Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Synergy of acoustic-phonetics and auditory modeling towards robust speech recognition

The problem addressed in this work is that of enhancing speech signals corrupted by additive noise and improving the performance of automatic speech recognizers in noisy conditions. The enhanced speech signals can also improve the intelligibility of speech in noisy conditions for human listeners with hearing impairment as well as for normal listeners. The original Phase Opponency (PO) model, proposed to detect tones in noise, simulates the processing of the information in neural discharge times and exploits the frequency-dependent phase properties of the tuned filters in the auditory periphery along with the cross-auditory-nerve-fiber coincidence detection to extract temporal cues. The Modified Phase Opponency (MPO) proposed here alters the components of the PO model in such a way that the basic functionality of the PO model is maintained but the various properties of the model can be analyzed and modified independently of each other. This work presents a detailed mathematical formulation of the MPO model and the relation between the properties of the narrowband signal that needs to be detected and the properties of the MPO model. The MPO speech enhancement scheme is based on the premise that speech signals are composed of a combination of narrow band signals (i.e. harmonics) with varying amplitudes. The MPO enhancement scheme outperforms many of the other speech enhancement techniques when evaluated using different objective quality measures. Automatic speech recognition experiments show that replacing noisy speech signals by the corresponding MPO-enhanced speech signals leads to an improvement in the recognition accuracies at low SNRs. The amount of improvement varies with the type of the corrupting noise. Perceptual experiments indicate that: (a) there is little perceptual difference in the MPO-processed clean speech signals and the corresponding original clean signals, and (b) the MPO-enhanced speech signals are preferred over the output of the other enhancement methods when the speech signals are corrupted by subway noise but the outputs of the other enhancement schemes are preferred when the speech signals are corrupted by car noise.
Superconducting technology : 10 case studies

This book contains an interdisciplinary selection of timely articles which cover a wide range of superconducting technologies ranging from high tech medicine (10-12 Gauss) to multipurpose sensors, microwaves, radio engineering, magnet technology for accelerators, magnetic energy storage, and power transmission on the 109 watt scale. It is aimed primarily at the non-specialist and will be suitable as an introductory course book for those in the relevant fields and related industries. As shown in the title several examples of high-Tc applications are included. While low-Tc is still the leading technology, for instance, in cables and SQUIDS, case studies in these areas are presented.
Bird Species Identification and Population Estimation by Computerized Sound Analysis

This project developed hardware and software to automate the monitoring of birds. Results demonstrate that automated monitoring can provide comparable or superior species detection to current point count survey methods for species that vocalize, and can acquire more comprehensive and reliable data than current methods, particularly for rare and infrequent species. Reliable, indisputable biological survey data in the form of recordings can also avoid legal challenges and disputes that can delay projects. This project developed and refined hardware that can be deployed by any field biologist or competent technician and acquire field data for weeks or months at a time for later retrieval and processing. Processing long duration recordings by manual listening to find focal species vocalizations would present a daunting task, and require at least as much time as the duration of the recordings. The signal processing software developed by this project can automatically analyze this data burden to rapidly scan and identify target species. Unlike intermittent personnel-based surveys, the automated bioacoustic monitoring system developed by this project can operate continuously and thereby sample more intensively (and economically) than that possible with human observers and thus enable more confident species evaluation, and allow a more thorough assessment of species movements, abundance, and presence or absence. Continuous monitoring can also provide more consistent data from survey to survey to better reveal long-term population trends of species.
Fluid Catalytic Cracking Handbook: An Expert Guide to the Practical Operation, Design, and Optimization of FCC Units

This new and improved edition focuses on providing practical information and tools that engineers can use to maximize the profitability and reliability of their fluid catalytic cracking operations. The updated chapters and new content deliver expertise and know-how to an industry that faces significant cost cutting in capital expenditure and R&D, along with the retirement of technical specialists who are taking existing knowledge out of the industry with them. This "FCC Handbook" provides a valuable easy-to-understand resource for both experienced and inexperienced engineers and anyone else associated with the FCC process. This book gives those who need a quick reference, and gives those who are developing their skills and knowledge trusted information that will help them succeed with their projects. This title features common examples that will enable engineers to achieve increased unit savings. It is updated with the latest process technologies for handling residue and "deep" hydrotreated feedstock. It features a new chapter discussing refractory lining, providing an introduction to the different refractories employed in FCC units, examples of various refractory linings and associated anchors, installation techniques as well as some guidelines for proper drying and curing refractory lining. There is a new troubleshooting chapter, increasing the practical application of the book, along with new visual references to operation optimization. About the author: Reza Sadeghbeigi is President of RMS Engineering, Inc. a Houston, Texas based engineering firm providing high-level technical expertise in the area of fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) and related processes. Reza has 35 years of hands-on FCC experience in the refining industry, focusing on technical services, troubleshooting, process design, and project management, including major FCC revamps. A licensed Professional Engineer (P.E.) in Texas and Louisiana, Reza has published technical papers and produced industry seminars on refining and catalytic cracking operations and conducted numerous client customized FCC training courses and public seminars. This is the only practical approach, with tools and techniques for those with FCC responsibilities to help maximize the profitability and reliability of fluid catalytic cracking operations. This title is updated throughout, with new material focusing on latest developments, the shift to using FCC to process lower quality crudes, and new applied material on troubleshooting. It provides a reference for both experienced engineers who need a quick reference, as well as providing those who are developing their skills and knowledge with access to trusted information that will help them succeed in their projects.
DETECTION OF DRIVER'S LOW VIGILANCE PERIODS ON MOTORWAY

This paper reports on research in the area of human behavior and human vigilance in road transport. The focus of this research is on the measurement of behavioral parameters by means of several sensors spread out in the vehicle on the basis of man/machine interface. The statistical results of the study are outlined, followed by a description of the vehicle and its special equipment, the organization of road tests, and the acquisition and results of physiological signals.
Efficient, Authentication and Access control Implementation in Mobile Ad hoc Networks (MANET) as applied to Indoor Navigation Guidance System for Vision Impaired People

Indoor navigation systems are gaining popularity by each day. Particularly Low Vision users are prominently in need of indoor positioning and navigating systems. Most of the efforts in creating such systems are using MANET (Mobile Ad-hoc Networks) as the base technology. However the properties of MANET’s inherently provide greater challenges in areas like security, reliability and performance. Most of research work was done on those different challenges in isolation. A holistic approach to address all those challenges in an implementation is rare. Ad-hoc collaboration is usually an unplanned interaction or created "immediately on the fly". In MANET networks Authentication and access-control trust relations established through, on-line-available evidence, may be short-term and largely peer-to-peer, where the peers may not necessarily have a relevant network that can be placed into a recognizable trust hierarchy. Trust relations involving a captured node need to be invalidated, and new trust evidence need to be collected and evaluated to maintain node connectivity in the ad-hoc network This paper present the framework on Trust Relations based on friendships mechanism which is adopted from the theory of small-world phenomenon (i.e. six degrees of separation) initiated by Milgram, to provide rapid authentication. Efficient, Rapid Authentication is needed in practical implementations of an Indoor navigation system. Particularly when Low vision users are dependent on such system, a rogue node can be hazardous. Further research delivers a framework which combines reliability and performance, two important factors in practical implementation of an indoor navigation system.
Elimination of SF6 from transmission system equipment

Sulphur hexafluoride gas is the dominant insulation and interruption material in high voltage gas insulated substation. Its usage remains a concern of transmission system operators owing to the global warming potential of the gas. The work carried out in this thesis aims to find the environment-friendly materials that can replace SF6. These candidates are required to have a strong dielectric strength for high voltage busbar insulation and well arc extinguishing capability necessary for high voltage circuit breaker.A range of alternative insulation types including CF3I gas and its mixture, high pressure air and solid insulating foam are considered as substitute of SF6. Theoretical studies on the dimensions of busbars used in substations are carried out for these options. The dimension of the dielectric system and its ampacity of respect system are calculated using heat transfer models considering their boiling point and proper working pressure which is related with the dielectric strength of some gas.On the other hand, SF6 gas circuit breaker is extremely popular on the medium and high voltage power networks owning to its effective arc extinguishing performance. It would be ideal if a substitute material could be found for SF6 as an interruption material. Biodegradable oil PTFE ablation, other gas candidates including N2, CF3I are investigated as possible replacement of SF6 through literature study.The usage of vacuum circuit breaker is eventually capable to operate in high voltage transmission system. Simulations have been carried out with software ATP/EMTP to investigate the influence of different characteristics of vacuum circuit breaker including chopping current level, the dielectric strength of vacuum gap and the opening time. And then the probability of overvoltages when vacuum circuit breakers installed is studied by statistical study in MATLAB.
Automated Segmentation of Nucleus And Cytoplasm of Cervical Cells From Pap-Smear Images Using A Quadtree Decomposition Approach.

Background: Digital pathology and microscopy image analysis is widely used for comprehensive studies of cell morphology especially for cervical cancer screening from pap-smears. Manual assessment of pap-smears is labour intensive and prone to interobserver variations. Computer-aided methods, which can significantly improve the objectivity and reproducibility, have attracted a great deal of interest in recent literature. A critical prerequisite in automated analysis of pap-smears is nucleus and cytoplasm segmentation, which is the basis of cervical cancer screening. This paper articulates a potent approach to the segmentation of cervical cells into nucleus and cytoplasm using a quadtree decomposition approach with statistical measures.Results: Choosing an appropriate quadtree decomposition strategy was a great challenge and a novel task in the proposed approach. The image is pre-processed using an enhanced median filter and is decomposed based on the mean, maximum entropy and the variance statistical measures of the pixels in the subtree. As a result, highly efficient and segmentations of acceptable performance were obtained. Comparison of the segmented nucleus and cytoplasm with the ground truth nucleus and cytoplasm segmentations resulted into a Zijdenbos similarity index of greater than 0.9034 and 0.9498 for nucleus and cytoplasm segmentation respectively. Conclusion: Given the accuracy of the classifier in segmenting the nucleus which plays an important role in cervical cancer diagnosis and classification, the classifier can be adapted for automated systems for cervical cancer diagnosis and classification. The method serves as a basis for first level segmentation of cervical cells for diagnosis and classification of cervical cancer from pap-smears.
Characteristic analysis of stories in Fan Fiction

昨今,意欲的に進められている物語の分析は一次創作作品を対象としたものであり,二次創作 作品を対象としたものは少ない. そこで本研究では二次創作作品研究の第一歩として,各作品の 特徴を表すと考えられるジャンルや登場人物などの属性を探索的に調査し,複数属性に基づく作 品のデータ化を行った. 得られたデータに対して計量的な分析を行った結果,二次創作作品の典 型的な3種類の物語パターンなどが明らかになった. In recent years, most of the analyses of story’s have been conducted on primary works, and only a few have been conducted on Fan Fiction. In this study, as a first step in the study of fan fiction, we exploratively surveyed the attributes such as genre and characters that are considered to represent the characteristics of each work, and created data of the works based on multiple attributes. As a result of quantitative analysis of the obtained data, three typical types of story patterns of Fan Fiction were revealed.
Knockdown adiponectin receptor 1 expression in synovial tissue alleviate the progression of collagen-induced arthritis

Background: Previous studies have shown that adiponectin (APN) is involved in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The proinflammatory effect of APN is mainly mediated adiponectin receptor 1 (AdipoR1). The high expression of AdipoR1 have been suggested in RA synovial tissue. This study was aimed to investigate the effects of AdipoR1 in inflammation and bone erosion in collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) mice, and to further explore the underlying mechanisms. Methods: The expression of APN and AdipoR1 in synovial tissue of RA and osteoarthritis (OA) patient was tested by qPCR and western blot. RA synovial fibroblasts (RASFs) were stimulated with APN, IL-6 or TNF-α respectively. The expression of AdipoR1 on RASFs were tested by flow cytometry. To prove the pathogenic role, AdipoR1 was silenced in a human rheumatoid arthritis synovial fibroblast cell line (MH7A) and local joint of CIA mice by specific short hairpin RNAs (shRNAs) using a lentiviral delivery system. The levels of proliferation, apoptosis and inflammatory factors on MH7A were assessed in vitro. Local AdipoR1 knockdown on CIA mice were further estimated by arthritis clinical scores, inflammatory cytokine expression, micro-CT, H&E staining and receptor activator of nuclear factor к B ligand (RANKL) / osteoprotegerin (OPG) in vivo. Results: We found that the levels of APN and AdipoR1 expression were significantly higher in RASFs and the expression of AdipoR1 was upregulated by APN in RASFs. Silencing AdipoR1 could effectively reduce lipopolysaccharides (LPS) induced proliferation of MH7A cells, promote their apoptosis, and reduce the release of inflammatory factors. In CIA mice, local silencing AdipoR1 in arthritis markedly reduced joint inflammation and alleviated bone erosion and osteoporosis in vivo. Furthermore, local silencing AdipoR1 inhibited receptor activator of nuclear factor к B ligand (RANKL) expression and decreased RANKL / osteoprotegerin (OPG) ratio in knees and ankles of CIA mice. Conclusions: This study suggests that AdipoR1 plays a key role in the development of RA and silencing AdipoR1 might be a new target for the clinical treatment of RA.
The British renaissance : how to survive and thrive despite any recession

While commentators and politicians dwell on the troubles of the current recession, behind the scenes and out of the glare of the spotlight a renaissance is said to be going on in British industry. British companies have apparently made themselves leaner, more competitive and more aggressive than ever before. Productivity seems to be high, morale is high and new corporate cultures geared to winning have been forged in companies, large and small, from Scotland to Cornwall. This book aims to give a behind-the-scenes look at the inside story of half a dozen of Britain's leading companies. Since 1986, through boom and now recession, these companies have been winning business in world markets on a large scale. They will use new management philosophies and strategies which could mark the beginning of a Renaissance throughout the whole of British business and which could restore Britain to its place as one of the world's industrial giants.
IDENTITY, LIFESTYLE AND THE GAMING INTERVIEW. IN: DELIVERING SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORT. A SOCIAL SCIENCE PERSPECTIVE

The study opens with the premise that the issue of consumerism and lifestyle choice has become an extremely important topic among environmentalists, with particular focus on personal automobiles. The chapter then describes a research project with 51 California households who kept one week travel diaries in a market research project aimed at exploring the market for electric vehicles as a means of moving towards energy and environmental benefits. The diaries describe a week in the life of the participants, which then is analyzed and used in an interactive interview with both the research team and the household. While the overall design of the project was to explore consumer responses to electric cars, the diaries and ensuing interviews were data rich opportunities for learning about lifestyle choices as those relate to the use of automobiles. Using an analytical framework, how cars are being used to achieve lifestyle goals is discussed.
Inventive infrastructures : an exploration of mobile phone 'repair' cultures in Kampala, Uganda

Communities of repair in Kampala salvage phones; they bring dead ones back to life and rework recycled ones to operate with unfamiliar networks. How do these communities of repair congeal around the mobile phone? How do they form and develop? How is 'repair' understood and negotiated? The 'moment' of mobile phone repair exposes the multi-layered physical and social relationships that underpin mobile telephony in Kampala. Mobile phone workshops provide a rich and productive terrain for thinking about both the sociality and materiality of human-technology relations. Multi-sited ethnographic fieldwork of markets and small, informal businesses will enable the detailed exploration of socio-technical assemblages of mobile phone 'maintenance' and 'repair'. Perhaps the Kampalan 'repair cultures' can also suggest some new approaches towards computing and telephony in mature markets globally, particularly with reference to the growing problem of e-waste. The Ugandan proliferation of mobile repair businesses gives an insight into a new paradigm for computing, where hard and software are left more radically open to upgrade, and companies move towards a role of service provision (Graham and Thrift 2007: 19).
Realizable and adaptive maximization of environmental sustainability at the country level using evolutionary strategies

Abstract An assortment of evolutionary strategies (EvSs) is put forward for guiding interested countries toward the maximization of their environmental sustainability (ES), as demonstrated on the “landmark” Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI) 2005. The EvSs employ: (a) as inputs/chromosomes, the sets of ESI constructs which have been established as significant as well as sufficient in determining country ES; (b) as output, the singleton ESI 2005 scores which express the levels of ES attained by the participating countries; (c) as fitness function, the most accurate first degree (according to the primary literature) polynomials linking (a) and (b); and (d) realistic quasi-monotonic ES improvements, implemented via the application of exclusively positive mutations to the selected genes of each next-generation chromosome and the subsequent changes made to the remaining genes, with the sign and magnitude of each change being determined by the cross-correlation (CC) coefficients between the set of mutated genes and each remaining gene of the new chromosome. The created EvSs cover all the direct and stepwise approximations linking constructs and scores, thus offering alternative paths toward attaining maximal ES. Future research shall focus upon the selection of the EvS which affords maximal ES improvement at each generation.
Use of Emerging Mobile Technologies in Portfolio Development

In the UK, implementing personal development planning (PDP) is an obligatory requirement across all Higher Education awards. This has led to a number of institutions requiring students to produce electronic portfolios to meet this requirement. However, far too little attention has been paid to utilising the powerful functionalities and high levels of connectivity of emerging mobile technology. This social study seeks to discover a potential role of emerging mobile technology in portfolio development and its effects on students' reflective capacity and engagement with PDP. To raise students' engagement with PDP, a mobile application (HUD iPDP) for Apple mobile devices was developed with fifty-one undergraduate students participating in this study. The data collected was both qualitative and quantitative. Results revealed a high level of interest among students and the potential for mobile technology to enhance the process of PDP.
Grid Scale Energy Storage

• Durable, inexpensive to manufacture • 15 year lifespan with little to no maintenance • $1500/kW 89% energy recovery • Estimated $1.5 Billion for a 1 GW facility • Size of 470 standard cargo containers • Up to 7 hour discharge • 99% recyclable materials; Na and S common elements • Zero emissions • Selling at same price as oil generators, system pays for 93% of its cost over its lifespan by energy arbitrage • System breaks even if NaS costs fall below$1416/kW Conclusions
Soft tissue injury of the cervical spine in rear-end and frontal car collisions

In the present study, real life data from insurance documentation and police records of accidents, as well as laboratory crash tests, were used. Insurance data on persons who sustained medical impairment from a neck injury Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) 1, and the correlation between the impairment and the impact direction of the car were investigated. The same data was used to analyze the structural damage of the car. Laboratory tests of dummy movements were also analyzed. The paired comparison method was used to evaluate the influence of vehicle weight and car model as well as the age and sex of the occupants. The laboratory crash tests indicated that similar body movements may occur in rear-end and frontal impacts. The acceleration pulse also seem to have an influence on the occurrence of neck injuries in rear-end collisions. (A) For the covering abstract of the conference see IRRD 896323.