Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Meaning in the second language

This book reviews recent research on the second language acquisition of meaning with a view of establishing whether there is a critical period for the acquisition of compositional semantics. A modular approach to language architecture is assumed. The book addresses the Critical Period Hypothesis by examining the positive side of language development: it demonstrates which modules of the grammar are easy to acquire and are not subject to age effects. The Bottleneck Hypothesis is proposed, which argues that inflectional morphology and its features present the most formidable challenge, while syntax and phrasal semantics pose less difficulty to learners. Findings from the neurofunctional imaging (PET, fMRI) and electrophysiology (ERPs) of L2 comprehension are reviewed and critically examined. Since it is argued that experimental tasks in those studies are mostly in need of linguistic refinement, evidence from behavioral studies of L2 acquisition of semantics are brought to bear on comprehension modeling. Learning situations are divided into two types: those presenting learners with complex syntax, but simple semantics; and those offering complex semantic mismatches in simple syntactic contexts. The numerous studies of both types reviewed in the book indicate that there is no barrier to ultimate success in the acquisition of phrasal semantics.
Analysis of transfer lines consisting of two unreliable machines with random processing times and finite storage buffers

Abstract A Markov process model of a transfer line is presented in which there are two machines and a single finite buffer. The machines have exponential service, failure, and repair processes. The movement of discrete parts is represented. The model is analyzed and a compact solution is obtained. Limiting behavior is investigated and numerical results are discussed.
Evolutionary controller synthesis for 3-d character animation

Three dimensional computer animation has become increasingly popular over the past decade. Computer animation now has an important role in entertainment, education, and simulation. For computer animation of characters, the role of the animator has unfortunately stayed similar to that of a stop motion animator, rather than like a film director. Research in computer animation has tried to address this by giving higher levels of control to the animator, but these methods often result in lack of fine control over the animated characters. This is inadequate because fine control is essential to both aesthetics and the ability of the animator to direct a meaningful narrative. This dissertation presents methods of articulated figure motion control which attempt to bridge the gap between high level direction and low level control of subtle motion. These methods define motion in terms of goals and ratings. The agents are dynamically-controlled robots whose behavior is determined by robotic controller programs. The controller programs for the robots are evaluated at each time step to yield torque values which drive the dynamic simulation of the motion. We use the AI technique of Genetic Programming (GP) to automatically derive control programs for the agents which achieve the goals. This type of motion specification is an alternative to key framing which allows a highly automated, learning-based approach to generation of motion. This method of motion control is very general (it can be applied to any type of motion), yet it allows for specifications of the types of specific motion which are desired for a high quality animation. We show that complex, specific, physically plausible, and aesthetically appealing motion can be generated using these methods. Both skill-based and action-based motion can be specified in this manner. We also introduce the new paradigm of key marks, a generalization of key framing which is not subject to many of the limitations of key framing.
DEVELOPMENT AS FREEDOM, DE AMARTYA SEN,

uando era estudiante de pregrado tuve la fortuna de tomar elcurso de desarrollo economico de W. Arthur Lewis en laUniversidad de Princeton. A finales de semestre, Lewis invito a todala clase a un te en su casa. La idea era, me imagino, la de propiciaruna discusion mas informal entre nosotros sobre los temas que seestaban analizando en la catedra y los seminarios. El momentohistorico –mediados de la decada de los setenta– y la etapa queatravesaba en mi propia formacion personal, hicieron inevitable unapregunta en esa tertulia. “Profesor Lewis, muchos de los casos mas exitosos en materia dedesarrollo son paises, como los del oriente asiatico (y algunoslatinoamericanos, entre ellos Brasil), donde no hay libertad politica. Cree usted que exista alguna contradiccion entre desarrollo ydemocracia? ”El profesor Lewis recibio mi pregunta con bondad, pero tambiencon algo de perplejidad. Penso un momento antes de contestarme,como si no estuviera muy seguro de su respuesta. Con un tonoligeramente dubitativo (algo no muy comun en el) dijo: “Lo masimportante es que se asegure el respeto de las libertades civiles y sobretodo de las que permiten la operacion del mercado”. La frase de Lewisno me dejo muy satisfecho, y creo que a el tampoco le gusto del todo
Digital Media in Education: Expanding the Technology Acceptance Model

Studies show that use of computer-based information communication technologies (ICTs) can have positive impacts on student motivation and learning. The present study examines the issue of ICT adoption in the classroom by expanding the technology acceptance model (TAM) to identify factors that contribute to teacher acceptance and use of these technologies in the classroom. A survey was conducted of 57 high school teachers from around the United States. Results show that the variables of teacher belief profile and teacher efficacy can determine high school teacher acceptance of these technologies, when added to the TAM. Additionally, the study confirms previous research that indicates perceived media richness as an important variable to consider in TAM studies of digital media and ICTs.
EFL and ESL teacher values and integrated use of technology in universities in the Asia-Pacific region

Educators who teach international students English as a second language (ESL) or English speakers teaching English as a foreign language (EFL) in universities in non- English speaking countries in the Asia-Pacific region are often challenged to develop culturally appropriate curriculum for a diverse group of learners. Prompted by educational policy over the past two decades, the technological infrastructure in most universities throughout the world has advanced. Innovative tools for language learning have been developed for computer-assisted instruction. The purpose of the present study was to assess to what extent teachers use multimedia in EFL/ESL university classrooms in relation to the theoretical underpinnings of constructivism as well as Rogers' (1995) theory of diffusion of innovations and adopter categories. Further, the study aimed to ascertain what factors contribute to or discourage teachers' use of multimedia in tertiary level English language teaching classrooms. A mixed- method research design was used and both quantitative and qualitative data were collected. One hundred and seventy-nine English-language teachers from five universities in the Asia-Pacific region were interviewed and data were collected on their use of multimedia. Complex relationships were found among teacher-held educational and cultural values, teaching experience, formal computer professional learning, nationality, institution, region, age, gender, and collaboration with colleagues. Results showed that even with adequate access to hardware, software, technical support and computer professional learning, most teachers in the study made limited use of multimedia in the EFL/ESL classroom. As well, the results indicated that teachers in all three universities in Taiwan used multimedia in the EFL/ESL classroom less than teachers in Australia and in Thailand. Teachers who endorsed constructivist teaching methodologies tended to use multimedia more. Also, teachers with fewer than ten years teaching experience tended to use technology in teaching more. Data showed the use of integrated technology by teachers usually diminished as teachers got older. However, results showed that teachers who engaged in professional learning tended to use multimedia more regardless of age. Future directions in technology integration and recommendations for creating and sustaining a culture of technology at educational institutions are offered. Suggestions for professional development to encourage the integrated use of technology in English language teaching programs are outlined.
SIMULATION OF THE AIRBORNE PHASE OF THE GRAND JETÉ IN BALLET

INTRODUCTION Jumping is a fundamental human movement that requires complex coordination between both the upper and lower body segments. The grand jete is considered one of the most memorable jumps in ballet. The body of a dancer during the grand jete can portray elegant grace, appearing to glide across the floor and travel linearly through the air (Laws, 2002). This study was conducted to examine the dancer’s movements in the air. The main purpose of studying the aerial phase was to determine if the subjects could create the illusion of nonparabolic movement while airborne.
Leaf nutritive quality associated with maturity levels in fourteen important varieties of mulberry (Morus spp.)

Quatorze varietes de murier selectionnees appartenant a Morus indica L. , M. alba L. et M. multicaulis P. (toutes diploides) conservees a la banque genetique de muriers sur le campus de l'Institut ont ete etudiees qfin de determiner leurs teneurs foliaires en eau, en proteines, en sucres et en chlorophylle sur quatre recoltes couvrant la periode de fevrier 1991 a decembre 1992. Les observations ont ete relevees en fonction des differents degres de maturite des feuilles (feuilles tendres, moyennes, matures et senescentes) et des periodes de croissance (30, 45, 60, 75, 90 et 120 jours). Toutes les varietes presentent un taux de diminution plus rapide des teneurs en eau, en sucres et en proteines pour les periodes de croissance de 75 a 90 jours. Les variations de la qualite des feuilles entre les varietes etudiees donnent des differences de profil interessantes. Les trois varietes exotiques (Acc. No. 79, English Black et Kosen) presentent des taux plus faibles de diminution des elements nutritifs pour les periodes de croissance considerees. La signification des observations est discutee dans le cadre de la selection de varietes superieures.
Local-Feature Generic Object Recognition with Application to Insect-Species Identification

Local-Feature Generic Object Recognition with Application to Insect-Species Identification Natalia Larios Delgado Chair of the Supervisory Committee: Professor Linda G. Shapiro Department of Computer Science and Engineering Biological monitoring of stream water quality is a time-consuming and expensive activity for environmental protection and sustainable development. It requires intensive hand labor from experts to identify arthropod species known for their ability to reflect the status of their environment. The three generic recognition methods proposed in this dissertation are designed with the goal of developing image-based automated high-throughput insect-species identification with application to water quality assessment. These methods consist of a local-feature extraction and aggregation step to describe every image and a prediction step using this descriptor. The first method is based on the bag-of-features approach and uses unsupervised feature types and species-specific dictionaries to map sets of local features into histogram descriptors. These descriptors are concatenated and input to a logistic model tree (LMT) to discriminate among four stonefly species. The second method is a combination of efficient feature extraction and quantization using Haar-like features and random forests. The descriptors created by this process contain spatial information roughly correlated to specimen parts and are utilized by a spatial-pyramid kernel classifier for species identification. The final recognition method combines the classification scores of multiple types of local features while retaining their spatial information in a single spatial histogram of score accumulations. A stacked spatial support vector machine (SVM) is applied to these histograms in experiments with a set of 29 species matching those of a real biomonitoring task. The evaluation experiments performed demonstrate that automated insect identification is viable and can be both efficient and effective.
Patient weight-based acquisition protocols to optimize 18F-FDG PET/CT image quality

The choice of injected dose of 18 F -FDG and acquisition time is important in obtaining consistently high-quality PET images. The aim of this study was to determine the optimal acquisition protocols based on patient weight for 3-dimensional lutetium oxyorthosilicate PET/CT. Methods: This study was a retrospective analysis of 76 patients ranging from 29 to101 kg who were injected with 228–395.2 MBq of 18 F -FDG for PET imaging. The study population was divided into 4 weight-based groups: less than 45 kg (group 1), 45–59 kg (group 2), 60–74 kg (group 3), and 75 kg or more (group 4). We measured the true coincidence rate, random coincidence rate, noise-equivalent counting rate (NECR), and random fraction and evaluated image quality by the coefﬁcient of variance (COV) in the largest liver slices. Results: The true coincidence rate, random coincidence rate, and NECR signiﬁcantly increased with increasing injected dose per kilogram (r = 0.91, 0.83, and 0.90; all P < 0.01). maximized The true coincidence rate differed and PET image quality based on patient weight. The optimal acquisition time was approximately 1.4–1.6 times longer in over-weight patients than in normal-weight patients. Estimation of optimal acquisition times using the true coincidence rate is more important than other variables in improving PET image quality
The statistics of interfibre contact in random fibre networks

Voici une theorie qui decrit la fraction des surfaces des fibres dans un reseau aleatoire de fibres en contact avec aucune, 1 ou 2 autres fibres. Un modele detaille donne ces etats de contact absolu selon la surface de contact fractionnelle (SCF) et l'etendue moyenne du reseau. Un modele approximatif fournit les etats de contact absolu en tant que fonction de la SCF uniquement. Les expressions derivees sont comparees aux donnees experimentales, et la concordance est excellente.
Diffusion of Instructional Innovations: Five Important, Unexplored Questions.

Instructional Technology is a field of innovation. As instructional technologists realize that their innovations are not always readily adopted, theories of diffusion and adoption have been incorporated into instructional development models. This paper describes five unexplored areas of research related to the adoption and diffusion of innovations, specifically on the gaps in the literature in instructional settings: (1) Interaction of Adopter Groups; (2) Adoption Versus Retention; (3) Product Versus Process; (4) Technical and Societal Accommodations; and (5) Perspectives of Innovation. For each of the five areas, the authors provide an overview, a sample research question, a hypothetical case, and a description of one or more methodologies that might be appropriate to examine the question. The paper also includes a discussion of the contributions that diffusion theory has made to the field of instructional technology. (Contains 18 references.) (AEF) ******************************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. ******************************************************************************** Five Important, Unexplored Questions 1 Running Head: FIVE IMPORTANT, UNEXPLORED QUESTIONS U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Oflice of Educational Research and improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) O This document has been reproduced as received from the person or organization originating it. O Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. Points of view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy. Diffusion of Instructional Innovations: Five Important, Unexplored Questions Daniel W. Suny and J. Patrick Brennan II The University of Southern Mississippi
Load balancing in multi-hop wireless ad hoc networks

In this thesis we study the load distribution and load balancing problem in wireless ad hoc networks. Using a discrete unit disk graph model of the network, we analyze the distribution of load induced by greedy routing in the network with an all-to-all communication pattern between the nodes. We derive an estimate for average load of the nodes in the network. We also calculate the expected load of a node as a function of its geometric coordinates in the network. We express the actual load of a node in the network as a random variable and obtain the parameters of this random variable. Using this random variable we derive an estimate for the maximum load of the nodes in the network. Our result is more accurate than previous studies which were based on a continuous model of the network. We analyze how different parameters of the network, i.e., number of nodes, transmission range, and different routing algorithms can affect the parameters of the load distribution. We give a technique to reduce the variance of the load distribution, and hence decrease the maximum load of the nodes in the network. Our technique can be combined with any location-based routing algorithm. We also introduce a class of algorithms that improve the maximum expected load of nodes in the network. Experimental results show that our algorithms outperform other existing algorithms in reducing the maximum load of the network
Cognitive Analysis of Complex Acoustic Scenes

Natural auditory scenes consist of a rich variety of temporally overlapping sounds that originate from multiple sources and locations and are characterized by distinct acoustic features. It is an important biological task to analyze such complex scenes and extract sounds of interest. The thesis addresses this question, also known as the “cocktail party problem” by developing an approach based on analysis of a novel stochastic signal contrary to deterministic narrowband signals used in previous work. This low-level signal, known as the Stochastic Figure-Ground (SFG) stimulus captures the spectrotemporal complexity of natural sound scenes and enables parametric control of stimulus features. In a series of experiments based on this stimulus, I have investigated specific behavioural and neural correlates of human auditory figure-ground segregation. This thesis is presented in seven sections. Chapter 1 reviews key aspects of auditory processing and existing models of auditory segregation. Chapter 2 presents the principles of the techniques used including psychophysics, modeling, functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) and Magnetoencephalography (MEG). Experimental work is presented in the following chapters and covers figure-ground segregation behaviour (Chapter 3), modeling of the SFG stimulus based on a temporal coherence model of auditory perceptual organization (Chapter 4), analysis of brain activity related to detection of salient targets in the SFG stimulus using fMRI (Chapter 5), and MEG respectively (Chapter 6). Finally, Chapter 7 concludes with a general discussion of the results and future directions for research. Overall, this body of work emphasizes the use of stochastic signals for auditory scene analysis and demonstrates an automatic, highly robust segregation mechanism in the auditory system that is sensitive to temporal correlations across frequency channels.
Speech Recognition Using Features Extracted from Phase Space Reconstructions

iii Preface A novel method for speech recognition is presented, utilizing nonlinear/chaotic signal processing techniques to extract time-domain based, reconstructed phase space derived features. By exploiting the theoretical results derived in nonlinear dynamics, a distinct signal processing space called a reconstructed phase space can be generated where salient features (the natural distribution and trajectory of the attractor) can be extracted for speech recognition. These nonlinear methodologies differ strongly from the traditional linear signal processing techniques typically employed for speech recognition. To discover the discriminatory strength of these reconstructed phase space derived features, isolated phoneme classification experiments are executed using the TIMIT corpus and are compared to a baseline classifier that uses Mel frequency cepstral coefficient features, which are the typical benchmark. Statistical methods are implemented to model these features , e.g. Gaussian Mixture Models and Hidden Markov Models. The results demonstrate that reconstructed phase space derived features contain substantial discriminatory power, even though the Mel frequency cepstral coefficient features outperformed them on direct comparisons. When the two feature sets are combined, improvement is made over the baseline, suggesting that the features extracted using the nonlinear techniques contain different discriminatory information than the features extracted from linear approaches. These nonlinear methods are particularly interesting, because they attack the speech recognition problem in a radically different manner and are an attractive research opportunity for improved speech recognition accuracy. iv Acknowledgments There have been several people who encouraged, supported, and gave invaluable advice to me during my graduate work. First, I thank my wife, Amy, for her love and support the last two years. I appreciate the encouragement that my parents, in-laws, and friends have given me. I would like to acknowledge my thesis committee: Mike Johnson, Richard Povinelli, and James Heinen. I especially want to thank my advisor, Mike Johnson, for his guidance and solid mentoring. Also, Richard Povinelli, for our vast and tireless discussions on the topic of this research. Finally, I am grateful to the members of the ITR group, the Speech and Signal Processing Laboratory, and the KID Laboratory at Mar-quette for our awesome, thought provoking debates.
Cone: A Distributed Heap-Based Approach to Resource Selection

In this paper, we propose a new distributed heap-based data structure called Cone. Cone maintains an ordering of key values in a distributed fashion, and can support queries of the form, “Find resources of size” Cone can be built on any routing substrate as long as the substrate supports longest preﬁx match-based lookups. We describe the Cone data structure, the operations it supports, and its load balancing properties. We have implemented and evaluated Cone on a 1000-nodeModelNet emulation platform and a 50-node PlanetLab distributed testbed. We show that Cone has good load-balancing properties and that it is stable and reactive even when there is considerable amount of dynamism in the system.