Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Changes in speech production associated with alphabet supplementation.

PURPOSE This study examined the effect of alphabet supplementation (AS) on temporal and spectral features of speech production in individuals with cerebral palsy and dysarthria. METHOD Twelve speakers with dysarthria contributed speech samples using habitual speech and while using AS. One hundred twenty listeners orthographically transcribed speech samples. Differences between habitual and AS speech were examined for intelligibility, rate, word duration, vowel duration, pause duration, pause frequency, vowel space, and first and second formant frequency (F1 and F2) values for corner vowels. RESULTS Descriptive results showed that intelligibility was higher, rate of speech was slower, and pause duration and pause frequency were greater for AS than for habitual speech. Inferential statistics showed that vowel duration, word duration, and vowel space increased significantly for AS. Vowel space did not differ for male and female speakers; however, there was an interaction between sex and speaking condition. Changes in vowel space were accomplished by reductions in F2 for /u/. Vowel space accounted for more variability in intelligibility than rate for AS; the opposite was true for habitual speech. CONCLUSION AS is associated with temporal and spectral changes in speech production. Spectral changes associated with corner vowels appear to be more important than temporal changes.
OS-Assisted Task Preemption for Hadoop

This work introduces a new task preemption primitive for Hadoop, that allows tasks to be suspended and resumed exploiting existing memory management mechanisms readily available in modern operating systems. Our technique fills the gap that exists between the two extreme cases of killing tasks (which waste work) or waiting for their completion (which introduces latency): experimental results indicate superior performance and very small overheads when compared to existing alternatives.
Emancipatory rural politics: confronting authoritarian populism

A new political moment is underway. Although there are significant differences in how this is constituted in different places, one manifestation of the new moment is the rise of distinct forms of authoritarian populism. In this opening paper of the JPS Forum series on ‘Authoritarian Populism and the Rural World’, we explore the relationship between these new forms of politics and rural areas around the world. We ask how rural transformations have contributed to deepening regressive national politics, and how rural areas shape and are shaped by these politics. We propose a global agenda for research, debate and action, which we call the Emancipatory Rural Politics Initiative (ERPI, www.iss.nl/erpi). This centres on understanding the contemporary conjuncture, working to confront authoritarian populism through the analysis of and support for alternatives.
Cloud Adoption: Relative Advantage or IT Fashion?

Cloud computing is a recent trend that has transformed the IS resource provisioning industry. However, the hype that cloud computing has received lately in combination with the ‘must-deploy’ imperative usually used by its promoters, makes it easy for decision makers to lose track of the reasons that make cloud computing valuable to business. At the same time, the IS research community has focused on addressing the factors that affect cloud adoption, paying little attention to the impact of external factors. Reviewing earlier work on diffusion of innovation theory and based on a preliminary qualitative research, we note that a main driver for cloud adoption is a set of factors that mark its relative advantage compared to earlier provisioning service models. Taking into account our interview data and fashion management theory, we extend earlier research work by introducing the tendency of organizations to follow IT fashion as a reason that also influences cloud computing adoption. We therefore propose a research model that takes into account both relative advantage and fashion drivers for cloud adoption and we discuss further steps and control dimensions for empirically testing this model in future work.
Teachers’ Knowledge About Intellectual Giftedness: A First Look at Levels and Correlates

Evidence-based knowledge about intellectual giftedness is important for identifying, counseling, and fostering intellectually gifted students. How much teachers actually know about intellectual giftedness is unclear because previous studies have relied solely on self-reports. This study aimed to: (a) develop a test for the assessment of teachers’ knowledge about intellectual giftedness defined as an intellectual capacity significantly above average, the identification of giftedness, and characteristics of gifted students; and (b) inspect some correlates of teachers’ performance on a knowledge test. The final version of the test comprised 38 items and a true–false–do-not-know response format. Sixty-three German secondary school teachers completed the test. On average, teachers answered 26.8% of the items correctly, 34.7% incorrectly, and 38.1% with “do not know. ” The higher teachers’ rate of misconceptions, the more negative was their attitude toward fostering gifted students. Personal contact with the gifted was correlated with subjective knowledge but not with assessed knowledge. The results stress the importance of intellectual giftedness as a psychological topic to be addressed during teacher education.
Cut (n) and cut (v) are not homophones: Lemma frequency affects the duration of noun–verb conversion pairs

This paper tests whether lemma frequency impacts the duration of homographic noun–verb homophones in spontaneous speech, e.g. cut (n)/cut (v). In earlier research on effects of lemma frequency (e.g. Gahl 2008), these pairs of words were not investigated due to a focus on heterographic homophones. Theories of the mental lexicon in both linguistics and psycholinguistics differ as to whether these word pairs are assumed to have shared or separate lexical representations. An empirical analysis based on spontaneous speech from the Buckeye corpus (Pitt et al. 2007) yields the result that differences in lemma frequency affect the duration of the N/V pairs under investigation. First, this finding provides evidence for N/V pairs having separate representations and thus supports models of the mental lexicon in which lexical entries are specified for word class. Second, the result is at odds with an account of ‘full inheritance’ of frequency across homophones and consequently with speech production models implementing inheritance effects via a shared form representation for homophonous words. The findings are best accounted for in a model that assumes completely separate lexical representations for homophonous words.
Course of symptoms and median nerve conduction values in workers performing repetitive jobs at risk for carpal tunnel syndrome.

BACKGROUND Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is a common occupational disorder associated with repetitive manual work. Little information exists about the possible relation between the variation of biomechanical hand/wrist exposure and the development of symptoms and median nerve conduction values. AIMS To investigate the prevalence of CTS in a group of workers exposed to intensive use of the hands and the course of symptoms and median nerve conduction values after a period of reduced exposure to biomechanical risk factors. METHODS CTS was assessed in assembly and non-assembly line workers by means of clinical examinations and nerve conduction studies (NCS). Ergonomic analysis was conducted for each assembly line workstation. RESULTS Prevalence of CTS was significantly higher in assembly line workers compared to non-assembly line workers but there was a high prevalence of median nerve conduction abnormalities in both groups (60/102 hands and 40/110 hands, respectively). In a sizable proportion of both groups there was no relationship between symptoms and electrodiagnostic findings (45 hands and 48 hands in assembly and non-assembly line workers, respectively). When assembly line workers were re-examined after 2 years following a period of reduced work schedule, a significant proportion reported resolution of symptoms or had reverted to having normal NCS. CONCLUSIONS In our study, repetitive work was associated with a higher level of CTS and abnormal NCS. These findings appeared to be reversible following a period of less repetitive work. Overall, there was generally poor correlation between symptoms and electrodiagnostic findings.
Consumption behavior of university students in Islamic economics perspective

This study aims to analyze consumption behavior of students of Department of Islamic Economics of University of Islam Indonesia, particularly class of 2012, whether it is in accordance with the Islamic perspective or not and how the studentsâ€™ social environment does affect the consumer behavior. This study applies descriptive quantitative analysis which is done by choosing 50 respondents aged between 20-24 year old as sample based on Purposive Sampling method. The writer also uses questionnaires in gathering the data and double linear analysis technique in processing the data. In this study, the writer finds that the consumer behavior of the Ekis FIAI UII students, particularly class of 2012, has actually been in accordance with the principle of aqidah, amaliyah, and spirituality, even though it has not yet represented the simple and modest principle. According to â€˜tâ€™ test, it shows that the adherent group variable has no significant influence to the Islamic consumer behavior of the 2012 Ekis students since the value of â€˜tâ€™ is smaller than the table of â€˜tâ€™, which is 0.728 < 2.011. The value of â€˜tâ€™ of the family variable is about 2.506, meaning that family has significant impact towards Islamic consumer behavior. From the independent variables, it is found that the adherent and family variable do not significantly influence the Islamic consumer behavior. The adjusted R square is 0,133, meaning that 13,3% of the Islamic consumer behavior of 2012 Ekis students is affected by family.
An Examination of the Direct and Indirect Effects of Minority Stress on Mental and Physical Health in Sexual Minorities

FIGUEROA, WILSON S. , M.S., May 2014, Psychology An Examination of the Direct and Indirect Effects of Minority Stress on Mental and Physical Health in Sexual Minoritiess Director of Thesis: Peggy M. Zoccola Health disparities between sexual minorities and their heterosexual counterparts in regards to morbidity and mortality are well documented and persist in the present. Researchers have suggested that these health disparities may be due to stressful social situations and environments that are created by stigma, prejudice, and discrimination (i.e., minority stress). Minority stress is categorized into distal social stressors (i.e., events that occur outside of the individual) such as overt discriminatory acts and proximal social stressors (i.e., process that occur within the individual) such as stigma consciousness (e.g., the internalization of prejudice). The current study recruited 277 LGB individuals to complete an online survey at one time point. Using structural equation modeling, the direct and indirect effects of minority stress (i.e., discrimination and stigma consciousness) on poor mental and physical health were examined. Discrimination from family and friends was found to be directly and indirectly, via perceived stress reactivity, associated with poorer mental and physical health. Two moderators, social identity and hardiness, were also examined. Hardiness moderated the direct association between stigma consciousness and poor mental and physical health. Discussion, implications, and future directions are provided.
CGARS: cancer genome analysis by rank sums

MOTIVATION Cancer genomes are characterized by the accumulation of point mutations and structural alterations such as copy-number alterations and genomic rearrangements. Among structural changes, systematic analyses of copy-number alterations have provided deeper insight into the architecture of cancer genomes and had led to new potential treatment opportunities. During the course of cancer genome evolution, selection mechanisms are leading to a non-random pattern of mutational events contributing to fitness benefits of the cancer cells. We therefore developed a new method to dissect random from non-random patterns in copy-number data and thereby to assess significantly enriched somatic copy-number aberrations across a set of tumor specimens or cell lines. In contrast to existing approaches, the method is invariant to any strictly monotonous transformation of the input data which results to an insensitivity of differences in tumor purity, array saturation effects and copy-number baseline levels. RESULTS We applied our approach to recently published datasets of small-cell lung cancer and squamous cell lung cancer and validated its performance by comparing the results to an orthogonal approach. In addition, we found a new deletion peak containing the HLA-A gene in squamous cell lung cancer.
Structure and Inhibition of the SARS Coronavirus Envelope Protein Ion Channel

The envelope (E) protein from coronaviruses is a small polypeptide that contains at least one α-helical transmembrane domain. Absence, or inactivation, of E protein results in attenuated viruses, due to alterations in either virion morphology or tropism. Apart from its morphogenetic properties, protein E has been reported to have membrane permeabilizing activity. Further, the drug hexamethylene amiloride (HMA), but not amiloride, inhibited in vitro ion channel activity of some synthetic coronavirus E proteins, and also viral replication. We have previously shown for the coronavirus species responsible for severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS-CoV) that the transmembrane domain of E protein (ETM) forms pentameric α-helical bundles that are likely responsible for the observed channel activity. Herein, using solution NMR in dodecylphosphatidylcholine micelles and energy minimization, we have obtained a model of this channel which features regular α-helices that form a pentameric left-handed parallel bundle. The drug HMA was found to bind inside the lumen of the channel, at both the C-terminal and the N-terminal openings, and, in contrast to amiloride, induced additional chemical shifts in ETM. Full length SARS-CoV E displayed channel activity when transiently expressed in human embryonic kidney 293 (HEK-293) cells in a whole-cell patch clamp set-up. This activity was significantly reduced by hexamethylene amiloride (HMA), but not by amiloride. The channel structure presented herein provides a possible rationale for inhibition, and a platform for future structure-based drug design of this potential pharmacological target.
Content-based video retrieval by integrating spatio-temporal and stochastic recognition of events

As amounts of publicly available video data grow the need to query this data efficiently becomes significant. Consequently content-based retrieval of video data turns out to be a challenging and important problem. We address the specific aspect of inferring semantics automatically from raw video data. In particular, we introduce a new video data model that supports the integrated use of two different approaches for mapping low-level features to high-level concepts. Firstly, the model is extended with a rule-based approach that supports spatio-temporal formalization of high-level concepts, and then with a stochastic approach. Furthermore, results on real tennis video data are presented, demonstrating the validity of both approaches, as well us advantages of their integrated use.
Enjoyment, values, pressure, or something else : what influences employees’ safety behaviours?

A key component to maintaining a safe work environment is having employees’ regularly engaging in safety behaviours. It is important to understand both the quantity and quality of motivation when trying to predict safety behaviours. There has been little investigation into the different types of employee safety motivation. Using self-determination theory, I address the question of what motivates employees to work safely. I refined and validated a scale to measure different types of safety motivation and examined the relationships between different types of safety motivation and safety behaviours across three separate studies. Study one refined and validated the multidimensional self-determined safety motivation (SDSM) scale (Scott, Fleming, & Kelloway, 2014) and examined the relationships between safety climate, safety motivation, and safety behaviours. Study two further refined and validated the SDSM scale and further tested the relationships between different types of safety motivation and safety behaviours across a more diverse sample. In the third study, I tested the direction of the relationships between different types of safety motivation and safety behaviours over two time periods. This research provides evidence of the reliability and validity of the SDSM scale. Overall, the results highlight the importance of autonomous forms of safety motivation in encouraging employee safety behaviours and also highlights the lack of importance that controlled forms of safety motivation have on safety behaviours, particularly external safety regulation.
Pricing Synthetic CDO Tranches in a Model with Default Contagion Using the Matrix-Analytic Approach

We value synthetic CDO tranche spreads, index CDS spreads, kth-to-default swap spreads and tranchelets in an intensity-based credit risk model with default contagion. The default dependence is modelled by letting individual intensities jump when other defaults occur. The model is reinterpreted as a Markov jump process. This allow us to use a matrix-analytic approach to derive computationally tractable closed-form expressions for the credit derivatives that we want to study. Special attention is given to homogenous portfolios. For a fixed maturity of five years, such a portfolio is calibrated against CDO tranche spreads, index CDS spread and the average CDS and FtD spreads, all taken from the iTraxx Europe series. After the calibration, which render perfect fits, we compute spreads for tranchelets and kth-to-default swap spreads for different subportfolios of the main portfolio. We also investigate implied tranche-losses and the implied loss distribution in the calibrated portfolios.
Hit close to home: the moderating effects of past experiences on tourists’ on-site experiences and behavioral intention in post-earthquake site

ABSTRACT Echoing calls for further empirical research of exploring complex mechanism of dark tourism experiences, as well as following the series of studies on post-disaster recovery (Wenchuan earthquake in China), it takes an earthquake-ruined country town Beichuan as a study case to explore relationships between dark places, on-site experiences, and behavioral intentions. By using structural equation modeling, it proves that the framework of aroused memory, cognition-affection, satisfaction, and behavior intention (place protection) is an effective new approach to understand visitors’ psychological experiences in the contest of dark tourism. Most importantly, it innovatively proves in quantitative way that aroused memory (either firsthand or secondhand) is the antecedent factor that influences the on-site cognition and emotion, and past experience plays the moderating role affects both the extent and the inner relation of dark experiences between visitors who were exposed/not exposed to a specific dark event. The findings are also beneficial in guiding post-disaster site planning and management.
A measure theoretical subsequence characterization of statistical convergence

The concept of statistical convergence of a sequence was first introduced by H. Fast. Statistical convergence was generalized by R. C. Buck, and studied by other authors, using a regular nonnegative summability matrix A in place of C1 The main result in this paper is a theorem that gives meaning to the statement: S = {s,,} converges to L statistically (T) if and only if "most" of the subsequences of S converge, in the ordinary sense, to L. Here T is a regular, nonnegative and triangular matrix. Corresponding results for lacunary statistical convergence, recently defined and studied by J. A. Fridy and C. Orhan, are also presented. INTRODUCTION The concept of the statistical convergence of a sequence of reals S = {sn was first introduced by H. Fast [9]. The sequence S = {sn} is said to converge statistically to L and we write lim s, = L (stat) if for every e > , n-+oo rim n-'){k e1 = 0, where JAI denotes the cardinality of the set A. Properties of statistically convergent sequences were studied in [5, 6, 12, and 16]. In [13] Fridy and Miller gave a characterization of statistical convergence for bounded sequences using a family of matrix summability methods. Statistical convergence can be generalized by using a regular nonnegative summability matrix A in place of C,. This idea was first mentioned by R. C. Buck [3] in 1953 and has been further studied by Sember and Freedman ([10 and 11]) and Connor ([5 and 7]). Regular nonnegative summability matrices turn out to be too general for our purposes here, instead we use the concept of a mean. A matrix T = (amn) will be called a mean if amn > 0 when n m, E'iamn = 1 for all m and limm,0oam, =0 for each n . If T = (amn) is a mean, following Buck, a sequence S = {sn} is said to be statistically T-summable to L and we write Sn L (stat T) if for every e > 0 Received by the editors August 18, 1993 and, in revised form, February 14, 1994; originally communicated to the Proceedings of the AMS by Andrew Bruckner. 1991 Mathematics Subject Classification. Primary 40D25; Secondary 40G99, 28A12. 1995 American Mathematical Society 0002-9947/95 $1.00 + S.25 per page
Force: velocity relationship in single isolated toad stomach smooth muscle cells

The relationship between force and shortening velocity (F:V) in muscle is believed to reflect both the mechanics of the myosin cross-bridge and the kinetics of its interaction with actin. To date, the F:V for smooth muscle cells has been inferred from F:V data obtained in multicellular tissue preparations. Therefore, to determine F:V in an intact single smooth muscle cell, cells were isolated from the toad (Bufo marinus) stomach muscularis and attached to a force transducer and length displacement device. Cells were electrically stimulated at 20 degrees C and generated 143 mN/mm2 of active force per muscle cross- sectional area. At the peak of contraction, cells were subjected to sudden changes in force (dF = 0.10-0.90 Fmax) and then maintained at the new force level. The force change resulted in a length response in which the cell length (Lcell) rapidly decreased during the force step and then decreased monotonically with a time constant between 75 and 600 ms. The initial length change that coincided with the force step was analyzed and an active cellular compliance of 1.9% cell length was estimated. The maintained force and resultant shortening velocity (V) were fitted to the Hill hyperbola with constants a/Fmax of 0.268 and b of 0.163 Lcell/s. Vmax was also determined by a procedure in which the cell length was slackened and the time of unloaded shortening was recorded (slack test). From the slack test, Vmax was estimated as 0.583 Lcell/s, in agreement with the F:V data. The F:V data were analyzed within the framework of the Huxley model (Huxley. 1957. Progress in Biophysics and Biophysical Chemistry. 7:255-318) for contraction and interpreted to indicate that in smooth muscle, as compared with fast striated muscle, there may exist a greater percentage of attached force- generating cross-bridges.