Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
N ov 2 01 4 A HYBRID RECURRENT NEURAL NETWORK FOR MUSIC TRANSCRIPTION

We investigate the problem of incorporating higher-level s ymbolic score-like information into Automatic Music Transcriptio n (AMT) systems to improve their performance. We use recurrent neur al networks (RNNs) and their variants as music language models (ML Ms) and present a generative architecture for combining these m odels with predictions from a frame level acoustic classifier. We a lso compare different neural network architectures for acoustic m odeling. The proposed model computes a distribution over possible ou tput sequences given the acoustic input signal and we present an a lgorithm for performing a global search for good candidate tran scriptions. The performance of the proposed model is evaluated on piano music from the MAPS dataset and we observe that the propos ed model consistently outperforms existing transcription me thods.
Improving human object recognition performance using video enhancement techniques

Atmospheric scattering causes significant degradation in the quality of video images, particularly when imaging over long distances. The principle problem is the reduction in contrast due to scattered light. It is known that when the scattering particles are not too large compared with the imaging wavelength (i.e. Mie scattering) then high spatial resolution information may be contained within a low-contrast image. Unfortunately this information is not easily perceived by a human observer, particularly when using a standard video monitor. A secondary problem is the difficulty of achieving a sharp focus since automatic focus techniques tend to fail in such conditions. Recently several commercial colour video processing systems have become available. These systems use various techniques to improve image quality in low contrast conditions whilst retaining colour content. These systems produce improvements in subjective image quality in some situations, particularly in conditions of haze and light fog. There is also some evidence that video enhancement leads to improved ATR performance when used as a pre-processing stage. Psychological literature indicates that low contrast levels generally lead to a reduction in the performance of human observers in carrying out simple visual tasks. The aim of this paper is to present the results of an empirical study on object recognition in adverse viewing conditions. The chosen visual task was vehicle number plate recognition at long ranges (500 m and beyond). Two different commercial video enhancement systems are evaluated using the same protocol. The results show an increase in effective range with some differences between the different enhancement systems.
Refined stellar, orbital and planetary parameters of the eccentric HAT‐P‐2 planetary system

We present refined parameters for the extrasolar planetary system HAT-P-2 (also known as HD 147506), based on new radial velocity and photometric data. HAT-P-2b is a transiting extrasolar planet that exhibits an eccentric orbit. We present a detailed analysis of the planetary and stellar parameters, yielding consistent results for the mass and radius of the star, better constraints on the orbital eccentricity and refined planetary parameters. The improved parameters for the host star are M_★= 1.36 ± 0.04 M_⊙ and R_★= 1.64 ± 0.08 R_⊙, while the planet has a mass of M_p= 9.09 ± 0.24 M_Jup and radius of R_p= 1.16 ± 0.08 R_Jup. The refined transit epoch and period for the planet are E= 245 4387.49375 ± 0.00074 (BJD) and P= 5.6334729 ± 0.0000061 (d), and the orbital eccentricity and argument of periastron are e= 0.5171 ± 0.0033 and ω= 185°. 22 ± 0°. 95. These orbital elements allow us to predict the timings of secondary eclipses with a reasonable accuracy of ∼15 min. We also discuss the effects of this significant eccentricity including the characterization of the asymmetry in the transit light curve. Simple formulae are presented for the above, and these, in turn, can be used to constrain the orbital eccentricity using purely photometric data. These will be particularly useful for very high precision, space-borne observations of transiting planets.
Digital Collaboration Technologies and Managerial Intensity in U.S. Corporations: An Examination

We argue that digital collaboration technologies (DCTs) reduce supervisory burden on managers and should therefore lower managerial intensity. To test our argument, we apply a differences-in-differences design on a novel dataset built from firms’ job listings (Lightcast) and employees’ social profiles (Revelio), which comprises 3,017 US public firms that we track in the period 2010-2019. We find that, over the observation window, DCT adopters indeed show a 0.8% reduction in managerial intensity on average. Consistent with our argument that DCTs reduce supervisory burden, adopters also show a 5-7% increase in decentralization related skills in their job postings in the years following adoption. We also find that DCT adopters scaled up with fewer and less skilled managers.
Post-Fire Arthropod Assemblages in Mediterranean Forest Soils in Israel

The presence of soil micro- and macroarthropod species was surveyed after severe fire in a mixed forest dominated by Aleppo pine on Mt. Carmel, Israel. Arthropods were sampled, and separated into 19 taxa (mainly orders or classes). The effects of 2nd-5th post-fire years, seasons, habitats (burned and unburned) and tree species (pine or oaks) on the relative abundance of soil arthropods were analyzed by linear redundancy analysis. Arthropod distribution along the first axis of the analysis was non-random, so all these factors influenced arthropod community composition. Arthropod composition in the 2nd and 3rd postfire years was different from later years, demonstrating outbreaks of pioneers. After five post-fire years arthropod populations were not completely recovered. Significant seasonal differences in population size were detected, indicating summer, and to lesser extent also winter, as unfavorable periods in that region, as was well demonstrated with Collembola. The resilience of arthropods under burned oaks differed from the arthropods sampled under burned pines. Seven taxa were highly correlated to the unburned zone and included the main microarthropod groups (Collembola, Protura, Acari, and Pauropoda) and Coleoptera, Thysanoptera and Chilopoda. Only two orders showed a distinct association with-the burned zone: Psocoptera and Homoptera; the latter was represented almost solely by specimens of a pioneer species, Rhizoicus sp. (Pseudococcidae).
Gender Differences in Job Search and the Earnings Gap: Evidence from Business Majors

To understand gender differences in the job search process, we collect rich information on job offers and acceptances from past and current undergraduates of Boston University's Questrom School of Business. We document two novel empirical facts: (1) there is a clear gender difference in the timing of job offer acceptance, with women accepting jobs substantially earlier than men, and (2) the gender earnings gap in accepted offers narrows in favor of women over the course of the job search period. Using survey data on risk preferences and beliefs about expected future earnings, we present empirical evidence that the patterns in job search can be partly explained by the higher levels of risk aversion displayed by women and the higher levels of overoptimism (and slower belief updating) displayed by men. We develop a job search model that incorporates these gender differences in risk aversion and (over)optimism about prospective offers. Our counterfactual exercises show that simple policies such as eliminating ``exploding offers" by allowing students to hold onto offers for an additional month, or providing them with accurate information about the labor market, can reduce the gender gap significantly. Institutional subscribers to the NBER working paper series, and residents of developing countries may download this paper without additional charge at www.nber. org.
Institution Building and the Integration of Eastern Europe in International Production

Using a dataset detailing FDI flows from market economies to transition economies we examine two aspects FDI inflow determinants given insufficient prior attention: labour costs and institutional development. We find low unit labour costs and aggregate institutional development enhance FDI receipts. Examining disaggregated development indicators identifies specific institutions that positively influence FDI: private sector development, banking sector reform, price, foreign exchange and trade liberalisation, and legal development. Conversely we find non-bank financial sector development and competition policy do not enhance FDI. Our analysis highlights that Russian FDI receipts have suffered from a gap between extensiveness and effectiveness of legal reform.
ON THESENSITIVlTY OF THE GLOBAL OCEAN CIRCULATION TO CHANGES IN THE SURFACE HEAT FLUX FORCING

The sensivity of the global ocean circulation to changes in surface heat flux forcing is studied using the Hamburg Large Scale Geostrophic (LSG) ocean circulation model. The simulated mean ocean circulation for optimally tuned surface forcing fields reproduces the principal water mass properties. residence times and large scale transport properties of the observed ocean circulation quite satisfactorily. However, rather minor changes in the formulation of the high latitude air — sea heat flux can produce dramatic changes in the structure of the ocean circulation. These strongly affect the deep ocean overturning rates and residence times, the oceanic heat transport and the rate of oceanic uptake of CO? The sensivity is largely controlled by the mechanism of deep water formation in high latitudes. The experiments support similar findings by other authors on the sensivity of the ocean circulation to changes in the fresh water flux and are consistent with the existence of multi-equilibria circulation states with a relatively low transition threshold.
The effect of global seismicity on the polar motion of a viscoelastic Earth

We evaluate the polar drift of a stratified viscoelastic Earth, generated by 20 years of global seismicity (from the Centroid Moment Tensor catalog, 1977–1997). Our estimate is better than that of Soldati and Spada [1999] because it accounts for the effects, previously neglected, of earthquakes at depths larger than 80 km. In fact, we show that deep focus and intermediate-depth focus seismic events tend to affect the Earth's inertia tensor more significantly than shallow ones; specifically, we find that the mean rate of polar drift (evaluated over a 6-year time interval immediately following the seismic event) due to a vertical dip-slip source at the bottom of the asthenosphere (280 km depth in our model) is 5 times larger than that generated by an analogous source, located at the boundary between lithosphere and asthenosphere (80 km depth). We conclude, nevertheless, that global seismic activity is not able to alter significantly the rotational parameters of the Earth: according to our computations, the changes that it induces in the inertia tensor result in an average polar drift that is still significantly smaller than the observed one.
Response of tropical African and East Atlantic climates to orbital forcing over the last 1.7 Ma

Abstract Records of organic matter accumulation, organic carbon isotopic composition and iron content covering the last 1.7 Ma are presented for the Congo Fan Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Site 1075, and are compared with their counterparts from ODP Site 663 in the equatorial upwelling region. They are discussed with regard to variations in African precipitation and Congo River discharge and in the context of changes in trade-wind-driven marine productivity for the tropical Atlantic at periodicities typical of Milankovitch forcing. On the Congo Fan, elevated total organic carbon mass accumulation rates (TOC MAR) and Fe intensities occur predominantly during interglacial periods when the African monsoon was most intense. Band-pass filtering applied to TOC MAR shows distinct precessional variations, indicating that the African climate was largely controlled by low-latitude insolation changes. Only for the last 0.6 Ma, an interval of enhanced glacial-interglacial climate changes, is the precessional TOC MAR signal superimposed by a strong 100 ka oscillation. In contrast, variations in terrestrial iron input to the Congo Fan indicate pronounced 100 ka variance already well before global glacial-interglacial cycles increased in amplitude between 0.9 and 0.6 Ma. Obliquity cycles in the Fe signal are strongly expressed for the last 0.9 Ma. The highest amplitudes in the precessional variance of fluvial Fe input occur when amplitudes in the 100 ka oscillation were at intermediate levels and reveal a 800 ka cycle in phase shift with respect to precessional forcing. Together with a pronounced 800 ka signal in the 100 ka amplitude variations during the last 1.7 Ma, the Congo Fan iron record therefore suggests that eccentricity modulation of the low-latitude insolation directly influenced the equatorial African monsoon system and probably the weathering conditions on land. It further suggests that low-latitude precessional forcing and monsoonal response in the tropics might have played an important role for 100 ka cycles in global climate well before huge continental ice sheets existed.
CoMPArISon oF lIDAr- AnD PHoToInTerPreTATIon-BASeD eSTIMATeS oF CAnoPy Cover

An evaluation of the agreement between photointerpretation- and LiDARbased estimates of canopy cover was performed using 397 90 x 90 m reference areas in Oregon. It was determined that at low canopy cover levels LiDAR estimates tend to exceed those from photointerpretation and that this tendency reverses at high canopy cover levels. Characteristics of the airborne imagery used, and, to a lesser extent, the density of the sampling point pattern employed and the occasional photointerpretation error inflated estimate discrepancies. Where available, LiDAR data can potentially be used to quantify the magnitude of error embedded in estimates of canopy cover obtained via photointerpretation.
Fingerprint image quality measurement based on ridge continuity estimation

The performance of an automatic fingerprint recognition system relies heavily on the quality of input fingerprint images. This paper presents a novel approach to assess the local and global quality of fingerprint image by estimating the ridge continuity measure, which reflects the intrinsic characteristics of quality. The ridge continuity measure is computed by combining orientation coherence and the first and second order directional derivatives of the image. The calculation of minutiae reliability is also derived from the local quality map. Qualitative and quantitative experiments are carried out to evaluate the proposed quality measure. The experimental results show that it is effective for estimating the image quality, and can be used for quality control in enrollment stage and improving the recognition rate in matching stage.
Permeability and fluid chemistry studies of the Topopah Spring Member of the Paintbrush Tuff, Nevada Test Site: Part II

The Topopah Spring Member of the Paintbrush Tuff is being considered as a possible emplacement horizon for the disposal of nuclear waste. The permeability and pore-fluid chemistry of the Topopah Spring Member have been investigated experimentally. The work reported here represents a continuation of previous permeability studies on the Topopah Spring Member. Three experiments were run, to test the effect of pore pressure, sample orientation, and flow direction on permeability and pore fluid chemistry. In the experiments, water flowed either up or down a temperature gradient established across the tuff sample in response to a small pore pressure gradient. The maximum temperature of the gradient was 150{sup 0}C, and the minimum was 43 to 45{sup 0}C. The confining pressure was 100 bars, corresponding to a disposal depth of 400 meters. J13 water was the starting pore fluid. The heated tuff samples showed few changes in permeability from their initial, room-temperature values. In addition, the fluids discharged from both the low and high-temperature sides of the tuff samples were dilute, nearly neutral solutions whose compositions did not differ greatly from the starting J13 compositions. 16 refs., 14 figs., 4 tabs.
Landscape-level management of parks, refuges, and preserves for ecosystem resilience

The laws governing management of national parks, wildlife refuges, and other federal land preserves seek to conserve natural resources in highly treasured locations. The nature of conservation has changed substantially, however, since Congress first enacted these laws. It is clear that protected ecosystems are influenced by outside events and that management of human-dominated ecosystems is essential to long-term sustainability of the ecosystems containing protected preserves. The effects of climate change, invasive species introductions, and other broad-scale anthropogenic influences are expected to alter the functioning of natural systems in ways that will make it impossible for protected areas to function as they have in the past. Resource management and the laws that govern it must therefore shift toward protecting or restoring ecosystem resilience, including external influences important to system persistence. This chapter considers two questions: (1) what kinds of protected areas are best suited to protecting the resilience of natural systems; and (2) whether adequate legal structures exist to allow for the creation and management of such areas. It explains why broad-scale management strategies scales are critical to achieving resilient social-ecological systems and explores challenges to effective broad-scale management of protected areas. The chapter argues that, despite some flexibility under existing laws governing parks and refuges for agencies to anticipate and react to natural systems disruptions through landscape-level management mechanisms, there is an increasing mismatch between legal mandates and protected area resilience. Both statutory and administrative changes are needed if national parks and wildlife refuges are to maintain social-ecological resilience.
Neural regulation of innate and adaptive immunity in the gut

This thesis investigates the role of neurotransmitters acetylcholine (ACh) and norepinephrine (NE), in modulating the innate and adaptive immune function in the intestine, during physiological and pathophysiological conditions. Furthermore, this thesis attempts to advance our current understanding of the gut-brain immune axis, also known as the cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway, coined largely due to the cholinergic nature of the vagus nerve.
The stratigraphy of mass extinction

Patterns of last occurrences of fossil species are often used to infer the tempo and timing of mass extinction, even though last occurrences generally precede the time of extinction. Numerical simulations with constant extinction demonstrate that last occurrences are not randomly distributed, but tend to cluster at subaerial unconformities, surfaces of forced regression, flooding surfaces and intervals of stratigraphical condensation, all of which occur in predictable stratigraphical positions. This clustering arises not only from hiatuses and non‐deposition, but also from changes in water depth. Simulations with intervals of elevated extinction cause such clusters of last occurrences to be enhanced within and below the interval of extinction, suggesting that the timing and magnitude of extinctions in these instances could be misinterpreted. With the possible exception of the end‐Cretaceous, mass extinctions in the fossil record are characterized by clusters of last occurrences at these sequence stratigraphical horizons. Although these clusters of last occurrences may represent brief pulses of elevated extinction, they are equally likely to form by stratigraphical processes during a protracted period (more than several hundred thousand years) of elevated extinction rate. Geochemical proxies of extinction causes are also affected similarly, suggesting that many local expressions of mass extinction should be re‐evaluated for the timing of extinction and its relation to environmental change. We propose three tests for distinguishing pulses of extinction from clusters of last occurrences produced by stratigraphical processes.
Circular Economy in Buildings

This chapter is centred on waste management in buildings. It discusses the principles of applying circular economy in buildings toward resource efficiency with regard to the building sector. The study investigates a series of building assessments and reviews different aspects of energy efficiency as it relates to circular economy in buildings. It recommends the best practices to ensure the reuse and recycling of building components during and after the life of a building. The world is experiencing huge resource depletion and it is eminent to research the waste management practices in the building industry, Circular Economy offers major interventions in buildings which are explored in this chapter, another aspect of the discussion in this chapter is the design for disassembly and design for recycling under the concepts of circular economy.
RELATING TRENDS OF PRINCIPAL COMPONENTS TO TRENDS OF WATER-QUALITY CONSTITUENTS

: The seasonal Kendall test is used for detecting water-quality trend or lack of trend for monthly data of 15 water-quality constituents at 15 sampling stations in the Arkansas River, the Neosho River, and the Verdigris River basins. Trends of individual constituents and the trends of the first four principal components for the correlation matrix of water-quality data at each station are determined, and the relationships between the trends of constituents and the trends of principal components are established. Using the principal components not only reduces the high dimensionality of the original data to a few principal components, but also presents an overall picture of water-quality trend of these river basins.
Strategic resolution of policy, environmental and socio-economic impacts in Canadian Arctic diamond mining: BHP's NWT diamond project

BHP's Northwest Territories Diamond Project (EKATI™) illustrates how a two-step process consisting of an environmental impact assessment review followed by parallel permitting and negotiated agreements resolved an array of interdependent policy, environmental, social-impact, legal/administrative and economic issues in the remote Canadian Arctic. The process bridged problems of intercultural communications between a multinational corporation, four small Aboriginal groups and officials working in a period of transition within government. The proposal proceeded because of participants' good faith, good science, public consultation, sound process management, mitigable impacts and shrewd ministerial handling.