Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Theoretical Analysis of Binaural Multimicrophone Noise Reduction Techniques

Binaural hearing aids use microphone signals from both left and right hearing aid to generate an output signal for each ear. The microphone signals can be processed by a procedure based on speech distortion weighted multichannel Wiener filtering (SDW-MWF) to achieve significant noise reduction in a speech + noise scenario. In binaural procedures, it is also desirable to preserve binaural cues, in particular the interaural time difference (ITD) and interaural level difference (ILD), which are used to localize sounds. It has been shown in previous work that the binaural SDW-MWF procedure only preserves these binaural cues for the desired speech source, but distorts the noise binaural cues. Two extensions of the binaural SDW-MWF have therefore been proposed to improve the binaural cue preservation, namely the MWF with partial noise estimation (MWF-eta) and MWF with interaural transfer function extension (MWF-ITF). In this paper, the binaural cue preservation of these extensions is analyzed theoretically and tested based on objective performance measures. Both extensions are able to preserve binaural cues for the speech and noise sources, while still achieving significant noise reduction performance.
Adaptive Multi-Modal Person Verification System

This paper describes an adaptive multi-modal person verification system based on speech and face images. The system adapts to noise present in the speech signal by modifying the parameters of the fusion module. Linear and Support Vector Machine (SVM) based techniques of fusing the similarity measures from speech and face modes are investigated. Experimental results obtained on the Digit Database show that the adaptive system significantly outperforms its non-adaptive counterpart.
Load and Other Effects on Measuring Partial Discharge in Power Cables

Medium and high voltage power cables are the arteries of the transmission and distribution network. They have been widely used in the power industry for many years. In insulation condition monitoring of MV and HV cables, partial discharge (PD) measurement is one of the most effective techniques. PD has been recognized as a major cause of insulation failure as almost all insulation breakdown starts from PD phenomenon. To make an accurate insulation assessment, the PD information obtained has to be carefully interpreted with other factors taken into consideration such as load, noise level, fault type, location, etc. This paper investigates the load effect on PD measurement. The PD signal is detected by the inductive sensor and processed with both narrow band and wide band coupling methods. Experimental results are compared with simulation results
Tracking and coordinating an international curation effort for the CCDS Project

The Consensus Coding Sequence (CCDS) collaboration involves curators at multiple centers with a goal of producing a conservative set of high quality, protein-coding region annotations for the human and mouse reference genome assemblies. The CCDS data set reflects a ‘gold standard’ definition of best supported protein annotations, and corresponding genes, which pass a standard series of quality assurance checks and are supported by manual curation. This data set supports use of genome annotation information by human and mouse researchers for effective experimental design, analysis and interpretation. The CCDS project consists of analysis of automated whole-genome annotation builds to identify identical CDS annotations, quality assurance testing and manual curation support. Identical CDS annotations are tracked with a CCDS identifier (ID) and any future change to the annotated CDS structure must be agreed upon by the collaborating members. CCDS curation guidelines were developed to address some aspects of curation in order to improve initial annotation consistency and to reduce time spent in discussing proposed annotation updates. Here, we present the current status of the CCDS database and details on our procedures to track and coordinate our efforts. We also present the relevant background and reasoning behind the curation standards that we have developed for CCDS database treatment of transcripts that are nonsense-mediated decay (NMD) candidates, for transcripts containing upstream open reading frames, for identifying the most likely translation start codons and for the annotation of readthrough transcripts. Examples are provided to illustrate the application of these guidelines. Database URL: http://www.ncbi. nlm.nih. gov/CCDS/CcdsBrowse.cgi
Stochastic Modeling and Optimization for Energy Management in Multicore Systems: A Video Decoding Case Study

This paper presents a novel stochastic modeling and optimization framework for energy minimization in multicore systems running real-time applications with tolerance to deadline misses. This framework is based on stochastic application models, which capture the variability of and the spatial and temporal correlations among the workloads of concurrent and interdependent tasks that constitute the application. These stochastic models are utilized in novel mathematical formulations to obtain optimal energy management policies. Experimental results on MPEG2 video decoding show that significant energy savings can be achieved, often close to the theoretical upper bound.
Mining application repository to recommend XML configuration snippets

Framework-based applications controlled by XML configuration files are quite popularly used in current commercial applications. However, most of these frameworks are complex or not well documented, which poses a great challenge for programmers to correctly utilize them. To overcome these difficulties, we propose a new tool to recommend XML configuration snippets automatically through mining tree patterns and pattern associations from the application repository with the aim of assisting the programmer to generate proper XML configurations during the production phase. In this demo, we showcase this tool by presenting the major techniques behind the tool and the typical usage scenarios of our tool.
The Design and Analysis of Split Row-Column Addressing Array for 2-D Transducer

For 3-D ultrasound imaging, the row-column addressing (RCA) with 2N connections for an N × N 2-D array makes the fabrication and interconnection simpler than the fully addressing with N2 connections. However, RCA degrades the image quality because of defocusing in signal channel direction in the transmit event. To solve this problem, a split row-column addressing scheme (SRCA) is proposed in this paper. Rather than connecting all the elements in the signal channel direction together, this scheme divides the elements in the signal channel direction into several disconnected blocks, thus enables focusing beam access in both signal channel and switch channel directions. Selecting an appropriate split scheme is the key for SRCA to maintaining a reasonable tradeoff between the image quality and the number of connections. Various split schemes for a 32 × 32 array are fully investigated with point spread function (PSF) analysis and imaging simulation. The result shows the split scheme with five blocks (4, 6, 12, 6, and 4 elements of each block) can provide similar image quality to fully addressing. The splitting schemes for different array sizes from 16 × 16 to 96 × 96 are also discussed.
Association of prealbumin levels with contrast-induced acute kidney injury in elderly patients with elective percutaneous coronary intervention

Purpose Inflammatory factors play a critical role in contrast-induced acute kidney injury (CI-AKI). Prealbumin, a nutritional and inflammatory indicator, is a well-established predictor of short- and long-term outcomes in numerous clinical conditions. The current study investigated the association of pre-procedural prealbumin levels with CI-AKI and long-term outcomes in geriatric patients after elective percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Patients and methods A total of 558 patients aged≥75 years, who underwent elective PCI between January 2012 and December 2015, were selected for the current study. Pre-procedural prealbumin levels were measured before PCI. Multivariable logistic regression and Cox proportional hazard regression analyses were performed to identify the independent risk factors for CI-AKI and long-term mortality. Results Out of 558 patients, 54 developed CI-AKI. The optimal cutoff value of prealbumin for detecting CI-AKI was 185.5 mg/L with 62.7% sensitivity and 70.4% specificity based on the receiver operating characteristic analysis (C-statistic=0.710; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.673–0.751). Multivariable analysis demonstrated that prealbumin≤185.5 mg/L was significantly associated with CI-AKI (odds ratio [OR] 0.397; 95% CI 0.195–0.808; P=0.011). Cox regression analysis demonstrated that prealbumin≤185.5 mg/L was associated with long-term mortality (adjusted hazard ratio [HR] 0.525; 95% CI 0.289–0.952; P=0.034) during the follow-up. Conclusion Pre-procedural levels of prealbumin were independently associated with an increased risk of CI-AKI and long-term mortality in elderly patients undergoing elective PCI.
Pseudo-Boolean Multiple Sequence Alignment

Multiple sequence alignment is a central problem in Bioinformatics and a challenging one for optimisation algorithms. An established integer programming approach is to apply branch-and-cut to a graph-theoretical model. The models are exponentially large but are represented intensionally, and violated constraints can be located in polynomial time. This report describes a new integer program formulation that generates polynomial-sized models small enough to be passed to generic solvers. It is a hybrid formulation relating the sparse alignment graph with a compact encoding of the alignment matrix via channelling constraints. Alignments obtained with a pseudo-Boolean local search algorithm are competitive with those of state-of-the-art algorithms. Execution times are much longer, but in future work we aim to develop a more efficient specialised algorithm.
Solar Power Plant Detection on Multi-Spectral Satellite Imagery using Convolutional Neural Networks with Feedback Model and m-PCNN Fusion

Most of the traditional convolutional neural networks (CNNs) implements bottom-up approach (feedforward) for image classifications. However, many scientific studies demonstrate that visual perception in primates rely on both bottom-up and top-down connections. Therefore, in this work, we propose a CNN network with feedback structure for Solar power plant detection on low-resolution satellite images. To express the strength of the top-down connections, we introduce feedback CNN network (FB-Net) to a baseline CNN model used for solar panel classification on multi-spectral satellite data. Moreover, we propose a class activation mapping method (CAM) to our FB-Net, which takes advantage of multi-channel pulse coupled neural network (m-PCNN) for pixel level detection of the solar power plants. For the proposed FB-Net CAM with m-PCNN, experimental results demonstrated promising results on both mega-solar classification and detection task.
Ductal carcinoma in situ of the breast: a systematic review of incidence, treatment, and outcomes.

BACKGROUND The National Institutes of Health Office of Medical Applications of Research commissioned a structured literature review on the incidence, treatment, and outcomes of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) as a background article for the State of the Science Conference on Diagnosis and Management of DCIS. METHODS Published studies were identified and abstracted from MEDLINE and other sources. We include articles published between 1965 and January 31, 2009; 374 publications were identified that addressed DCIS incidence, staging, treatment, and outcomes in adult women. RESULTS In the United States, DCIS incidence rose from 1.87 per 100 000 in 1973-1975 to 32.5 in 2004. Incidence increased in all ages but more so in women older than 50 years. Increased use of mammography explains some but not all of the increased incidence. Risk factors for incident DCIS include older age and family history. Although tamoxifen treatment prevented both invasive breast cancer and DCIS, raloxifene treatment decreased incidence of invasive breast cancer but not DCIS. Among patients with DCIS, magnetic resonance imaging was more sensitive than mammography for detecting multicentric disease and estimating tumor size. Because about 15% of patients with DCIS identified on core needle biopsy are diagnosed with invasive breast cancer after excision or mastectomy, the accuracy of sentinel lymph node biopsy after excision is relevant to surgical management of DCIS. Most studies demonstrated that sentinel lymph node biopsy is feasible after breast-conserving surgery (BCS). Younger age, positive surgical margins, tumor size and grade, and comedo necrosis were consistently related to DCIS recurrence. DCIS outcomes after either mastectomy or BCS plus radiation therapy were superior to BCS alone. Tamoxifen treatment after DCIS diagnosis reduced risk of recurrent disease. CONCLUSIONS Scientific questions deserving further investigation include the relationship between mammography use and DCIS incidence and whether imaging technologies and treatment guidelines can be modified to focus on lesions that are most likely to become clinically problematic.
Physical health monitoring of patients with schizophrenia.

OBJECTIVE Schizophrenia is associated with several chronic physical illnesses and a shorter life expectancy, compared with life expectancy in the general population. One approach to improving the health of patients with schizophrenia is to improve the monitoring of physical health that occurs in psychiatric settings. The authors discuss a consensus panel's recommendations for improving the physical health monitoring of patients with schizophrenia who are treated in outpatient settings. METHOD A consensus meeting including psychiatric and other medical experts assembled on October 17-18, 2002, to evaluate the existing literature and to develop recommendations for physical health monitoring of patients with schizophrenia. Conference participants reviewed the literature in the following areas: 1) weight gain and obesity; 2) diabetes; 3) hyperlipidemia; 4) prolongation of the QT interval on the ECG; 5) prolactin elevation and related sexual side effects; 6) extrapyramidal side effects, akathisia, and tardive dyskinesia; 7) cataracts; and 8) myocarditis. Experts for each topic area formulated monitoring recommendations that were discussed by all of the participants until a consensus was reached. RESULTS Consensus recommendations included regular monitoring of body mass index, plasma glucose level, lipid profiles, and signs of prolactin elevation or sexual dysfunction. Information from monitoring should guide the selection of antipsychotic agents. Specific recommendations were made for cardiac monitoring of patients who receive medications associated with QT interval prolongation, including thioridazine, mesoridazine, and ziprasidone, and for monitoring for signs of myocarditis in patients treated with clozapine. Patients who receive both first- and second-generation antipsychotic medications should be examined for extrapyramidal symptoms and tardive dyskinesia. Patients with schizophrenia should receive regular visual examinations. CONCLUSIONS The conference participants recommended that mental health care providers perform physical health monitoring that typically occurs in primary care settings for their patients who do not receive physical health monitoring in those settings. This change in usual practice is recommended on the basis of the conference participants' belief that this additional monitoring will result in the earlier detection of common, serious risk factors that could, without detection and intervention, contribute to impaired health of patients with schizophrenia.
A Geo-Event-Based Geospatial Information Service: A Case Study of Typhoon Hazard

Social media is valuable in propagating information during disasters for its timely and available characteristics nowadays, and assists in making decisions when tagged with locations. Considering the ambiguity and inaccuracy in some social data, additional authoritative data are needed for important verification. However, current works often fail to leverage both social and authoritative data and, on most occasions, the data are used in disaster analysis after the fact. Moreover, current works organize the data from the perspective of the spatial location, but not from the perspective of the disaster, making it difficult to dynamically analyze the disaster. All of the disaster-related data around the affected locations need to be retrieved. To solve these limitations, this study develops a geo-event-based geospatial information service (GEGIS) framework and proceeded as follows: (1) a geo-event-related ontology was constructed to provide a uniform semantic basis for the system; (2) geo-events and attributes were extracted from the web using a natural language process (NLP) and used in the semantic similarity match of the geospatial resources; and (3) a geospatial information service prototype system was designed and implemented for automatically retrieving and organizing geo-event-related geospatial resources. A case study of a typhoon hazard is analyzed here within the GEGIS and shows that the system would be effective when typhoons occur.
Introducing DRS (The Digital Replay System): a Tool for the Future of Corpus Linguistic Research and Analysis

This paper outlines the new resource technologies, products and applications that have been constructed during the development of a multi-modal (MM hereafter) corpus tool on the DReSS project (Understanding New Forms of the Digital Record for e-Social Science), based at the University of Nottingham, England. The paper provides a brief outline of the DRS (Digital Replay System, the software tool at the heart of the corpus), highlighting its facility to display synchronised video, audio and textual data and, most relevantly, a concordance tool capable of interrogating data constructed from textual transcriptions anchored to video or audio, and from coded annotations of specific features of gesture-in-talk. This is complemented by a real-time demonstration of the DRS interface in-use as part of the LREC 2008 conference. This will serve to show the manner in which a system such as the DRS can be used to facilitate the assembly, storage and analysis of multi modal corpora, supporting both qualitative and quantitative approaches to the analysis of collected data.
Fast image retrieval with grid-based keypoint detector and binary descriptor

As an alternative to vector-based descriptors, such as SIFT and SURF, more computationally efficient binary descriptors, such as BRISK and ORB, have recently been proposed. These binary descriptors are usually used in combination with a novel scale-space FAST-based detector to be suitable for real-time applications, but it consumes more time than creating binary descriptors. Therefore, if accuracy can be kept similar, keypoint sampling by a grid is better than FAST-based detector because it consumes almost no time. In this paper, grid-based sampling and BRISK keypoint detector are tested for image retrieval. Experimental results demonstrate that grid-based sampling out performs keypoint detector in terms of accuracy and processing speed.
Change and the Study of International Relations: The Evaded Dimension . Edited by Barry Buzan and R. J. Barry Jones. (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1981. Pp. xii + 241. $26.00.)

If the international system is as dynamic as this wide-ranging group of observers believes, then it is certainly the case that the topic of how the system changes, or even which changes are important, has not been addressed at sufficient length. Consequently, international change is receiving increasing attention, and this volume is an interesting example of several ways of thinking about it. The 13 essays are written by members of the International Relations Theory Group in Great Britain. There is only slightly less diversity here than is typical of edited volumes. However, given the perpetual dissentious character of the field, perhaps the scattered approaches are inevitable. The essays are grouped into three sections. In the first section, three papers provide differing broad-based reviews of the implications of change in the international system. In "Concepts and Models of Change in International Relations" Jones reviews the idea of sudden change, which he argues is much more important to understand than the continual modest changes always taking place. Richard Little's argument in "Ideology and Change" is that concepts in the social sciences are inevitably not neutral, and hence discussions of change necessarily will have subtle value biases. Finally, and most challengingly, John Maclean contends in "Marxist Epistemology, Explanations of 'Change' and the Study of International Relations" that Marxist theory is better able to handle the idea of change than other theoretical constructs, particularly those derived from the empirical-analytical tradition since they deal only with observables. The second section of the book directs attention to a number of general problems that emerge in studying international system change. David Dunn reviews the contributions of the realists and systems theorists to studying change in "The Emergence of Change as a Theoretical Concern in International Relations. " He concludes that, although neither has made a direct contribution, they have at least cleared the way for further developments. Roger Tooze argues in "Economics, International Political Economy and Change in the International System" that economists have been better able to deal with change than students of international relations, and so the approach offered by international political economy may be useful. In a very interesting essay, "Change and Insecurity," Buzan argues that the traditional approach to security studies is too narrowly focused. In order to usefully approach the necessary broader political issues, some ideas about change need to be addressed directly. In "Traditionalism, Behaviouralism and Change in Foreign Policy Analysis" S. M. Smith reviews the literature on change in various conceptions of foreign policy analysis. He devotes particular attention to Rosenau's idea of foreign policy adaptation, but concludes that despite its explicit concern with change in a nation's environment the ideas are too difficult to make operational.
Scaling and Measurement: A Quasi-Replicative Assessment Of A Revised Version Of INDSALES

Programmatic research in sales is facilitated by the availability of scales with known and acceptable psychometric properties. Comer et al. (1989) have suggested a significantly shortened version of INDSALES for sales researchers who are constrained by questionnaire length. Using a quasi-replication methodology, we evaluate this shortened version of INDSALES by comparing the Comer et al. results with those of a non-industrial sample. Findings generally support the reduced scale's psychometric properties, although some qualifications are given.