Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
HUMAN AND MACHINE RECOGNITION OF NASAL CONSONANTS IN NOISE

The nasal consonants /m, n/ are often confused in the presence of background noise. In addition, these consonants are difficult to recognize reliably by machine. In this study, the perception of the place of articulation for nasal consonants in adverse conditions is examined through a series of perceptual experiments. The experiments examined the effects of additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN), and additive speech-shaped noise on nasal place perception in CV syllables. Results show a strong vowel-context effect. For example, it appears that the role of the formant transitions is more critical than that of the murmur in signaling place for /Ca/ and /Cu/ syllables while both the murmur and formant transitions appear to be important in signaling place for /Ci/ syllables. A Hidden Markov Model (HMM)-based automatic speech recognition (ASR) system was then constructed to identify the nasals at various signal-to-noise ratios. Modifications to a standard ASR system were made that were inspired by the results of the perceptual experiments. The modifications allowed a greater focus on formant transitions significantly improving recognition performance in noise.
Analysis of Arabidopsis thaliana root growth kinetics with high temporal and spatial resolution.

BACKGROUND Methods exist to quantify the distribution of growth rate over the root axis. However, non-destructive, high-throughput evaluations of total root elongation in controlled environments and the field are lacking in growth studies. A new imaging approach to analyse total root elongation is described. SCOPE High pixel resolution of the images enables the study of growth in short time intervals and provides high temporal resolution. Using the method described, total root elongation rates are calculated from the displacement of the root tip. Although the absolute root elongation rate changes in response to growth conditions, this set-up enables root growth of Arabidopsis wild-type seedlings to be followed for more than 1 month after germination. The method provides an easy approach to decipher root extension rate and much simpler calculations compared with other methods that use segmental growth to address this question. CONCLUSIONS The high temporal resolution allows small modifications of total root elongation growth to be revealed. Furthermore, with the options to investigate growth of various mutants in diverse growth conditions the present tool allows modulations in root growth kinetics due to different biotic and abiotic stimuli to be unravelled. Measurements performed on Arabidopsis thaliana wild-type (Col0) plants revealed rhythms superimposed on root elongation. Results obtained from the starchless mutant pgm, however, present a clearly modified pattern. As expected, deviation is strongest during the dark period.
A Population-Based Ant Colony Optimization Approach for DNA Sequence Optimization

DNA computing is a new computing paradigm which uses bio-molecular as information storage media and biochemical tools as information processing operators. It has shows many successful and promising results for various applications. Since DNA reactions are probabilistic reactions, it can cause the different results for the same situations, which can be regarded as errors in the computation. To overcome the drawbacks, much works have focused to design the error-minimized DNA sequences to improve the reliability of DNA computing. In this research, Population-based ACO (P-ACO) is proposed to solve the DNA sequence optimization. P-ACO approach is a meta-heuristic algorithm that uses some ants to obtain the solutions based on the pheromone in their colony. The DNA sequence design problem is modelled by four nodes, representing four DNA bases (A, T, C, and G). The results from the proposed algorithm are compared with other sequence design methods, which are Genetic Algorithm (GA), and Multi-Objective Evolutionary Algorithm (MOEA) methods. The DNA sequences optimized by the proposed approach have better result in some objective functions than the other methods.
Motivation in a language MOOC: issues for course designers

Whilst several existing studies on foreign language learning have explored motivation in more traditional settings (Dornyei, 2003), this paper presents one of the first studies on the motivation of participants in a MOOC. The MOOC, Travailler en francais (https://sites.google.com/site/mooctravaillerenfrancais/home), was a 5-week open online course for learners of French at level B1 of the CEFR, and aimed to develop language and employability skills for working in a francophone country. It took place in early 2014 and attracted more than 1000 participants. Intrinsic motivation (Wigfield & Eccles, 2000), is directly linked to one’s enjoyment of accomplishing a task. We conducted a study based on the cognitive variables of the Self-Determination Theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985), and adapted the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory to the context of a MOOC in order to understand the expectancy beliefs and task values of participants engaging with the MOOC. Participants answered a 40 Likert-type questions on enjoyment/ interest (i.e. I will enjoy doing this MOOC very much), perceived competence (i.e. I think I will be able to perform successfully in the MOOC), effort (i.e. I will put a lot of effort in this MOOC), value/usefulness (i.e. I think that doing this MOOC will be useful for developing my skills), felt pressure and tension (i.e. I think I might feel pressured while doing the MOOC) and relatedness (i.e. I think I will feel like I can really trust the other participants). Results highlight significant factors that could directly influence intrinsic motivation for learning in a MOOC environment. The chapter makes recommendations for LMOOC designers based on the emerging profile of MOOC participants, on their motivation and self-determination, as well as on the pressures they might feel, including time pressures. Finally, the extent to which participants relate to each other, and are able to engage in social learning and interaction, is a real challenge for LMOOC designers.
Cross-Site Search Attacks

Cross-site search (XS-search) attacks circumvent the same-origin policy and extract sensitive information, by using the time it takes for the browser to receive responses to search queries. This side-channel is usually considered impractical, due to the limited attack duration and high variability of delays. This may be true for naive XS-search attacks; however, we show that the use of better tools facilitates effective XS-search attacks, exposing information efficiently and precisely. We present and evaluate three types of tools: (1) appropriate statistical tests, (2) amplification of the timing side-channel, by 'inflating' communication or computation, and (3) optimized, tailored divide-and-conquer algorithms, to identify terms from large 'dictionaries'. These techniques may be applicable in other scenarios. We implemented and evaluated the attacks against the popular Gmail and Bing services, in several environments and ethical experiments, taking careful, IRB-approved measures to avoid exposure of personal information.
Analyzing and Improving BitTorrent Performance

In recent years, BitTorrent has emerged as a very popular and scalable peer-to-peer file distribution mechanism. It has been successful at distributing large files quickly and efficiently without overwhelming the capacity of the origin server. Early measurement studies verified that BitTorrent achieves excellent upload utilization, but raised several questions concerning utilization in settings other than those measured, fairness, and the choice of BitTorrent’s mechanisms. In this paper, we present a simulation-based study of BitTorrent. Our goal is to deconstruct the system and evaluate the impact of its core mechanisms, both individually and in combination, on overall system performance under a variety of workloads. Our evaluation focuses on several important metrics, including peer link utilization, file download time, and fairness amongst peers in terms of volume of content served. Our results confirm that BitTorrent performs near-optimally in terms of uplink bandwidth utilization, and download time except under certain extreme conditions. On fairness, however, our work shows that low bandwidth peers systematically download more than they upload to the network when high bandwidth peers are present. We find that the ratebased tit-for-tat policy is not effective in preventing unfairness. We show how simple changes to the tracker and a stricter, block-based tit-for-tat policy, greatly improves fairness.
The paradoxical hybridity of words

abstract Words can be matched with the concept of sign (correspondence of a signifier to a signified) as long as they act as symbol-words endowed with some semantic self-sufficiency. But in discourse, they lose their wholeness as symbol-words and metamorphose into wording-symbols. They, suddenly, appear as mere signifier entities with a more or less loose allusion to their status as cultural symbols. In discourse, words are no longer signs but tools covering ephemeral collections of neurosemes: the link of the sign breaks as soon as discourse takes over. The referential potential is no longer the schematic meaning issued from culture, but the universe of discourse under construction. This is why any attempt to account for meaning in language must integrate the neural process of meaning creation. It is now established that meaning is not the result of language activity but the result of cognition. However, what language does, via discourse, is to make this meaning communicable. For all these reasons, the task of linguistics should be to investigate the relationship between cognition and linguistic output in order to shed light on all the cognitive traces left within the surface strings. The role of morphosyntax thus has to be re-evaluated in this light.
Physical and Chemical Inhomogeneities Inside the Vela SNR Shell: Indications of Ejecta Shrapnels

We present the results of the combined analysis of three XMM-Newton EPIC observations of the northern rim of the Vela supernova remnant (SNR). The three pointings cover an area of ≳10 pc2 (at 250 pc) behind the main shock front, and we aim to study with high resolution the spatial distribution of the physical and chemical properties of the X-ray-emitting plasma on this large scale. We produce count-rate images and equivalent width maps of the Ne IX and Mg XI emission blends. We also perform a spatially resolved spectral analysis of a set of physically homogeneous regions. We reveal physical and chemical inhomogeneities in the X-ray-emitting plasma. In particular, we find large variations of the O, Ne, Mg, and Fe abundances. In some bright knots, we also find unexpectedly enhanced Ne and Mg abundances, with values significantly larger than solar. Our results support a possible association of a few X-ray-emitting knots with previously undetected residuals of stellar fragments (i.e., shrapnels) observed, in projection, inside the Vela shell.
Mixed-signal Design of Dynamic Delay Buffers to Improve Tolerance to Power Supply and Temperature Variations

– A new methodology is proposed to improve the tolerance of synchronous digital circuits to power-supply voltage (VDD) and temperature (T) variations, without degrading its performance. The goal is to avoid yield loss, due to unmet time specifications in high-performance products. The purpose of this paper is to discuss design trade-offs of the basic mixed-signal building block – a Dynamic Delay Buffer (DDB). In the proposed methodology, we dynamically control the instant of data capture (the clock edge trigger) in key memory cells, according to local VDD and/or T variations, to avoid loss of data integrity. A delay model is used to design the DDB block, according to the time slack and process variations, in order to optimize the gains in circuit tolerance to VDD and/or T variations. Experimental results based on SPICE simulations (including Monte Carlo simulations) for ITC'99 benchmark sequential circuits are used to demonstrate that careful design may lead to 40% improvements on circuit tolerance to VDD and/or T variations.
A simple reference state makes a significant improvement in near-native selections from structurally refined docking decoys

Near‐native selections from docking decoys have proved challenging especially when unbound proteins are used in the molecular docking. One reason is that significant atomic clashes in docking decoys lead to poor predictions of binding affinities of near native decoys. Atomic clashes can be removed by structural refinement through energy minimization. Such an energy minimization, however, will lead to an unrealistic bias toward docked structures with large interfaces. Here, we extend an empirical energy function developed for protein design to protein–protein docking selection by introducing a simple reference state that removes the unrealistic dependence of binding affinity of docking decoys on the buried solvent accessible surface area of interface. The energy function called EMPIRE (EMpirical Protein‐InteRaction Energy), when coupled with a refinement strategy, is found to provide a significantly improved success rate in near native selections when applied to RosettaDock and refined ZDOCK docking decoys. Our work underlines the importance of removing nonspecific interactions from specific ones in near native selections from docking decoys. Proteins 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Should Persuasion Be Affective or Cognitive? The Moderating Effects of Need for Affect and Need for Cognition

Three experiments tested the hypothesis that need for affect and need for cognition influence receptivity to affect- and cognition-based persuasive messages. Experiment 1 found that an affective message elicited more positive attitudes among individuals high in need for affect and low in need for cognition, whereas a cognitive message elicited more positive attitudes among individuals low in need for affect and high in need for cognition. Experiment 2 found that individual differences in need for affect influenced receptivity to an affect-based (but not cognition-based) message, whereas individual differences in need for cognition influenced receptivity to a cognition-based (but not affect-based) message. Experiment 3 found that individual differences in need for affect were associated with increased recognition of information from an affect-based (but not cognition-based) message, whereas individual differences in need for cognition were associated with increased recognition of information from a cognition-based (but not affect-based) message. Overall, the studies point to the importance of individual differences in need for affect and need for cognition in understanding how individuals respond to different types of persuasive messages.
Reflexivity and women’s agency: a critical realist morphogenetic exploration of the life experience of Sri Lankan women

ABSTRACT While the vital contribution of feminist scholarship is acknowledged, it has been criticized for overly relying on the influence of society upon women’s lives. In this paper, I demonstrate the usefulness of also considering the influence of agency upon women’s lives, specifically agential reflexivity. Using the work and life histories of a group of Sri Lankan women, I use Margaret Archer’s morphogenetic approach to show how investigating reflexivity can provide greater insights into the subtleties associated with women’s agency in relation to how they consciously (but fallibly) organize their life journeys and react to oppression, demonstrate resistance and effect emancipation. My research reveals latent aspects of women’s agency within a postcolonial Third World social context, where an enduring patriarchal social system intersects with modernity and subjects women to complex social and occupational circumstances. This paper contributes to the field of women’s studies by showing how the morphogenetic approach can address the problem of conflationary theorizing within feminist scholarship.
Leaf meristems: an easily ignored component of the response to human disturbance in alpine grasslands

Abstract Grazing and fencing are two important factors that influence productivity and biomass allocation in alpine grasslands. The relationship between root (R) and shoot (S) biomass and the root:shoot ratio (R/S) are critical parameters for estimating the terrestrial carbon stocks and biomass allocation mechanism responses to human activities. Previous studies have often used the belowground:aboveground biomass ratio (M b/M a) to replace the R/S in alpine ecosystems. However, these studies may have neglected the leaf meristem biomass, which belongs to the shoot but occurs below the soil surface, leading to a significant overestimation of the R/S ratio. We conducted a comparative study to explore the differences between the R/S and M b/M a at both the species (Stipa purpurea, Carex moorcroftii, and Artemisia nanschanica) and community levels on a Tibetan alpine grassland with grazing and fencing management blocks. The results revealed that the use of the M b/M a to express the R/S appeared to overestimate the actual value of the R/S, both at species and community levels. For S. purpurea, the M b/M a was three times higher than the R/S. The M b/M a was approximately two times higher than the R/S for the species of C. moorcroftii and A. nanschanica and at the community level. The relationships between the R‐S and M b‐M a exhibited different slopes for the alpine plants across all the management practices. Compared to the fenced grasslands, the plants in the grazing blocks not only allocated more biomass to the roots but also to the leaf meristems. The present study highlights the contribution of leaf meristems to the accurate assessment of shoot and belowground biomasses. The R/S and M b/M a should be cautiously used in combination in the future research. The understanding of the distinction between the R‐S and M b‐M a may help to improve the biomass allocation mechanism response to human disturbances in an alpine area.
A Fully Digital 8$\,\times\,$16 SiPM Array for PET Applications With Per-Pixel TDCs and Real-Time Energy Output

An 8 × 16 pixel array based on CMOS small-area silicon photomultipliers (mini-SiPMs) detectors for PET applications is reported. Each pixel is 570 × 610 μm2 in size and contains four digital mini-SiPMs, for a total of 720 SPADs, resulting in a full chip fill-factor of 35.7%. For each gamma detection, the pixel provides the total detected energy and a timestamp, obtained through two 7-b counters and two 12-b 64-ps TDCs. An adder tree overlaid on top of the pixel array sums the sensor total counts at up to 100 Msamples/s, which are then used for detecting the asynchronous gamma events on-chip, while also being output in real-time. Characterization of gamma detection performance with an 3 × 3 × 5 mm3 LYSO scintillator at 20°C is reported, showing a 511-keV gamma energy resolution of 10.9% and a coincidence timing resolution of 399 ps.
The representation of morphology in children's spelling

This thesis examines 5- to 9-year-old children's ability to represent spelling patterns determined by morphology. The first question was whether children come to understand the morphological basis for these patterns relatively early in their experience with writing, or relatively late. The second question was whether children's morphological awareness is related to their ability to represent morphological spelling patterns. Experiments 1 and 2 investigated children's understanding of the stem-plus-inflection structure of past regular verbs. The children were no more likely to use - ed to spell such verbs when they were shown a verb's stem (e.g., peck for pecked ) as when they were shown a meaningless fragment of the verb (e.g., pe or pecke ). It is concluded that these children had not yet understood the morphological basis for the use of - ed . The next experiments examined children's spelling of the regular plural inflection, - s , when it is pronounced /z/. Experiments 3 and 4 showed that children know that /z/ can be represented with either s or z . Experiment 5 revealed that children rely heavily on a rule based on sound structure to spell plurals correctly. Experiments 6 and 7 confirmed this finding with pseudowords, and showed also that only better spellers (Experiment 6) and adults (Experiment 7) use the "plural rule" at all, and even then to only a limited extent. Experiments 8 and 9 tested whether children could use their knowledge of the spelling of base words to spell their derived forms. The idea was supported: children chose the correct letter ( s or z ) more often to represent the /z/ sound of words derived from base words (e.g., noisy , from noise ) than of monomorphemic control words (e.g., busy ). Experiment 10 confirmed this finding with pseudowords, and showed that children performed equally well on derived and inflected words. Support was gained for the existence of a strong relationship between children's morphological awareness and their spelling of morphological spelling patterns. It is concluded that children should not be seen to learn to represent morphology simply "early" or "late" in their spelling development, but to acquire individual morphological patterns at different times. Implications for existing models of spelling development, and for education, are discussed.
Coclustering Multiple Heterogeneous Domains: Linear Combinations and Agreements

The high-order coclustering problem, i.e., the problem of simultaneously clustering heterogeneous types of domain, has become an active research area in the last few years, due to the notable impact it has on several application scenarios. This problem is generally faced by optimizing a weighted combination of functions measuring the quality of coclustering over each pair of domains, where weights are chosen based on the supposed reliability/relevance of their correlation. However, little knowledge is likely to be available, in practice, in order to set these weights in a definite and precise manner. And, more importantly, it might even be conceptually unclear whether to prefer a weighing scheme over others, in those cases where functions encode contrasting goals so that improving the quality for a pair of domains leads to a deterioration for other pairs. The aim of this paper is precisely to shed light on the impact of weighting schemes on techniques based on linear combinations of pairwise objective functions, and to define an approach that overcomes the above problems by looking for an agreement-intuitively, a kind of compromise-among the various domains, thereby getting rid of the need to define an appropriate weighting scheme. Two algorithms performing coclustering on "star-structured” domains, based on linear combinations and agreements, respectively, have been designed within an information-theoretic framework. Results from a thorough experimentation, on both synthetic and real data, are discussed, in order to assess the effectiveness of the approaches and to get more insight into their actual behavior.