Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Speech Emotion Recognition Using Deep Learning Techniques: A Review

Emotion recognition from speech signals is an important but challenging component of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). In the literature of speech emotion recognition (SER), many techniques have been utilized to extract emotions from signals, including many well-established speech analysis and classification techniques. Deep Learning techniques have been recently proposed as an alternative to traditional techniques in SER. This paper presents an overview of Deep Learning techniques and discusses some recent literature where these methods are utilized for speech-based emotion recognition. The review covers databases used, emotions extracted, contributions made toward speech emotion recognition and limitations related to it.
A New Mixed-Integer Linear Programming Formulation for Multiple Responses Regression Clustering

This paper considers a regression-based clustering problem for multiple responses. We propose a nested optimization formulation, where two minimizations are performed one after the other. The first minimization is to determine the number of clusters, and the second is to minimize the $L^{\infty}$-norm of residuals. After fixing the number of clusters, our formulation reduces to a novel Mixed-Integer Linear Programming (MILP) problem, which can handle multiple responses simultaneously. We further propose an empirical approach based on cross-validation to determine a good number of clusters; this approach takes into account prediction accuracies of models when choosing the number of clusters. Using the JURA dataset, we illustrate that the classic approach in the literature, which considers one response at-a-time, usually assigns the same entity to different clusters with respect to different responses; hence, eventually, it is not evident to which cluster that entity belongs to. Also, even though the classic approach assigns that entity to the same cluster with respect to all responses, this assignment can be different than the one obtained when all responses are considered simultaneously; hence, the classic approach can result in a false clustering when multiple responses have to be considered at the same time.
Deep Learning for Consumer Devices and Services 2—AI Gets Embedded at the Edge

The recent explosive growth of deep learning is enabling a new generation of intelligent consumer devices. Specialized deep learning inference now provides data analysis capabilities that once required an active cloud connection, while reducing latency and enhancing data privacy. This paper addresses current progress in Edge artificial intelligence (AI) technology in several consumer contexts including privacy, biometrics, eye gaze, driver monitoring systems, and more. New developments and challenges in edge hardware and emerging opportunities are identified. Our previous article, “Deep learning for consumer devices and services,” introduced many of the basics of deep learning and AI. In this paper, we explore the current paradigm shift of AI from the data center into CE devices—“Edge-AI. ”
Advanced AES Algorithm Using Dynamic Key in the Internet of Things System

Data security is very important in the Internet of things (IoT) systems. There are many proposed security methods and algorithms such as SHA (Secure Hash Algorithm), MD5 (Message-Digest Algorithm 5), AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) etc. The AES is one of the most common algorithms between them. It includes many steps such as AddRoundkey, SubBytes, ShiftRows, and MixColum. However, the conventional AES algorithm generates fixed keys for encrypting, which are shared between sender and receiver. Therefore, the key is easily stolen. In this paper, we propose the advanced AES algorithm which generates dynamic keys. Here, 16 bytes data frame is transmitted sequentially and indexed according to a numerical order. Based on the order of this sequence, the key is changed dynamically with encrypted data in a car tracking system as an example in the IoT (Internet of Things) systems.
A new approach on the linearization of 2-D polynomial matrices

In this paper we propose a generic approach to reduce a $2-L$ square polynomial matrix of arbitrary degree(s), to first-order matrix pencils of the form $sE_{1}+zE_{2}+A$, utilizing the framework of zero coprime equivalence (ZC-E). This generic approach is in turn employed to derive a series of ZC-E matrix pencils, which can be obtained “by inspection” of the coefficients of the original bivariate polynomial matrix. Improving similar constructions of first order pencils in the literature, our approach results in matrix pencils whose size increases linearly with the degrees of the indeterminates of the original polynomial matrix.
Ball Detection for Boccia Game Analysis

The present article proposes the training, testing and comparison of two models for ball detection, taking into account its final implementation in a Boccia game analysis computer-vision algorithm, within the “iBoccia” framework. The goal is to have a versatile and flexible algorithm towards different game environments. The selected ball detectors were a Histogram-of-Oriented-Gradients feature based Support Vector Machine (HOG-SVM) and a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) based on a less complex implementation of the You Only Look Once model (Tiny-YOLO). Both detectors were evaluated offline and in real-time. The subsequent results showed that their performance was similar in both evaluations, however, Tiny-YOLO outperformed HOG-SVM by a small margin in all the used metrics. In real-time, both detectors achieved an accuracy of approximately 90%. Despite the high accuracy values, the detector requires further improvement because a single non-detection can influence the computer-vision algorithm's output, making the system unreliable.
uAdventure: Simplifying Narrative Serious Games Development

Game engines and developer-friendly authoring tools have greatly simplified entertainment game development. However, this does not extend to serious games which, in particular, require involvement of non-developer stakeholders. We present the first evaluation of uAdventure, an easy-to-use game development environment for narrative point-and-click graphic adventure games. uAdventure is a re-implementation of the previously-validated eAdventure environment on top of the Unity game engine. The idea is to get most of the advantages of the Unity professional environment at a fraction of its complexity, and without requiring programming knowledge to use it. uAdventure include educational-oriented affordances, such as assessment and learning analytics; and has been formatively evaluated by heterogeneous users with different degrees of technical knowledge. The results of our evaluation show much simpler story creation for profiles that had no previous knowledge of the engine, and positive feedback from more technical profiles which would use the tool as a prototyping tool for complex projects.
Coding the Continuum

In 2001, as early high-speed networks were deployed, George Gilder observed that “when the network is as fast as the computer's internal links, the machine disintegrates across the net into a set of special purpose appliances. ” Two decades later, our networks are 1,000 times faster, our appliances are increasingly specialized, and our computer systems are indeed disintegrating. As hardware acceleration overcomes speed-of-light delays, time and space merge into a computing continuum. Familiar questions like “where should I compute,” “for what workloads should I design computers,” and "where should I place my computers” seem to allow for a myriad of new answers that are exhilarating but also daunting. Are there concepts that can help guide us as we design applications and computer systems in a world that is untethered from familiar landmarks like center, cloud, edge? I propose some ideas and report on experiments in coding the continuum.
Solar Powered Autonomous Multipurpose Agricultural Robot Using Bluetooth/Android App

In India nearly about 70 percentage of people are depending on agriculture. Numerous operations are performed in the agricultural field like seed sowing, grass cutting, ploughing etc. The present methods of seed sowing, pesticide spraying and grass cutting are difficult. The equipment's used for above actions are expensive and inconvenient to handle. So the agricultural system in India should be encouraged by developing a system which will reduce the man power and time. This work aims to design, develop and design of the robot which can sow the seeds, cut the grass and spray the pesticides, this whole system is powered by solar energy. The designed robot gets energy from solar panel and is operated using Bluetooth/Android App which sends the signals to the robot for required mechanisms and movement of the robot. This increases the efficiency of seed sowing, pesticide spraying and grass cutting and also reduces the problem encountered in manual planting.
Two new species of Dolichogenidea (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Microgastrinae) parasitoids of leafminer Lepidoptera from India

Dolichogenidea cordiae sp. n. , and Dolichogenidea syngremma sp. n. , (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Microgastrinae) are described as new to science. These two species were recovered from Acrocercops lysibathra and Eteoryctis syngramma (Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae) reared on the host plants Cordia latifolia and Mangifera indica. Characters of these new species and their affinities with related taxa are discussed. Data on habitat, host records, and host plant for all the parasitoid species are also provided.
SUCCESSION AMONG LATE PALAEOZOIC AND MESOZOIC

Benton, M. J., 1979. Ecological succession among Late Palaeozoic and Mesozoic tetrapods. Palaeogeogr. , Palaeoclimatol. , Palaeoeco! , 26: 127--150. Natural selection and the development of new taxa are associated with ecological replacement and the increase in number of niches with time. Continental faunal interchange was possible globally because of the existence of the super-continent Pangaea during much of the Upper Palaeozoic and Mesozoic. Figures of tetrapod niches vs. time and discussion of this concept for that period are presented for the first time. Four habitat divisions are used, namely marine, fresh-water, lowland . and upland. The marine habitat was colonised rather late by tetrapods and these may have been the first predators on the early bony fishes which had diversified in the Permian. The radiation of bony fishes in the Jurassic was followed by a further increase in variety of their reptilian predators. Predators seem to develop some time after the radiation of a new potential prey group. Most early amphibians occupied fresh-water habitats in "crocodi le" or " f rog" niches, but from the Triassic tetrapods moved from fresh-waters and lowlands into the uplands also. In terrestrial habitats, the replacement of mammal-like reptiles by dinosaurs is tentatively explained in terms of palaeoclimatology and thermoregulatory physiology. Ornithischians capable of dealing with tough vegetation evolved to occupy the new niches produced by the radiation o f conifers in the Jurassic. The extinction of dinosaurs appears to have been connected with temperature and habitat changes. Gonclusions are supported by a summary of published opinions on the palaeoecological roles of early tetrapods.
Miniaturization and Bandwidth Enhancement of a Slot Loaded Microstrip Patch Antenna Using Defected Ground Structure

A compact microstrip patch antenna with improved bandwidth is proposed in this paper for applications in wireless communication. The combination of slot loaded patch and defected ground plane provides much improved bandwidth in comparison to a conventional rectangular microstrip patch antenna. Two symmetrical open ended J – shaped slots are introduced on the ground plane of the antenna to improve the operating bandwidth of the proposed antenna and also to reduce the size of the proposed antenna. A −10 dB impedance bandwidth of 3040 MHz ranging from 5.10‒8.14 GHz is achieved, which is 46% around the centre frequency 6.59 GHz. The size of the proposed antenna has been reduced by 92% compared to conventional rectangular microstrip patch antenna. The proposed antenna is suitable for IEEE802.11. a (5.15‒5.35 GHz, 5.725‒ 5.825 GHz), WiMAX (3.3‒3.7GHz, 5.25‒5.85 GHz), HiperLAN2 (5.47‒5.725 GHz) and HiSWaNa (5.15‒5.25 GHz) wireless application bands.
Change Detection in Multitemporal Remote Sensing Images Using Support Vector Machines and Pixel Relevance

This paper investigates an approach to the problem of change detection in multitemporal remote sensing images using Support Vector Machines (SVM) based on RBF kernel (Radial Basis Function) combined with a new relevance metric called Delta b (Δb). The methodology is based on the difference of the fraction images produced for each date. In images of natural scenes the difference in soil and vegetation fractions tends to have a symmetrical distribution around the mean of its pixels. This fact can be used to model two normal multivariate distributions: change and non-change. The Expectation-Maximization algorithm is implemented for estimating the parameters (mean vector, covariance matrix, and prior probability) associated with these two distributions. Random samples are extracted from these two distributions and used to train a SVM classifier based on RBF kernel. The proposed methodology is tested using multi-temporal data sets of multispectral images Landsat-TM covering the same scene, located in Roraima state, in two different dates. Test samples are obtained by the use of Change Vector Analysis (CVA) and used to validate the estimation method of relevance. It is expected that this methodology could be applied to detection of change for multispectral and hyperspectral multitemporal images used in remote sensing.
Climatic Factors Limiting the Distribution of Dermacentor andersoni in Montana’s Rocky Mountain Region

The Rocky Mountain Wood tick, Dermacentor andersoni, serves as the primary vector for the Colorado tick fever virus in Montana’s Rocky Mountain region. This disease presents symptoms such as fever, headaches, and myalgia; and generally lasts for approximately three weeks. Factors affecting the distribution of D. andersoni in Montana are not well known, limiting our ability to locate areas endemic to the CTF virus. To determine if various climatic factors influenced the distribution of D. andersoni Montana’s Rocky Mountain region, tick samples from Western Montana were collected and relative tick abundance was tested for association with six different climatic variables using ANOVA. CTF infection rate was also measured at each sampled site through RTPCR. I hypothesized that increasing moisture content will decrease the relative abundance of D. andersoni ticks. I also hypothesized that the infection rate would fall within the range of 10-15% in accordance with previous findings. The results of this study indicate that soil temperature, precipitation, and average annual air temperature may influence the distribution of D. andersoni in Montana’s Rocky Mountain Region. Elevated soil temperature and precipitation correlated with high relative tick abundance, while decreased average air temperature correlated with high relative tick abundance. The results also show an overall CTF infection rate of 1.05% for sampled sites.
The Cognitive, Behavioral, and Emotional Aspects of Eating Habits and Association With Impulsivity, Chronotype, Anxiety, and Depression: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background and objectives: Understanding behavioral issues associated with eating would provide important insight into obesity development and possibly procure ways to prevent its occurrence or to treat it. This study's objectives were to examine links between cognitive, behavioral, and emotional aspects of eating habits and chronotype, impulsivity, anxiety, and depression among university students. Subjects and methods: The following questionnaires were used: TFEQ-R 18, UPPS-short, HADS, and MEQ. All participants gave their informed written consent prior to enrolment. Results: Among females, increased BMI was associated to uncontrolled eating and emotional eating, while in males, BMI was associated to emotional eating only. In males, no associations of BMI with impulsivity were found while in females they were present. Chronotype scores were positively correlated to cognitive restraint and negatively to uncontrolled eating among males. No associations were found for females. CR was lower among females with higher depression scores, while higher anxiety scores were associated to UE among males. Conclusions: This was a cross-sectional study of three cognitive and emotional domains related to eating habits among university students (young adults). Results showed significant correlations between BMI, TFEQ-R18 scores, impulsivity and anxiety or depression. Future studies should replicate findings in samples of individuals with different aspects of eating disorders such as binge eating disorder, food addiction or bulimia nervosa.
Extracellular vesicles circulating in young organisms promote healthy longevity

ABSTRACT Parabiosis experiments in mice demonstrated that a young environment could partially rejuvenate multiple tissues of old organisms. However, the circulating mediators responsible of such effect have been elusive so far. Novel results suggest that extracellular vesicles isolated from plasma of young mice increase lifespan in old mice. Here we integrate these findings in a larger framework, advancing the hypothesis that circulating vesicles may mediate the beneficial effect of a young milieu on ageing.
Postprandial amino acid, glucose and insulin responses among healthy adults after a single intake of Lemna minor in comparison with green peas: a randomised trial

Abstract A high protein content combined with its enormous growth capacity make duckweed an interesting alternative protein source, but information about postprandial responses in humans is lacking. The present study aimed to assess the postprandial serum amino acid profile of Lemna minor in healthy adults in comparison with green peas. A secondary objective was to obtain insights regarding human safety. A total of twelve healthy volunteers participated in a randomised, cross-over trial. Subjects received two protein sources in randomised order with a 1-week washout period. After an overnight fast, subjects consumed L. minor or peas (equivalent to 20 g of protein). After a baseline sample, blood samples were taken 15, 30, 45, 60, 75, 90, 120, 150 and 180 min after consumption to assess amino acid, glucose and insulin levels. Heart rate, blood pressure and aural temperature were measured before and after consumption, and subjects reported on gastrointestinal discomfort for four subsequent days. Compared with green peas, significantly lower blood concentrations of amino acids from L. minor were observed, indicating lower digestibility. L. minor consumption resulted in lower plasma glucose and insulin levels compared with peas, probably due to different glucose content. There were no significant differences concerning the assessed health parameters or the number of gastrointestinal complaints, indicating that a single bolus of L. minor – grown under controlled conditions – did not induce acute adverse effects in humans. Further studies need to investigate effects of repeated L. minor intake and whether proteins purified from L. minor can be digested more easily.
Potential Effect of Epilation on the Outcome of Surgery for Trachomatous Trichiasis

Purpose To evaluate the association of epilation before surgery on the surgical outcome in trachomatous trichiasis (TT) patients. Methods As a secondary data analysis, 1452 patients enrolled in the STAR trial were categorized according to preoperative epilation status. The main outcome was recurrent trichiasis after surgery. We used multivariable analysis, time-to-event analysis, and Cox proportional hazards model. Results Those who epilated prior to surgery tended to be older and female, with worse entropion at baseline. The proportion with postoperative trichiasis was 7.7%, 8.8% in those who epilated versus 5.3% in those who did not (P = 0.03). Adjusting for age and sex, the risk of postoperative TT with epilation was 1.71 (P value = 0.02). Although entropion may be in the biological pathway from epilation to postoperative TT, we adjusted for entropion, and the risk of postoperative TT with epilation was 1.41 (P = 0.14). Conclusions The study suggests that preoperative epilation may increase the risk of postoperative trichiasis. Further research is needed to confirm the finding. Translational Relevance Patients with TT often self-treat, epilating their inturned eyelashes. The World Health Organization recommends surgery to treat TT, but when patients refuse the procedure or mild trichiasis is present, epilation is often recommended. There is some evidence that repetitive or improper epilation can be harmful to the lid and hair follicles. If there is damage to the lid margin, any subsequent surgery could have deleterious outcomes.
Outcome of Distal Biceps Tendon Repair With and Without Concomitant Bicipital Aponeurosis Repair

Background: The bicipital aponeurosis (BA) can often be torn concomitantly with a distal biceps tendon (DBT) rupture. Its repair, although recommended by some, has not commonly been addressed during the surgical management of DBT ruptures, and to date, surgical repair of the BA with DBT repair has not been evaluated clinically. Purpose: To utilize subjective and objective outcome measures to examine the safety and efficacy of 2-incision DBT repair with and without repair of the BA in patients with a DBT rupture. Study Design: Cohort study; Level of evidence, 3. Methods: Demographic and surgical data were reviewed retrospectively. Patients returned to the clinic to complete subjective outcome measures and objective measurements of range of motion, strength, and biceps contour. All patients were evaluated at least 1 year after surgical treatment. Results: Data from 24 male patients with a DBT rupture were used for the analysis; 13 (54%) underwent concomitant DBT and BA repair, and 11 (46%) underwent isolated DBT repair. There were no complications at 1 year in either group. The DBT + BA repair group returned to recreational activities faster (77% within 6 months and 100% within 1 year) than the isolated DBT repair group (36% within 6 months, 91% within 1 year, and 100% after more than 2 years) (P = .05). There was a trend toward better Patient-Rated Elbow Evaluation pain scores in the DBT + BA repair group than in the isolated DBT repair group (1.2 vs 5.3, respectively; P = .18). A trend also emerged toward closer return to subjective preinjury strength (77% vs 44%, respectively; P = .14). No significant difference emerged in patient satisfaction with the biceps contour, subjective scores on functional activities and disability, or objective measurements of strength, contour, and range of motion. Conclusion: This pilot study suggests that repair of the BA in conjunction with DBT repair leads to a faster return to recreational activities compared with isolated DBT repair. Also noted was a trend toward subjectively improved pain and greater perceived strength, after DBT + BA repair, although this was not statistically significant. Further investigation with a larger population is required to better elucidate these potential differences.