Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sound for film and television

Preface to the Third Edition Introduction Chapter 1 Objective Sound Chapter 2 Psychoacoustics Chapter 3 Audio Fundamentals Chapter 4 Capturing Sound Chapter 5 Microphone Technicalities Chapter 6 Handling the Output of Microphones Chapter 7 Production Sound Mixing Chapter 8 Sync, Sank, Sunk Chapter 9 Transfers Chapter 10 Sound Design Chapter 11 Editing Chapter 12 Mixing Chapter 13 From Print Masters to Exploitation Appendix I Working with Decibels Appendix II Filmography Appendix III The Eleven Commandments of Film Sound Appendix IV Bibliography Glossary Index About the Author The Companion Website Instructions for the Accompanying DVD
Soil water heterogeneity and emergence time control seedling establishment in three co-occurring oak species

Tree species can differ in their responses to resource availability during the critical phase of establishment, which could influence forest dynamics. In Mediterranean forests, most of the attention has focused on the effects of shade and summer drought on seedling survival, but little is known about the effect of autumn to spring rains on earlier stages of recruitment (germination and emergence). A sowing experiment was set up along natural gradients of light availability and water content (during wet and dry periods) with three co-occurring oak species (Quercus suber, Q. canariensis and Q. pyrenaica), that show limited natural regeneration in the south of the Iberian Peninsula. Recruitment stages were monitored for one year. Using maximum likelihood, models of germination, emergence, and survival were developed as functions of light, soil moisture during wet and dry periods, and soil compaction. The influence of intra-specific variation in seed mass and emergence time were also tested. Over-abundant soil water levels during the winter (due to heavy rains) reduced germination and emergence and lengthened time to emergence (in waterlogged open areas), which in turn decreased seedling survivorship during the dry season. Thus, water acted as a double factor of stress (by excess and deficit) during seedling establishment. Seedlings from larger seeds had overall increased probabilities of germination and emergence. Results suggest that temporal and spatial heterogeneity of soil water content, mediated by emergence time and seed size, play a crucial role in the regeneration dynamics of Mediterranean oak forests.
Enriching Ontology-based Data Access with Provenance (Extended Version)

Ontology-based data access (OBDA) is a popular paradigm for querying heterogeneous data sources by connecting them through mappings to an ontology. In OBDA, it is often difficult to reconstruct why a tuple occurs in the answer of a query. We address this challenge by enriching OBDA with provenance semirings, taking inspiration from database theory. In particular, we investigate the problems of (i) deciding whether a provenance annotated OBDA instance entails a provenance annotated conjunctive query, and (ii) computing a polynomial representing the provenance of a query entailed by a provenance annotated OBDA instance. Differently from pure databases, in our case, these polynomials may be infinite. To regain finiteness, we consider idempotent semirings, and study the complexity in the case of DL-LiteR ontologies. We implement Task (ii) in a state-of-the-art OBDA system and show the practical feasibility of the approach through an extensive evaluation against two popular benchmarks.
Identity Politics and Economic Policy

How does identity politics impact political conflict over economic policy? I present a theory of political competition in culturally divided societies to explicate the link between identity politics and politics over economic policymaking. I show that both brands of politics are symptomatic of the same strategic choice faced by politicians. My key insight is that incentives to engage in identity politics dampen motivations to win support using economic policy. By triggering identity in the electoral arena, politicians can boost their popularity among voters who value identity. But the identity card polarizes political preferences, such that groups mobilized on identity become relatively less responsive to policy. Politicians thus fashion economic platforms toward other groups. My focus on identity mobilization generates insights that upturn many expectations about who gets what from the state in culturally divided democracies. Contrary to conventional wisdom, I show that ethnically homogenous industries receive fewer preferential policies because politicians are more likely to court voters in these industries based on identity appeals. I test my theoretical predictions by using survey experiments, historical case studies, and analyses of original data on industry-level trade policies and indicators of cultural diversity. My findings help explain how the sharp rise in identity politics in recent decades has systematically influenced regulatory capture in culturally divided democracies. ∗Department of Political Science, Columbia University, 420 W 118 St, MC 3320, New York, NY 10027; nikhar.gaikwad@columbia.edu.
On the capacity of the (d, k) constrained BSC: computed bounds and estimates

The author computes upper and lower bounds on the capacity of the binary symmetric channel with a run-length constrained input. The upper bound is taken from some recent work. the lower bound is a new result based upon the idea that the capacity of a binary symmetric channel combined with a specific run-length limited block code is no larger than the capacity of the constrained binary symmetric channel. The bounds, denoted I/sub n//sup U/ and I/sub n//sup L/ for the upper bound and the lower bound, respectively, are functions of an integer parameter n, with the bounds generally being tighter for larger n. The bounds are computed for n up to 8. Results are given as a function of the binary symmetry channel error probability, p. Using the bounds, the author computes estimates of capacity as well, using a technique described previously. Also included are computed bounds on the capacity of the binary symmetric channel combined with specific run-length limited codes, including the Miller code, a (2, 7) sliding block code, the (1, 7) Jacoby code, and some distance preserving run-length limited codes. <<ETX>>
Classification of Churn and non-Churn Customers for Telecommunication Companies

Telecommunication is very important as it serves various processes, using of electronic systems to transmit messages via physical cables, telephones, or cell phones. The two main factors that affect the vitality of telecommunications are the rapid growth of modern technology and the market demand and its competition. These two factors in return create new technologies and products, which open a series of options and offers to customers, in order to satisfy their needs and requirements. However, one crucial problem that commercial companies in general and telecommunication companies in particular suffer from is a loss of valuable customers to competitors; this is called customer-churn prediction. In this paper the dynamic training technique is introduced. Dynamic training is used to improve the prediction of performance. This technique is based on two ANN network configurations to minimise the total error of the network to predict two different classes: namely churn and non-customers.
BASED PSEUDO-LABELING FOR SEMI-SUPERVISED PERSON RE-IDENTIFICATION

Generative Adversarial Networks (GAN) have shown promising results on data modeling and can generate high quality synthetic samples from the data distribution. However, how to effectively use the generated data for improved feature learning still remains an open question. This work proposes a Center based Pseudo-Labeling (CPL) method dedicated to this purpose. The network is trained with both labeled real data and unlabeled synthetic data, under a joint supervision of cross-entropy loss together with a center regularization term, which simultaneously predicts pseudo-labels for unlabeled synthetic data. Experimental results on two standard benchmarks show our approach achieves superior performance over closely related competitors and comparable results with stateof-the-art methods.
Predictive control of nonlinear visual servoing systems using image moments

The visual servoing architectures with an eye-in-hand configuration, composed of a 6-d.o. f. manipulator robot and a video camera, are categorised as high-coupled and nonlinear systems. For this reason, in order to have a stable and convergent behaviour, advanced techniques like predictive control are needed. These types of techniques can solve the potential problems that can appear in classical (image-based visual servoing) while different type of constraints for visual servoing system can be fulfilled easier. Three different visual predictive control architectures based on image moments are proposed. The model for the image moments predictor used in the first architecture is an extension of a local model point features predictor. The second predictive approach uses an image moment-based predictor to describe the future behaviour of the system over a certain camera velocity scenario directly in the image moments space. In order to have a faster convergence and in the same time a desired behaviour of the servoing system, a reference trajectory is employed. This represents the main contribution of the last predictive control technique proposed in this study. A Matlab simulator was developed and all the visual servoing architectures described in the study were implemented. The simulation results showed that all the proposed visual predictive control approaches are stable and convergent when dealing with visual servoing tasks, but the best performances were assigned to the reference trajectory-based image moments architecture.
Genotype by environment interaction for udder health traits in Swedish Holstein cattle

Genotype by environment interaction for somatic cell count and mastitis in the first lactation of the Swedish Holstein breed was studied, using a reaction norm model and multiple trait analysis. Data from the Swedish milk-recording scheme containing more than 200 000 cows having their first calving from 1995-01-01 and onwards was used. Somatic cell count was defined as the average value of the monthly milk sampling results until 150 days after calving expressed in 10 000 cells per millilitre and transformed to a logarithmic scale to the base 10 (LSCC). Mastitis was defined as an all-or-none trait observed from 10 days before calving to 150 days after calving. Environments were defined as: herd-year averages of 305-day protein yield, somatic cell count, and mastitis, all measured in first lactation; and herd size, expressed as the average of 1995-2000 herd-year sizes. The multiple trait analysis was done using the highest and lowest quartiles of the environments herd-year protein yield, herd-year somatic cell count, herd-year mastitis, and herd size. The genetic correlation for LSCC and mastitis between low and high environments indicated GxE for LSCC in somatic cell count environment. Variances of the slope and the level of the reaction norm were analyzed by regressing phenotypic values of somatic cell count and mastitis on herd-year environments of protein yield, somatic cell count, mastitis and on the environment herd size. Significant genetic variation in slope was also detected for LSCC in somatic cell count environments and the correlation between predicted offspring performance in low and high somatic cell count environments showed GxE and indicated re-ranking of sires. The heritability of somatic cell count and mastitis estimated as functions of the environments tended to be lowest in average environments and increased with the distance from the average. Neither the multiple trait analysis nor the reaction norm model provided us with complete results when using the environmental scale mastitis. This is probably due to that the mastitis frequency is close to zero in low mastitis environments, resulting in a lack of phenotypic variation.
Yana Dimitrova SEASONAL AFFECTIVE DISORDER ( SAD ) EFFECT ON STOCK MARKET EVIDENCE FROM SWEDISH

In general the theory of finance assumes that the markets are efficient, but behavioral finance concept shows that markets are not efficient due to deviations known as anomalies. This study focuses on a seasonal anomaly called the Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). The anomaly refers to significantly lower stock returns before winter solstice and abnormally higher after winter solstice. This paper investigates the role of SAD phenomenon on the Swedish stock market. It also examines the possible influence of weather factors such as air pressure, precipitation and cloud cover on the Swedish stock returns as well as the SAD impact on shares in a matter of risk. The research examines two stock market indices-Nordic Small Cap index and Stockholm OMX30 index. The studied time period for the Nordic Small Cap index is 2006-2012 and for the Stockholm OMX30 index is from 2003 to 2012. The market data comprises of daily log returns. Main testing method is regression analysis with seasonal dummy variables. In addition to Ordinary Least Squares (OLS), the GARCH model is also used in order to measure the shares volatility. The results indicate that the SAD effect can be observed during autumn on the Nordic Small Cap index returns. The returns during the period from the autumnal equinox until the winter solstice are lower than usual. Besides that, Monday and tax dummies for the same index appear to be statistically significant. The returns on the first day of the week are lower than during the other days of the week. At the end of the year, during tax time, the returns for the same index appear to be higher than the average returns. The weather factors do not affect the stock returns. The GARCH model results show that the tax arrangements at the end of the year cause a change in the index volatility that leads to an increase in the returns whereas the Monday effect on the risk returns is expressed in a decrease. This study considers a possible connection between SAD anomaly and January effect. However, the regression results do not confirm the existence of the January effect on the Swedish stock market.
Importance of Watermark Lossless Compression in Digital Medical Image Watermarking

Large size data requires more storage space, communication time, communication bandwidth and degrades host image quality when it is embedded into it as watermark. Lossless compression reduces data size better than lossless one but with permanent loss of important part of data. Data lossless compression reduces data size contrast to lossy one without any data loss. Medical image data is very sensitive and needs lossless compression otherwise it will result in erroneous input for the health recovery process. This paper focuses on Ultrasound medical image region of interest(ROI) lossless compression as watermark using different techniques; PNG, GIF, JPG, JPEG2000 and Lempel Ziv Welsh (LZW). LZW technique was found 86% better than other tabulated techniques. Compression ratio and more bytes reduction were the parameters considered for the selection of better compression technique. In this work LZW has been used successfully for watermark lossless compression to watermark medical images in teleradiology to ensure less payload encapsulation into images to preserve their perceptual and diagnostic qualities unchanged. On the other side in teleradiology the extracted lossless decompressed watermarks ensure the images authentication and their lossless recoveries in case of any tamper occurrences.
Once a Kind Friend is Now a Thing: Understanding How Conversational Agents at Home are Forgotten

The number of households using stand-alone conversational agents is rapidly increasing. However, recent research revealed that in some of these households, use of agents decreases over time, and we know little about why. Therefore, we aim to understand how people utilize such devices in their daily lives and to explore the associated obstacles or difficulties. We conducted a long-term (12-week) user study in which we followed eight households, examining their use of Amazon Echo at home. From a series of diaries, surveys, and interviews with eight first-time users, we identified how their experiences changed over time and how conversational agents lose their presence at home. We found that voice interface, physical form, and at-home installation affect users' perceptions and expectations of smart speakers. Based on these findings, we discuss challenges and design opportunities for future at-home conversational agents.
Coconut Palm: Static and Streaming Data Series Exploration Now in your Palm

Many modern applications produce massive streams of data series and maintain them in indexes to be able to explore them through nearest neighbor search. Existing data series indexes, however, are expensive to operate as they issue many random I/Os to storage. To address this problem, we recently proposed Coconut, a new infrastructure that organizes data series based on a new sortable format. In this way, Coconut is able to leverage state-of-the-art indexing techniques that rely on sorting for the first time to build, maintain and query data series indexes using fast sequential I/Os. In this demonstration, we present Coconut Palm, a new exploration tool that allows to interactively combine different indexing techniques from within the Coconut infrastructure and to thereby seamlessly explore data series from across various scientific domains. We highlight the rich indexing design choices that Coconut opens up, and we present a new recommender tool that allows users to intelligently navigate them for both static and streaming data exploration scenarios.
DynaKnob: Combining Haptic Force Feedback and Shape Change

Despite the advantages of tangible interaction, physical controls like knobs seem to be disappearing from a wide range of products in our everyday life. The work presented in this paper explores how physical controls can become dynamic, in terms of both shape, and haptic force feedback. The paper contains two strands of work: First, we present a study that explores the relationship between haptic force feedback and different knob shapes, evaluating twelve distinct haptic stimuli in relation to six widely used knob shapes. Second, based on the insights collected in the study, we present the design of DynaKnob, a shape changing knob that can change between four different knob shapes. DynaKnob illustrates how dynamic content control, can be combined with dynamic shape and force feedback. Both the study and the design of DynaKnob contribute to understanding how adaptive physical interface controls could be designed in the future.
Analyzing the performance of ASR systems: The effects of noise, distance to the device, age and gender

In a Natural Language Interaction (NLI) solution, the efficiency of the Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) component is a key issue. Considering this, the paper presents an analysis of the performance of three ASR systems on several noise scenarios resembling the interaction with the TV in a domestic environment. The evaluation setup resorted to commonly used input devices for voice interaction with a TV/Set-top Box: remote control with a microphone and two far-field microphones placed at different distances to the user. The analyses focused on cloud-based ASR systems (Google, Bing, and Nuance) that can be used in NLI approaches for Interactive Television in European Portuguese (EP), investigating the possible influence of noise, distance, gender and age on their performance. The results showed that Google is the most robust system followed by Bing and Nuance. The ASR performance tends to deteriorate with background noise and/or when the distance between the user and the input device increases. The ASR performance for Bing and Nuance is significantly affected by age but not for Google. All three ASR systems proved to be robust to gender variation. This work aimed at a better understanding of the behavior of ASR systems to operate in EP in different background noise scenarios considering that this is one of the languages that is still not in the training priorities of the main ASR players.
Seamless Seams: Crafting Techniques for Embedding Fabrics with Interactive Actuation

Traditional crafting methods such as stitching, embroidering, dyeing and machine sewing can be enhanced to create novel techniques for embedding shape-changing and colour-changing actuation into soft fabrics. In this paper, we show how embedding Shape-Memory Alloy (SMA) wire, copper wire and thermochromic thread into needles and bobbins, we were able to successfully machine sew interactive morphological capabilities into textiles. We describe the results of extensive design experiments, which detail how differing actuations can be achieved through a matrix of parameters that directly influence a fabric's deformational behaviours. To demonstrate the usefulness of our 10 techniques, we then introduce and discuss an interactive artefact we produced, using a subset of these techniques. We contribute such new techniques for creating soft-interfaces, imbued with actuation through tactile and self-morphing capabilities without motors or LEDs. We draw insights from this on the potential of the proposed techniques for crafting interactive artefacts.
Designing Visual Interfaces to Support Voice Input: The case of a TV application to request help in daily life tasks

In the last years, voice has been used as an interaction mode in several devices such as smart speakers, mobile devices or television (TV). However, there seems to be a lack of practical recommendations about how visual interfaces can be designed to support the use of voice input in TV applications in certain tasks in a way to take advantage of the full potential of this interaction mode. This paper aims to present the design strategies adopted in a TV application targeting older adults which allows them to request help from a group of volunteers in daily life tasks and where voice is used in certain tasks such as to make the request instead of using the TV remote control. These strategies are discussed around three dimensions considered especially important when using voice-based input: information for voice usage, keeping the user informed and prompts to clarify system's doubts. The paper also presents the results of usability tests with potential users, in order to identify usability problems regarding the use of voice-based input to make the request and to gather information about how improve the usability of this feature. Study results indicate positive attitudes towards the use of voice input method and that older adults considered the use of voice easier than if they had to use a TV remote control to make a request. In a context where voice interaction appears as relevant for older adults, this study can contribute to more informed design strategies in multimodal interaction targeting this group.
Performance Measurement in C2 Systems

Abstract : The continuous transformation of the US military into an integrated and a dominant "full spectrum" capability requires a comprehensive and evolutionary system model (the objective) and a prescribed set of transformation processes (the means) whose incremental results are measurable against operational requirements. Given its sheer size and complexity, this military system must be partitioned into logical and semi-independent elements. The individual and ensemble performance of system elements must be objectively measured, and characterized by specific and reusable metrics. Taken together, the system model and the classes of metrics define a performance measurement framework (PMF). This paper outlines the design of a generalized and scalable performance measurement framework for the Navy's FORCEnet environment.