Developing Models for Multi-Talker Listening Tasks using the EPIC Architecture: Wrong Turns and Lessons Learned

This report describes the development of a series of computational cognitive architecture models for the multi-channel listening task studied in the fields of audition and human performance. The models can account for the phenomena in which humans can respond to a designated spoken message in the context of multiple simultaneous speech messages from multiple speakers - the so-called "cocktail party effect." They are the first models of a new class that combine psychoacoustic perceptual mechanisms with production-system cognitive processing to account for the end-to-end performance in an important empirical literature.Office of Naval Research, Cognitive Science Program, under grant numbers N00014-10-1-0152 and N00014-13-1-0358, and the U. S. Air Force 711 HW Chief Scientist Seedling programhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/108165/1/Kieras_Wakefield_TR_EPIC_17_July_2014.pdf-1Description of Kieras_Wakefield_TR_EPIC_17_July_2014.pdf : Technical report conten

Vocal pedagogy and pedagogical voices

Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Auditory Display (ICAD), Boston, MA, July 7-9, 2003.Singers learn from their teachers lessons that to the outsider are not transparently obvious. Some of these lessons are discussed in the paper, and their application to problems in sound quality, music information retrieval, and the modeling of the singing voice are presented

A tutorial example of stimulus sample discrimination in perceptual evaluation of synthesized sounds: discrimination between original and re-synthesized singing

Presented at the 7th International Conference on Auditory Display (ICAD), Espoo, Finland, July 29-August 1, 2001.Stimulus sample discrimination (SSD) is an objective psychophysical procedure, in which samples are drawn from various signal distributions for comparison and an index of discrimination is measured. A key feature of SSD is the use of samples from a context distribution, which act either as additional or as distracting sources of information with respect to the discrimination task. When the context distribution provides information about the natural variations in the sounds from a musical instrument, SSD may prove useful as a measure of the perceptual accuracy of a sound synthesis algorithm. We report on results from a study in which SSD is applied to measure the degree to which singer identity is preserved in loworder synthesis of the female singers

On the statistics of binned neural point processes: the Bernoulli approximation and AR representation of the PST histogram

Neural point processes are often approximated by partitioning time into bins, each with a Bernoulli distribution of firing, in order to simplify the mathematical description of their properties. Some of the basic statistics of a neural process are compared using the Bernoulli approximation and the actual Poisson representation. It is seen that in general the Bernoulli approximation is an accurate model only for small λΔ where λ is the intensity and Δ is the width of the time bin. This discrete representation leads to a model of the PST histogram as an AR system, where the parameters depend upon the driving signal s(t) , the refractory effect r(t) and the binwidth Δ . This AR representation is used to predict the PST histogram given s(t) , r(t) and Δ . Estimates of s(t) and r(t) are derived within this parameterization and results discussed for several types of recovery functions given a constant s(t) . AR techniques are used to estimate the AR parameters from the PST histogram of a simulated point process, from which both s(t) and r(t) are estimated.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/47434/1/422_2004_Article_BF02331344.pd

An efficient method for detecting connectivity in neural ensembles

Modern technology is allowing researchers to collect data from neural ensembles with a large number of units, and the analysis of interaction between these units can be very time consuming. Estimation of pairwise connectivity is the most common method of determining the neural `network' but usually necessitates the production of numerous histograms for each pair considered. We present a method which will indicate which pairs in a network represent potential connections and thereby simplify the postexperimental analysis. The technique uses cross-interval information to create an n x n matrix which represents all possible connections in an n neuron ensemble and can be calculated recursively on-line. The performance of this technique is analyzed with respect to data size and strength of the connections. It is compared to 2 similar techniques that are also presented here, one in which perfect knowledge of the timing of the excitation is known, and one in which the timing can be bounded.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/29794/1/0000136.pd

Analysis of Vowels in Sung Queries for a Music Information Retrieval System

A method for analyzing and categorizing the vowels of a sung query is described and analyzed. This query system uses a combination of spectral analysis and parametric clustering techniques to divide a single query into different vowel regions. The method is applied separately to each query, so no training or repeated measures are necessary. The vowel regions are then transformed into strings and string search methods are used to compare the results from various songs. We apply this method to a small pilot study consisting of 40 sung queries from each of 7 songs. Approximately 60% of the queries are correctly identified with their corresponding song, using only the vowel stream as the identifier.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/46493/1/10844_2004_Article_5122824.pd

Boron Clusters as Highly Stable Magnesium‐Battery Electrolytes

Boron clusters are proposed as a new concept for the design of magnesium‐battery electrolytes that are magnesium‐battery‐compatible, highly stable, and noncorrosive. A novel carborane‐based electrolyte incorporating an unprecedented magnesium‐centered complex anion is reported and shown to perform well as a magnesium‐battery electrolyte. This finding opens a new approach towards the design of electrolytes whose likelihood of meeting the challenging design targets for magnesium‐battery electrolytes is very high. Ein b(o)rillantes Konzept : Ein Elektrolyt mit einem Magnesium‐zentrierten Komplexanion wurde für den Einsatz in wiederaufladbaren Magnesiumbatterien entwickelt. Das Carboranylmagnesiumhalogenid (siehe Struktur; B lila, C weiß, Cl grün, O rot, Mg orange) war mit Magnesiummetall‐Anoden kompatibel und zeigte an verschiedenen Nichtedelmetall‐Elektroden eine bemerkenswerte oxidative Stabilität (3.2 V gegen Mg).Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/106656/1/3237_ftp.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/106656/2/ange_201310317_sm_miscellaneous_information.pd

Lack of Association between Measles Virus Vaccine and Autism with Enteropathy: A Case-Control Study

Background: The presence of measles virus (MV) RNA in bowel tissue from children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and gastrointestinal (GI) disturbances was reported in 1998. Subsequent investigations found no associations between MV exposure and ASD but did not test for the presence of MV RNA in bowel or focus on children with ASD and GI disturbances. Failure to replicate the original study design may contribute to continued public concern with respect to the safety of the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine. Methodology/Principal Findings: The objective of this case-control study was to determine whether children with GI disturbances and autism are more likely than children with GI disturbances alone to have MV RNA and/or inflammation in bowel tissues and if autism and/or GI episode onset relate temporally to receipt of MMR. The sample was an age-matched group of US children undergoing clinically-indicated ileocolonoscopy. Ileal and cecal tissues from 25 children with autism and GI disturbances and 13 children with GI disturbances alone (controls) were evaluated by real-time reverse transcription (RT)-PCR for presence of MV RNA in three laboratories blinded to diagnosis, including one wherein the original findings suggesting a link between MV and ASD were reported. The temporal order of onset of GI episodes and autism relative to timing of MMR administration was examined. We found no differences between case and control groups in the presence of MV RNA in ileum and cecum. Results were consistent across the three laboratory sites. GI symptom and autism onset were unrelated to MMR timing. Eighty-eight percent of ASD cases had behavioral regression. Conclusions/Significance: This study provides strong evidence against association of autism with persistent MV RNA in the GI tract or MMR exposure. Autism with GI disturbances is associated with elevated rates of regression in language or other skills and may represent an endophenotype distinct from other ASD

A Bayesian method for evaluating and discovering disease loci associations

Background: A genome-wide association study (GWAS) typically involves examining representative SNPs in individuals from some population. A GWAS data set can concern a million SNPs and may soon concern billions. Researchers investigate the association of each SNP individually with a disease, and it is becoming increasingly commonplace to also analyze multi-SNP associations. Techniques for handling so many hypotheses include the Bonferroni correction and recently developed Bayesian methods. These methods can encounter problems. Most importantly, they are not applicable to a complex multi-locus hypothesis which has several competing hypotheses rather than only a null hypothesis. A method that computes the posterior probability of complex hypotheses is a pressing need. Methodology/Findings: We introduce the Bayesian network posterior probability (BNPP) method which addresses the difficulties. The method represents the relationship between a disease and SNPs using a directed acyclic graph (DAG) model, and computes the likelihood of such models using a Bayesian network scoring criterion. The posterior probability of a hypothesis is computed based on the likelihoods of all competing hypotheses. The BNPP can not only be used to evaluate a hypothesis that has previously been discovered or suspected, but also to discover new disease loci associations. The results of experiments using simulated and real data sets are presented. Our results concerning simulated data sets indicate that the BNPP exhibits both better evaluation and discovery performance than does a p-value based method. For the real data sets, previous findings in the literature are confirmed and additional findings are found. Conclusions/Significance: We conclude that the BNPP resolves a pressing problem by providing a way to compute the posterior probability of complex multi-locus hypotheses. A researcher can use the BNPP to determine the expected utility of investigating a hypothesis further. Furthermore, we conclude that the BNPP is a promising method for discovering disease loci associations. © 2011 Jiang et al

Secondary somatic mutations restoring RAD51C and RAD51D associated with acquired resistance to the PARP inhibitor rucaparib in high-grade ovarian carcinoma

High-grade epithelial ovarian carcinomas (OC) containing mutated BRCA1 or BRCA2 (BRCA1/2) homologous recombination (HR) genes are sensitive to platinum-based chemotherapy and poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase inhibitors (PARPi), while restoration of HR function due to secondary mutations in BRCA1/2 has been recognized as an important resistance mechanism. We sequenced core HR pathway genes in 12 pairs of pre-treatment and post-progression tumor biopsy samples collected from patients in ARIEL2 Part 1, a phase 2 study of the PARPi rucaparib as treatment for platinum-sensitive, relapsed OC. In six of 12 pre-treatment biopsies, a truncation mutation in BRCA1, RAD51C or RAD51D was identified. In five of six paired post-progression biopsies, one or more secondary mutations restored the open reading frame. Four distinct secondary mutations and spatial heterogeneity were observed for RAD51C. In vitro complementation assays and a patient-derived xenograft (PDX), as well as predictive molecular modeling, confirmed that resistance to rucaparib was associated with secondary mutations