Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Vowel variations among speakers of Malaysian English

The language policies in Malaysia, having been controlled by the ethnic Malays ever since Independence Day in 1957, have hence dictated which language influences each major ethnic group is exposed to. With the official language as well as the language of instruction in public schools being Malay, ethnic Malays who speak it as a first language (L1) are typically monolingual speakers of Malay. The ethnic Chinese and Indians who usually speak Mandarin or Tamil as an L1 respectively are typically bilingual or trilingual. These different language influences might play a role in how speakers of each ethnic group produce Malaysian English (MalE) monophthongs and diphthongs, and this study investigated what those influences might be in the form of vowel variations. This study extracted formant values in the Bark scale from recordings made of the participants reading 12 of Wells’ (1982) lexical sets: FLEECE, KIT, DRESS, TRAP, GOOSE, FOOT, THOUGHT, LOT, STRUT, NURSE, FACE, and GOAT. The formant values were used to plot vowel charts to facilitate comparisons among Malay-, Chinese-, and Indian-influenced MalE. It was found that Indian-influenced MalE (InMalE) varied the most from Malayinfluenced MalE (MaMalE) and Chinese-influenced MalE (ChMalE) in their productions of the monophthongs KIT, DRESS, FOOT, LOT, and NURSE. MaMalE varied in FLEECE, and ChMalE varied in GOOSE. TRAP, THOUGHT, and STRUT exhibited no significant acrossgroup variation. As for diphthongs, MaMalE did not diphthongize FACE. ChMalE’s FACE, on the other hand, moved higher and more backed, and InMalE’s moved higher and more
Merger momentum and market valuations: the UK evidence

This study examines the effect of merger momentum on acquirer's returns both in the short and long-run. The focus is on high valuation markets and the source of momentum is investigated employing three different hypotheses: the neoclassical hypothesis, the hubris hypothesis and the investor sentiment theory. Evidence is provided that supports the investor sentiment (optimism) hypothesis since it is demonstrated that investors earn significant gains in the short run but returns are reversed in the long-run as initial expectations may not be fully met when combined firms’ accomplishments become known over time. The results are robust after controlling for several acquirer and deal characteristics.
Radial Dependence of the Pattern Speed of M51

The grand-design spiral galaxy M51 has long been a crucial target for theories of spiral structure. Studies of this iconic spiral can address the question of whether strong spiral structure is transient (e.g., interaction-driven) or long-lasting. As a clue to the origin of the structure in M51, we investigate evidence for radial variation in the spiral pattern speed using the radial Tremaine-Weinberg (TWR) method. We implement the method on CO observations tracing the ISM-dominant molecular component. Results from the method’s numerical implementation—combined with regularization, which smooths intrinsically noisy solutions—indicate two distinct patterns speeds inside 4 kpc at our derived major axis P.A. = 170°, both ending at corotation and both significantly higher than the conventionally adopted global value. Inspection of the rotation curve suggests that the pattern speed interior to 2 kpc lacks an ILR, consistent with the leading structure seen in HST near-IR observations. We also find tentative evidence for a lower pattern speed between 4 and 5.3 kpc measured by extending the regularized zone. As with the original TW method, uncertainty in major axis position angle (P.A.) is the largest source of error in the calculation; in this study, where δP.A. = ± 5° , a ~20% error is introduced to the parameters of the speeds at P.A. = 170°. Accessory to this standard uncertainty, solutions with P.A. = 175° (also admitted by the data) exhibit only one pattern speed inside 4 kpc, and we consider this circumstance under the semblance of a radially varying P.A.
Ethanol Sensitization during Adolescence or Adulthood Induces Different Patterns of Ethanol Consumption without Affecting Ethanol Metabolism

In previous study, we demonstrated that ethanol preexposure may increase ethanol consumption in both adolescent and adult mice, in a two-bottle choice model. We now questioned if ethanol exposure during adolescence results in changes of consumption pattern using a three-bottle choice procedure, considering drinking-in-the-dark and alcohol deprivation effect as strategies for ethanol consumption escalation. We also analyzed aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) activity as a measurement of ethanol metabolism. Adolescent and adult Swiss mice were treated with saline (SAL) or 2.0 g/kg ethanol (EtOH) during 15 days (groups: Adolescent-SAL, Adolescent-EtOH, Adult-SAL and Adult-EtOH). Five days after the last injection, mice were exposed to the three-bottle choice protocol using sucrose fading procedure (4% + sucrose vs. 8%–15% ethanol + sucrose vs. water + sucrose) for 2 h during the dark phase. Sucrose was faded out from 8% to 0%. The protocol was composed of a 6-week acquisition period, followed by four withdrawals and reexposures. Both adolescent and adult mice exhibited ethanol behavioral sensitization, although the magnitude of sensitization in adolescents was lower than in adults. Adolescent-EtOH displayed an escalation of 4% ethanol consumption during acquisition that was not observed in Adult-EtOH. Moreover, Adult-EtOH consumed less 4% ethanol throughout all the experiment and less 15% ethanol in the last reexposure period than Adolescent-EtOH. ALDH activity varied with age, in which older mice showed higher ALDH than younger ones. Ethanol pretreatment or the pattern of consumption did not have influence on ALDH activity. Our data suggest that ethanol pretreatment during adolescence but not adulthood may influence the pattern of ethanol consumption toward an escalation in ethanol consumption at low dose, without exerting an impact on ALDH activity.
Institutions in the Economic Fitness Landscape: What Impact Do Welfare State Institutions Have on Economic Performance?

This paper uses data from 20 OECD countries to investigate the impact of welfare state institutions (especially employment protection, wage bargaining and work incentives) on the functioning of the labour market both theoretically and empirically. It shows that the impact of welfare state institutions is not as clear-cut as the deregulationists' view suggests. This result may be surprising against the background of the common view that welfare state measures cause European employment problems but it is in line with the outcomes of many other economic studies. The reasons for the ambiguous effects of welfare state institutions are manifold but the most important reason is the complexity of the impacts. There are many side-effects or second-round effects of welfare state institutions which, although often neglected, prove to be very important in the real ‘imperfect market’ world. Many welfare state institutions only have a clear-cut negative effect against the background of the theoretical perfect market model.
Build Context-based Reasoning Space for Web Service Composition

Dynamic description logic (DDL) is among the few emerging service composition solutions through logical reasoning in AI area. To increase DDL reasoning efficiency, we proposed a new DDL-based service composition model that supports context-aware service pre-filtering over DDL reasoning space. In this model, service filtering based on contexts runs under the workflow control logic. We evaluated filtering approach on a simple, yet realistic example, and the results shows this approach provides a practical solution.
A pilot study of group exercise training (GET) for women with primary breast cancer: feasibility and health benefits

Evidence is accumulating for physical activity as an effective, well‐tolerated, highly rewarding complementary behavioral intervention for enhancing quality of life (QOL) as well as fitness among individuals with chronic and even terminal illnesses. However, relatively few studies have examined the feasibility and potential health benefits of supervised, structured exercise programs for sedentary women with primary breast cancer. Forty women over the age of 45 with primary breast cancer participated in a course of group exercise training (GET) delivered in a structured format three times per week for 16 weeks. GET emphasizes physical activities that promote aerobic fitness, strength, and flexibility. Assessments of fitness/vigor and QOL were conducted prior to, during, and upon completion of the program. Results demonstrated that GET was feasible, safe, and well‐tolerated. Moreover, the participants experienced significant health benefits over the course of the intervention in multiple dimensions of fitness/vigor (aerobic capacity, strength, flexibility) as well as QOL (increased positive affect, decreased distress, enhanced well‐being, and improved functioning). Discussion highlights the need for inclusion of physical activity programs in comprehensive, complementary treatment regimes for breast cancer patients. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Telephone speech recognition from large lists of Czech words

In the paper we investigate methods suitable for practical implementation in a recognition system that is to classify telephone input in form of isolated words/phrases belonging to large vocabularies with equiprobable entries, such as people names, city and local names, etc. Specifically for Czech language we propose a pronunciation lexicon with a prefix-stem-sufix arrangement combined with appropriate caching and pruning techniques and a 2-level (monophone and triphone) based classification. In experiments done with telephone speech containing items from a 5347-word city-name vocabulary we obtained 90.1 % recognition score in average time 645 ms per word. Acoustic models for these experiments have been trained on an only available multi-speaker database that was originally recorded by a microphone and later transferred over telephone lines and automatically realigned.
Comparative Language Learning Beliefs: Why Aptitude Matters

Language Learning Beliefs (LLB) are an important area for foreign and second language learning research that has grown considerably over the last decade, and which spans multi-disciplinary fields across education, linguistics and psychology (Martinez Agudo, 2014). These beliefs have become more important as they affect motivation and perhaps even language learning strategies (Zare-ee, 2010), though more research must be done in the latter area (Martinez Agudo, 2014). One understudied branch of LLB is that of language aptitude. Beliefs concerning language aptitude are not new, given that they appeared as a staple area of Horwitz’s seminal research for the BALLI questionnaire (Beliefs About Language Learning Inventory) (1987). However, beliefs on language aptitude need to be revisited given the multiple studies in social psychology on how beliefs affect learning when considering a given quality as innate or learned (Dweck, 2014). These studies show how believing intelligence to be fixed or incremental has a variety of consequences for learners that are fundamental for their long-term success in the classroom. Our aim in this paper is to merge these pertinent concepts to the foreign language classroom, in particular because the belief that intelligence is fixed or incremental mirrors the long-standing debate over language aptitude as innate or learned.
Phases of massive gravity

We systematically study the most general Lorentz-violating graviton mass invariant under three-dimensional Eucledian group. We find that at general values of mass parameters the massive graviton has six propagating degrees of freedom, and some of them are ghosts or lead to rapid classical instabilities. However, there is a number of different regions in the mass parameter space where massive gravity is described by a consistent low-energy effective theory with cutoff ~ (mMPl)1/2. This theory is free of rapid instabilities and vDVZ discontinuity. Each of these regions is characterized by certain fine-tuning relations between mass parameters, generalizing the Fierz–Pauli condition. In some cases the required fine-tunings are consequences of the existence of the subgroups of the diffeomorphism group that are left unbroken by the graviton mass. We found two new cases, when the resulting theories have a property of UV insensitivity, i.e. remain well behaved after inclusion of arbitrary higher dimension operators without assuming any fine-tunings among the coefficients of these operators, besides those enforced by the symmetries. These theories can be thought of as generalizations of the ghost condensate model with a smaller residual symmetry group. We briefly discuss what kind of cosmology can one expect in massive gravity and argue that the allowed values of the graviton mass may be quite large, affecting growth of primordial perturbations, structure formation and, perhaps, enhancing the backreaction of inhomogeneities on the expansion rate of the Universe.
Are CLIL Students More Motivated?: An Analysis of Affective Factors and their Relation to Language Attainment

espanolEste articulo aborda la creencia de que el Aprendizaje Integrado de Contenidos y Lengua tiene una influencia positiva sobre la situacion afectiva del alumnado. En este trabajo se compara la motivacion de estudiantes que cursan programas bilingues “AICLE” frente a los que no. La muestra pertenece a siete colegios publicos de la provincia de Sevilla en niveles de Educacion Primaria (n=194) y Secundaria Obligatoria (n=158). Los factores afectivos relacionados con la motivacion y la ansiedad se han agrupado en cuatro apartados: (i) el deseo de trabajar y la autoestima (con 10 items); (ii) la ansiedad frente a los examenes (con un efecto negativo sobre el aprendizaje de contenido y que cuenta con 9 items); (iii) falta de interes por el estudio (con 9 items); y (iv) auto-exigencia personal (con 7 items). Tambien se ha analizado la interaccion entre la motivacion y los resultados de aprendizaje linguistico (considerando uso del ingles, vocabulario, destrezas de comprension y expresion oral y lectura) con el objetivo de confirmar o refutar resultados de investigaciones previas que parecen asignar niveles altos de motivacion asociados al AICLE. EnglishThis paper addresses the purported belief that Content and Language Integrated Learning positively influences students’ affective stance. It compares the motivation of CLIL and non-CLIL learners in seven state schools and one charter school in the province of Seville, both at Primary (n=194) and Compulsory Secondary Education (n=158) level. Affective aspects pertaining to motivation and anxiety are grouped around four clusters of factors: (i) desire to work and self-esteem (containing 10 items); (ii) anxiety in the face of exams (with a negative-inhibitory content and made up of 9 elements); (iii) lack of interest in studying (comprising 9 items); and (iv) realistic personal self-demand (consisting of 7 elements). The interaction of motivation and language attainment (considering use of English, vocabulary, listening, speaking, and reading) is also measured in order to confirm or refute prior findings which tend to assign higher levels of motivation to CLIL strands
OVERMILKING AND TEAT CONDITION

Overmilking is a matter of concern because it may affect teat condition and udder health. The historic background for overmilking is mainly based on the assumption that all milk should be removed from the udder in order to maximise the milk yield. However, breeding for high milk yields has provided cows with a high alveolar capacity, large cistern capacity, and a higher proportion of cisternal to alveolar capacity. The high percentage of cisternal capacity makes cows more efficient as milk producers and less sensible to changes in milking routines and emptying of the udder because the feedback inhibitor is active in alveolar milk only. An overall selection of cows with high milk yields and a relatively high percentage of cisternal capacity may also explain why cows increased their milk yield with good pre-stimulation 30 years ago but not today. Consequently, we may also expect less influence of milk left as strip yield on milk production in modern high-producing dairy cows. Today, there is really no benefit of overmilking since overmilking increases the machine-on time and decreases the capacity of the milking parlor. This paper will focus on the effects of overmilking on teat condition and give suggestions of how to avoid it. A main part of the paper will concern threshold settings for automatic detachment of the milking unit.
The Explicit Wake Parametrisation V1.0: a wind farm parametrisation in the mesoscale model WRF

Abstract. We describe the theoretical basis, implementation, and validation of a new parametrisation that accounts for the effect of large offshore wind farms on the atmosphere and can be used in mesoscale and large-scale atmospheric models. This new parametrisation, referred to as the Explicit Wake Parametrisation (EWP), uses classical wake theory to describe the unresolved wake expansion. The EWP scheme is validated for a neutral atmospheric boundary layer against filtered in situ measurements from two meteorological masts situated a few kilometres away from the Danish offshore wind farm Horns Rev I. The simulated velocity deficit in the wake of the wind farm compares well to that observed in the measurements, and the velocity profile is qualitatively similar to that simulated with large eddy simulation models and from wind tunnel studies. At the same time, the validation process highlights the challenges in verifying such models with real observations.
Representations of 'trolls' in mass media communication: a review of media-texts and moral panics relating to 'internet trolling'

There is a general trend amongst mass media organisations around the world towards concentration of the visual, written and audio packaging and of newspapers, websites and television as channels of information. These platforms are explored in detail in this paper in relation to the moral panics around 'internet trolling'. This paper discusses the history of trolling in the context of mass media, specifically 'classical trolling' and 'anonymous trolling'. A review of different media headlines finds that whether or not a story is portrayed in newspapers, online, or on television, the media will use a variety of ways to convey their messages. In the case of 'trolls', they show a darker, sinister and transgressive side of cyberspace in the form of abuse and vitriol i.e., anonymous trolling. The paper concludes that future research should look in detail at the different character types of internet troller and how these affect the way so called 'trolls' are represented in the media and the effect this has on the attitude towards young internet users and trollers in general.
Poorer verbal working memory for a second language selectively impacts academic achievement in university medical students

Working memory (WM) is often poorer for a second language (L2). In low noise conditions, people listening to a language other than their first language (L1) may have similar auditory perception skills for that L2 as native listeners, but do worse in high noise conditions, and this has been attributed to the poorer WM for L2. Given that WM is critical for academic success in children and young adults, these speech in noise effects have implications for academic performance where the language of instruction is L2 for a student. We used a well-established Speech-in-Noise task as a verbal WM (vWM) test, and developed a model correlating vWM and measures of English proficiency and/or usage to scholastic outcomes in a multi-faceted assessment medical education program. Significant differences in Speech-Noise Ratio (SNR50 ) values were observed between medical undergraduates who had learned English before or after five years of age, with the latter group doing worse in the ability to extract whole connected speech in the presence of background multi-talker babble (Student-t tests, p < 0.001). Significant negative correlations were observed between the SNR50 and seven of the nine variables of English usage, learning styles, stress, and musical abilities in a questionnaire administered to the students previously. The remaining two variables, Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and the Age of Acquisition of English (AoAoE) were significantly positively correlated with the SNR50 , showing that those with a poorer capacity to discriminate simple English sentences from noise had learnt English later in life and had higher levels of stress – all characteristics of the international students. Local students exhibited significantly lower SNR50 scores and were significantly younger when they first learnt English. No significant correlation was detected between the SNR50 and the students’ Visual/Verbal Learning Style (r = −0.023). Standard multiple regression was carried out to assess the relationship between language proficiency and verbal working memory (SNR50 ) using 5 variables of L2 proficiency, with the results showing that the variance in SNR50 was significantly predicted by this model (r2 = 0.335). Hierarchical multiple regression was then used to test the ability of three independent variable measures (SNR50 , age of acquisition of English and English proficiency) to predict academic performance as the dependent variable in a factor analysis model which predicted significant performance differences in an assessment requiring communications skills (p = 0.008), but not on a companion assessment requiring knowledge of procedural skills, or other assessments requiring factual knowledge. Thus, impaired vWM for an L2 appears to affect specific communications-based assessments in university medical students.
Environmental Regulation and Trade Openness in the Presence of Private Mitigation

Acknowledging the differential ability of individuals to privately mitigate the consequences of domestic pollution for their health is essential for an understanding of their demands for regulation of the environment and of trade in dirty goods, and for analysis of the implications of these demands for equilibrium policy choices. In a small open economy with exogenous policy, we first explain how private mitigation at a cost results in an unequal distribution of the health consequences of pollution in a manner consistent with epidemiologic studies, and consequently how the benefits and costs of trade in dirty goods interact with choices concerning private mitigation to further polarize the interests of citizens concerning environmental stringency. The economy is then embedded in a broader political economy setting, and simulated to investigate the role of private mitigation in shaping political equilibria. We show that when citizens can choose between mitigating the health consequences of domestic pollution privately and reducing pollution through public policy, the same polarization of interests underlies equilibrium policy choices in both democratic and autocratic regimes.