers, there have been different approaches for developing a distributed runtime environment to run Java application in parallel. In this thesis we added a distributed runtime system to an open-source JVM called Jikes Research Virtual Machine to provide a true parallel execution environment for multi-threaded Java applications within a cluster of workstations. To achieve transparency, we implemented a virtual global object space to hide the underlying distribution from the programmer and the application. Supplementarily, we added mechanisms for accessing objects in this global memory space, thread synchronization, distributed classloading, distributed scheduling and finally for I/O redirection and evaluated the overhead of these mechanisms with several microbenchmarks. The result is a prototype of a distributed Java Virtual Machine running as part of the JikesRVM which offers a wide scope for extensions. By embedding the virtual object heap into the JVM and making the JVM aware of the cluster, the distributed runtime system benefits from the abundant runtime information of the JVM which gives the opportunity for further optimizations.
Neuro-fuzzy system in sonographical image enhancement

Two individual Neuro-Fuzzy systems are used to enhance sonographical images. This system reduces noise and detects edge in sonographical images sequentially. Noise reduction and edge detection are two different Genetic-Neuro-Fuzzy systems. Furthermore the noise reduction and edge detection are opposite algorithms, so these operations can't be in one system. Although noise reduction is an edge preserving and edge detection is noise free algorithm. Noise reduction is a low pass filter and edge detection is a high pass filter, So this system is composite of two independent serial systems. Noise reduction filter is 4 layers ANFF network and edge detection system is competitive network. Results of this system are compared with combination of weighted adaptive median filter and Canny edge detector. Results show that the performance of this system is the better than median-Canny system.
Interfaces for television content sharing and annotation

The ways of television consumption and production are changing significantly, with the viewers moving away from the traditional linear model. The various devices for accessing content have a significant role in these changes and suggest new paradigms of access. Social experience has also changed and takes on new forms molded by technology. Content sharing and production from users are some of the trends that globally influence how we relate to audiovisual content. Therefore the aim is to develop ways to access television content, that allow commenting and sharing, through multimodal annotations. These annotations include text, sketches, handwriting and images. Our solution provides users a way to watch and annotate television content, in real-time and in a collaborative environment. Using a mobile device, users can annotate content together with other users, while watching both content and annotations on a TV. These annotations can also be shared through social networks or saved on other platforms. Finally, the system also uses content provided by the users to search and link to television content.
The Effect of Physician Supply on the Mix of Generalist and Specialist Services Used

Variations in physician supply and how this impacts a patient’s access and use of physician services remains a concern for many health care systems. This paper asks how the supply of physicians affects both the number of visits and the dollar value of services received from GPs and specialists? Results indicate the supply effect shows a 10% increase in GP supply is associated with an increase in GP use (from 0.9% to 1.2%) and a decrease in the use of specialist (from 1.0% to 1.3%). An increase in specialist supply of 15% is associated with a decrease in the use of GPs (from 0.6% to 0.8%) and an increase in the use of specialists (2.1%). The results suggest that unless patients face an absolute dearth of physicians, concerns about variations in physician supply are mitigated, as patients tend to substitute one physician type for the other.
Strategizing: A Meeting of Methods

This paper discuses a bridging technique of the different perspectives on modeling strategic reasoning, namely, experiments, logics and computational cognitive models. Empirical studies describe human strategic behavior. Logical studies on one hand facilitate the study of properties of such reasoning processes, on the other hand pave the way for implementation through formal languages. Computational cognitive models explore the essence of cognitive functionalities in the realm of strategic reasoning. Bridging these methodologies bring out a fresh perspective in terms of integrating different aspects of strategizing under one common standpoint.
XSL Transformations (XSLT) Version 1.0

This specification defines the syntax and semantics of XSLT, which is a language for transforming XML documents into other XML documents. XSLT is designed for use as part of XSL, which is a stylesheet language for XML. In addition to XSLT, XSL includes an XML vocabulary for specifying formatting. XSL specifies the styling of an XML document by using XSLT to describe how the document is transformed into another XML document that uses the formatting vocabulary. XSLT is also designed to be used independently of XSL. However, XSLT is not intended as a completely general-purpose XML transformation language. Rather it is designed primarily for the kinds of transformations that are needed when XSLT is used as part of XSL. Status of this document This document has been reviewed by W3C Members and other interested parties and has been endorsed by the Director as a W3C Recommendation. It is a stable document and may be used as reference material or cited as a normative reference from other documents. W3C's role in making the Recommendation is to draw attention to the specification and to promote its widespread deployment. This enhances the functionality and interoperability of the Web. The list of known errors in this specification is available at http://www.w3.org/1999/11/REC-xslt-19991116errata. Comments on this specification may be sent to xsl-editors@w3.org; archives of the comments are available. Public discussion of XSL, including XSL Transformations, takes place on the XSL-List mailing list. The English version of this specification is the only normative version. However, for translations of this document, see http://www.w3.org/Style/XSL/translations.html. A list of current W3C Recommendations and other technical documents can be found at http://www.w3.org/TR. This specification has been produced as part of the W3C Style activity. ii XML to PDF by RenderX XEP http://www.renderx. com, XSL to PDF and XSL to Postscript formatter
A Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Study on the Classification of Multiple Cognitive Tasks

This study examined a method for discriminating multiple cognitive tasks with single-trial classification with the goal of developing a brain-computer interface with which more information is reflected with near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). NIRS has a slightly higher spatial resolution compared to that of electroencephalography (EEG), and it may be able to better delineate the functional separation within the brain compared to EEG. Moreover, NIRS may increase the information reflected by the brain-computer interface and reduce the communication-of-information time. Therefore, we proposed a method for selecting features that was based on Weber's law in the frequency domain, and this study aimed to improve the classification accuracy. We conducted experiments with 3 kinds of cognitive tasks (specifically, mental arithmetic task, Stroop task, and graphic task) that were performed at random and measured the brain activity of the participants with NIRS during the experiment. From this experimental data, the features were sorted out with the proposed method. Then, we examined the 2-class classification accuracy with a support vector machine with features that were extracted by the proposed method. We then examined the 3-class classification accuracy, and the results suggested the potential for discriminating multiple cognitive tasks with a brain-computer interface. Index Terms—BCI (Brain Computer Interface), NIRS (Near- infrared Spectroscopy), Speller, Cognitive Tasks
ObsPy: A Python toolbox for Seismology, a Data Center Perspective

ObsPy: The Python toolbox for seismology (http://www.obspy.org) aims at filling the gap between interactive analysis and automatic data acquisition systems. Automatic batch analysis of continuous data streams or feeding a so far unknown formatted data stream into an acquisition system are two possible applications. Python provides a platform independent, free and open source interpreter language including a large collection of scientific open-source modules thus allowing rapid development of prototype code. ObsPy extends Python by providing the seismologist with basic seismological routines, e.g. MiniSEED, SAC, GSE2 read and write support, various pickers, filters, instrument correction, extended display routines. The data itself is stored in numpy.ndarrays allowing powerful numerical array-programming modules like NumPy (http://numpy.scipy.org) or SciPy (http://scipy.org) to be used. 1 Unified Read and Write Support ObsPy provides unified access to read and write seismograms formated as GSE2, MiniSEED, SAC, SEISAN, Seismic Handler formats Q and ASCII. In this respect all data are saved into a stream object. >>> from obspy . core import read >>> st = read ( "my_mseed_file" ) >>> st . wr i t e ( "my_sac_file " , format="SAC" ) Simple MiniSEED to SAC Converter The stream object consists of multiple trace objects itself. Thus it is similar to a MiniSEED or GSE2 volume where multiple data records are stored in a single file. These separate data records are each one trace object. The header attributes of the first trace (tr = st[0]) can be addressed by the tr.stats object (e.g. tr.stats.sampling_rate). The attribute tr.data contains the data as a numpy.ndarray object (array-programming). Thus the data can be further processed by standard Python, NumPy, SciPy, matplotlib or ObsPy routines or easily passed via the python ctypes library to any shared C or FORTRAN library. O bs P y miniseed gse2 sac seisan sh-Q sh-ascii miniseed gse2 sac sh-Q sh-ascii 2 ArcLink, Fissures, Seishub The ArcLink module makes it possible to automatically access the data via ArcLink or for testing the servers functionality. The following example shows how to retrieve data via ArcLink. >>> from obspy . core import UTCDateTime >>> from obspy . a r c l i n k . c l i e n t import Cl i en t >>> >>> c l i e n t = Cl i en t ( "webdc . eu" , 18001) >>> s t a r t = UTCDateTime( "2009−08−20 04 : 03 : 12 " ) >>> st = c l i e n t . getWaveform ( "BW" , "RJOB" , "" , "EH∗" , s t a r t − 3 , s t a r t + 15) In a similar way ObsPy provides an interface to the database SeisHub (an in house development [1]) and to the FISSURES protocol (DHI) of IRIS. ObsPy — Processing SeisHub ArcLink Fissures/DHI
Computational Chemistry Studies on Biological Systems

The current research project was developed in two lines within the main framework of the application of computational chemistry approaches on studies of biological systems. The first line, carried in the group of Theoretical Chemistry of the University of Porto, is related to the area of drug design and includes two parts of the project. The first part aimed at providing insights for the design of novel drugs for treatment of hypertension. Here, the model of the target angiotensin II receptor type 1 (AT1) receptor, which is involved in the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone-system (RAAS) cascade, was modelled by homology modelling approach. The binding poses of the natural substrate Angiotensin II, peptide hormone that causes vasoconstriction, to the created model of the target were identified by molecular docking study. The molecular docking protocol was also employed to dock several AT1 antagonists to the modelled target. The second part aimed to perform preparation of the enzyme macrocyclase PatG (PatGmac) system for the study of its catalytic mechanism. The system was created on the base of X-ray structure and fully optimised by the hybrid QM/MM ONIOM method. In future, it would be useful for production of potential anticancer molecules "patellamides”, linear peptides cyclised by this enzyme. The second line of the project, carried in the group of Theory of Condensed Matter of the University of Groningen, is related to the study of protein conformational changes by means of two-dimensional infrared spectroscopy (2DIR). Theoretical methods capable of detailed simulation of two-dimensional spectra of full proteins from molecular dynamics trajectories have been applied for the proteins to test the method on big biological systems.
House prices in Portugal - what happened since the crisis?

House prices in Portugal have been increasing in the recent past, following a relatively inexpressive evolution during the 1990s and early 2000s. Prior to the crisis and despite the cyclical nature of residential real estate markets most models did not consider the need for breaks. This article analyses the factors driving house price movements in Portugal, with main emphasis on the crisis and post-crisis periods. First we analyze the relationship between a set of important fundamental variables and house price growth and second, we investigate if there have been any changes in the relevance of the fundamental variables. Finally, we determine whether house prices are likely to increase in the near future and we observe that the estimated probability is high. (JEL: C12, C22)
Spousal and parental roles among female student populations in 55 low- and middle-income countries

This paper exploits a vast database of international census and survey microdata to examine the relationship between school enrolment on the one hand and the status of being in a union or a parent on the other among female adolescents and young adults in low- and middle-income countries. Our analysis is based on widespread evidence for 55 countries among 15 to 24 year-old females. High shares of student population are strongly correlated with low shares in spousal and parental roles between countries. We show that this relationship is driven by the fact that students are less likely to be in spousal and parental roles compared to non-students. Nevertheless, as we compare older ages, the share of students reported as spouses and/or mothers increases. The prevalence of spousal and parental roles among the student population is correlated to the overall levels of spouses and mothers in the total population, even when controlling for the level of school currently attained.
Patch-Based Progressive 3D Point Set Upsampling

We present a detail-driven deep neural network for point set upsampling. A high-resolution point set is essential for point-based rendering and surface reconstruction. Inspired by the recent success of neural image super-resolution techniques, we progressively train a cascade of patch-based upsampling networks on different levels of detail end-to-end. We propose a series of architectural design contributions that lead to a substantial performance boost. The effect of each technical contribution is demonstrated in an ablation study. Qualitative and quantitative experiments show that our method significantly outperforms the state-of-the-art learning-based and optimazation-based approaches, both in terms of handling low-resolution inputs and revealing high-fidelity details.
Synccharts: A visual representation of reactive behaviors

This report is an introduction to SyncCharts (Synchronous Charts) a new graphical representation of reactive behaviors based on the synchronous paradigm. Syntactically this model is close to Statecharts and Argos. It o ers enhanced preemption capabilities. Its semantics is formally de ned and any Synchronous Charts can be translated into an equivalent Esterel program. SyncCharts combines state-oriented descriptions, hierarchy and powerful preemption mechanisms. It is fully compatible with the imperative synchronous language Esterel and it encourages programming with both textual and graphical reprensentations.
Ecocultural Theory as a Context for the Individual Family Service Plan

Although PL 99-457 mandates a family focus to early intervention, there is a limited theoretical and empirical base to guide implementation of the new law. Ecocultural theory, which considers the sociocultural environment of the child and family, is proposed as a framework for designing intervention. To illustrate this theory, case material is selected from two ongoing longitudinal studies of families with young children with developmental delays, etiologies unknown or uncertain. Several aspects of ecocultural theory are used to illustrate its usefulness for intervention: a social constructivist perspective; the interconnected and hierarchical nature of the ecocultural niche; and the use of family-level outcomes as well as individual child outcomes. Implications for developing Individual Family Service Plans are discussed.
Loneliness and all-cause mortality in community-dwelling elderly Singaporeans

BACKGROUND: Loneliness is a significant risk factor for mortality among older adults. There are several pathways through which loneliness may operate to increase mortality risk, ranging from biological responses and individual perceptions to social interactions and environmental factors. The proportion of single older (65+) person households has doubled in the last ten years in Singapore. Yet little is understood about the relationship between loneliness, social isolation, and mortality risk among older adults, in Singapore and in Asian contexts in general. Objective: To assess the impact of loneliness and social isolation on the risk of all-cause mortality over a four-year period, controlling for demographic characteristics and health status at baseline. Methods: We used data from a longitudinal survey of community-dwelling Singaporean elderly (N=4,522). Loneliness was assessed using the UCLA three-item loneliness scale. Unadjusted and adjusted Cox proportional hazards regressions were used to estimate mortality risk. Results: In the final adjusted model, living arrangements and social networks outside the household were not associated with all-cause mortality. Loneliness increased the risk of all-cause mortality; those sometimes lonely and mostly lonely were 44.0% (p=0.005) and 39.0% (p=0.059) more likely to die compared to those not lonely. Conclusions: Loneliness is associated with higher mortality risks among Singaporean elderly. Mental health among the older population is a major public health concern and community interventions are needed to more efficiently identify, raise awareness of, and increase care for the lonely elderly in the community. Language: en
Performance analysis of antipodal modulated direct sequence ultra-wide bandwidth

Ultra-wide bandwidth radio systems are considered as proper candidate of multi access wireless communication due to its high bit rate and low power consumption. In these systems, data is transmitted through extremely narrow pulses with duration less than 1ns instead of sinusoidal carriers. In this paper the direct sequence ultra-wide bandwidth systems with antipodal modulation are analyzed. The performance of these systems in the dense multiple access fading environments is studied and simulated using PRAKE (Partial RAKE) receiver. Results show that direct sequence ultra-wide bandwidth systems can reach error probability of 10 even in the strong fading channels and the performance of these systems can be ameliorated up to 12dB if the branches of RAKE receiver be increased to 10.
theory memory reconsolidation understood and misunderstood

Memory reconsolidation is the brain’s natural, neural process that can produce transformational change: the full, permanent elimination of an acquired behavior or emotional response. This article identifies and examines 10 common misconceptions regarding memory reconsolidation research findings and their translation into clinical practice. The research findings are poised to drive significant advancements in both the theory and practice of psychotherapy, but these benefits depend on an accurate understanding of how memory reconsolidation functions, and misconceptions have been proliferating. This article also proposes a unified model of reconsolidation and extinction phenomena based on the brain’s well-established requirement of memory mismatch (prediction error) for reconsolidation to be triggered. A reinterpretation of numerous studies published without reference to the mismatch requirement shows how the mismatch requirement and mismatch relativity (MRMR) model can account for diverse empirical findings, reveal unrecognized dynamics of memory change, and generate predictions testable by further research.
Machine Learning in Automated Text Categorization: a Bibliography

ATC is the activity of automatically building, by means of machine learning techniques, automatic text classifiers, i.e. systems capable of assigning to a text document one or more thematic categories from a predefined set. Everyone is welcome to let me know either additional references or corrections and additions (e.g. URLs and abstracts, where they are not already present) to the existing ones. In general, only references specific to ATC are considered pertinent to this bibliography; in particular, references that are considered pertinent are: