Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Auditory-Visual Speech Perception and Auditory-Visual Enhancement in Normal-Hearing Younger and Older Adults

Objective: The purpose of the present study was to examine the effects of age on the ability to benefit from combining auditory and visual speech information, relative to listening or speechreading alone. In addition, the study was designed to compare visual enhancement (VE) and auditory enhancement (AE) for consonants, words, and sentences in older and younger adults. Design: Forty-four older adults and 38 younger adults with clinically normal thresholds for frequencies of 4 kHz and below were asked to identify vowel-consonant-vowels (VCVs), words in a carrier phrase, and semantically meaningful sentences in auditory-only (A), visual-only (V), and auditory-visual (AV) conditions. All stimuli were presented in a background of 20-talker babble, and signal-to-babble ratios were set individually for each participant and each stimulus type to produce approximately 50% correct in the A condition. Results: For all three types of stimuli, older and younger adults obtained similar scores for the A condition, indicating that the procedure for individually adjusting signal-to-babble ratios was successful at equating A scores for the two age groups. Older adults, however, had significantly poorer performance than younger adults in the AV and V modalities. Analyses of both AE and VE indicated no age differences in the ability to benefit from combining auditory and visual speech signals after controlling for age differences in the V condition. Correlations between scores for the three types of stimuli (consonants, words, and sentences) indicated moderate correlations in the V condition but small correlations for AV, AE, and VE. Conclusions: Overall, the findings suggest that the poorer performance of older adults in the AV condition was a result of reduced speechreading abilities rather than a consequence of impaired integration capacities. The pattern of correlations across the three stimulus types indicates some overlap in the mechanisms mediating AV perception of words and sentences and that these mechanisms are largely independent from those used for AV perception of consonants.
Robust location recognition based on efficient feature integration

We present an effective location recognition approach by integrating multiple visual cues. We aims at developing a localization system with high accuracy and efficiency. Although one kind of features such as interest points might be useful in certain environment, multiple cues are important for robust location recognition. We use three kinds of features in this work: edges, interest points, and color features. Vision-based localization consists of two online steps: feature detection and feature matching. The efficiency of a localization system depends on the computational complexity of the two steps. To accelerate feature detection, the three kinds of features are detected in an integrated process: edges are detected directly based on the Harris function; Harris interest points are detected at several scales and Harris-Laplace interest points are found using the Laplace function. Corner regions are characterized by the SIFT descriptor. Color histograms are used to describe edge and smooth regions. The color histograms are refined by using the color coherence method to include spatial information. The integration of multi-cue brings efficient feature detection and high recognition ratio to the localization system. Our algorithm can be extended to recognize images containing specific objects, scenes or buildings. Experimental results show the proposed approach has good performance.
Operational pattern revealing technique in text mining

In this digital era most of the information is made available in digital form. For many years, people have held the hypothesis that using phrases for a representation of document and topic should perform better than terms. In this paper we are examine and investigate this fact with considering several state of art datamining methods that gives satisfactory results to improve the effectiveness of the pattern. Here we implementing pattern detection method to solve problem of term-based methods and improved result which helpful in information retrieval systems. Our proposal is also evaluated for several well distinguish domain, offering in all cases, reliable taxonomies considering precision and recall along with F-measure. For the experiment, we use Reuters (RCV1) dataset and the results show that we improve the discovering pattern as compared to previous text mining methods. The results of the experiment setup show that the keyword-based methods not give better performance than pattern-based method. The results also indicate that removal of meaningless patterns not only reduces the cost of computation but also improves the effectiveness of the system.
Comparative Analysis of Vertebrate Diurnal/Circadian Transcriptomes

From photosynthetic bacteria to mammals, the circadian clock evolved to track diurnal rhythms and enable organisms to anticipate daily recurring changes such as temperature and light. It orchestrates a broad spectrum of physiology such as the sleep/wake and eating/fasting cycles. While we have made tremendous advances in our understanding of the molecular details of the circadian clock mechanism and how it is synchronized with the environment, we still have rudimentary knowledge regarding its connection to help regulate diurnal physiology. One potential reason is the sheer size of the output network. Diurnal/circadian transcriptomic studies are reporting that around 10% of the expressed genome is rhythmically controlled. Zebrafish is an important model system for the study of the core circadian mechanism in vertebrate. As Zebrafish share more than 70% of its genes with human, it could also be an additional model in addition to rodent for exploring the diurnal/circadian output with potential for translational relevance. Here we performed comparative diurnal/circadian transcriptome analysis with established mouse liver and other tissue datasets. First, by combining liver tissue sampling in a 48h time series, transcription profiling using oligonucleotide arrays and bioinformatics analysis, we profiled rhythmic transcripts and identified 2609 rhythmic genes. The comparative analysis revealed interesting features of the output network regarding number of rhythmic genes, proportion of tissue specific genes and the extent of transcription factor family expression. Undoubtedly, the Zebrafish model system will help identify new vertebrate outputs and their regulators and provides leads for further characterization of the diurnal cis-regulatory network.
Robot facial expression using a curved surface display

This paper discusses the availability of a curved surface image in the facial expression of robot. This method is to display a robot's face image on the curved surface screen. By using this method we can make a facial expression easily compared with methods of mechanical facial expression. Also there is a three-dimensional effect caused by the curved surface, which is not in a plane image. We developed a face robot with a curved surface display, which is composed of a dome screen, a fish-eye lens and a projector. We show the composition of a dome display, the animation of facial expression and the effectiveness of the system.
Novel Approach for Content-based Image Retrieval System

The content based image retrieval (CBIR) is one of the most popular, rising research areas of the digital image processing. Most of the available image search tools, such as Google Images and Yahoo! Image search, are based on textual annotation of images. In these tools, images are manually annotated with keywords and then retrieved using text-based search methods. The performances of these systems are not satisfactory. The goal of CBIR is to extract visual content of an image automatically, like color, texture, or shape. This paper aims to introduce the problems and challenges concerned with the design and the creation of CBIR systems, which is based on a free hand sketch (Sketch based image retrieval SBIR). With the help of the existing methods, describe a possible solution how to design and implement a task specific descriptor, which can handle the informational gap between a sketch and a colored image, making an opportunity for the efficient search hereby. The used descriptor is constructed after such special sequence of preprocessing steps that the transformed full color image and the sketch can be compared. We have studied EHD, HOG and SIFT. The SBIR technology can be used in several applications such as digital libraries, crime prevention, photo sharing sites. Such a system has great value in apprehending suspects and indentifying victims in forensics and law enforcement. A possible application is matching a forensic sketch to a gallery of mug shot images. The area of retrieve images based on the visual content of the query picture intensified recently, which demands on the quite wide methodology spectrum on the area of the image processing.
Threshold between Spontaneous and Cloud-Collisional Star Formation

Based on simple physical and geometric assumptions, we have calculated the mean surface molecular density of spiral galaxies at the threshold between star formation induced by cloud-cloud collision and spontaneous gravitational collapse. The calculated threshold is approximately $\log \Sigma_\mathrm{crit} \sim 2.5$, where $ \Sigma \quad \mathrm{M_{\solar}}\cdot \mathrm{pc}^{-2}$ is the observed surface mass density of an assumed flat gas disk. Above this limit, the rate of molecular cloud collisions dominates over spontaneous molecular cloud collapse. This model may explain the apparent discontinuity in the Schmidt law found recently at $2 \lesssim \log \Sigma \lesssim 3$.
Defining Plasmodium falciparum Treatment in South West Asia: A Randomized Trial Comparing Artesunate or Primaquine Combined with Chloroquine or SP

Introduction Antimalarial resistance has led to a global policy of artemisinin-based combination therapy. Despite growing resistance chloroquine (CQ) remained until recently the official first-line treatment for falciparum malaria in Pakistan, with sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) second-line. Co-treatment with the gametocytocidal primaquine (PQ) is recommended for transmission control in South Asia. The relative effect of artesunate (AS) or primaquine, as partner drugs, on clinical outcomes and gametocyte carriage in this setting were unknown. Methods A single-blinded, randomized trial among Afghan refugees in Pakistan compared six treatment arms: CQ; CQ+(single-dose)PQ; CQ+(3 d)AS; SP; SP+(single-dose)PQ, and SP+(3 d)AS. The objectives were to compare treatment failure rates and effect on gametocyte carriage, of CQ or SP monotherapy against the respective combinations (PQ or AS). Outcomes included trophozoite and gametocyte clearance (read by light microscopy), and clinical and parasitological failure. Findings A total of 308 (87%) patients completed the trial. Failure rates by day 28 were: CQ 55/68 (81%); CQ+AS 19/67 (28%), SP 4/41 (9.8%), SP+AS 1/41 (2.4%). The addition of PQ to CQ or SP did not affect failure rates (CQ+PQ 49/67 (73%) failed; SP+PQ 5/33 (16%) failed). AS was superior to PQ at clearing gametocytes; gametocytes were seen on d7 in 85% of CQ, 40% of CQ+PQ, 21% of CQ+AS, 91% of SP, 76% of SP+PQ and 23% of SP+AS treated patients. PQ was more effective at clearing older gametocyte infections whereas AS was more effective at preventing emergence of mature gametocytes, except in cases that recrudesced. Conclusions CQ is no longer appropriate by itself or in combination. These findings influenced the replacement of CQ with SP+AS for first-line treatment of uncomplicated falciparum malaria in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region. The threat of SP resistance remains as SP monotherapy is still common. Three day AS was superior to single-dose PQ for reducing gametocyte carriage. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov bold>
Data quality in empirical software engineering: a targeted review

Context: The utility of prediction models in empirical software engineering (ESE) is heavily reliant on the quality of the data used in building those models. Several data quality challenges such as noise, incompleteness, outliers and duplicate data points may be relevant in this regard. Objective: We investigate the reporting of three potentially influential elements of data quality in ESE studies: data collection, data pre-processing, and the identification of data quality issues. This enables us to establish how researchers view the topic of data quality and the mechanisms that are being used to address it. Greater awareness of data quality should inform both the sound conduct of ESE research and the robust practice of ESE data collection and processing. Method: We performed a targeted literature review of empirical software engineering studies covering the period January 2007 to September 2012. A total of 221 relevant studies met our inclusion criteria and were characterized in terms of their consideration and treatment of data quality. Results: We obtained useful insights as to how the ESE community considers these three elements of data quality. Only 23 of these 221 studies reported on all three elements of data quality considered in this paper. Conclusion: The reporting of data collection procedures is not documented consistently in ESE studies. It will be useful if data collection challenges are reported in order to improve our understanding of why there are problems with software engineering data sets and the models developed from them. More generally, data quality should be given far greater attention by the community. The improvement of data sets through enhanced data collection, pre-processing and quality assessment should lead to more reliable prediction models, thus improving the practice of software engineering.
An approach to conceptual ontology integration with an ontology repository and a rule base

There exist a lot of ontologies that together can enrich knowledge within a domain or cross several related domains; and can provide advanced services based on these integrated ontologies. However, the concepts are often described differently in various ontologies, which create problems for the ontology integration. In this paper, an approach of an ontology repository and a rule base is proposed to handle the various concepts descriptions. A new mapping process is proposed. The results of the mappings are ontology joints, which are ontologies composed of sets of assertions about the concepts validated in the original ontologies. Metadata are used for the description of ontology and ontology joints. A rule base of how to interpret the concepts by applying the metadata is created after the mappings. Ontologies and the ontology joints in the repository can be reused for further ontology integration. Human interaction is possible in the approach.
Risk behaviors at late childhood and early adolescence as predictors of depression symptoms

Abstract The study aims to answer following questions: (1) What are the risk behaviors among children at late childhood and early stage of adolescence? (2) What are the differences between boys and girls concerning problem behaviors? (3) Do risk behaviors predict symptoms of depression? Participants fulfilled the set of three tools: (1) Children Depression Inventory authored by M. Kovacs (1992); (2) List of experienced risk behaviors and (3) List of open questions concerning the knowledge and experience with smart drugs. The study group consisted of 130 boys and girls attending the fifth and sixth grade of primary school. The study shows differences between boys’ and girls’ risk behaviors, as well as the similarities. The findings indicate that gender-related disparities in problem behaviors exist even at the early stages of puberty. Boys under one parent custody declare significantly more risk behaviors than girls under one parent custody. Finally, the symptoms of depression were predicted by cumulative number of risk behaviors and – on tendency level – by type of parental custody.
A New Performance Characterization of Transient Analysis Method

This paper proposes a new performance characterization for the test strategy intended for second order filters denominated Transient Analysis Method (TRAM). We evaluate the ability of the addressed test strategy for detecting deviation faults under simultaneous statistical fluctuation of the non-faulty parameters. For this purpose, we use Monte Carlo simulations and a fault model that considers as faulty only one component of the filter under test while the others components adopt random values (within their tolerance band) obtained from their statistical distributions. The new data reported here show (for the filters under study) the presence of hard-to-test components and relatively low fault coverage values for small deviation faults. These results suggest that the fault coverage value obtained using only nominal values for the non-faulty components (the traditional evaluation of TRAM) seem to be a poor predictor of the test performance. Keywords—testing, fault analysis, analog filter test, parametric faults detection.
Question-Answer Models Of Decision-Making Tasks In Automated Designing

The key problem of the successful development of a software intensive system (SIS) is adequate conceptual interactions of stakeholders at the early stages of designing. Success of development can be increased with using of Artificial Intelligence means including models of reasoning. In this paper a number of question-answer means (QA-means) for decisionmaking (DM) is suggested. The base of such means is a set of the DM tasks for each of which the QA-model with the typical architecture structure is being built and used. Suggested and implemented means are embedded to the QA-processor adjusted for automated designing the SIS.
Multisensory Assessment of Acoustic Comfort Aboard Metros: a Virtual Reality Study

Summary In this study, a multisensory methodology is used to assess acoustic comfort aboard different real-world metros by means of subjective annoyance and cognitive performance measures. Two experimental conditions were compared: unimodal versus bimodal. Immersive virtual reality was used to simulate journeys aboard metro coaches. Participants performed four tasks (Rey Test, Verbal Fluency, Backward Counting and Auditory Words Discrimination) while listening to metro sounds (unimodal condition) or while listening to metro sounds within a virtual metro coach (bimodal condition). At the end of each journey, participants reported their degree of noise annoyance. The results showed that cognitive performances were worse in the bimodal than in the unimodal condition. Moreover, the bimodal condition affected negatively the capacity to discriminate words and to count backward. However, reported noise annoyance was higher in the unimodal than bimodal condition. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Photometric laser scanner to camera calibration for low resolution sensors

In modern automated systems the usage of sensors with orthogonal measurement principles is indispensable for assuring a redundant system. The combination of laser scanners and cameras is particularly prevalent. To profit from the potential of fusing information from these sensors, the basic step is sensor registration. State of the art cross-calibration methods for laser scanners and cameras establish geometric correspondences for example by detecting checker-boards in size and form. However these approaches suffer from ambivalent features and are only usable if the laser scanner has a high scanning density. Therefore, we present a reconstruction-free and vision-based extrinsic calibration algorithm with distinct features, which was developed with special focus on low-density laser scanners and high measurement noise. Moreover, we contribute an evaluation methodology demonstrating the capability of our approach. Along with this paper, we publish the associated code.
DIEUDONNÉ RINGS ASSOCIATED WITH K(n)* k(n)*

We use Dieudonne theory for periodically graded Hopf rings to determine the Dieudonne ring structure of the Z/2(p" - 1)-graded Morava K-theory K(n) * (-), with p an odd prime, when applied to the Ω-spectrum k(n) (and to K(n) ). We also expand these results in order to accomodate the case of the full Morava K-theory K(n)*(-).
Education, Social Equality and Economic Growth: A View of the Landscape

Education has been one of the key determinants of economic growth around the world since 1965. In this paper, we discuss three different measures of education, and consider their relationship to the distribution of income as measured by the Gini coefficient as well as to economic growth across countries. The three measures are: (a) gross secondary-school enrolment, (b) public expenditure on education relative to national income and (c) expected years of schooling for girls. We show that all three measures of education are directly related to income equality across countries. In a sample of 87 countries at all income levels, we also find that more and better education appears to encourage economic growth directly as well as indirectly through increased social equality and cohesion. Our regression results survive the introduction of regional dummy variables for Africa, Asia and Central and South America. We argue that the empirical relationship between education, on the one hand, and growth and equality, on the other hand, can help account for the positive correlation between the two latter variables that has been documented in the literature. (JEL 128, O15, O40)
140–220-GHz DHBT Detectors

This paper discusses G -band (140-220 GHz) detectors based on a 250-nm InP-InGaAs-InP double heterojunction bipolar transistor process available from the Teledyne Scientific Company. Two types of detectors are presented-a passive detector where the transistor's base-emitter junction nonlinearity is used, and an active detector, where the transistor transconductance nonlinearity is used for detection. Measurements of transistor noise-power spectrum density at low frequencies is used to model and predict the noise equivalent power (NEP) of the detectors. Analysis of responsivity and noise is presented and compared with measurements. Both configurations are analyzed and compared in terms of noise-voltage, responsivity and NEP. The conclusion that the passive detector offers lower NEP is analyzed and explained.