Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Novel Method for Arabic Consonant/Vowel Segmentation Using Wavelet Transform

Abstract : Automatic speech segmentation is a key step for building large vocabulary and continuous speech recognition systems. An alternative method is to use manual speech segmentation, which is tedious, time consuming, subjective and error prone. Many automatic speech segmentation methods have been proposed based on linguistic information such as phonetic transcription (phonetic string) but for real time systems this phonetic transcription is not always available. In this paper we propose a new algorithm for Arabic speech Consonant and Vowel (C/V) segmentation without linguistic information. This new method is based on wavelet transform and spectral analysis and focuses on searching the transient between Consonant and Vowel parts in certain levels from wavelet packet decomposition. To verify the proposed scheme, some experiments have been performed using a set of words (20 Arabic words), each word recorded six times. The accuracy rate is about 88.3% for Consonant/vowel segmentation. This rate remains fixed with low SNR value as well as high SNR.
Sparse Signal Reconstruction via Orthogonal Least Squares

In the field of compressed sensing, Orthogonal least Square is a well known greedy algorithm for sparse signal reconstruction. It has been proved that this algorithm gives stable and speedy recovery as compared to L-norm minimization but at the cost of computation complexity. This paper demonstrates that by dividing orthogonal least square algorithm in sub stages, its complexity can be reduced up to some extent even for the large number of measurements. Compared with the basis pursuit method, the simulation results show that exact and faster reconstruction can be obtained from the implemented greedy algorithm by sampling the k in R measurements where k is Sparsity level and R is the signal dimension. The main goal of this paper is to provide an easy way for implementation of this greedy algorithm.
Color appearance in high-dynamic-range imaging

When viewing images on a monitor, we are adapted to the lighting conditions of our viewing environment as well as the monitor itself, which can be very different from the lighting conditions in which the images were taken. As a result, our perception of these photographs depends directly on the environment in which they are displayed. For high-dynamic-range images, the disconnect in the perception of scene and viewing environments is potentially much larger than in conventional film and photography. To prepare an im- age for display, luminance compression alone is therefore not suffi- cient. We propose to augment current tone reproduction operators with the application of color appearance models as an independent preprocessing step to preserve chromatic appearance across scene and display environments. The method is independent of any spe- cific tone reproduction operator and color appearance model (CAM) so that for each application the most suitable tone reproduction op- erator and CAM can be selected. © 2006 SPIE and
THE EFFECT OF WORK MOTIVATION AND JOB SATISFACTION ON EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE AT BANK SULUTGO TOMOHON

The relationship between Job Satisfaction and Motivation have influence on employee performance in PT. Bank SulutGo Tbk Tomohon. This study aim to explain the simultan and partial effect of job satisfaction and work motivation on employee performance at PT. Bank SulutGo Tbk Tomohon. The population in this study were all employees at PT. Bank SulutGo Tbk Tomohon totaling 120 people, consisting of 76 men and 44 women. By using a purposive sampling method the sample is 80 respondents. Using multiple regression as a data analysis tool, this study found that job satisfaction and motivation have a significant effect on the performance of employees at PT. Bank SulutGo Tbk, Tomohon.
Supporting property graphs in apache giraph

Apache Giraph is a powerful tool for processing very large graphs in distributed environments. One of its main features is a novel programming model that facilitates the design and execution of graph-oriented algorithms in distributed environments. Despite its benefits, using Giraph is a complex and challenging process. Moreover, the Giraph data model (based on labeled directed graphs) makes its use difficult in application domains where nodes and edges contain metadata. This article presents an extension of the Giraph API to provide support for Property Graphs, that is, graphs whose nodes and edges could have properties. In particular, we define a formal method to transform a Property Graph into a Giraph graph, we describe an API for manipulating and querying Property Graphs in Giraph, and we present experimental results that show the applicability and efficiency of our extension.
Persistent decrease in synaptic efficacy induced by nicotine at Schaffer collateral–CA1 synapses in the immature rat hippocampus

Neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) are widely distributed within the brain where they contribute to the regulation of higher cognitive functions. The loss of the cholinergic function in Alzheimer's disease patients, along with the well‐known memory enhancing effect of nicotine, emphasizes the role of cholinergic signalling in memory functions. The hippocampus, a key structure in learning and memory, is endowed with nAChRs localized at pre‐ and postsynaptic levels. In previous work on the immature hippocampus we have shown that, at low probability (P) synapses, activation of α7 nAChRs by nicotine or by endogenously released acetylcholine persistently enhanced glutamate release and converted ‘presynaptically silent’ synapses into functional ones. Here we show that in the same preparation, at high P synapses, nicotine induces long‐term depression of AMPA‐ and NMDA‐mediated synaptic currents. This effect was mediated by presynaptic α7‐ and β2‐containing receptors and was associated with an increase in the paired pulse ratio and in the coefficient of variation. High P synapses could be converted into low P and vice versa by changing the extracellular Ca2+/Mg2+ ratio. In these conditions nicotine was able to persistently potentiate or depress synaptic responses depending on the initial P‐values. A bi‐directional control of synaptic plasticity by nicotine would considerably enhance the computational properties of the network during a critical period of postnatal development thus contributing to sculpt the neuronal circuit.
Recovery from control plane failures in GMPLS‐controlled optical networks

The health status of the control plane and the data plane of a GMPLS‐controlled optical network is independent in the physically separated control network implementation. In most control plane designs, besides the topology information, the entities of the routing protocol only record the number of available wavelengths on each link. However, the status of each wavelength is maintained by the entities of the signalling protocol. Without recovery ability of the signalling protocol CR‐LDP, a failure in the control plane will result in the permanent loss of the status information of wavelengths. A mechanism to recover the status information of the wavelengths is proposed. A downstream node maintains a label information database (LID) about assignable (free) labels in each incoming link. A copy of LID is redundantly stored in the upstream node as a label information mirror (LIM). A systematic procedure is proposed to synchronize the contents of a LIM and the corresponding LID. The initialization of a new LDP session with the enhanced recovery mechanism will guarantee the revival of the status information of wavelengths. It can recover multiple control channel failures, but it only applies to single node failure among any pair of adjacent nodes. © Crown copyright 2002. Reproduced with the permission of Her Majesty's Stationery Office. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Efficient Strategies for Channel Management in Wireless LANs

We define efficient algorithms for channel management (channel assignment and load balancing among APs) in 802.11-based WLANs that lead to better usage of the wireless spectrum. These algorithms (called CFAssign) are based on a “conflict-free set coloring” formulation that jointly perform load balancing along with channel assignment. Such a formulation has a number of advantages. First, it explicitly captures interference effects at clients. Next, it intrinsically exposes opportunities for better channel re-use. Finally, algorithms based on this formulation do not depend on specific physical RF models and hence can be applied efficiently to a wide-range of in-building as well as outdoor scenarios. We have performed extensive packet-level simulations and measurements on a deployed wireless testbed of 70 APs to validate the performance of our proposed algorithms. We show that in addition to single network scenarios, CFAssign algorithms are well suited for channel assignment in scenarios where multiple wireless networks share the same physical space and contend for the same frequency spectrum. Our results over a wide range of scenarios indicate that CFAssign reduces the interference at clients by about 50-70% in comparison to current best-known techniques.
A study on the re-identifiability of Dutch citizens

This paper analyses the re-identifiability of Dutch citizens by various demographics. Our analysis is based on registry office data of 2.7 million Dutch citizens, ~16% of the total population. We provide overall statistics on re-identifiability for a range of quasi-identifiers, and present an in-depth analysis of quasi-identifiers found in two de-identified data sets. We found that 67.0% of the sampled population is unambiguously identifiable by date of birth and four-digit postal code alone, and that 99.4% is unambiguously identifiable if date of birth, full postal code and gender are known. Furthermore, two quasi-identifiers we examined from real-life data sets turn out to unambiguously identify a small fraction of the sampled population. As far as we are aware, this is the first re-identifiability assessment of Dutch citizens that uses authoritative registry office data.
Ecosystem as Structure

Over the past 20 years, the term “ecosystem” has become pervasive in discussions of strategy, both scholarly and applied. Its rise has mirrored an increasing interest and concern among both researchers and managers with interdependence across organizations and activities. This article presents a structuralist approach to conceptualizing the ecosystem construct. It presents a clear definition of the ecosystem construct, a grammar for characterizing ecosystem structure, and a characterization of the distinctive aspects of ecosystem strategy. This approach offers an explicit examination of the relationship among ecosystems and a host of alternative constructs (business models, platforms, coopetition, multisided markets, networks, technology systems, supply chains, value networks) that helps characterize where the ecosystem construct adds, and does not add, insight for the strategy literature.
Semantic Probabilistic Modelling of novel routing Protocol with Implication of Cumulative Routing Attack in Mobile adhoc network

— The proposed system presents a novel approach for modelling along with mitigating various types of routing attacks in mobile adhoc network considering AODV protocol. Majority of the previous research work are either explored differently for security or routing protocols. The system identifies the susceptibility of the routing attack over the dynamic topology of mobile adhoc network where it has assumed a faster propagation of the infection towards the nodes. To make the analysis more challenging, the protocol also designs a sophisticated adversary module which is resilient against any types of preventive measure being adopted. The proposed system therefore used probabilistic approach for modelling the routing attack scenario over MANET. The uniqueness is that majority of the prior research work has focused on one type of routing attack, whereas the proposed system is experimentally evaluated for cumulative routing attack. The simulation results show highly contrastive result when compared with frequently used current algorithm for mitigating routing attacks.
A low complexity motion estimation algorithm suitable for frame rate conversion

Frame rate conversion requires interpolation of image frames at time instances to increase the frame rate. In this paper we propose a new fast algorithm for block motion vector(MV) estimation based on the temporal and spatial correlations. Firstly, every nine neighboring blocks are treated as a macro-block; full search block matching algorithm is used to estimate the motion vector of the center block Then the motion vectors of the remaining blocks are estimated by using a simplified process. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm can obtain good image quality with reduced computation complexity compared to conventional motion estimation such as full search algorithm.
A Study of Sparse 2-dimensional Translation Lookaside Buuers

In this paper we examine several sparse multi-dimensional TLB designs which provide at least two levels of translation while allowing a TLB entry to map very large amounts of virtual memory. The TLB organisations presented extend our previous work on multi-dimensional TLB designs by allowing the virtual memory mappings to contain mapping holes. The results show that there is a case supporting sparse translation techniques.
Gata factor Pannier is required to establish competence for heart progenitor formation

Inductive signaling is of pivotal importance for developmental patterns to form. In Drosophila, the transfer of TGFβ (Dpp) and Wnt (Wg) signaling information from the ectoderm to the underlying mesoderm induces cardiac-specific differentiation in the presence of Tinman, a mesoderm-specific homeobox transcription factor. We present evidence that the Gata transcription factor, Pannier, and its binding partner U-shaped, also a zinc-finger protein, cooperate in the process of heart development. Loss-of-function and germ layer-specific rescue experiments suggest that pannier provides an essential function in the mesoderm for initiation of cardiac-specific expression of tinman and for specification of the heart primordium. u-shaped also promotes heart development, but unlike pannier, only by maintaining tinman expression in the cardiogenic region. By contrast, pan-mesodermal overexpression of pannier ectopically expands tinman expression, whereas overexpression of u-shaped inhibits cardiogenesis. Both factors are also required for maintaining dpp expression after germ band retraction in the dorsal ectoderm. Thus, we propose that Pannier mediates as well as maintains the cardiogenic Dpp signal. In support, we find that manipulation of pannier activity in either germ layer affects cardiac specification, suggesting that its function is required in both the mesoderm and the ectoderm.
Temporally Coherent Irradiance Caching for High Quality Animation Rendering

In rendering of high quality animations that include global illumination, the nal gathering and irradiance caching are considered standard procedures. However, the computational cost they incur is high enough to discourage their wide use in production rendering. We introduce a data structure called anchor, which lets us permanently link cache locations to points intersected by their nal gathering rays. Consequently, we can cheaply probe and transfer the (ir)radiance by exploiting the temporal coherence of successive animation frames, resulting in half an order of magnitude acceleration and reduced temporal artifacts. Additionally, our anchor structure lets us render moderately glossy surfaces at the cost much lower than the traditional importance sampling techniques. We also describe an efcient, perceptually motivated and independent scheme for limiting the growth in the number of irradiance caches. Finally, an implementation in practical rendering system is demonstrated.
Elite Interaction

While a good deal of research has examined the uses of Twitter in journalism, comparably few research projects employ comparative research designs in order to provide new insights. The present study details Twitter use by public service broadcasters (PSBs) during recent national elections in Norway and Sweden. Utilizing quantitative analysis of social media content in tandem with qualitative interviews with key PSB journalists, the main results indicate that while the PSB organizations—the Norwegian NRK and the Swedish SVT—are both frequently contacted by “regular” citizens on Twitter, they seem to prefer to retweet and interact with journalists, politicians or other “elite” users. Compared with the interviews performed, the study uncovers an interesting tension as journalists often talk about the need to engage with “regular” users—a practice that is arguably in line with PSB regulations, but that is seldom adhered to in the contexts studied here.
Mitochondrial and Nuclear Genes-Based Phylogeography of Arvicanthis niloticus (Murinae) and Sub-Saharan Open Habitats Pleistocene History

A phylogeographic study was conducted on the Nile grass rat, Arvicanthis niloticus, a rodent species that is tightly associated with open grasslands from the Sudano-Sahelian regions. Using one mitochondrial (cytochrome b) and one nuclear (intron 7 of Beta Fibrinogen) gene, robust patterns were retrieved that clearly show that (i) the species originated in East Africa concomitantly with expanding grasslands some 2 Ma, and (ii) four parapatric and genetically well-defined lineages differentiated essentially from East to West following Pleistocene bioclimatic cycles. This strongly points towards allopatric genetic divergence within savannah refuges during humid episodes, then dispersal during arid ones; secondary contact zones would have then stabilized around geographic barriers, namely, Niger River and Lake Chad basins. Our results pertinently add to those obtained for several other African rodent as well as non-rodent species that inhabit forests, humid zones, savannahs and deserts, all studies that now allow one to depict a more comprehensive picture of the Pleistocene history of the continent south of the Sahara. In particular, although their precise location remains to be determined, at least three Pleistocene refuges are identified within the West and Central African savannah biome.
Sentiment Classification Using Sociolinguistic Clusters

Sociolinguistic studies suggest the similarity of language use among people with similar social state, and recent large-scale computational analyses of online text are providing various supports, for example, the effect of social class, geography, and political preference on the language use. We approach the tasks of TASS 2015 with sociolinguistic insights in order to capture the patterns in the expression of sentiment. Our approach expands the scope of analysis from the text itself to the authors: their social state and political preference. The tweets of authors with similar social state or political preference are grouped as a cluster, and classifiers are built separately for each cluster to learn the linguistic style of that particular cluster. The approach can be further improved by combining it with other language processing and machine learning techniques.
Modeling Choice Interdependence in a Social Network

This paper investigates how individuals' product choices are influenced by the product choices of their connected others and how the influence mechanism may differ for fashion- versus technology-related products. We conduct a novel field experiment to induce and observe choice interdependence in a closed social network. In our experiment, we conceptualize individuals' choices to be driven by multiattribute utilities, and we measure their initial attribute preferences prior to observing their choice interdependence and collecting network information. These design elements help alleviate concerns in identifying social interaction effects from other confounds. Given that we have complete information on choices and their sequence, we use a discrete-time Markov chain model. Nonetheless, we also use a Markov random field (MRF) model as an alternative when the information on choice sequence is missing. We find significant social interaction effects. Our findings show that whereas experts exert asymmetrically greater influence on a technology-related product, popular individuals exert greater influence on a fashion-related product. In addition, we find choices made by early decision makers to be more influential than choices made later for the technology-related product. Finally, using the MRF with snapshot data can also provide good out-of-sample predictions for a technology-related product.
Antibacterial effect of self-etching adhesive systems on Streptococcus mutans

Objectives In this study, we evaluated the antibacterial activity of self-etching adhesive systems against Streptococcus mutans using the agar diffusion method. Materials and Methods Three 2-step systems, Clearfil SE Bond (SE, Kuraray), Contax (CT, DMG), and Unifil Bond (UnB, GC), and three 1-step systems, Easy Bond (EB, 3M ESPE), U-Bond (UB, Vericom), and All Bond SE (AB, BISCO) were used. 0.12% chlorhexidine (CHX, Bukwang) and 37% phosphoric acid gel (PA, Vericom) were used as positive controls. Results The antibacterial activity of CHX and PA was stronger than that of the other groups, except SE. After light activation, the inhibition zone was reduced in the case of all 2-step systems except CT. However, all 1-step systems did not exhibit any inhibition zone upon the light activation. Conclusions SE may be better than CT or UnB among the 2-step systems with respect to antibacterial activity, however, 1-step systems do not exhibit any antibacterial activity after light curing.
Improving the noise-robustness of mel-frequency cepstral coefficients for speech processing

In this paper we study the noise-robustness of mel-frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCCs) and explore ways to improve their performance in noisy conditions. Improvements based on a more accurate model of the early auditory system are suggested to make the MFCC features more robust to noise while preserving their class discrimination ability. Speech versus non-speech classification and speech recognition are chosen to evaluate the performance gains afforded by the modifications.