MAUS Goes Iterative

In this paper we describe further developments of the MAUS system and announce a free-ware software package that may be downloaded from the ’Bavarian Archive for Speech Signals’ (BAS) web site. The quality of the MAUS output can be considerably improved by using an iterative technique. In this mode MAUS will calculated a first pass through all the target speech material using the standard speaker-independent acoustical models of the target language. Then the segmented and labelled speech data are used to re-estimated the acoustical models and the MAUS procedure is applied again to the speech data using these speaker-dependent models. The last two steps are repeated iteratively until the segmentation converges. The paper describes the general algorithm, the German benchmark for evaluating the method as well as some experiments on German target speakers

A spatially continuous magnetization model for Mars

[1] Using a three-component magnetic field data set at over 100,000 satellite points previously compiled for spherical harmonic analysis, we have produced a continuously varying magnetization model for Mars. The magnetized layer was assumed to be 40 km thick, an average value based on previous studies of the topography and gravity field. The severe nonuniqueness in magnetization modeling is addressed by seeking the model with minimum root-mean-square (RMS) magnetization for a given fit to the data, with the trade-off between RMS magnetization and fit controlled by a damping parameter. Our preferred model has magnetization amplitudes up to 20 A/m. It is expressed as a linear combination of the Green’s functions relating each observation to magnetization at the point of interest within the crust, leading to a linear system of equations of dimension the number of data points. Although this is impractically large for direct solution, most of the matrix elements relating data to model parameters are negligibly small. We therefore apply methods applicable to sparse systems, allowing us to preserve the resolution of the original data set. Thus we produce more detailed models than any previously published, although they share many similarities. We find that tectonism in the Valles Marineris region has a magnetic signature, and we show that volcanism south of the dichotomy boundary has both a magnetic and gravity signature. The method can also be used to downward continue magnetic data, and a comparison with other leveling techniques at Mars ’ surface is favorable

Deterministic Distributed Edge-Coloring via Hypergraph Maximal Matching

We present a deterministic distributed algorithm that computes a $(2\Delta-1)$-edge-coloring, or even list-edge-coloring, in any $n$-node graph with maximum degree $\Delta$, in $O(\log^7 \Delta \log n)$ rounds. This answers one of the long-standing open questions of \emph{distributed graph algorithms} from the late 1980s, which asked for a polylogarithmic-time algorithm. See, e.g., Open Problem 4 in the Distributed Graph Coloring book of Barenboim and Elkin. The previous best round complexities were $2^{O(\sqrt{\log n})}$ by Panconesi and Srinivasan [STOC'92] and $\tilde{O}(\sqrt{\Delta}) + O(\log^* n)$ by Fraigniaud, Heinrich, and Kosowski [FOCS'16]. A corollary of our deterministic list-edge-coloring also improves the randomized complexity of $(2\Delta-1)$-edge-coloring to poly$(\log\log n)$ rounds. The key technical ingredient is a deterministic distributed algorithm for \emph{hypergraph maximal matching}, which we believe will be of interest beyond this result. In any hypergraph of rank $r$ --- where each hyperedge has at most $r$ vertices --- with $n$ nodes and maximum degree $\Delta$, this algorithm computes a maximal matching in $O(r^5 \log^{6+\log r } \Delta \log n)$ rounds. This hypergraph matching algorithm and its extensions lead to a number of other results. In particular, a polylogarithmic-time deterministic distributed maximal independent set algorithm for graphs with bounded neighborhood independence, hence answering Open Problem 5 of Barenboim and Elkin's book, a $((\log \Delta/\varepsilon)^{O(\log (1/\varepsilon))})$-round deterministic algorithm for $(1+\varepsilon)$-approximation of maximum matching, and a quasi-polylogarithmic-time deterministic distributed algorithm for orienting $\lambda$-arboricity graphs with out-degree at most $(1+\varepsilon)\lambda$, for any constant $\varepsilon>0$, hence partially answering Open Problem 10 of Barenboim and Elkin's book

The Board and the Body: Material Constraints and Style in Graphic Narrative

This article traces the development of grief memoir told in the language of comics. The autobiographical comic called 'Toormina Video' is an occasion to investigate the role of the moving body in the process of creating graphic narratives. Cartooning can be seen as a performative mode of handwriting in which material rules and practical decisions constrain the drawing body and have a significant influence on the poetic and literary outcomes. The article demonstrates how graphic style in the comic book is in part the result of an antagonism between the literary impulse and the material restraints that structure the author’s workflow. The comic under discussion is available to read online. Are we able to include a link to the work to enrich the experience? Toormina Video – http://www.patgrantart.com/toominavideo/toorminavideo.html. Blue – http://www.boltonblue.com/

Was Shylock Jewish?

Discusses the invention of Shylock's Jewishness as a reaction to Sir Henry Irving's popular Victorian productio