Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Objective quality evaluation of speech band-limited signals

Dependence of objective quality evaluation of speech band-limited signals is experimentally obtained. As part of this task, a comparison of the considered indicators of the speech quality had been made. It is shown that computationally simple indicators, such as segmental SNR (SSNR) and log-spectral distortion (LSD), may not adequately respond to changes in bandwidth. More complex computationally perceptual indicators, such as bark spectral distortion (BSD) and perceptual evaluation of speech quality (PESQ), behave much more correct and, in the end, clarify the real needs of the human auditory system to speech perception. Reference 14, figures 5.
The Output Composition Puzzle-compositional response of GDP to Australian monetary policy

The ‘output composition puzzle’ refers to economy-specific responses of components of GDP to domestic monetary policy. This paper analyses the compositional response of Australian output to domestic monetary policy using Structural Vector Auto Regression (SVAR) models estimated over the period 1986 to 2013 and makes a distinction between the sensitivity of each GDP component, and its contribution to GDP deviation. This study finds that investment is most sensitive (followed by net exports) to unanticipated increases in the cash rate, and also contributes the most to output deviation. However, this study also finds that net exports are a key driver of output reduction in the first year, and then play a role in dampening the investment contraction in subsequent years. This suggests that the exchange rate channel is particularly important for the transmission of Monetary Policy in Australia. In addition, this study finds that within investment, new dwelling investment is the most sensitive to cash rate shocks. However, the rest of investment contributes more to contractions in output. In contrast, durable consumption appears to be slightly more sensitive than its non-durable counterpart in the first year. Interestingly, this study does not show evidence of a statistically significant ‘price puzzle’ or other puzzles encountered in other SVAR studies.
A fast defect detection algorithm for glass tube based on ROI reduction

In this paper, we present an algorithm for defect detection in glass products that allows us to minimize the processing time. The main idea is based on the reduction of the size of the image area to investigate by using the features of glass images. Results on a set of test images show that the proposed solution does not compromise the quality of the detection and allows to achieve an improvement of a factor of 7x compared to the existing solution under particular conditions, with the same accuracy in defect detection
Do consumers expect companies to be socially responsible? The impact of corporate social responsibility on buying behavior

Article history: Received December 5, 2018 Received in revised format January 21, 2019 Accepted January 31 2019 Available online January 31 2019 Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is one of the important factors to increase the customer satisfaction. It is part of the economic, legal and moral exercises of a business element guided towards enhancing the business and societal desires. However, companies are facing various issues while adopting CSR practices, particularly Indonesian logistics companies. Challenges in the way of CSR practices affect adversely on customer satisfaction. Therefore, the objective of the present study is to highlight the role of CSR in customer satisfaction among Indonesian logistics firms. In this study, opinions of logistics customers were gathered through survey questionnaires. All the responses were analyzed through structural equation modeling technique. The findings of the study suggest that logistics companies should focus on two CSR practices, 1) environmental contribution and, 2) human resources. Environmental contribution and human resource promote community development which lead towards higher customer satisfaction. , Canada by the authors; licensee Growing Science 2019 ©
RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN QUASI-LIKELIHOOD METHODS

The term ‘quasi-likelihood’ has been used recently to describe a fairly wide variety of techniques for estimation and inference. This paper focuses on the method introduced by Wedderburn (1974), further developed by McCullagh (1983), but which, as pointed out by Crowder (1987), has roots at least as far back as Williams (1959, §4.5). A brief introduction and overview are given by McCullagh (1986), and more comprehensive treatments with examples of application may be found in McCullagh & Nelder (1989) and McCullagh (1991). The quasi-likelihood method of estimation is probably best viewed as a straightforward extension of generalized least squares. Suppose that y is a n × 1 response vector, assumed to be a realization of a random vector Y with
Capacity Managed Adaptive Videostreaming Based On Peer Cache Adaptation Mechanism

To limit the crash against users demand for smooth video, clear audio, and performance levels specified and guaranteed by contract quality, an innovative approach to face these challenges in streaming media is considered. Here a new idea of boosting the capacity of seed servers to serve more receivers in peer to peer data streaming systems is focused . These servers complement the limited upload capacity offered by peers. The peer requests for a data segment is handled by the server or another peer with a seeding capacity of any finite number with a local cache attached in each peer, which enable the peer to temporarily store the data once requested, so it can be directly fetched by some other node near to the peer without accessing the server there by improving the performance of rendering data. The capacity of the cache in each peer can be designed based on popularity of the segment in cache. Once the peers are cached the peer , data segment request are handled by performing a distributed hash table search strategy, and seed servers boost the capacity of each peer based on utility to cost factor computed each time till it exceeds the seeding capacity. Apart from this selfish peers connected in system can be traced to check for unfaithful peers. This system efficiently allocates the peer resources there by considering the server bandwidth constraints. Keywords—peer to peer streaming systems, resource allocation, scalable video streams
Multi-sensor approach for desertification monitoring: a case study at coastal area of Vietnam

This paper presents the initial findings of an investigation into multi-sensor remote sensing as a cost effective means of monitoring desertification in a semi-arid coastal environment. The project aims to develop a means of providing annually updated information at a range of spatial scales for local government and land use planners. A twin scale approach is employed to facilitate mapping at national and local scale. MODIS and ASAR wide swath data provide a generalized assessment for the whole country, whilst ASTER and ENVISAT ASAR image mode imagery are used to investigate desertification problems at a more detailed level. Three parameters were selected to develop a desertification index: land surface temperature, vegetation index, and soil moisture. The relationship between vegetation density, soil moisture, and surface temperature, and the role of these parameters in the desertification process are under investigation. It has been shown that vegetation index and surface temperature are strongly related to moisture stress and can explain the dynamic of desertification. An index based on relation between vegetation density and surface temperature was tested (Vegetation Temperature Condition Index: VTCI). Soil moisture estimation from delta backscatter (σ – σdry) showed a strong relation with field measurements (r 2 = 0.89) for bare land and sparsely vegetated areas. When the vegetation density is higher (NDVI>0.5), the relation is weak (r 2 = 0.58) therefore soil moisture estimation is not possible.
Design of a Compact Dual Band Patch Antenna with Enhanced Bandwidth on Modified Ground Plane

A Dual band compact and optimized patch antenna with an inverted L slot on the ground plane is presented for X and C band applications. A 10 mm×10 mm ×1.6 mm patch is designed and fabricated on FR4 substrate with co-axial probe fed excitation. The patch resonates in X and C bands due to the shape of the patch as Ψ and by placing an inverted L slot on a ground plane. The antenna is resonating at 5.21 GHz &10.85 GHz giving a return loss of -23.28dB and -24.83dB. In X-band (8GHz-12GHz) the antenna is giving an impedance bandwidth of 2.81 GHz from 10GHz – 12.81GHz with S11<10dB and in C Band it is giving an impedance bandwidth of 590MHz from 4.92GHz – 5.51GHz. A maximum directivity of 5.99dBi and 7.13dBi is obtained in the resonating bands. With a single feed the proposed antennas that are a compact and electrically small size (ESA), exhibit a highly stable radiation pattern which meets the practical requirements for wireless applications. In ESA radiation is due to both patch and ground plane. A comparison study shows that the proposed antenna has improved bandwidth in the desired bands with reduced size. The results show that the antenna can be used for Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) applications.
Effective Collaboration Research Project On IT Solution For Automatic Measure- ment Of Timber Assortment

This paper deals with experience about the research project development with industry for the solution of specific problem. Nowadays most of higher educational institutions are particularly interested in implementing joint projects with industry, sharing experiences and resources to jointly develop new technologies and innovative products. In the University of Latvia within the framework of an effective collaboration projects program, a mutually beneficial shared cost system for the needs of scientists and businessmen’s is possible for solving the tasks of the both partners. Joint Stock Company “Latvia’s State Forests” were interested in development of an automatic volume measurement of logs and wood chip loads on trucks. To solve this problem, a methodology and a technological solution are needed to allow remotely perform volumetric surveys and monitoring. It is significant with the intense development of forest and logging industry. The system consists of measurement arch with video cameras and IT solution video processing and analysis software, a graphical user interface, data communication channels and storage systems. Video information is obtained from cameras that simultaneously acquire raw data from the object of the video processing area both sides and top. The information is transmitted to the external systems via data communication channels. The system will be used for automated volume measurement because in Latvia this process is currently performed by persons who manually measure loaded logs or wood chips on the trucks.
Switching Frequency Selection Technique for Model Predictive Control based Multilevel Inverter

Selection of proper switching frequency of an inverter is very dominant factor for system reliability and performance. Model predictive control (MPC) strategy selects optimal switching state in every sampling instant for the inverter by diminishing cost function. As a result, MPC based multilevel inverter requires higher sampling frequency in comparison with pulse width modulation (PWM) which incurs higher switching frequency. So, optimal selection of switching frequency is required for enhancing system reliability and performance. This paper presents an optimum switching frequency technique for three-level neutral-point clamped (3L-NPC) inverter. The cost function of MPC based 3L-NPC inverter has three control objectives namely current tracking error, neutral point voltage balancing and, the number of switching transitions are included in the cost function with weighting factor. The value of the weighting factor in the cost function is selected by making a trade-off among the current total harmonic distortion (THD), neutral voltage balancing and, the average switching frequency. To evaluate the system performance switching loss is determined at the optimal switching frequency as well as without the switching frequency optimization. General Terms Model predictive control, Neutral point clamped.
Implementation of Competency and Conservation Based Curriculum to Improve Graduates’ Quality to be Competence and Conservation- Minded

This research aims to analyze the implementation of Competency and Conservation Based Curriculum in order to improve the quality of graduates of Economics Faculty of Universitas Negeri Semarang (UNNES). The goal of this study was to provide information, policy, and recommendations to improve the quality of graduates based on lectures behavior. The respondents of this research were lecturers of Faculty of Economics. Research data were collected by using questionnaires. Descriptive statistics and inferential statistical multiple linear regression were employed to analyze data. This study provided empirical support that lecturers’ ability and commitment positively contributed to the implementation of Competency and Conservation Based Curriculum to improve the quality of graduates to be competence and conservation-minded. This study also proved that while lecturers’ ability and commitment play an important role, their commitments do not affect the implementation of Competency and Conservation Based Curriculum. Based on the results of this study, it is recommended that lecturers’ ability to implement the Competency and Conservation Based Curriculum needs to be improved. Workshops and training should be given to lecturers in order to help them to create learning apparatus such as syllabus, lesson plans and teaching materials, as well as the evaluation of Competency and Conservation Based Curriculum.
An Optimization Approach for Designing Fluid Flow Fields

In entertainment applications, such as computer games and movies, animators are often requested to synthesize a realistic fluid flow with a particular behavior. This paper presents a method to help animators meet such requirements. Our method enables the user to design a realistic fluid flow. In order to generate the desired fluid flow in a realistic form, the flow is calculated by solving a minimization problem subject to user-specified constraints and the Navier-Stokes equations. The minimization problem is efficiently solved by representing the flow field by a linear combination of orthogonal basis functions. Consequently, the fluid flow is obtained by simple matrix operations.
Blind Source Separation: A Novel Range Ambiguity Suppression Method in Multichannel SAR

In this paper, we introduce a blind source separation (BSS) method as a novel approach to suppress range ambiguities in Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR). The method is described and applied to a SAR image with simulated range ambiguity. Statistical analysis of the input image data is done to determine suitability of BSS implementation. The result is analyzed and there is a significant improvement in recovering the original image. The paper shows that the BSS method is promising enough to be further extended to more realistic range ambiguous SAR scenario.
Salient Object Detection via Combining Duplex Features

The salient object detection aims to predict the most eye-catching objects in an image. The existing salient object detection methods only rely on the single color difference and cannot predict the complete results. In this paper, a novel method is proposed for salient object detection. The proposed method combines SLIC super-pixel segmentation and K-Means clustering algorithm to extract image features. Firstly, SLIC segmentation is performed to obtain the color contrast feature map based on the color difference between the pixel blocks. Secondly, K-Means cluster is carried out according to the color feature. After the K-Means cluster, several classes are obtained by features in LAB space. Then, the initial color space distribution feature map of each class is calculated according to the spatial distribution compactness and the color distribution uniformity. Considering that the clustering results do not contain spatial information, this paper maps the clustered results into the super-pixel segmented pixel blocks to further optimize the color space distribution feature map. Finally, the ultimate saliency map is acquired by fusion the color contrast feature map and the color contrast feature map. Extensive experiments are conducted on ECSSD dataset and the experiment results show the proposed method can achieve state-of-the-art performance.
Thesis Proposal: Understanding Users' Online Privacy Expectations

Online privacy notices are supposed to act as the primary mechanism to inform users about the data practices of online services. In practice, users ignore notices as they are too long and complex to read. Instead, users rely on expectations to determine which sites they feel comfortable interacting with. Mismatches between actual practices and users’ expectations may result in users exposing themselves to unanticipated privacy risks. One approach for mitigating these risks is to highlight elements of privacy notices that users do not likely expect. However, to do so, we have to first identify (a) users expectations and (b) mismatches between users’ expectations and data practices of online services. As part of this thesis, I propose to address these two challenges. First, to understand users’ online privacy expectations, I borrow and apply the concept of different types of expectations from non-privacy domain to privacy domain. I distinguish between two types of privacy expectations: Desired expectation (“should”) and Likelihood expectation (“will”). I elicit both types of expectations via user studies. I discuss the importance of distinguishing between multiple types of expectations. I study how expectations vary by contextual factors (e.g. website type) and user characteristics (e.g. privacy knowledge and concern). Second, I present an approach for identifying mismatches between users’ expectations and data practices of online services, and investigate the impact of such mismatches on users’ online privacy. I identify different types of mismatches that result from Desired and Likelihood expectation types. I study how mismatches vary by contextual factors and user characteristics. Lastly, based on the understanding gained from studying expectations and mismatches, I design and test simplified privacy notices. I study whether simplified notices that highlight mismatches in users’ expectations can be shorter and easier to comprehend for users. I also discuss the impact of the results on public policy management.
Bringing Women to the Table: Women’s Inclusion in the Northern Ireland Peace Process

In the past century, conflict resolution has increasingly shifted towards negotiated agreements. The field of inclusive security claims to improve the durability of agreements, however, women in particular are typically excluded from negotiations. There is significant research documenting the positive influence of the inclusion of civil society on agreement durability, and there is a substantial body of literature theorizing that women’s inclusion in peace negotiations contributes to the durability of the agreement. However, because of the extreme rarity of cases of women’s inclusion, there is little documentation of this theory in practice. My research seeks to explore and demonstrate the effect of women’s inclusion on the durability of two rounds of negotiations of the Northern Ireland Troubles: the 1973 Sunningdale Communiqué and the 1998 Belfast Good Friday Agreement. I use structured, focused case comparison (SFCC) to conduct a within-case study with an aim for providing empirical evidence for the inclusion of women, in connection with other forms of inclusion, disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration (DDR), and international mediation. The further assessment of women’s inclusion in the negotiations could support the inclusion of women in future peace processes and highlight some of the obstacles women face in getting to the table.
Search Method for Parallel Texts Using N-gram

We have collected a lot of medical parallel texts with translations to support multilingual medical interpretation services for foreign visitors. When we retrieve parallel texts, we face a problem concerning narrowing the search result and ambiguous expression of parallel texts. We propose a parallel text retrieval method based on similarity measure using N-gram, and show its performance. This method provides an advantage that we can utilize the search inputs as cues to collect new parallel texts.
The complexities of the Welsh copula

The Welsh copula has a complex set of forms reflecting agreement, tense, polarity, the distinction between main and complement clauses, the presence of a gap as subject or complement, and the contrast between predicative and equative interpretations. An HPSG analysis of the full set of complexities is possible given a principle of blocking, whereby constraints with more specific antecedents take precedence over constraints with less specific antecedents, and a distinction between morphosyntactic features relevant to syntax and morphosyntactic features relevant to morphology.
Exploring the recontextualisation of the discourse of geography in textbooks

The review of textbook studies shows that cursory attention has been given to the representation of the nature and structure of the parent discipline in textbooks. This study focuses on how the discourse of geography, is recontextualised in four grade 10 textbooks: two state approved textbooks that support the new curriculum (CAPS), an older pre-1994 textbook and a UK textbook. The analysis has been framed, at a macro-theoretical level, by Bernstein’s concept of recontextualisation and Bourdieu’s theory of symbolic forms. At the micro analytical level the discourse of Geography as conceptualised by Wignell, Martin and Eggins (1993) has been drawn on. A qualitative approach enabled in-depth multidimensional analysis that uncovered explicit and implicit similarities and differences in the texts. This paper articulates and illustrates an analytical framework for analysing the representation of the knowledge structure of geography in textbooks. It illustrates this framework by analysing the same sub-section: the structure and composition of the atmosphere, in the texts. Data analysis shows that the textbooks recontextualise the discourse of Geography differently. Of the two textbooks developed to support CAPS, one recontextualises the discourse of Geography in a more coherent and differentiated way than the other. It is argued that greater divergence from the discourse of Geography increases possibility of gaps in knowledge and understanding. On the whole the paper points to paying attention in textbook studies to how the nature and structure of the parent discipline is recontextualised in textbooks.
A Cd(II) Coordination Polymer Based on Mixed Ligands: Synthesis, Crystal Structure, and Properties

A new coordination polymer, namely, [Cd(L)(frda)(H2O)]·0.5L·H2O (1) was synthesized by hydrothermal reaction based on mixed multi-N donor 1-(4-(1H-imidazol-5-yl) phenyl)-1H-1,2,4-triazole (L) and O-donor 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid ligands (H2frda) with CdCl2·2.5H2O. Compound 1 was characterized by single-crystal x-ray diffraction, elemental analysis, and IR spectroscopy. In 1, both the multi-N donor and O-donor frda2− ligands act as linear two-connectors to bridge Cd(II) atoms, forming a two-dimensional (2D) layer. Interestingly, the parallel 2D layers stack in an AAA···mode, and the infinite one-dimensional (1D) channels formed along the a-axis direction, where the uncoordinated L molecules were embedded in the void. Furthermore, the weak interactions including the rich hydrogen bonding and π−π stacking interactions progress the 2D structure into a three-dimensional (3D) supramolecular polymer. Diffuse reflectance spectra and the luminescent property were also investigated.