Revisiting the problem of audio-based hit song prediction using convolutional neural networks

Being able to predict whether a song can be a hit has impor- tant applications in the music industry. Although it is true that the popularity of a song can be greatly affected by exter- nal factors such as social and commercial influences, to which degree audio features computed from musical signals (whom we regard as internal factors) can predict song popularity is an interesting research question on its own. Motivated by the recent success of deep learning techniques, we attempt to ex- tend previous work on hit song prediction by jointly learning the audio features and prediction models using deep learning. Specifically, we experiment with a convolutional neural net- work model that takes the primitive mel-spectrogram as the input for feature learning, a more advanced JYnet model that uses an external song dataset for supervised pre-training and auto-tagging, and the combination of these two models. We also consider the inception model to characterize audio infor- mation in different scales. Our experiments suggest that deep structures are indeed more accurate than shallow structures in predicting the popularity of either Chinese or Western Pop songs in Taiwan. We also use the tags predicted by JYnet to gain insights into the result of different models.Comment: To appear in the proceedings of 2017 IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing (ICASSP

Dynamics of fluctuations in a quantum system

"\textit{The noise is the signal}"[R. Landauer, Nature \textbf{392}, 658 (1998)] emphasizes the rich information content encoded in fluctuations. This paper assesses the dynamical role of fluctuations of a quantum system driven far from equilibrium, with laser-aligned molecules as a physical realization. Time evolutions of the expectation value and the uncertainty of a standard observable are computed quantum mechanically and classically. We demonstrate the intricate dynamics of the uncertainty that are strikingly independent of those of the expectation value, and their exceptional sensitivity to quantum properties of the system. In general, detecting the time evolution of the fluctuations of a given observable provides information on the dynamics of correlations in a quantum system.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figure

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE KINEMATICS OF THE TRUNK AND LOWER EXTREMITIES AND BALL VELOCITY DURING THE OVERHAND THROW IN MALE CANOE POLO PLAYERS

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between the motion of the trunk and lower extremities and ball velocity during the overhand throw in canoe polo. Fifteen male national canoe polo team players participated in this study. The overhand throwing motion was captured using a three dimensional motion analysis system. Kinematic and temporal parameters in the trunk and lower extremities were measured and analyzed. Results indicated that five variables were associated with variations in ball velocity. Specifically, as ball velocity increased, canoe polo players showed an increased maximal angular velocity in trunk-tilt sideways, upper torso rotation, and right knee flexion. In addition, the right knee flexion range of motion and time to maximum right knee flexion angular velocity increased as ball velocity increased

Knowledge and basic skills in Singapore

In a country that encourages the development of a knowledge-based economy, the educational investment is the essential source of prosperity. The national program aims to ensure the success of the school student learning while including them optimize their provisions. This is to form citizens capable of more independent thinking creatively to meet the economic challenges and teach educational content related to specific knowledge, while taking into account the needs of individual students and enhancing the capacities and talents. This implies a redefinition of the concepts of knowledge and learning, enhancement of the learning process, exceeding the results culture. The implementation of these provisions is not without contradictions, ambiguities and resistances. It also requires the modification and diversification of evaluation methods

Scalable Grouping Random Key Predistribution in Large Scale Wireless Sensor Networks

[[abstract]]The security issue in a wireless sensor network (WSN) has been drawing considerable research attention in recent years. Key management, a basic security service, becomes the core design for various security services, such as encryption and authentication. To increase the connectivity of each key in a large-scale WSN and to enlarge its maximum supportable network size, this paper presents a scalable grouping (SG) random key predistribution scheme. The SG scheme divides all nodes into several groups and uses the one-way function to generate group-to-group pairwise keys. To improve resilience against node capture, i.e., to fortify the security strength, the scheme takes on the concept that the link key is composed of some shared keys. For any two nodes with two or more shared keys, the SG scheme uses the exclusive-OR operation to compose the link key -- assuring the link key used to secure a link is nearly unique. Experimental results show that the SG scheme is able to generate better resilience against node capture and higher scalability than existing random key based schemes.[[notice]]補正完畢[[incitationindex]]EI[[booktype]]紙

FACTORS AFFECTING CONSUMERS’ VALUE CREATION IN ONLINE GROUP BUYING

Drawing upon the social capital theory (SCT), this study integrates social capital factors with the perspectives of consumer hedonic participation and platform capability of online group buying sites to explore how they af ect consumer value creation toward online group buying (OGB). Data from 663 valid responses were obtained using an online large-scale survey. The conceptual framework was validated by using the partial least squares (PLS) technique. The research findings show that 1) the consumers’ value created by engaging in OGB is contributed collectively by social capital factors (i.e., social interaction tie, trust, and shared value), hedonic participation and OGB platform capabilities; 2) the social capital enhances consumers’ value creation by increasing their hedonic participation; 3) The OGB platform capabilities has a positive impact on social capital, hedonic participation and value creation. The proposed research model explains 64.1 % of variance for consumers’ value creation, 52.6 % of variance for their hedonic participation and 46.1% of variance for social capital in OGB. Our findings provide insights into how OGB administrators can govern OGB initiatives to expand OGB members’ social capital and OGB platform capability, thereby leading to ef ective consumer value creation

Motor neuron-derived Thsd7a is essential for zebrafish vascular development via the Notch-dll4 signaling pathway.

BackgroundDevelopment of neural and vascular systems displays astonishing similarities among vertebrates. This parallelism is under a precise control of complex guidance signals and neurovascular interactions. Previously, our group identified a highly conserved neural protein called thrombospondin type I domain containing 7A (THSD7A). Soluble THSD7A promoted and guided endothelial cell migration, tube formation and sprouting. In addition, we showed that thsd7a could be detected in the nervous system and was required for intersegmental vessels (ISV) patterning during zebrafish development. However, the exact origin of THSD7A and its effect on neurovascular interaction remains unclear.ResultsIn this study, we discovered that zebrafish thsd7a was expressed in the primary motor neurons. Knockdown of Thsd7a disrupted normal primary motor neuron formation and ISV sprouting in the Tg(kdr:EGFP/mnx1:TagRFP) double transgenic zebrafish. Interestingly, we found that Thsd7a morphants displayed distinct phenotypes that are very similar to the loss of Notch-delta like 4 (dll4) signaling. Transcript profiling further revealed that expression levels of notch1b and its downstream targets, vegfr2/3 and nrarpb, were down-regulated in the Thsd7a morphants. These data supported that zebrafish Thsd7a could regulate angiogenic sprouting via Notch-dll4 signaling during development.ConclusionsOur results suggested that motor neuron-derived Thsd7a plays a significant role in neurovascular interactions. Thsd7a could regulate ISV angiogenesis via Notch-dll4 signaling. Thus, Thsd7a is a potent angioneurin involved in the development of both neural and vascular systems

PreZon: Prediction by Zone and Its Application to Egg Productivity in Chickens

Taiwan red-feathered country chickens (TRFCCs) are one of the main meat resources in Taiwan. Due to the lack of any systematic breeding programs to improve egg productivity, the egg production rate of this breed has gradually decreased. The prediction by zone (PreZone) program was developed to select the chickens with low egg productivity so as to improve the egg productivity of TRFCCs before they reach maturity. Three groups (A, B, and C) of chickens were used in this study. Two approaches were used to identify chickens with low egg productivity. The first approach used predictions based on a single dataset, and the second approach used predictions based on the union of two datasets. The levels of four serum proteins, including apolipoprotein A-I, vitellogenin, X protein (an IGF-I-like protein), and apo VLDL-II, were measured in chickens that were 8, 14, 22, or 24 weeks old. Total egg numbers were recorded for each individual bird during the egg production period. PreZone analysis was performed using the four serum protein levels as selection parameters, and the results were compared to those obtained using a first-order multiple linear regression method with the same parameters. The PreZone program provides another prediction method that can be used to validate datasets with a low correlation between response and predictors. It can be used to find low and improve egg productivity in TRFCCs by selecting the best chickens before they reach maturity