Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Relationship between distortion and working memory for digital noise-reduction processing in hearing aids

Several recent studies have shown a relationship between working memory and the ability of older adults to benefit from specific advanced signal processing algorithms in hearing aids. In this study, we quantify tradeoffs between benefit due to noise reduction and the perceptual costs associated with distortion caused by the noise reduction algorithm. We also investigate the relationship between these tradeoffs and working memory abilities. Speech intelligibility, speech quality and perceived listening effort were measured in a cohort of elderly adults with hearing loss. Test materials were low-context sentences presented in fluctuating noise conditions at several signal-to-noise ratios. Speech stimuli were processed with a binary mask noise-reduction strategy. The amount of distortion produced by the noise reduction algorithm was parametrically varied by manipulating two binary mask parameters, error rate and attenuation rate. Working memory was assessed with a reading span test. Results will be discussed in terms of the extent to which intelligibility, quality and effort ratings are explained by the amount of distortion and/or noise and by working memory ability. [Funded by NIH, Oticon and GN ReSound]
INTERSTELLAR MATTER IN THE REGION OF THE PERSEUS II ASSOCIATION

0bservational data are assembled and discussed in order to determine the distribution of the interstellar gas and dust in the direction of the Per II association. It is concluded that most of the obscuration occurs in dark foreground clouds of variable opacities. Only one or two of the 17 Per II cluster members appear to lie in dark nebulae. It als oapearsthat the interstellar gaseous component may be located in an extensiveoreground layer. The emission nebula NGC 1499 is considered to be a rim of a foreground dark nebula which is illuminated by the O7 star Per. The electron densities within NGC 1499 are believed to be greater than 10 and less than 100 cm-3 with the possible exception of the brightest rim within the emission nebula. - On the basis of the absence of detectable emission in the immediate vicinity of Per, it is argued that the value of the electron density between NGC 1499 and Per must be very low, probably less than 5 cm-3.
Micromagnetic study of pinning behavior in percolated media

A micromagnetic model has been developed describing the influence of the domain wall pinning in a magnetic thin film consisting of a granular microstructure with perpendicular magnetocrystalline anisotropy and a film thickness in the range of 5–16nm. The diameter of the prismatic domain wall pinning centers has been varied between 2 and 10nm. The stability of a single written bit is investigated. Thermal stability (energy barrier=80kBT300) can be guaranteed if the diameters of the pinning sites are equal or larger than the domain wall width and the film thickness is about 16nm. For defects on the order of 6nm magnetically very hard materials with values of Ku of 4×106J∕m3 are required.
Spin and orbital magnetic moments of deposited small iron clusters studied by x-ray magnetic circular dichroism spectroscopy

The size-dependent magnetic properties of small iron clusters deposited on ultrathin Ni/Cu(100) films have been studied with circularly polarized synchrotron radiation. For x-ray magnetic circular dichroism studies, the magnetic moments of size-selected clusters were aligned perpendicular to the sample surface. Exchange coupling of the clusters to the ultrathin Ni/Cu(100) film determines the orientation of their magnetic moments. All clusters are coupled ferromagnetically to the underlayer. With the use of sum rules, orbital and spin magnetic moments as well as their ratios have been extracted from x-ray magnetic circular dichroism spectra. The ratio of orbital to spin magnetic moments varies considerably as a function of cluster size, reflecting the dependence of magnetic properties on cluster size and geometry. These variations can be explained in terms of a strongly size-dependent orbital moment. Both orbital and spin magnetic moments are significantly enhanced in small clusters as compared to bulk iron, although this effect is more pronounced for the orbital moment. Magnetic properties of deposited clusters are governed by the interplay of cluster-specific properties on the one hand and cluster-substrate interactions on the other hand. Size dependent variations of magnetic moments are modified upon contact with the substrate.
Influence of temperature and interface charge on the grain-boundary conductivity in acceptor-doped SrTiO3 ceramics

The temperature dependence of both the grain-boundary potential barrier height and the conductivity across the grain-boundary space-charge depletion layer in acceptor-doped SrTiO3 ceramics has been investigated by a numerical simulation technique. The underlying model is that of a back-to-back double Schottky barrier at the grain boundary. The influence of the amount of positively charged donorlike grain-boundary interface states on the charge transport behavior of the grain-boundary region is also discussed. An interpretation in terms of a defect chemistry model of the bulk and the space-charge depletion layer, which on both sides surrounds the grain-boundary core is presented. The temperature behavior of the potential barrier at the grain boundary can be divided into three different regimes: a linear regime, and subsequently, saturation and decreasing regimes. The theoretical explanation for this behavior is given. Two different spatial conductivity profiles at the grain boundaries have to be considered.
Partial regularity in problems motivated by nonlinear elasticity

Regularity is proven almost everywhere for minimisers of problems motivated by nonlinear elasticity. Model problems treated include \[ \int_\Omega {| {Du} |^2 + | {\det Du} |^2 } ,\] where $ u:\Omega ( \subset \mathbb{R}^2 ) \to \mathbb{R}^2 $ and \[ \int_\Omega {| {Du} |^2 + | {Du} |^s + | {AdDu} |^s + | {\det Du} |^2 } ,\] where $ u:\Omega - (\mathbb{R}^3 ) \to \mathbb{R}^3 $ with $s > 2$. In particular, continuity of minimisers is not assumed a priori. “Degenerate” convexity of the integrand in the higher minors M of $Du$ is also allowed, in the sense that second derivatives in M may approach zero as $M \to 0$.
Measurement of the radiative width of the in two-photon interaction at SPEAR

Events of the type e/sup +/e/sup -/ . -->. e/sup +/e/sup -/eta' (958) have been observed with the Mark II detector at SPEAR by detecting the decay mode eta' . -->. rho/sup 0/. gamma. From the observed cross section and known branching fractions of the eta' is GAMMA/sub gammagamma/ = 5.9 +- 1.6 +- 1.2 keV and the total width is GAMMA = 300 +- 90 +- 60 keV (statistical and systematic errors).
Two approaches to grouping of data and related disparity statistics

Csiszar's φ-divergences of discrete distributions are extended to a more general class of disparity measures by restricting the convexity of functions φ(t), t > 0, to the local convexity at t = 1 and monotonicity on intervals (0, 1) and (l,∞). Goodness-of-fit estimation and testing procedures based on the (^-disparity statistics are introduced. Robustness of the estimation procedure is discussed and the asymptotic distributions for the testing procedure are established in statistical models with data grouped according to their values or orders
Nonparametric Techniques in Statistical Inference

Nonparametric techniques in statistics are those in which the data are ranked in order according to some particular characteristic. When applied to measurable characteristics, the use of such techniques often saves considerable calculation as compared with more formal methods, with only slight loss of accuracy. The field of nonparametric statistics is occupying an increasingly important role in statistical theory as well as in its applications. Nonparametric methods are mathematically elegant, and they also yield significantly improved performances in applications to agriculture, education, biometrics, medicine, communication, economics and industry.
Introduction to Sobolev spaces and finite element solution of elliptic boundary value problems

Sobolev Spaces is the first title to be published in the relaunch of the famous Academic Press book series Pure and Applied Mathematics. Sobolev Spaces presents an introduction to the theory of Sobolev spaces and other related spaces of functions, and to the images bedding characteristics of these spaces. This theory is widely used in Pure and Applied Mathematics and in the Physical Sciences. This second edition of Adam's 'classic' reference text contains many additions and much modernizing and refining of material. Although the basic premise of the book remains unchanged: Sobolev Spaces is intended to provide a solid foundation for graduate students and researchers alike.
High‐current vacuum arc column motion on rail electrodes

Experimental observations were made of the motion of the arc column sustained between Cu electrodes in a vacuum ambient when driven with currents of 1.5–35 kA. Arc‐column velocities in the positive Amperian direction of (0.1–3.5) ×103 m/s were observed in a self‐magnetic‐field of approximately 50 G/kA with currents of 2–8 kA. The arc motion was observed to be erratic when a dc uniform external field of 450 G was superimposed on the self‐field. When the arc was trapped between the self‐field and an external nonuniform dc field, the arc located itself such that the net magnetic force upon it was zero. When the self‐field exceeded the maximum external field, a transition from a constricted to a diffuse discharge was observed.
An Experimental Study of Resolved Acceleration Control of Robots at Singularities: Damped Least-Squares Approach

Most of the robot task space control methods based on inverse Jacobian matrix suffer from instability in singular regions of workspace. Methods based on damped least-squares algorithm (DLS) for matrix inversion have been developed but not experimentally confirmed. The application of DLS method at the kinematic control level has been reported in (Chiaverini et al., 1994). In this article, a modified DLS method combined with the resolved-acceleration control scheme, is experimentally verified on two degrees of freedom of PUMA-560 robot. In order to decrease the position error introduced by the damping, only small singular values are damped, in contrast to the conventional damping method were all the singular values are damped. The symbolic expressions of the singular value decomposition of the Jacobian matrix were used, to decrease the computational burden.
Western and central North Atlantic fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus) stock structure assessed using geographic song variations

Variations in calls or songs between areas are increasingly acknowledged as a way to assess stock structure. We present the results of an analysis of 163 fin whale (FW) songs recorded in seven areas of the North Atlantic (NA): Irminger Sea, Davis Strait, Grand Banks of Newfoundland, Southern Newfoundland, Gulf of St. Lawrence, eastern Scotian Shelf, and the waters off Delaware Bay. Song measurements included inter-note intervals (INI), notes' peak frequency and bandwidth and note type (classic, backbeat, and high-frequency) proportion. Seasonal patterns of classic-classic INI provided the highest level of differentiation between areas and revealed the existence of six acoustic stocks. Classification trees revealed that other parameters distinguished between regions over larger spatial scales, grouping some of the recording areas together. These results suggest that (1) there are four distinct stocks in the western NA; (2) the range of a presumed central NA stock includes southwestern Iceland, both sides of Greenland and appears to extend south along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, at least in recent years; (3) two stocks are present off West Greenland. These results bring new information on potential FW stock delineations in the NA. The latter will be compared to those derived using other stock assessment metrics.
Counting problems in parameterized complexity

Parameterized complexity is a multivariate theory for the analysis of computational problems. It leads to practically efficient algorithms for many NP-hard problems and also provides a much finer complexity classification for other intractable problems. Although the theory is mostly on decision problems, parameterized complexity naturally extends to counting problems as well. The purpose of this article is to survey a few aspects of parameterized counting complexity, with a particular emphasis on some general frameworks in which parameterized complexity proves to be indispensable.
Tropospheric Mid-Level Detrainment Flow Obtained from High-Resolution Non-Hydrostatic Atmospheric Model Experiments

Time integration using the Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (RAMS), a non-hydrostatic cloud-resolving model, was performed for 12 days over a low-latitude band (45°S–45°N) circling an aqua planet with 5-km horizontal grid-point intervals. Tropical and subtropical regions with active precipitation and clear sky, respectively, were clearly divided at 10° latitudes. The numerical experiments derived obvious tropospheric mid-level detrainment (TMD) flows near the 0°C level (z ∼ 5 km) out of the tropics into the subtropics. The TMD flows became largest near the border (10° latitude). In this paper, the time-longitudinal mean field was spotlighted and the atmospheric structure accompanying the TMD flow was investigated. When averaged over time and longitude, the subtropical mid-level troposphere, into which the TMD flows move, is approximately in a state of local thermodynamic equilibrium sustained mainly by the balance between the net radiative cooling and adiabatic heating due to mean subsidence flow. Considering the heat balance, a thermodynamic diagnosis of the mean subsidence flow field suggests the following mechanisms for the mean TMD flow: (1) The mean atmosphere near the melting level has stronger radiative cooling and a larger temperature lapse rate than the atmosphere above it. (2) Free subsidence in the mean subtropical mid-level troposphere, which is consistent with the vertical variation of thermal structure and suffers from no direct dynamic forcings, such as buoyancy, involves a vertically mass-divergent layer just above the melting level. (3) The steady poleward mean TMD flow out of the convective tropic atmosphere exists so as to compensate for the vertical mass divergence in the subtropical atmosphere. Because net meridional transports of sensible heat and water vapor in the middle troposphere are influenced by the mean TMD flow, the existence and the maintaining mechanisms of the mean TMD flow could be important elements of the climate system.
On constrained infinite-time linear quadratic optimal control

This work presents a solution to the infinite-time linear quadratic optimal control (ITLQOC) problem with state and control constraints. It is shown that a single, finite dimensional, convex program of known size can yield this solution. Properties of the resulting value function, with respect to initial conditions, are also established and are shown to be useful in determining the aforementioned problem size. An example illustrating the method is finally presented.
RATE OF ESCAPE OF RANDOM WALKS ON WREATH PRODUCTS AND RELATED GROUPS

This article examines the rate of escape for a random walk on G Z and proves laws of the iterated logarithm for both the inner and outer radius of escape. The class of G for which these results hold includes finite, G as well as groups of the form H Z, so the construction can be iterated. Laws of the iterated logarithm are also found for random walk on Baumslag-Solitar groups and a discrete version of the Sol geometry.
On the correlation between X-ray flux and hydrogen line intensities in quasars and active galactic nuclei

Hydrogen line intensities in quasars and active galactic nuclei are calculated as a function of the UV/X-ray luminosity ratio. The dependence of Ly-alpha/H-alpha (or Ly-alpha/H-beta) on L(uv)/Lx is found to be weak and not easily discernible in a large data sample if variations in the cloud column and nucleon density are large. Two causes account for the weak dependence. At high X-ray luminosities, Balmer continuum emission is the dominant coolant in the extended ionized zone (where X-ray heating occurs) of a broad-line cloud, and the Balmer line intensities increase very slowly with increasing X-ray flux. At low X-ray luminosities, both ionization from excited states of N I and Ly-beta continuum resonance fluorescence enable the gas to absorb continuum photons between about 11.5 and 13.6 eV, and the consequent heating, now relatively important, enhances H-alpha and H-beta emissions. 17 references.
Polytopes Associated to Demazure Modules of Symmetrizable Kac–Moody Algebras of Rank Two☆

Let ω1, ω2 be the two fundamental weights of a symmetrizable Kac–Moody algebra g of rank two (hence necessarily affine or finite), and τ an element of the Weyl group. In this paper we construct polytopes Pτ(ω1), Pτ(ω2) ⊂ Rl(τ) and a linear map ξ: Rl(τ) → h* such that for any dominant weight λ = k1ω1 + k2ω2, we have Char Eτ(λ) = eλ∑eξ(x), where the sum is over all the integral points x, of the polytope k1Pτ(ω1) + k2Pτ(ω2). Furthermore, we show that there exists a flat deformation of the Schubert variety Sτ into the toric variety defined by Pτ(ω1), Pτ(ω2).
Efficient shape representation using deformable models with locally adaptive finite elements

This paper presents a physics-based algorithm to efficiently represent shape using deformable models with locally adaptive finite elements. We implement our technique using our previously developed dynamic deformable models which support local and global deformations. We express global deformations with a few parameters which represent the gross shape of an object, while local deformations capture shape details of objects through their many local parameters. Using triangular finite elements to represent local deformations our algorithm ensures that during subdivision the desirable finite element mesh properties of conformity, non-degeneracy, and smoothness are maintained. Through our algorithm, we locally subdivide the triangles used for the local deformations based on the distance between the given datapoints and the model. Furthermore, to improve our results we use a new algorithm to calculate the forces that datapoints exert on the model which is based on the minimal distance to a finite element instead of to a model node. In this way not only can we represent more accurately an object surface, but also more efficiently because new model nodes are added only when necessary in a local fashion. We present model fitting experiments to 3-D range data.
Characterization of thermal conductivity degradation induced by heavy ion irradiation in ceramic materials

Thermal conductivity degradation of three semi-metallic ceramics: titanium carbide, zirconium carbide and titanium nitride, and a covalent compound: 6H silicon carbide, induced by irradiation with energetic heavy ions at room temperature, is studied and quantified. Irradiations by 25.8 MeV krypton ions at 1016 and 6 × 1016 ions cm−2 doses were used to produce defects in the considered materials. Modulated thermoreflectance microscopy measurements were performed to characterize the resulting subsurfasic degradation of the thermal conductivity for each of the investigated materials. The study considers the two collision domains produced by the inelastic collisions and the elastic collisions that occur during an ion irradiation. A significant thermal conductivity degradation in the two collision domains for all materials is obtained. Elastic collisions are shown to degrade the thermal properties more strongly than the inelastic ones. The scattering of thermal energy carriers is larger in the elastic collision domain because displacement cascades produce a very high concentration of point defects. The degradation coming from electronic interactions is found to be more important in SiC, which can be explained by the presence of large populations of generated extended defects, facing generated individual point defects in the studied semi-metallic materials.
Plastic Deformation of Copper and Silver Whiskers

By rapidly reducing the stress after yielding, it was possible to study the plastic deformation of copper and silver whiskers. The whiskers exhibit extremely sharp yield points and extensive easy ``glide'' regions which are due to the propagation of Luders bands. It is unlikely that the sharp yield points are caused by dislocation pinning. The propagation of the Luders bands often becomes obstructed giving rise to repeated yielding in the plastic region. The nature of these obstructions and the mechanism of Luders band propagation are not clear.
Radar investigations of convective patterns in the clear atmosphere.

Abstract Two types of convective patterns are observed with radar in the clear atmosphere. One pattern consistsof small thermal-like cells (Type I) which are in the order of 1-3 km in diameter and several hundredmeters in height. The cells may persist for 20-30 min. In plan view, the Type I cell echoes are doughnut-shaped; that is, they typically appear circular or elliptical and have echo-free centers. The structure ofthe cell and its time history are consistent with the view that the relative flow within the cell is upward inits center, and outward and possibly downward around its periphery. These clear-air cells are detectedregularly with ultra-sensitive radars at wavelengths >10 cm. The echoes are caused by scattering fromfluctuations in refractive index which are particularly marked at the cell boundary. The other pattern is made up of clear air Be'nard-like convection cells (Type II) which are 5-10 km indiameter and 1-2 km in height. The centers of these cells are also echo-free. The overall pattern.
EDGE-ENHANCED IMAGE ZOOMING

A new adaptive algorithm for image interpolation with percep- tual edge enhancement is proposed. Here, perceptual means that edges are enhanced and interpolated in a visually pleasing way. Each pixel neighborhood is classified into one of three categories (constant, ori- ented, or irregular). In each case, an optimal interpolation technique finds the missing pixels without generating unpleasant artifacts such as aliasing or ringing effects. Furthermore, a quadratic Volterra filter is em- ployed to extract perceptually important details from the original image, which are then used to improve the overall sharpness and contrast. Both qualitative and quantitative simulation results clearly show the superiority of our method over standard low-pass interpolation algorithms such as bilinear, diamond-filter, or B-spline interpolation. © 1996 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers. Subject terms: image interpolation; zooming; quadratic Volterra filters; detail en- hancement; image enhancement; edge enhancement.