Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Improving Note Segmentation in Automatic Piano Music Transcription Systems with a Two-State Pitch-Wise HMM Method

Many methods for automatic piano music transcription involve a multi-pitch estimation method that estimates an activity score for each pitch. A second processing step, called note segmentation, has to be performed for each pitch in order to identify the time intervals when the notes are played. In this study, a pitch-wise two-state on/off first-order Hidden Markov Model (HMM) is developed for note segmentation. A complete parametrization of the HMM sigmoid function is proposed, based on its original regression formulation, including a parameter α of slope smoothing and β of thresholding contrast. A comparative evaluation of different note segmentation strategies was performed, differentiated according to whether they use a fixed threshold, called “Hard Thresholding” (HT), or a HMM-based thresholding method, called “Soft Thresholding” (ST). This evaluation was done following MIREX standards and using the MAPS dataset. Also, different transcription and recording scenarios were tested using three units of the Audio Degradation toolbox. Results show that note segmentation through a HMM soft thresholding with a data-based optimization of the {α, β} parameter couple significantly enhances transcription performance.
A new phenone from the roots of Paeonia suffruticosa Andrews

Abstract Thirteen phenones were obtained from the 70% ethanol extract of Paeonia suffruticosa Andrews. Their structures were determined on the basis of chemical methods and spectral data. Among them, compound 1 was identified as a new compound, and compounds 5 and 13 were obtained from genus Paeonia for the first time. The inhibitory effects of isolated compounds (1–12) on nitric oxide (NO) production in lipopolysaccharide-activated macrophages were evaluated, and NO production was suppressed significantly by compound 7.
Hunting down unconventional superconductors

Recent experiments provide clues as to how iron-based materials are superconducting Since the 2006 discovery of iron-based high-temperature superconductors, the highest Cooper pairing temperature (the temperature at which the superconducting energy gap opens) has been observed in iron selenide (FeSe)-based materials. By listing some of these materials and their Cooper pairing temperature (Tc) (see the figure), one might think bulk FeSe is the least interesting because it has the lowest Tc. On the contrary, it should be regarded as the highest-temperature superconductor ever known. On pages 71 and 75 of this issue, Gerber et al. (1) and Sprau et al. (2) reveal two further unusual properties of this unprecedented high-temperature superconductor. Their results may help unravel the pairing mechanism of these unconventional superconducting materials.
Hemochromatosis Detection in a Health Screening Program at an Alabama Forest Products Mill

We analyzed hemochromatosis detection in a 11.5-year multiphasic health screening program at a forest products mill. There were 2199 participants: 2032 Whites (1506 men, 526 women) and 167 African Americans (124 men, 43 women); 85.0% of employees were screened. Iron and transferrin saturation were measured in a serum biochemistry profile on specimens obtained after overnight fasting; ferritin was measured in participants with elevated iron concentrations or transferrin saturation >48%. Participants with elevated ferritin levels underwent further evaluation. Eight White men were diagnosed to have hemochromatosis (frequency 0.0039 in Whites, 0.0053 in White men). The estimated cost per case detected was $8826. Family members of two participants with hemochromatosis were also diagnosed to have hemochromatosis or iron overload. We conclude that detecting hemochromatosis in a workplace multiphasic health screening program is efficacious and economical.
Facial feature extraction method based on fast and effective convolutional neural network

It is difficult for shallow networks to extract effective facial features, while it is time-consuming using deep networks with many iterations. This paper proposes a facial feature extraction method based on Fast and Effective Convolutional Neural Network (FECNN). Firstly, a deep network based on NIN method is presented to extract effective facial features. Then, a new Inception structure is used to deepen and widen the network while reducing the number of parameters. Finally, this network is embedded with Batch Normalization (BN) algorithm which greatly accelerates network convergence. Experimental results indicate that FECNN converges efficiently and robust facial features are extracted with less parameters.
Factors Influencing Credit Decision for Lending SMEs: A Case Study on National Bank of Egypt

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) play a vital role in the global economy. It had a major part in creating jobs and as a source of social sta-bility, either there is major contribution for SMEs in Egypt as it faces great economy challenges that need cooperation from all parties. However, access to finance is still one of the greatest obstacles facing SMEs all over the world and prevents them from developing. This research is important to fill the research gap which appears in the limited researches that present main factors adopted by the credit decision maker in Banks for evaluating the SMEs. Purpose of this study is to make a progress for filling the gap through exploring these factors. The research was guided by the following research questions: What are the factors that influence credit decision making for lending SMEs? What framework is available to improve the SMEs lending process in the Egyptian Banks? Case study strategy and Quantitative Methods were adopted. Data was gathered from 313 structured questionnaires answered by credit risk and marketing employees from National Bank of Egypt (NBE). The author tested five hypotheses on the relationship between variables, with the SPSS “Package for the Social Sciences” and AMOS “Analysis of a Moment Structure”. They were utilized to interpret the results. The findings provide evidence that factors, like Owner/Manager Character, Capacity, Firm Capital Size, Credit Bureau Report with the availability and Credibility of Financial statements, had a huge impact on Credit Decision for lending SMEs. From the research results, there was framework designing to enhance the credit risk assessment process, which could decrease the uncertainty and time consuming in the lending decision and it might reflect positively on the national economy development.
Development of the EEG measurement technique under exercising

Our purpose of this research is a development of the method that detects EEG of an athlete under exercising. If EEG under exercising can be measured, we can assess the mental condition of the athlete. Usually, EEG is measured in the shield room, and a subject is required rest in bed while measurement. And it is said that measuring EEG under exercising is difficult. In this paper, we will discus about our new measuring method that can detect EEG under exercising by using independent component analysis. Five normal subjects were tested with our method, and EEG without artifact was able to measured. So, we think our new method will be useful for the research of mental condition of the athlete
Exploring the link between Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) disclosure and market value of the firm: evidence from Thai listed companies

This paper explores the way market values the disclosure of non-financial information, namely the environmental, social and governance (ESG) activities of 719 Thai publicly traded corporations. We used the data from the Bloomberg ESG disclosure score as a reference for ESG activities in the valuation model provided by Ohlson (1995) to find the link between non-financial information and market value. Our results show the value relevance of both ESG disclosure used as a dummy variable in the model and ESG score as a continuous variable for the financial market in Thailand. This research contributes to the vast literature on value relevance of non-financial information and the relations between firm value and sustainability performance by showing that the Thai market also responds favorably to ESG disclosure. In more general terms the research supports the efficient market hypothesis (suggested by Fama - 1998).
Autogenous Dentin Graft in Bone Defects after Lower Third Molar Extraction: A Split-Mouth Clinical Trial

Various biomaterials are currently used for bone regeneration, with autogenous bone being considered the gold standard material because of its osteogenic, osteoconductive, and osteoinductive properties. In recent years, the use of autogenous dentin as a graft material has been described. This split-mouth clinical trial assesses the efficacy of autogenous dentin for the regeneration of periodontal defects caused by bone loss associated with impacted lower third molar extraction. Fifteen patients underwent bilateral extraction surgery (30 third molars) using dentin as a graft material on the test side, and leaving the control side to heal spontaneously, comparing the evolution of the defects by evaluating probing depth at three and six months post-operatively. Bone density and alveolar bone crest maintenance were also evaluated six months after surgery, and pain, inflammation, mouth opening capacity on the second and seventh days after surgery. Probing depth, radiographic bone density, and alveolar bone crest maintenance showed significant differences between the test and control sides. Autogenous dentin was found to be an effective biomaterial for bone regeneration after impacted lower third molar extraction.
A modified antennas based on fractal split ring resonators

A modified antenna based on fractal split ring resonators (FSRRs) is presented. The antenna is composed of two layers of Teflon with a low permittivity (e=2.2). The inner and outer ring of FSRRS are connected with ground plane by two metal pins by which way the antenna is similarly to planar inverted-F antennas (PIFAs). The modified antenna with fractal split ring resonators (FSRRs) make the size of antenna to 0. 06λ× 0. 06λ for the low frequency and 0. 11λ×0. 11λ for the high frequency while the gain of antenna is higher about 2dB than antenna with SRRS. Simulated and measured results of return losses and gains of this modified antenna are provided.
Assessing the performance of American and European Leveraged Exchange Traded Funds

Leveraged Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) (LETFs) are a recent and highly successful financial innovation; yet, investors and several studies criticized them for not performing as advertised, especially in the long term. Τhis paper discusses their unique characteristics and their path-dependent price dynamics, which may result in unexpected returns. Furthermore, the authors evaluate the performance of a large sample of European and American leveraged ETFs since each fund’s inception and show that they perform as intended for daily holding periods. Leveraged ETFs are also successful in delivering the promised performance over holding periods of up to one week, their performance starts to deviate when the holding period increases to one month. Empirical evidence suggests that bear (short) ETFs deviate from their target return more quickly than their bull (long) counterparts as the holding period lengthens. A possible explanation for this is that transaction costs, which are related to daily re- balancing activity, are higher for bear funds. When comparing the daily performance of European vs American funds, the authors find them both to be equally efficient in replicating their benchmarks, although European leveraged ETFs are much smaller in their Assets Under Management (AUM) compared to US LETFs.
Relationship Between Physical Capacity and Match Performance in Semiprofessional Australian Rules Football

Abstract Piggott, BG, McGuigan, MR, and Newton, MJ. Relationship between physical capacity and match performance in semiprofessional Australian rules football. J Strength Cond Res 29(2): 478–482, 2015—This study investigated the relationship between physical performance and match performance in Australian Rules Football (ARF). Thirty-six semiprofessional ARF players participated in this study. Physical capacity was measured using a 3-km time trial. Match performance was measured throughout the 2013 season through 2 methods: direct game involvements (DGIs) per minute and a recording of coaches' vote after the game. The main finding of the study was that 3-km time trial performance was a significant predictor of DGI per minute (p ⩽ 0.05). In addition, the number of senior games played was also significant in predicting DGI per minute (p ⩽ 0.05). Furthermore, the number of senior games significantly correlated with coaches' votes (p ⩽ 0.05). There were no significant relationships between 3-km time trial and coaches' vote. The results highlight the importance of developing physical capacity in the preseason period; the players who were better performers in the 3-km time trial had a greater number of DGIs per minute. This information is important to consider in preseason planning to ensure sufficient time is dedicated to developing physical capacity in the training program, as it is directly associated with performance. In addition, this research also highlights the importance of playing experience in relation to team selection. Playing experience, as measured by the number of senior games played, had a significant relationship with both measures of match performance.
Quantification, validation, and follow-up of small bowel motility in Crohn's disease

The use of magnetic resonance enterography (MRE) has become a mainstay in the evaluation, assessment and follow up of inflammatory bowel diseases, such as Crohn’s disease (CD), thanks to its high image quality and its non-ionizing nature. In particular, the advent of faster MRE sequences less sensitive to image-motion artifacts offers the possibility to obtain visual, structural and functional information of the patient’s small bowel. However, the inherent subjectivity of the mere visual inspection of these images often hinders the accurate identification and monitoring of the pathological areas. In this paper, we present a framework that provides quantitative and objective motility information of the small bowel from free-breathing MRE dynamic sequences. After compensating for the breathing motion of the patient, we create personalized peristaltic activity maps via optical flow analysis. The result is the creation of a new set of images providing objective and precise functional information of the small bowel. The accuracy of the new method was also evaluated from two different perspectives: objective accuracy (1.1 ± 0.6 mm/s of error), i.e., the ability of the system to provide quantitative and accurate information about the motility of moving bowel landmarks, and subjective accuracy (avg. difference of 0.7 ± 0.7 in a range of 1 to 5), i.e., the degree of agreement with the subjective evaluation of an expert. Finally, the practical utility of the new method was successfully evaluated in a preliminary study with 32 studies of healthy and CD cases, showing its potential for the fast and accurate assessment and follow up of CD in the small bowel.
Channel selection information hiding scheme for tracking user attack in cognitive radio networks

For the discontinuous occupancy of primary users in cognitive radio networks (CRN), the time-varying of spectrum holes becomes more and more highlighted. In the dynamic environment, cognitive users can access channels that are not occupied by primary users, but they have to hand off to other spectrum holes to continue communication when primary users come back, which brings new security problems. Tracking user attack (TUA) is a typical attack during spectrum handoff, which will invalidate handoff by preventing user accessing, and break down the whole network. In this paper, we propose a Channel Selection Information Hiding scheme (CSIH) to defense TUA. With the proposed scheme, we can destroy the routes to the root node of the attack tree by hiding the information of channel selection and enhance the security of cognitive radio networks.
A New Chart for Monitoring the Covariance Matrix of Bivariate Processes

In this article we consider a control chart based on the sample variances of two quality characteristics. The points plotted on the chart correspond to the maximum value of these two statistics. The main reason to consider the proposed chart instead of the generalized variance | S | chart is its better diagnostic feature, that is, with the new chart it is easier to relate an out-of-control signal to the variables whose parameters have moved away from their in-control values. We study the control chart efficiency considering different shifts in the covariance matrix. In this way, we obtain the average run length (ARL) that measures the effectiveness of a control chart in detecting process shifts. The proposed chart always detects process disturbances faster than the generalized variance | S | chart. The same is observed when the size of the samples is variable, except in a few cases in which the size of the samples switches between small size and very large size.
Validation of Plantar Pressure Measurements for a Novel In-Shoe Plantar Sensory Replacement Unit

An article by Ferber and coauthors in Journal of Diabetes Science and Technology reported on the ability of a novel in-shoe plantar sensory replacement unit (PSRU) to provide alert-based feedback derived from analyzing plantar pressure (PP) threshold measurements in real time. The study aimed at comparing the PSRU device to a gold standard pressure-sensing device (GS-PSD) to determine the correlation between concurrent measures of PP during walking. Data were collected simultaneously from 10 participants who walked overground with both devices. The variable of interest was the number of recorded data points greater than 32 mmHg for each of the PSRU sensors and corresponding average recordings from the GS-PSD. Authors concluded that the PSRU provides analogous data to the GS-PSD. However, several aspects of the study should be considered when interpreting their clinical relevance.
Research and Simulation of Task Scheduling Algorithm in Cloud Computing

This paper focuses on the task scheduling algorithms based on comprehensive QoS and constraint of expectation. Under the environment of dynamic cloud computing, efficiency improving of task scheduling and load balancing are eternal problems. For users, however, it's more important to meet their requirements of QoS. This paper relates to a benefit-fairness algorithm based on new Berger's model under the environment of dynamic cloud computing. According to the different type of task scheduling, we describe the priority of fairness, efficiency and the Balance between benefit and fairness respectively. We recompile the CloudSim and simulate the three task scheduling algorithms above on the basis of extended CloudSim respectively. The experimental results indicate that this algorithm dose not only meet the principle of giving priority to benefit with due to consideration to fairness, but also meet users' needs of synthesized QoS. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.11591/telkomnika.v11i11. 3513
Polynomial model for high-order and multi-carrier passive intermodulation products

Passive intermodulation (PIM) often limits the performance of communication systems, particularly in the presence of multiple carriers. Since the origins of the apparently multiple physical sources of nonlinearity causing PIM in distributed circuits are not fully understood, the process of PIM generation is frequently described by the behavioural models. In this paper, a memoryless nonlinear polynomial model, capable of predicting high-order multi-carrier intermodulation distortion, is deduced from the measurements of the third-order PIM products generated by two-tone carriers on a microstrip transmission line with distributed nonlinearity. The devised model is incorporated in Keysight Technology's ADS simulator to evaluate the adjacent band power ratio for three-tone signals on the transmission line with passive distributed nonlinearity. The obtained results suggest that the PIM distortion caused by multi-carrier signals can be reasonably estimated by simulation tools based on the behavioural models extracted from the conventional two-tone PIM tests.
Depression, homocysteine concentration, and cardiovascular events.

1. Harder T, Rodekamp E, Schellong K, Dudenhausen JW, Plagemann A. Birth weight and subsequent risk of type 2 diabetes: a meta-analysis. Am J Epidemiol. 2007; 165(8):849-857. 2. Rich-Edwards JW, Colditz GA, Stampfer MJ, et al. Birthweight and the risk for type 2 diabetes mellitus in adult women. Ann Intern Med. 1999;130(4 pt 1): 278-284. 3. Wei JN, Sung FC, Li CY, et al. Low birth weight and high birth weight infants are both at an increased risk to have type 2 diabetes among schoolchildren in Taiwan. Diabetes Care. 2003;26(2):343-348. 4. Young TK, Martens PJ, Taback SP, et al. Type 2 diabetes mellitus in children: prenatal and early infancy risk factors among native Canadians. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2002;156(7):651-655.
A First Look at Identity Management Schemes on the Blockchain

The emergence of distributed ledger technology (DLT) based on a blockchain data structure has given rise to new approaches to identity management that aim to upend dominant approaches to providing and consuming digital identities. These new approaches to identity management (IdM) propose to enhance de-centralization, transparency, and user control in transactions that involve identity information; however, given the historical challenge to design IdM, can these new DLT-based schemes deliver on their lofty goals? We introduce the emerging landscape of DLT-based IdM and evaluate three representative proposals—uPort, ShoCard, and Sovrin—using the analytic lens of a seminal framework that characterizes the nature of successful IdM schemes.
Effects of Trait Self-Control on Response Conflict About Healthy and Unhealthy Food.

Self-control leads to positive life outcomes, but it is poorly understood. While previous research has focused on self-control failure, self-control success remains unexplored. The current studies aim to shed more light on the mechanisms of self-control by focusing on the resolution of response conflict as a key component in self-control success. Trait self-control was measured, and participants reported on the magnitude of response conflict they experienced about healthy and unhealthy foods in Study 1 (N = 146; Mage = 33.03; 59 females, 83 males, 4 unknown). The response conflict process was assessed in Study 2 (N = 118; Mage = 21.45; 68 females, 41 males, 9 unknown). Outcomes showed that self-reported evaluative response conflict about food items was smaller for people high in trait self-control. Study 2 revealed that higher trait self-control predicted faster resolution of self-control conflict, and an earlier peak of the response conflict. Taken together, these results provide insight into what makes people with high trait self-control successful, namely, how they handle response conflict. Implications for self-control theories and future directions are discussed.