Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Approximate generalized Steiner systems and near-optimal constant weight codes

Constant weight codes (CWCs) and constant composition codes (CCCs) are two important classes of codes that have been studied extensively in both combinatorics and coding theory for nearly sixty years. In this paper we show that for {\it all} fixed odd distances, there exist near-optimal CWCs and CCCs asymptotically achieving the classic Johnson-type upper bounds. Let $A_q(n,w,d)$ denote the maximum size of $q$-ary CWCs of length $n$ with constant weight $w$ and minimum distance $d$. One of our main results shows that for {\it all} fixed $q,w$ and odd $d$, one has $\lim_{n\rightarrow\infty}\frac{A_q(n,d,w)}{\binom{n}{t}}=\frac{(q-1)^t}{\binom{w}{t}}$, where $t=\frac{2w-d+1}{2}$. This implies the existence of near-optimal generalized Steiner systems originally introduced by Etzion, and can be viewed as a counterpart of a celebrated result of R\"odl on the existence of near-optimal Steiner systems. Note that prior to our work, very little is known about $A_q(n,w,d)$ for $q\ge 3$. A similar result is proved for the maximum size of CCCs. We provide different proofs for our two main results, based on two strengthenings of the well-known Frankl-R\"odl-Pippenger theorem on the existence of near-optimal matchings in hypergraphs: the first proof follows by Kahn's linear programming variation of the above theorem, and the second follows by the recent independent work of Delcour-Postle, and Glock-Joos-Kim-K\"uhn-Lichev on the existence of near-optimal matchings avoiding certain forbidden configurations. We also present several intriguing open questions for future research.
Recent warming on Spitsbergen—Influence of atmospheric circulation and sea ice cover

Spitsbergen has experienced some of the most severe temperature changes in the Arctic during the last three decades. This study relates the recent warming to variations in large‐scale atmospheric circulation (AC), air mass characteristics, and sea ice concentration (SIC), both regionally around Spitsbergen and locally in three fjords. We find substantial warming for all AC patterns for all seasons, with greatest temperature increase in winter. A major part of the warming can be attributed to changes in air mass characteristics associated with situations of both cyclonic and anticyclonic air advection from north and east and situations with a nonadvectional anticyclonic ridge. In total, six specific AC types (out of 21), which occur on average 41% of days in a year, contribute approximately 80% of the recent warming. The relationship between the land‐based surface air temperature (SAT) and local and regional SIC was highly significant, particularly for the most contributing AC types. The high correlation between SAT and SIC for air masses from east and north of Spitsbergen suggests that a major part of the atmospheric warming observed in Spitsbergen is driven by heat exchange from the larger open water area in the Barents Sea and region north of Spitsbergen. Finally, our results show that changes in frequencies of AC play a minor role to the total recent surface warming. Thus, the strong warming in Spitsbergen in the latest decades is not driven by increased frequencies of “warm” AC types but rather from sea ice decline, higher sea surface temperatures, and a general background warming.
SOUND CATEGORIZATION AFTER SPEAKING WITH A BITE BLOCK

Earlier research has investigated how speech sound categorization is affected by displacement of the articulators during listening. We investigated perceptual behavior following a manipulation to restrict tongue raising, and tested whether the experience of having spoken with a bite block affects subsequent categorization of an / I /-to-/ E / continuum. Furthermore, we investigated whether being able to hear one’s own manipulated production affects this potential perceptual recalibration (by including a condition with noise-masking during production). Surprisingly, participants in the bite block group gave fewer / E / responses than the no bite block group at pretest, but response patterns were similar for the two groups at posttest. This suggests that anticipating speaking with a bite block affected categorization behavior more than the actual speech experience. As such, the results do not provide evidence that sound representations change due to articulator displacement.
PERCEPTION-PRODUCTION MISMATCH IN L1 DRIFT

Most studies on the relationship between perception and production show an interdependency of the two modalities. We investigated whether the perception-production link is also present in L1 drift. L1 Polish/L2 English speakers were asked to decide whether they heard a voiced or voiceless stop in a two-alternative forced-choice (2AFC) task. The stimuli were obtained from VOT continua of word-initial (/p,b,t,d,k,g/). We expected that L1 speakers of a true voicing may experience L1 perceptual drift from the aspirating L2 English by placing the boundary between voiced and voiceless at higher VOT values. The results showed that the speakers perceived the voiceless-voiced boundary at 0ms. However, they produced a great amount of L1 aspirated stops and realized some L1 voiced stops either as voiceless or with limited prevoicing. We conclude that, in L1 drift situations, there may be a perception-production mismatch that defines L1 drift as an element of execution without influencing phonological representations.
Enhanced Antitumor Immune Response in 2′-5′ Oligoadenylate Synthetase-Like 1- (OASL1-) Deficient Mice upon Cisplatin Chemotherapy and Radiotherapy

Type I interferon (IFN-I) plays a critical role in the antitumor immune response. In our previous study, we showed that IFN-I-inducible 2′-5′ oligoadenylate synthetase-like 1 (OASL1) negatively regulated IFN-I production upon tumor challenge similar to that of viral infection. Thus, OASL1-deficient (Oasl1 −/−) mice were more resistant to implanted tumor growth than wild-type (WT) mice. In this study, we investigated whether targeting or suppressing OASL1 could show synergistic effects on tumor clearance with conventional cancer therapies (such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy) using Oasl1 −/− mice and a transplantable lung metastatic tumor cell model. Upon treatment with the anticancer drug cisplatin, we found that Oasl1 −/− mice showed enhanced resistance to injected tumors compared to untreated Oasl1 −/− mice. Similarly, irradiated Oasl1 −/− mice showed better resistance to tumor challenge than untreated Oasl1 −/− mice. Additionally, we found that Oasl1 −/− mice applied with both types of the cancer therapies contained more cytotoxic effector cells, such as CD8+ T cells and NK cells, and produced more cytotoxic effector cytokine IFN-γ as well as IFN-I in their tumor-containing lungs compared to untreated Oasl1 −/− mice. Collectively, these results show that targeting OASL1 together with conventional cancer therapies could be an effective strategy to enhance treatment efficacy.
UvA-DARE (Digital Academic Repository) Kinetics and mechanism of plasmid DNA penetration through nanopores

DNA transport through membranes is a key step in many biological processes. The phenomenon of DNA penetration through narrow polymer membrane pores was previously observed only under the inﬂu-ence of external electric ﬁelds. Recently, it was shown that some types of DNA could penetrate through membrane pores also under hydrodynamic pressure. Here we show that double-stranded plasmid DNA with a 350nm hydrodynamic diameter penetrates through membrane pores as narrow as 10nm under pressure, and suggest that the supercoiled plasmids penetrate through these narrow pores by stretching into long hair-shaped ﬂexible strands. We study the kinetics of plasmid penetration and the changes in plasmid elasticity caused by UV irradiation. The results suggest a mechanism based on “snake-like” movement with gradual pore blocking.
CHARACTERISTICS AND DISTRIBUTION OF SILENT PAUSES IN CONVERSATIONS BETWEEN AUTISTIC AND NON-AUTISTIC DYADS

Silent pauses are a pervasive feature of speech, but one that has not received much attention in the context of atypical populations. We investigated the use of silent pauses in conversations between dyads of autistic as compared to non-autistic adults. Previous research on silent pauses in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is limited to three studies, with contradictory results. We found many similarities in silent pause use between groups, but also a robust difference, as autistic speakers produced more long silent pauses. We also investigated the effect of filled pauses on the duration of subsequent silent pauses. While we found no group-level difference, we were able to replicate, but also qualify, the previous finding that uhm precedes longer silent pauses than uh . This study hence 1) is a substantial contribution to our understanding of conversational behaviour in ASD and 2) extends important previous findings on silent pauses in the general population.
Can L2 Speakers Perceive Sociopragmatic Nuances at the Sound Level? Exploring Chinese Listeners’ Perceptions of (ING)

The variation between the alveolar and velar forms (ING) has been widely used in conveying social meanings for native speakers in many English varieties. L2 speakers' perception of (ING), however, remains unknown. The presented study employs a matched guise task exploring Chinese listeners’ mental representations of the (ING) variable, and a social network questionnaire, assessing how their associations interact with the levels of integration in the host society. Results from multivariate analysis show that (1) listeners with higher social network strengths perceived the speakers to be less educated, regardless of the (ING) variant; (2) the velar variant was perceived as more educated; (3) speakers' gender, and regional background had greater impacts on listeners' ratings than the (ING) guise.
ASRLUX: AUTOMATIC SPEECH RECOGNITION FOR THE LOW-RESOURCE LANGUAGE LUXEMBOURGISH

We have developed an automatic speech recognition (ASR) system tailored to Luxembourgish, a low-resource language that poses distinct challenges for conventional ASR approaches due to the limited availability of training data and inherent multilingual nature. By employing transfer learning, we meticulously fine-tuned an array of models derived from pre-trained wav2vec 2.0 and Whisper checkpoints. These models have been trained on an extensive corpus of various languages and several hundred thousand hours of audio data, utilizing unsupervised and weak supervised methodologies, respectively. This includes linguistically related languages such as German, Dutch, and French, which expedite the cross-lingual training process for Luxembourgish-specific models. Fine-tuning was executed utilizing 67 hours of annotated Luxembourgish speech data sourced from a diverse range of speakers. The optimal word error rate (WER) achieved for wav2vec 2.0 and Whisper models were 9.5 and 12.1, respectively. The remarkably low WERs obtained serve to substantiate the efficacy of transfer learning in the context of ASR for low-resource languages.
Inferring Carbon Emissions from Human Mobility Data

Accurate identi�cation, quanti�cation, and continual monitoring of carbon emissions constitute pivotal elements for proactive climate interventions. Conventional methodologies like direct measurement, including point-source assessments or remote sensing, often face challenges related to high costs or limited accuracy. Especially in low-and middle-income nations experiencing escalating emissions, carbon monitoring heavily relies on the administrative capabilities of local governments, which frequently lack adequate monitoring infrastructures. Addressing this predicament, our study introduces a computational framework to forecast CO 2 emissions by leveraging comprehensive observable human activity data from third-party sources. Our �ndings elucidate a robust correlation between multi-origin CO 2 emissions and human mobility (r = 0.89). Notably, machine learning models adeptly predict these emissions by integrating characteristics extracted from temporally aggregated, anonymized mobility networks (R 2 ≈ 1.0). We demonstrate that the model effectively captures the notable reduction in CO 2 emissions during the COVID-19 lockdown, with both human mobility and CO 2 emissions in China decreasing by 56.97% and 32.45%, respectively. The prediction accuracy remains high for countries with varying social economic development, such as the U.S., Italy and Mexico. This study presents an inexpensive, real-time, and robust method of quantifying CO 2 emissions on a large scale with high precision, and it could facilitate tailored CO 2 emission reduction strategies, grounded in robust scienti�c evidence derived from the dynamics of human mobility.
Effects of L1 Phonotactic Constraints on Learning Novel Words

In this study, it was examined whether native Japanese speakers learn novel phonotactics that violates L1 phonotactic constraints. In Experiment 1, it was investigated whether native Japanese speakers generalize syllable position regulations of restricted consonants that occur word medially (e.g., in ba F . P ev, ti D . Z ek) to novel words in which the consonants occur at word edges (e.g., Z ɪb.tə F ). The Japanese participants learned regulation of phonotactics at the syllable level rather than at the word level. In Experiment 2, it was examined whether the participants track the co-occurrence of consonants across syllables within a word. They discerned test items with the same co-occurrence of consonants between syllables (e.g., FP as in bɛ F . P ək) as in the training items (e.g., ba F . P ev) from those with different co-occurrence of consonants (e.g., FZ as in bɪ F . Z ət). The Japanese speakers also learned the co-occurrence restrictions of consonants across syllables within a word.
The Psychedelic Mystical Experience in the Human Encounter with Death

This Spring I received a long distance telephone call from Dean Samuel Miller, who invited me to give this year's Ingersoll Lecture on human immortality. Three days later, Dean Miller was dead. When I heard the sad news, I, as many of you no doubt, began to think about the way he had influenced me, especially during my theological training here at Harvard Divinity School. One of my most vivid memories was a point which he emphasized in his class on Religion and Literature. Sam Miller felt strongly that in our modern 20th century two of the most profound and important experiences of human life are becoming more and more insulated from everyday existence. These two experiences, birth and death, have the potential for affecting the character and quality of the rest of life. But in each instance, they are falling victim to modern technological efficiency and adding to the process of dehumanization rather than counteracting it.
Participatory Teaching Improves Learning Outcomes: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Tanzania

Participatory teaching methods have been shown to be more successful than traditional rote learning in high-income countries. It is, however, less clear if they can help address the learning crisis in low-and middle-income countries, where classes tend to be large and teachers have fewer resources at their disposal. Based on a field experiment with 440 teachers from 220 schools in Tanzania, we use official standardized student examinations to assess the impact of a pedagogy-centered intervention. A five-day in-service teacher training on participatory and practice-based methods improved students’ test scores 18 months later by 0.15 σ . The additional provision of laptops with a learning software allowing teachers to refresh their content knowledge did not yield further learning gains for students. Complementary results from qualitative surveys and interviews suggest that the program was highly appreciated by different stakeholders, but that participants are unable to assess its impact along different dimensions, giving equally positive evaluations of its successful and its less successful elements.
bal-Prepartum concentrate supplementation of a diet based on medium-quality grass silage: Effects on performance, health, fertility, metabolic function, and immune function of low body condition score cows

When cows with a “higher” body condition score (BCS) are oversupplied with energy during the dry period, postpartum energy balance is normally reduced, which can have a detrimental effect on immune competence and increase the infectious disease risk. However, within grassland-based systems higher yielding cows frequently have a low BCS at drying off. The effects on performance, health, and metabolic and immune functions of providing additional energy to cows with low BCS during the dry period is less certain. To address this uncertainty, 53 multiparous Holstein-Friesian cows (mean BCS of 2.5; 1–5 scale) were allocated to 1 of 2 treatments at dry-off: silage only or silage plus concentrates. Cows on the silage-only treatment were offered ad libitum access to medium-quality grass silage. Cows on the silage-plus-concentrate treatment were offered ad libitum access to a mixed ration comprising the same grass silage plus concentrates [in a 75:25 dry matter (DM) ratio], which provided a mean concentrate DM intake of 3.0 kg/cow per day. Postpartum, cows were offered a common mixed ration comprising grass silage and concentrates (in a 40:60 DM ratio) for a 70-d period. Offering concentrates during the dry period increased DM intake, tended to increase energy balance, and increased body weight (BW) and BCS gain prepartum. Offering concentrates during the dry period increased BW and BCS loss postpartum and tended to increase milk fat percentage and serum nonesterified fatty acid concentration, but it did not affect postpartum DM intake, energy balance, and milk yield. Although the percentage of phagocytosis-positive neutrophils did not differ, neutrophils from cows on the silage-plus-concentrate treatment had higher phagocytic
THE KINEMATIC PROPERTIES OF PROSODIC BOUNDARIES IN CONVERSATIONAL TURN-TAKING

Studies on the kinematic properties of read speech have established an effect of lengthening on gestures at prosodic boundaries, which increases in strength according to the hierarchical position of the boundary. However, the effect of turn-position— whether a boundary occurs in the middle or at the end of a conversational turn—on these properties is underexplored. In an electromagnetic articulography semi-spontaneous speech study, pairs of participants (with one speaker in the magnetometer per dyad) asked each other questions to collaboratively solve a puzzle. We compare targetwords in phrase-medial position, phrase-final turn-medial position, and phrase-final turn-final position, in both questions and answers, exploring two competing hypotheses: (1) turn-final boundaries exhibit a stronger lengthening effect owing to a higher hierarchical position, and (2) lengthening is reduced in turn-final position since there is no imminent speech to plan, thus no additional lengthening is required to accommodate that planning time.
THE DOMAIN OF BOUNDARY-RELATED LENGTHENING IN TOKYO JAPANESE, A MORA-TIMED LANGUAGE

Although boundary-related lengthening is well-established, it is unclear whether the stretch of speech affected is determined by a grammatical domain (e.g., mora, syllable, word) or whether it corresponds to a fixed interval at the boundary. Here, we use Electromagnetic Articulography (EMA) to address this issue in Tokyo Japanese, a mora-timed language. Disyllabic initial-accented words with all possible combinations of moraic structure in each syllable were tested in phrase-final and phrase-medial positions. Analyses of consonant gestures in each syllable’s onset show that boundary-related lengthening extends beyond the phrase-final mora or syllabic rhyme to the onset of the phrase-final syllable when the latter is light (CV), but not when it is heavy (CVC or CVV). No evidence for boundary-related lengthening was found in the onset of the penultimate syllable, suggesting that the phrase-final word is not the domain of the effect. Results are discussed within the framework of Articulatory Phonology.
Management and Prevention of Adverse Reactions to Platinum Antineoplastic Chemotherapy in Patients with Esophageal and Gastric Cancer: Systematic Literature Review

Introduction: Gastric cancer is the fifth most common malignancy worldwide. It is the most frequent malignant tumor in Asia, especially in China. Esophageal carcinoma is one of the more aggressive types of malignant tumor. Multimodal treatments, including neoadjuvant chemotherapy and chemoradiotherapy are utilized and can cause fatigue, vomiting, diarrhea, skin changes, cachexia, and peripheral neuropathy, which can be important side effects for many patients undergoing their treatments. Objective: Carry out a systematic review on the management and prevention of adverse reactions of antineoplastic chemotherapy with platinum in patients with esophageal cancer and gastric tumor. Method: To select the articles, a search was conducted in three databases: MEDLINE/PubMed, Cochrane and Embase, with the PICO strategy, alternating between MeSH/DeCS descriptors and Boolean operators. Results: 455 titles were found, of which, after using the PRISMA guideline, 15 articles remained for systematic review, addressing the management and prevention of nausea and vomiting, peripheral neuropathy, cachexia, magnesium supplementation, treatment of depression and general toxicity. Conclusion : The greatest number of studies addressing the management and prevention of the symptoms of nausea, vomits, neuropathy and hypomagnesemia were found, and it was possible to identify some suggestions of conducts to treat these reactions. More studies are necessary for the other reactions encountered, mainly in the cases of gastric and esophageal cancer.
THE INFLUENCE OF EMPATHY AND AUTISTIC-LIKE TRAITS IN PROMINENCE PERCEPTION

We report an investigation of how individual listeners’ characteristics influence the assessment of prominence. Following the RPT paradigm, 82 Standard Southern British English speakers listened to utterances and marked the words that sounded prominent to them. We focused on words produced with either H* or L+H*, which appeared in either contrastive or non-contrastive pragmatic conditions. Both pragmatics (contrastive vs. non-contrastive accent) and phonetics (H* vs. L+H*) systematically guided participants’ judgment. L+H*s and contrastive accents were more likely to be marked as prominent, but some listeners prioritized phonetics and others pragmatics, and these differences were related to their empathy and autistic-like traits: the higher a listener’s empathy, the more they relied on pragmatics, while the higher the autistic-like traits the smaller the distinction between the two accents. Our results suggest that both acoustic and pragmatic salience are instrumental for prominence assessment, but listeners weigh these cues in different ways.
NEUTRALIZATION AND SECONDARY ACOUSTIC CUES OF VOICING CONTRAST: A TOHOKU AND TOKYO JAPANESE PRODUCTION EXPERIMENT

This study investigates the phonological voicing contrast of plosives in two Japanese dialects: Tohoku Japanese, which is known for its intervocalic voicing of voiceless plosives, and Tokyo Japanese. Despite some previous research on this topic, the extent to which various acoustic properties, such as voice onset time (VOT) and fundamental frequency (F0) (1) covary with intervocalic voicing in Tohoku Japanese and (2) compare to Tokyo Japanese remains unclear. Thus, we conducted online production experiments to examine the voicing contrast in Tohoku Japanese. Our results indicate that the voicing contrast in Tohoku Japanese is incomplete; moreover, other acoustic cues such as F0 and preceding vowel duration, vary between Tohoku and Tokyo Japanese. These findings suggest that while secondary cues, i.e. duration and onset F0 may play an active role in realizing the intervocalic voicing contrast, cue utilization may differ between these two dialects.