Real-time Soundprism

[EN] This paper presents a parallel real-time sound source separation system for decomposing an audio signal captured with a single microphone in so many audio signals as the number of instruments that are really playing. This approach is usually known as Soundprism. The application scenario of the system is for a concert hall in which users, instead of listening to the mixed audio, want to receive the audio of just an instrument, focusing on a particular performance. The challenge is even greater since we are interested in a real-time system on handheld devices, i.e., devices characterized by both low power consumption and mobility. The results presented show that it is possible to obtain real-time results in the tested scenarios using an ARM processor aided by a GPU, when this one is present.This work has been supported by the "Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad" of Spain and FEDER under projects TEC2015-67387-C4-{1,2,3}-R.Muñoz-Montoro, AJ.; Ranilla, J.; Vera-Candeas, P.; Combarro, EF.; Alonso-Jordá, P. (2019). Real-time Soundprism. The Journal of Supercomputing. 75(3):1594-1609. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11227-018-2703-0S15941609753Alonso P, Cortina R, Rodríguez-Serrano FJ, Vera-Candeas P, Alonso-González M, Ranilla J (2017) Parallel online time warping for real-time audio-to-score alignment in multi-core systems. J Supercomput 73:126. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11227-016-1647-5Carabias-Orti JJ, Cobos M, Vera-Candeas P, Rodríguez-Serrano FJ (2013) Nonnegative signal factorization with learnt instrument models for sound source separation in close-microphone recordings. 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J Supercomput 71:1846–1856. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11227-014-1363-yDriedger J, Grohganz H, Prätzlich T, Ewert S, Müller M (2013) Score-informed audio decomposition and applications. In: Proceedings of the 21st ACM International Conference on Multimedia, pp 541–544Duan Z, Pardo B (2011) Soundprism: an online system for score-informed source separation of music audio. IEEE J Sel Top Signal Process 5(6):1205–1215Duong NQ, Vincent E, Gribonval R (2010) Under-determined reverberant audio source separation using a full-rank spatial covariance model. IEEE Trans Audio Speech 18(7):1830–1840. https://doi.org/10.1109/TASL.2010.2050716Ewert S, Müller M (2011) Estimating note intensities in music recordings. In: Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing, pp 385–388Ewert S, Pardo B, Mueller M, Plumbley MD (2014) Score-informed source separation for musical audio recordings: an overview. IEEE Signal Process Mag 31:116–124. https://doi.org/10.1109/MSP.2013.2296076Fastl H, Zwicker E (2007) Psychoacoustics. Springer, BerlinGanseman J, Scheunders P, Mysore GJ, Abel JS (2010) Source separation by score synthesis. Int Comput Music Conf 2010:1–4Goto M, Hashiguchi H, Nishimura T, Oka R (2002) RWC music database: popular, classical and jazz music databases. In: ISMIR, vol 2, pp 287–288Goto M (2004) Development of the RWC music database. In: Proceedings of the 18th International Congress on Acoustics (ICA 2004), ppp 553–556Hennequin R, David B, Badeau R (2011) Score informed audio source separation using a parametric model of non-negative spectrogram. In: 2011 IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing (ICASSP) pp 45–48. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICASSP.2011.5946324Itoyama K, Goto M, Komatani K et al (2008) Instrument equalizer for query-by-example retrieval: improving sound source separation based on integrated harmonic and inharmonic models. In: ISMIR. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.324.7341.827Marxer R, Janer J, Bonada J (2012) Low-latency instrument separation in polyphonic audio using timbre models. In: International Conference on Latent Variable Analysis and Signal Separation, pp 314–321Miron M, Carabias-Orti JJ, Janer J (2015) Improving score-informed source separation for classical music through note refinement. In: ISMIR, pp 448–454Ozerov A, Févotte C (2010) Multichannel nonnegative matrix factorization in convolutive mixtures for audio source separation. IEEE Trans Audio Speech Lang Process 18:550–563. https://doi.org/10.1109/TASL.2009.2031510Ozerov A, Vincent E, Bimbot F (2012) A general flexible framework for the handling of prior information in audio source separation. IEEE Trans Audio Speech Lang Process 20:1118–1133. https://doi.org/10.1109/TASL.2011.2172425Pätynen J, Pulkki V, Lokki T (2008) Anechoic recording system for symphony orchestra. Acta Acust United Acust 94:856–865. https://doi.org/10.3813/AAA.918104Raphael C (2008) A classifier-based approach to score-guided source separation of musical audio. Comput Music J 32:51–59. https://doi.org/10.1162/comj.2008.32.1.51Rodriguez-Serrano FJ, Duan Z, Vera-Candeas P, Pardo B, Carabias-Orti JJ (2015) Online score-informed source separation with adaptive instrument models. J New Music Res 44:83–96. https://doi.org/10.1080/09298215.2014.989174Rodriguez-Serrano FJ, Carabias-Orti JJ, Vera-Candeas P, Martinez-Munoz D (2016) Tempo driven audio-to-score alignment using spectral decomposition and online dynamic time warping. ACM Trans Intell Syst Technol 8:1–20. https://doi.org/10.1145/2926717Sawada H, Araki S, Makino S (2011) Underdetermined convolutive blind source separation via frequency bin-wise clustering and permutation alignment. 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The positive and negative impact of an intergenerational digital technology education programme on younger people’s perceptions of older adults

In order to meet the technological needs of older adults, and ensure digital inclusion, it is important for digital technology designers to accurately assess and understand older adults’ needs and requirements, free from the influence of societal assumptions of their capabilities. This study evaluated the impact of an intergenerational digital technology education programme on younger adults’ stereotypes of older people. Using an experimental design, results show that compared to a control group, students taking part in the programme subsequently rated older adults as more friendly but less competent. Practical implications for developing intergenerational education programmes are discussed

Decision aids for respite service choices by carers of people with dementia: development and pilot RCT

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Decision aids are often used to assist individuals confronted with a diagnosis of a serious illness to make decisions about treatment options. However, they are rarely utilised to help those with chronic or age related conditions to make decisions about care services. Decision aids should also be useful for carers of people with decreased decisional capacity. These carers' choices must balance health outcomes for themselves and for salient others with relational and value-based concerns, while relying on information from health professionals. This paper reports on a study that both developed and pilot tested a decision aid aimed at assisting carers to make evaluative judgements of community services, particularly respite care.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A mixed method sequential study, involving qualitative development and a pilot randomised controlled trial, was conducted in Tasmania, Australia. We undertook 13 semi-structured interviews and three focus groups to inform the development of the decision aid. For the randomised control trial we randomly assigned 31 carers of people with dementia to either receive the service decision aid at the start or end of the study. The primary outcome was measured by comparing the difference in carer burden between the two groups three months after the intervention group received the decision aid. Pilot data was collected from carers using interviewer-administered questionnaires at the commencement of the project, two weeks and 12 weeks later.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The qualitative data strongly suggest that the intervention provides carers with needed decision support. Most carers felt that the decision aid was useful. The trial data demonstrated that, using the mean change between baseline and three month follow-up, the intervention group had less increase in burden, a decrease in decisional conflict and increased knowledge compared to control group participants.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>While these results must be interpreted with caution due to the small sample size, all intervention results trend in a direction that is beneficial for carers and their decisional ability. Mixed method data suggest the decision aid provides decisional support that carers do not otherwise receive. Decision aids may prove useful in a community health services context.</p> <p>Trial registration number</p> <p>ISRCTN: <a href="http://www.controlled-trials.com/ISRCTN32163031">ISRCTN32163031</a></p

Aging and health among migrants in a European perspective

Kristiansen M, Razum O, Tezcan-Güntekin H, Krasnik A. Aging and health among migrants in a European perspective. Public Health Reviews. 2016;37(1): 20

Dust Devil Frequency of Occurrence and Radiative Effects at Jezero Crater, Mars, as Measured by MEDA Radiation and Dust Sensor (RDS)

The Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer, onboard the Perseverance rover, is a meteorological station that is operating on Mars and includes, among other sensors, the radiometer Radiation and Dust Sensor (RDS). From RDS irradiance observations, a total of 374 dust devils (DDs) were detected for the first 365 sols of the mission (Ls = 6°–182°), which along with wind and pressure measurements, we estimated a DD frequency of formation at Jezero between 1.3 and 3.4 DD km −2 sol −1 (increasing as we move from spring into summer). This frequency is found to be smaller than that estimated at the Spirit or Pathfinder landing sites but much greater than that derived at InSight landing site. The maximum in DD frequency occurs between 12:00 and 13:00 local true solar time, which is when the convective heat flux and lower planetary boundary layer IR heating are both predicted to peak in Jezero crater. DD diameter, minimum height, and trajectory were studied showing (a) an average diameter of 29 m (or a median of 25 m) and a maximum and minimum diameter of 132 ± 63.4 and 5.6 ± 5.5 m; (b) an average minimum DD height of 231 m and a maximum minimum-height of 872 m; and (c) the DD migration direction is in agreement with wind measurements. For all the cases, DDs decreased the UV irradiance, while at visible or near-IR wavelengths both increases and decreases were observed. Contrary to the frequency of formation, these results indicate similar DD characteristics in average for the studied period

Dust environment and dynamical history of a sample of short-period comets: II. 81P/Wild 2 and 103P/Hartley 2

Aims. This paper is a continuation of the first paper in this series, where we presented an extended study of the dust environment of a sample of short-period comets and their dynamical history. On this occasion, we focus on comets 81P/Wild 2 and 103P/Hartley 2, which are of special interest as targets of the spacecraft missions Stardust and EPOXI. Methods. As in the previous study, we used two sets of observational data: a set of images, acquired at Sierra Nevada and Lulin observatories, and the Afρ data as a function of the heliocentric distance provided by the amateur astronomical association Cometas-Obs. The dust environment of comets (dust loss rate, ejection velocities, and size distribution of the particles) was derived from our Monte Carlo dust tail code. To determine their dynamical history we used the numerical integrator Mercury 6.2 to ascertain the time spent by these objects in the Jupiter family Comet region. Results. From the dust analysis, we conclude that both 81P/Wild 2 and 103P/Hartley 2 are dusty comets, with an annual dust production rate of 2.8 × 109 kg yr-1 and (0.4-1.5) × 109 kg yr-1, respectively. From the dynamical analysis, we determined their time spent in the Jupiter family Comet region as ~40 yr in the case of 81P/Wild 2 and ~1000 yr for comet 103P/Hartley 2. These results imply that 81P/Wild 2 is the youngest and the most active comet of the eleven short-period comets studied so far, which tends to favor the correlation between the time spent in JFCs region and the comet activity previously discussed

Real-Space Mesh Techniques in Density Functional Theory

This review discusses progress in efficient solvers which have as their foundation a representation in real space, either through finite-difference or finite-element formulations. The relationship of real-space approaches to linear-scaling electrostatics and electronic structure methods is first discussed. Then the basic aspects of real-space representations are presented. Multigrid techniques for solving the discretized problems are covered; these numerical schemes allow for highly efficient solution of the grid-based equations. Applications to problems in electrostatics are discussed, in particular numerical solutions of Poisson and Poisson-Boltzmann equations. Next, methods for solving self-consistent eigenvalue problems in real space are presented; these techniques have been extensively applied to solutions of the Hartree-Fock and Kohn-Sham equations of electronic structure, and to eigenvalue problems arising in semiconductor and polymer physics. Finally, real-space methods have found recent application in computations of optical response and excited states in time-dependent density functional theory, and these computational developments are summarized. Multiscale solvers are competitive with the most efficient available plane-wave techniques in terms of the number of self-consistency steps required to reach the ground state, and they require less work in each self-consistency update on a uniform grid. Besides excellent efficiencies, the decided advantages of the real-space multiscale approach are 1) the near-locality of each function update, 2) the ability to handle global eigenfunction constraints and potential updates on coarse levels, and 3) the ability to incorporate adaptive local mesh refinements without loss of optimal multigrid efficiencies.Comment: 70 pages, 11 figures. To be published in Reviews of Modern Physic