Basic Filters for Convolutional Neural Networks Applied to Music: Training or Design?

When convolutional neural networks are used to tackle learning problems based on music or, more generally, time series data, raw one-dimensional data are commonly pre-processed to obtain spectrogram or mel-spectrogram coefficients, which are then used as input to the actual neural network. In this contribution, we investigate, both theoretically and experimentally, the influence of this pre-processing step on the network's performance and pose the question, whether replacing it by applying adaptive or learned filters directly to the raw data, can improve learning success. The theoretical results show that approximately reproducing mel-spectrogram coefficients by applying adaptive filters and subsequent time-averaging is in principle possible. We also conducted extensive experimental work on the task of singing voice detection in music. The results of these experiments show that for classification based on Convolutional Neural Networks the features obtained from adaptive filter banks followed by time-averaging perform better than the canonical Fourier-transform-based mel-spectrogram coefficients. Alternative adaptive approaches with center frequencies or time-averaging lengths learned from training data perform equally well.Comment: Completely revised version; 21 pages, 4 figure

Constructing High-level Perceptual Audio Descriptors for Textural Sounds

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Site-Specific Functionalization of Recombinant Spider Silk Janus Fibers

Biotechnological production is a powerful tool to design materials with customized properties. The aim of this work was to apply designed spider silk proteins to produce Janus fibers with two different functional sides. First, functionalization was established through a cysteine‐modified silk protein, ntag(Cys)eADF4(κ16). After fiber spinning, gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) were coupled via thiol‐ene click chemistry. Significantly reduced electrical resistivity indicated sufficient loading density of AuNPs on such fiber surfaces. Then, Janus fibers were electrospun in a side‐by‐side arrangement, with “non‐functional” eADF4(C16) on the one and “functional” ntag(Cys)eADF4(κ16) on the other side. Post‐treatment was established to render silk fibers insoluble in water. Subsequent AuNP binding was highly selective on the ntag(Cys)eADF4(κ16) side demonstrating the potential of such silk‐based systems to realize complex bifunctional structures with spatial resolutions in the nano scale

On Computing Morphological Similarity of Audio Signals

(Abstract to follow

Susceptibility to Fear of Heights in Bilateral Vestibulopathy and Other Disorders of Vertigo and Balance

Aims: To determine the susceptibility to visual height intolerance (vHI) in patients with acquired bilateral vestibulopathy (BVP). The question was whether postural instability in BVP, which is partially compensated for by visual substitution of the impaired vestibular control of balance, leads to an increased susceptibility. This is of particular importance since fear of heights is dependent on body posture, and visual control of balance at heights can no longer substitute vestibular input. For comparison susceptibility to vHI was determined in patients with other vestibular or functional disorders. Methods: A total of 150 patients aged 18 or above who had been referred to the German Center for Vertigo and Balance Disorders and diagnosed to have BVP were surveyed with a standardized questionnaire by specifically trained neurological professionals. Further, 481 patients with other vestibular or functional disorders were included. Results: Susceptibility to vHI was reported by 29% (32 % in females, 25% in males) of the patients with BVP. Patients with vHI were slightly younger (67 vs. 71 years). Seventy percent of those with vHI reported avoidance of climbing, hiking, stairs, darkness, cycling or swimming (84% of those without vHI). Mean age for onset of vHI was 40 years. Susceptibility to vHI was higher in patients with other vertigo disorders than in those with BVP: 64% in those with phobic postural vertigo, 61% in vestibular migraine, 56% in vestibular paroxysmia, 54% in benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, 49% in unilateral vestibulopathy and 48% in Menière's disease. Conclusions: The susceptibility to vHI in BVP was not higher than that of the general population (28%).This allows two explanations that need not be alternatives but contribute to each other: (1) Patients with a bilateral peripheral vestibular deficit largely avoid exposure to heights because of their postural instability. (2) The irrational anxiety to fall from heights triggers increased susceptibility to vHI, not the objective postural instability. However, patients with BVP do not exhibit increased comorbid anxiety disorders. This view is supported by the significantly increased susceptibility to vHI in other vestibular syndromes, which are characterized by an increased comorbidity of anxiety disorders

High-precision analysis of Feshbach resonances in a Mott insulator

We show that recent high-precision measurements of relative on-site interaction energies $\Delta U$ in a Mott insulator require a theoretical description beyond the standard Hubbard-model interpretation, when combined with an accurate coupled-channels calculation. In contrast to more sophisticated lattice models, which can be elaborate especially for parameter optimization searches, we introduce an easy to use effective description of $U$ valid over a wide range of interaction strengths modeling atomic pairs confined to single lattice sites. This concise model allows for a straightforward combination with a coupled-channels analysis. With this model we perform such a coupled-channels analysis of high-precision $^7$Li spectroscopic data on the on-site interaction energy $U$, which spans over four Feshbach resonances and provide an accurate and consistent determination of the associated resonance positions. Earlier experiments on three of the Feshbach resonances are consistent with this new analysis. Moreover, we verify our model with a more rigorous numerical treatment of the two atom system in an optical lattice

Drift-diffusion of highly mobile dopants in CdTe

The diffusion of Ag in CdTe exhibits anomalous concentration profiles, which essentially reflect the profile of the deviation from stoichiometry. At a diffusion temperature of about 800 K, the Ag dopant atoms are present as charged interstitials. The deviation from stoichiometry at diffusion temperature substantially changes upon an external source of Cd atoms. Such an external source can be represented either by the vapor pressure from metallic Cd or by a Cd layer arising at the interface to an evaporated layer of Cu or Au. Also, the Co diffusion in CdZnTe is shown to be strongly affected by the presence of an external vapor pressure of Cd, but in a substantially different way compared to the Ag diffusion in CdTe

A new questionnaire for estimating the severity of visual height intolerance and acrophobia by a metric interval scale

AIMS To construct and validate a short scale for the assessment of the severity of visual height intolerance (vHI) and acrophobia. METHODS The questionnaire was developed from two earlier representative epidemiological studies (n = 5,529). Items were applied in a telephone survey of a representative population-based sample. RESULTS A total of 1,960 persons were included. The life-time prevalence of vHI was 32.7% (f: 36.1%; m: 28.4%); 12% of these persons fulfilled the psychiatric criteria of acrophobia. Rasch analysis of 11 items on severity, symptoms, and triggers resulted in an 8-item scale with good fit to the model. The score differentiated well between persons with and without acrophobia. The distribution of the scores on the metric scale of the questionnaires of those individuals with acrophobia is separate and distinct from that of susceptibles without acrophobia, although there is some overlap. CONCLUSION Our proposed short questionnaire (vHISS, see Table 1 and Supplementary Material) allows a continuous quantification of the severity of vHI within a metric interval scale from 0 to 13. The diagnosis of acrophobia can be established by including two additional questions