The Use of Individualized Voices for Multi-Agent Speech Displays

Listeners can use vocal features of speech to help segregate a target talker from a field of different- voiced speech maskers. However, recent research also suggests that acoustic features (such as those responsible for identity) are stored with speech’s lexical content in episodic memory and can be beneficial in some non-overlapping speech perception tasks as well (e.g., Goldinger, 1996). This paired-voice benefit may have implications for speech displays and dialog systems since purposeful selection of the speaker’s voice is possible, unlike in most live speech communication tasks. In the current experiments, we investigated if manipulating voice identity could improve performance in three complex listening situations relevant to speech displays: extraction of information from background speech, listening while simultaneously speaking, and keeping track of multiple agents’ states. Results indicate that the benefits of individualized voices seen in the episodic memory literature do not translate to the current, more complex, speech tasks.

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Modulation masking and fine structure shape neural envelope coding to predict speech intelligibility across diverse listening conditions

10.1101/2021.03.26.437273 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Vibha Viswanathan ◽

Hari M Bharadwaj ◽

Barbara G Shinn-Cunningham ◽

Michael G Heinz

Keyword(s):

Fine Structure ◽

Speech Intelligibility ◽

Speech Communication ◽

Temporal Fine Structure ◽

Acoustic Features ◽

Neural Encoding ◽

Speech Encoding ◽

Everyday Communication ◽

The Brain ◽

Selection Of

A fundamental question in the neuroscience of everyday communication is how scene acoustics shape the neural processing of attended speech sounds and in turn impact speech intelligibility. While it is well known that the temporal envelopes in target speech are important for intelligibility, how the neural encoding of target-speech envelopes is influenced by background sounds or other acoustic features of the scene is unknown. Here, we combine human electroencephalography (EEG) with simultaneous intelligibility measurements to address this key gap. We find that the neural envelope-domain SNR in target-speech encoding, which is shaped by masker modulations, predicts intelligibility over a range of strategically chosen realistic listening conditions unseen by the predictive model. This provides neurophysiological evidence for modulation masking. Moreover, using high-resolution vocoding to carefully control peripheral envelopes, we show that target-envelope coding fidelity in the brain depends not only on envelopes conveyed by the cochlea, but also on the temporal fine structure (TFS), which supports scene segregation. Our results are consistent with the notion that temporal coherence of sound elements across envelopes and/or TFS influences scene analysis and attentive selection of a target sound. Our findings also inform speech intelligibility models and technologies attempting to improve real-world speech communication.

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Designing Multi-Agent System Organisations for Flexible Runtime Behaviour

Applied Sciences ◽

10.3390/app10155335 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (15) ◽

pp. 5335

Author(s):

Kathleen Keogh ◽

Liz Sonenberg

Keyword(s):

Design Method ◽

Multi Agent System ◽

Improve Performance ◽

Uncertain Environments ◽

Agent System ◽

Meta Model ◽

Design Time ◽

Organisational Support ◽

Multi Agent ◽

Associated Design

We address the challenge of multi-agent system (MAS) design for organisations of agents acting in dynamic and uncertain environments where runtime flexibility is required to enable improvisation through sharing knowledge and adapting behaviour. We identify behavioural features that correspond to runtime improvisation by agents in a MAS organisation and from this analysis describe the OJAzzIC meta-model and an associated design method. We present results from simulation scenarios, varying both problem complexity and the level of organisational support provided in the design, to show that increasing design time guidance in the organisation specification can enable runtime flexibility afforded to agents and improve performance. Hence the results demonstrate the usefulness of the constructs captured in the OJAzzIC meta-model.

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technical level of small-town shoemaking in Gdańsk Pomerania in the 14th century

Archaeologia Historica Polona ◽

10.12775/ahp.2020.012 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 28 ◽

Author(s):

Karolina Blusiewicz

Keyword(s):

Mechanical Treatment ◽

Professional Knowledge ◽

The Other ◽

Raw Material ◽

Animal Origin ◽

Late Medieval ◽

14Th Century ◽

Purposeful Selection ◽

Selection Of

Based on the late medieval leather artefacts from Puck, Gniew, Lębork and Chojnice, an attempt was made to assess the level of shoemaking production at that time. Microscopic analyses of leather goods and production waste proved that in the field of tanning the activities related to the mechanical treatment of leather were carefully performed, although with insufficient professional knowledge concerning the process. The results of the identification of the animal origin of the leather confirmed the purposeful selection of raw material with different properties for individual footwear elements and the ability to properly cut it. The quality of the shoemaking products was highly rated in terms of technology and style. However, in the analysed collections a clearly perceptible difference in craftsmanship and assortment of products from Gniew and the other three towns was noticed.

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A survey of multi-agent organizational paradigms

The Knowledge Engineering Review ◽

10.1017/s0269888905000317 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 19 (4) ◽

pp. 281-316 ◽

Cited By ~ 315

Author(s):

BRYAN HORLING ◽

VICTOR LESSER

Keyword(s):

Comparative Evaluation ◽

Organizational Design ◽

Performance Characteristics ◽

Multi Agent Systems ◽

Organizational Strategies ◽

Agent Systems ◽

Advantages And Disadvantages ◽

Multi Agent ◽

Selection Of ◽

Organizational Paradigms

Many researchers have demonstrated that the organizational design employed by an agent system can have a significant, quantitative effect on its performance characteristics. A range of organizational strategies have emerged from this line of research, each with different strengths and weaknesses. In this article we present a survey of the major organizational paradigms used in multi-agent systems. These include hierarchies, holarchies, coalitions, teams, congregations, societies, federations, markets, and matrix organizations. We will provide a description of each, discuss their advantages and disadvantages, and provide examples of how they may be instantiated and maintained. This summary will facilitate the comparative evaluation of organizational styles, allowing designers to first recognize the spectrum of possibilities, and then guiding the selection of an appropriate organizational design for a particular domain and environment.

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Behavior Selection of Social Robots Using Developmental Episodic Memory-Based Mechanism of Thought

2018 IEEE International Conference on Consumer Electronics - Asia (ICCE-Asia) ◽

10.1109/icce-asia.2018.8552157 ◽

2018 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Woo-Ri Ko ◽

Jong-Hwan Kim

Keyword(s):

Episodic Memory ◽

Social Robots ◽

Selection Of ◽

Behavior Selection

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Are Neoclassic Internationalization Models Enduring? A Case-Review of the Uppsala Paradigm

SAGE Open ◽

10.1177/2158244020932535 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (2) ◽

pp. 215824402093253

Author(s):

Bruno F. Abrantes

Keyword(s):

Process Model ◽

Environmental Turbulence ◽

Case Review ◽

Current Time ◽

Uppsala Model ◽

Capability Building ◽

Behavioral Paradigm ◽

Internationalization Process Model ◽

Purposeful Selection ◽

Selection Of

Internationalization is a theme of great interest to practitioners worldwide, intensified by the increasing business environmental turbulence in last decades. The latter led to the proliferation and expanding of research into new areas, while neoclassic archetypes were conversely dubbed as, supposedly “old-fashioned.” In this context, a review article aims at breaking with such dogma, rejuvenating prior knowledge, and contextualizing it in current time. Hence, this research focus on a seminal framework, the well-known Uppsala Model, purposively selected as being an exception, as it keeps capturing the interest of scholars and is still one of the most cited frameworks in this area. Thus, a theoretical review addresses the evolution of the model in the aftermath of more than 40 years of research, and contextualizes it within the state-of-the-art of internationalization-related theories. An integrative review process is applied to a purposeful selection of descending frameworks of the model, circumscribed to the last decade (2009–2019). An enduring utility is positively observed, grounded on a reactive adaption purpose. In parallel, a shift is assisted from the neoclassic paradigm to a behavioral paradigm pillared on a capability-building logic for the adaption toward volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous environments. This led to the extension of the Uppsala paradigm from a pure internationalization process model to enter the realm of the international capabilization framework.

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Automated Selection of Software Refactorings that Improve Performance

Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Software Technologies ◽

10.5220/0006837900330044 ◽

2018 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Nikolai Moesus ◽

Matthias Scholze ◽

Sebastian Schlesinger ◽

Paula Herber

Keyword(s):

Improve Performance ◽

Selection Of

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Strategy Model for Multi-Robot Coordination in Robotic Soccer

Applied Mechanics and Materials ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/amm.393.592 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 393 ◽

pp. 592-597 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

José G. Guarnizo ◽

Martin Mellado ◽

Cheng Yee Low ◽

Norheliena Aziz

Keyword(s):

Team Member ◽

Multi Agent Systems ◽

Agent Systems ◽

Strategy Model ◽

Soccer Teams ◽

Multi Agent ◽

Soccer Robots ◽

Robotic Soccer ◽

Selection Of ◽

Multi Robot

Soccer robots have been frequently used to validate models of multi-agent systems, involving collaboration among the agents. For this purpose, many researchers in robotics have been developing robotic soccer teams which compete in events such as RoboCup. This paper presents a strategy model for multi-robot coordination in robotic soccer teams involving ball position, team member position and opponent position for the selection of a team tactic and the player roles. This assignation is dynamical and achieved by a virtual coach. This strategy model was validated in a RoboCup Small Size League environment using Webots robot simulator.

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