Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Variational Bayes logistic regression as regularized fusion for NIST SRE 2010

Fusion of the base classifiers is seen as a way to achieve high performance in state-of-the-art speaker verification systems. Typically, we are looking for base classifiers that would be complementary. We might also be interested in reinforcing good base classifiers by including others that are similar to them. In any case, the final ensemble size is typically small and has to be formed based on some rules of thumb. We are interested to find out a subset of classifiers that has a good generalization performance. We approach the problem from sparse learning point of view. We assume that the true, but unknown, fusion weights are sparse. As a practical solution, we regularize weighted logistic regression loss function by elastic-net and LASSO constraints. However, all regularization methods have an additional parameter that controls the amount of regularization employed. This needs to be separately tuned. In this work, we use variational Bayes approach to automatically obtain sparse solutions without additional cross-validation. Variational Bayes method improves the baseline method in 3 out of 4 sub-conditions. Index Terms: logistic regression, regularization, compressed sensing, linear fusion, speaker verification
Scaling Issues in Faculty Evaluations

148 students were asked to evaluate particular survey questions with scales that varied in number of scale points, type of labeling, and labeling of anchors only vs all scale points. No significant difference was found between variations on 4-and 5-point scales, so these data were collapsed. Analysis indicated that students generated scale-point exemplars significantly better for 4-point scales (96.7%) than for 5-point (87.8%) and 10-point (79.3%) scales. These results are discussed with respect to the administration of student evaluations and the care required in selecting a scale type and interpreting the subsequent outcomes.
Enriched $K$ -Tier HetNet Model to Enable the Analysis of User-Centric Small Cell Deployments

One of the principal underlying assumptions of current approaches to the analysis of heterogeneous cellular networks (HetNets) with random spatial models is the uniform distribution of users independent of the base station (BS) locations. This assumption is not quite accurate, especially for user-centric capacity-driven small cell deployments where low-power BSs are deployed in the areas of high user density, thus inducing a natural correlation in the BS and user locations. In order to capture this correlation, we enrich the existing $K$ -tier Poisson point process (PPP) HetNet model by considering user locations as Poisson Cluster Process with the BSs at the cluster centers. In particular, we provide the formal analysis of the downlink coverage probability in terms of a general density function describing the locations of users around the BSs. The derived results are specialized for two cases of interest: 1) Thomas cluster process, where the locations of the users around BSs are Gaussian distributed and 2) Matérn cluster process, where the users are uniformly distributed inside a disc of a given radius. Tight closed-form bounds for the coverage probability in these two cases are also derived. Our results demonstrate that the coverage probability decreases as the size of user clusters around BSs increases, ultimately collapsing to the result obtained under the assumption of PPP distribution of users independent of the BS locations when the cluster size goes to infinity. Using these results, we also handle mixed user distributions consisting of two types of users: 1) uniformly distributed and 2) clustered around certain tiers.
Viewing the Journey of Explanatory Style: A Bystander's Report

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EFFECT OF POLYMYXIN ON THE LYSIS OF NEISSERIA CATARRHALIS BY LYSOZYME

In a previous communication (Warren et al., 1955) it was noted that gram-negative bacteria pretreated with heat or acetone were lysed by lysozyme. Since the bacteria studied were not sensitive to the enzyme when conventional methods were used, the possibility was considered that this pretreatment made the substrate in the cell more accessible to the action of the lysozyme by the removal or destruction of a barrier constituent which normally prevents the enzyme from attacking its specific substrate. In order to examine the factors which influence the lysis of gram-negative bacteria by lysozyme, an alteration in the cell surface by methods other than treatment with heat or acetone was needed. It was observed that cells of Neisseria catarrhalis when pretreated with polymyxin B sulfate (Pfizer) were readily lysed by lysozyme. Since polymyxin is not only bactericidal to gram-negative bacteria but aqueous solutions of the antibiotic are markedly surface active (Newton, 1953) and possess the ability to alter cell permeability (Newton, 1954), it was considered of interest to study the relationship between polymyxin activity and lysis of bacterial cells by lysozyme. Electron microscopic observations were also made on the effect of polymyxin and lysozyme on the cell structure of N. catarrhalis.
Interestingness measures for association rules within groups

The work described in this paper addresses the study of association rules within groups of individuals. The analysis of the characteristics and the behavior of the individuals belonging to such groups in a given database is powerful in practice, since it provides a mechanism to deal with groups rather than isolated individuals. In this paper, we define group association rules and we study interestingness measures for them. These interestingness measures can be used to rank, not only groups of individuals, but also rules within each group. We also compare the rankings provided by those different interestingness measures in order to determine which one provides a better alternative depending on the kind of situations we wish to highlight within large databases with many different and overlapping groups of individuals.
WITCH: A NEW APPROACH TO WEB SPAM DETECTION

Jacob AbernethyUniversity of California, Berkelyjake@cs.berkeley. eduOlivier ChapelleYahoo! Research, Santa Clarachap@yahoo-inc.comCarlos CastilloYahoo! Research, Barcelonachato@yahoo-inc.comApril 30, 2008ABSTRACT: We present an algorithm, witch, that learns to detect spam hosts or pageson the Web. Unlike most other approaches, it simultaneously exploits the structure of theWeb graph as well as page contents and features. The method is ecient, scalable, andprovides state-of-the-art accuracy on a standard Web spam benchmark.1
Nocturnal blood pressure in untreated essential hypertensives

Abstract Aim. Prevalence, correlates and reproducibility of nocturnal hypertension (NH) as defined by fixed cut-off limits in uncomplicated essential hypertension are poorly defined. Therefore, we assessed such issue in a cohort of 658 untreated hypertensives. Methods. All subjects underwent procedures including cardiac and carotid ultrasonography, 24-h urine collection for microalbuminuria, ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM), over two 24-h periods within 4 weeks. NH was defined according to current guidelines (i.e. night-time blood pressure, BP ≥ 120/70 mmHg) and non-dipping status as a reduction in average systolic (SBP) and diastolic BP (DBP) at night lower than 10% compared with daytime values. Results. A total of 477 subjects showed NH during the first and second ABPM period; 62 subjects had normal nocturnal BP (NN) in both ABPM sessions. Finally, 119 subjects changed their pattern from one ABPM session to the other. Overall, 72.5% of subjects had reproducible NH, 18% variable pattern (VP) and 9.5% reproducible NN. In the same group, figures of reproducible non-dipping, variable dipping and reproducible dipping pattern were 24%, 24% and 52%, respectively. Among NH patients, 56% of whom were dippers, subclinical cardiac organ damage was more pronounced than in their NN counterparts. Conclusions. In uncomplicated essential hypertensives, NH is a more frequent pattern than non-dipping; NH is associated with organ damage, independently of dipping/non-dipping status. This suggests that options aimed at restoring a blunted nocturnal BP fall may be insufficient to prevent cardiovascular complications unless night-time BP values are fully normalized
New fundamental properties on a secret-key cryptosystem under guessing secrecy criteria

In this paper we consider a secret-key cryptosystem with a wiretapper who tries to guess the plaintext corresponding to a transmitted ciphertext. We discuss several criteria of secrecy based on the probability of successful guess of a plaintext or a key from a ciphertext. We characterize fundamental properties of a secret-key cryptosystem satisfying such criteria. In particular, we show that in any secret-key cryptosystem the probability of the successful guess of a plaintext is always greater than or equal to that of a key under certain conditions. In addition, we point out the existence of a secret-key cryptosystem such that partial information of a plaintext is leaking even if the guessing secrecy criterion introduced by Alimomeni and Safavi-Naini is satisfied.
Tagging and Linking Web Forum Posts

We propose a method for annotating post-to-post discourse structure in online user forum data, in the hopes of improving troubleshooting-oriented information access. We introduce the tasks of: (1) post classification, based on a novel dialogue act tag set; and (2) link classification. We also introduce three feature sets (structural features, post context features and semantic features) and experiment with three discriminative learners (maximum entropy, SVM-HMM and CRF). We achieve above-baseline results for both dialogue act and link classification, with interesting divergences in which feature sets perform well over the two sub-tasks, and go on to perform preliminary investigation of the interaction between post tagging and linking.
New Version of the TEN Test With Calibrations in dB HL

Objective: To develop a new version of the threshold-equalizing-noise (TEN) test for the diagnosis of dead regions, with levels calibrated in dB HL rather than dB SPL, and with levels corresponding to the dial readings on the audiometer. Design: The spectral shape of the noise required to give equal masked thresholds at all frequencies, when expressed in dB HL, was derived by two calculation methods and by empirical measurements of the electrical output of audiometers using TDH50 earphones and TDH39 earphones. To reduce the loudness of the noise and to minimize distortion generated in the audiometer and/or earphone, the noise was bandlimited between 354 and 6500 Hz. In addition, the noise was synthesized using a method that leads to a low crest factor (ratio of peak to root-mean-square value). This further reduced audiometer/earphone distortion and allowed higher levels per ERBN; ERBN is the equivalent rectangular bandwidth of the auditory filter at 1 kHz, as determined in young, normally hearing subjects. The test tone frequencies were limited to the range 500 to 4000 Hz. Subjects with normal or near-normal hearing were tested by using a noise level of 60 dB HL/ERBN to assess whether the noise did lead to equal masked thresholds in dB HL for all audiometric frequencies from 500 to 4000 Hz. Thresholds in the TEN were measured by means of manual audiometry with a 2 dB final step size. Results: The mean masked thresholds were almost constant across frequency when expressed in dB HL and were within 0.5 dB of the noise level per ERBN. For a single noise level, the test takes approximately 5 minutes per ear to administer. Conclusions: The new TEN test has the following advantages over the original version (which used levels calibrated in dB SPL): (1) All levels are expressed in dB HL. Thus, absolute thresholds only need to be measured once. (2) Calibration is such that both the noise level/ERBN and the test tone levels correspond to the values indicated on the audiometer. This makes the test simpler to apply and reduces the likelihood of errors. (3) The noise bandwidth is restricted, and the noise has a low crest factor. This allows the noise level/ERBN to be increased while avoiding distortion, excessive loudness, and possible further damage to hearing.
Voltage drives a long segment of polar residues of colicins across membranes

propensity to reside within membranes. Whether the hairpin loop forms part of the lining of the channel or merely serves as a membrane anchor remains a subject of debate. When a diffusion potential was imposed with the interior of the liposomes negative (as is the case in bacteria), an additional 36-residue region became labeled by the lipophilic reagent. Furthermore, the region labeled by the probe became less exposed to the aqueous solution as assessed by monitoring the location of tyrosines within the stretch. When the diffusion potential was allowed to dissipate through the nonselective open colicin channels before activating the lipophilic label, less tagging resulted. This showed that the voltage-inserted region flipped back out of the membrane when voltage was not maintained. In other words, protein inserted by negative voltages flipped back into contact with the original aqueous compartment when that potential was removed. This flipping is observed electrophysiologically as an activation of channels by negative voltages, deactivation by positive ones. The nature of the flipping mechanism suggested that if any translocated residues were to be "grabbed" and held within the cis-aqueous phase to which colicin had
Energy Efficient Compressed Sensing of Bio-Signals with Sparse Binary Matrix

A variety of constraints exist on the design of a wireless tele-monitoring system of bio-signals. In order to reduce on-chip energy consumption or extend sensor life, recorded signals are usually compressed before transmission. Compressed sensing (CS) is promising to as a low-power compression framework to improve energy efficiency. Its performance is largely determined by the characteristic of sensing matrix. The zero-one binary sensing matrices can be adopted for its relative low complexity and competitive performance. However, most of the bioelectric signals is non sparse in the time domain and also non sparse in transformed domains. Thus, it is extremely difficult for conventional CS algorithms to recover bioelectric signals with the quality that satisfies the requirements of applications. Due to better recovery quality, the block sparse Bayesian learning (BSBL) can be provided for this reconstruction of bioelectric signals. Considering the complete signal chain from acquisition to reconstruction, experiments on fetal ECG signals and epilepsy EEG signals showed that the BSBL algorithm with sparse binary matrix has good balance between speed and data reconstruction fidelity. Focusing on the encoding stage and its supporting circuit functions, it has also been shown by analysis that the CS based data compression with spare binary matrix can largely save energy and on-chip computing resources.
Adverse radiation effect after stereotactic radiosurgery for brain metastases: incidence, time course, and risk factors.

OBJECT The authors sought to determine the incidence, time course, and risk factors for overall adverse radiation effect (ARE) and symptomatic ARE after stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) for brain metastases. METHODS All cases of brain metastases treated from 1998 through 2009 with Gamma Knife SRS at UCSF were considered. Cases with less than 3 months of follow-up imaging, a gap of more than 8 months in imaging during the 1st year, or inadequate imaging availability were excluded. Brain scans and pathology reports were reviewed to ensure consistent scoring of dates of ARE, treatment failure, or both; in case of uncertainty, the cause of lesion worsening was scored as indeterminate. Cumulative incidence of ARE and failure were estimated with the Kaplan-Meier method with censoring at last imaging. Univariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazards analyses were performed. RESULTS Among 435 patients and 2200 brain metastases evaluable, the median patient survival time was 17.4 months and the median lesion imaging follow-up was 9.9 months. Calculated on the basis of 2200 evaluable lesions, the rates of treatment failure, ARE, concurrent failure and ARE, and lesion worsening with indeterminate cause were 9.2%, 5.4%, 1.4%, and 4.1%, respectively. Among 118 cases of ARE, approximately 60% were symptomatic and 85% occurred 3-18 months after SRS (median 7.2 months). For 99 ARE cases managed without surgery or bevacizumab, the probabilities of improvement observed on imaging were 40%, 57%, and 76% at 6, 12, and 18 months after onset of ARE. The most important risk factors for ARE included prior SRS to the same lesion (with 20% 1-year risk of symptomatic ARE vs 3%, 4%, and 8% for no prior treatment, prior whole brain radiotherapy [WBRT], or concurrent WBRT) and any of these volume parameters: target, prescription isodose, 12-Gy, or 10-Gy volume. Excluding lesions treated with repeat SRS, the 1-year probabilities of ARE were < 1%, 1%, 3%, 10%, and 14% for maximum diameter 0.3-0.6 cm, 0.7-1.0 cm, 1.1-1.5 cm, 1.6-2.0 cm, and 2.1-5.1 cm, respectively. The 1-year probabilities of symptomatic ARE leveled off at 13%-14% for brain metastases maximum diameter > 2.1 cm, target volume > 1.2 cm(3), prescription isodose volume > 1.8 cm(3), 12-Gy volume > 3.3 cm(3), and 10-Gy volume > 4.3 cm(3), excluding lesions treated with repeat SRS. On both univariate and multivariate analysis, capecitabine, but not other systemic therapy within 1 month of SRS, appeared to increase ARE risk. For the multivariate analysis considering only metastases with target volume > 1.0 cm(3), risk factors for ARE included prior SRS, kidney primary tumor, connective tissue disorder, and capecitabine. CONCLUSIONS Although incidence of ARE after SRS was low overall, risk increased rapidly with size and volume, leveling off at a 1-year cumulative incidence of 13%-14%. This study describes the time course of ARE and provides risk estimates by various lesion characteristics and treatment parameters to aid in decision-making and patient counseling.
How College Students' Engagement Affects Personal and Social Learning Outcomes

Recent calls for accountability in higher education underscore the need for evidence of the “value added” effect of college attendance. One of the espoused goals of higher education is to prepare individuals personally and socially for effective and civil participation in society. Increasingly, student affairs administrators are expected to demonstrate how campus programs and experiences serve these broader goals, but many college educators find assessment overwhelming and intimidating. Drawing on Astin’s I-E-O model and a new tool for administrators, I conduct several analyses to measure the influence of “good practice” experiences on 8,000 students’ personal/social learning. Results suggest that peer interactions, faculty-student interactions, and active learning experiences explain 24% of the variance in development. Findings hold promise in terms of future practice, policy, and research.
An improved sensorless FS-PTC of induction motors using estimated stator currents

Conventionally a finite state predictive torque control (FS-PTC) strategy uses measured stator currents and estimated stator and rotor flux to predict stator flux and torque of induction motor (IM). In FS-PTC, the accuracy of the prediction model is directly dependent on the stator currents and the rotor speed. Direct application of measured stator currents into the prediction model degrades the control performance in terms of current total harmonic distortion (THD) and speed error, especially at lower speeds. This is because injection of noise into the prediction model leads to undesired switching actuation for the inverter. To avoid this problem, this paper proposes an improved prediction model for speed sensorless FS-PTC of IM drives. The estimated stator currents instead of measured currents are fed back to the controller and thus small stator current THD is confirmed. Extended Kalman filter (EKF), a promising state observer for sensorless control system, has been employed with FS-PTC to estimate rotor speed, rotor flux and stator currents accurately. The proposed control strategy has been verified experimentally, and improved torque and flux responses are achieved.
A popularity-aware prefetching scheme to support interactive P2P streaming

Improved interactive functionality is considered the next crucial milestone for a wider acceptance, when it comes to P2P-based streaming service over the Internet. As the streaming systems evolve, users expect to have full control over what they view and how they view it. This paper presents a viable solution to support user interactivity for P2P VoD streaming service. Our proposal of popularity-aware chunk prefetching protocol is capable of tracking chunk popularities over a video, based on which chunk prefetching priority can be ordered. The proposal achieves superior seeking latency to existing approaches, which results in a significant enhancement of streaming performance. Our performance study demonstrates that the proposed scheme excels in terms of user interactivity as well as streaming quality.
In‐Depth Analysis of Computer Memory Acquisition Software for Forensic Purposes

The comparison studies on random access memory (RAM) acquisition tools are either limited in metrics or the selected tools were designed to be executed in older operating systems. Therefore, this study evaluates widely used seven shareware or freeware/open source RAM acquisition forensic tools that are compatible to work with the latest 64‐bit Windows operating systems. These tools' user interface capabilities, platform limitations, reporting capabilities, total execution time, shared and proprietary DLLs, modified registry keys, and invoked files during processing were compared. We observed that Windows Memory Reader and Belkasoft's Live Ram Capturer leaves the least fingerprints in memory when loaded. On the other hand, ProDiscover and FTK Imager perform poor in memory usage, processing time, DLL usage, and not‐wanted artifacts introduced to the system. While Belkasoft's Live Ram Capturer is the fastest to obtain an image of the memory, Pro Discover takes the longest time to do the same job.