Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Functional Overlap between Regions Involved in Speech Perception and in Monitoring One's Own Voice during Speech Production

The fluency and the reliability of speech production suggest a mechanism that links motor commands and sensory feedback. Here, we examined the neural organization supporting such links by using fMRI to identify regions in which activity during speech production is modulated according to whether auditory feedback matches the predicted outcome or not and by examining the overlap with the network recruited during passive listening to speech sounds. We used real-time signal processing to compare brain activity when participants whispered a consonant–vowel–consonant word (“Ted”) and either heard this clearly or heard voice-gated masking noise. We compared this to when they listened to yoked stimuli (identical recordings of “Ted” or noise) without speaking. Activity along the STS and superior temporal gyrus bilaterally was significantly greater if the auditory stimulus was (a) processed as the auditory concomitant of speaking and (b) did not match the predicted outcome (noise). The network exhibiting this Feedback Type × Production/Perception interaction includes a superior temporal gyrus/middle temporal gyrus region that is activated more when listening to speech than to noise. This is consistent with speech production and speech perception being linked in a control system that predicts the sensory outcome of speech acts and that processes an error signal in speech-sensitive regions when this and the sensory data do not match.
A Critical Examination of Hypernova Remnant Candidates in M101. I. MF 83

The supernova remnant (SNR) candidate MF 83 in M101 is coincident with a very luminous X-ray source. Based on the high X-ray luminosity, it has been suggested that MF 83 is a "hypernova remnant" requiring an explosion energy about 2 orders of magnitude higher than normal supernovae. We have analyzed high-quality ground-based and Hubble Space Telescope observations of MF 83, and find that MF 83 is a star formation region, consisting of a large ionized gas shell and four H II regions along its periphery. Continuum images show OB associations in these H II regions and within the large shell. The shell has an expansion velocity of ~50 km s-1 and a diameter of ~270 pc. The optical properties of this shell in MF 83 are similar to those of X-ray-bright superbubbles in the Large Magellanic Cloud. If the X-ray emission is indeed diffuse, the implied thermal energy in MF 83 is high, a few times 1052 ergs. This amount of thermal energy requires a large number of concentrated supernova explosions or one powerful explosion. Future X-ray observations with a high angular resolution are needed to resolve the diffuse emission and point sources in MF 83, in order to determine more accurately the thermal energy in the shell interior and its required explosion energy.
An Exploration into the Psychology of Education: The Use of an Ecological Framework to Address Macro and Microsystemic Factors that Influence Individuals Working within Irish Education

1 Chapter 1: Operational Definition 2 1 The Expansion of Knowledge 2 1.1 The Influence of Knowledge 4 1.2 The Differing Research Approach 5 1.3 Locating Myself as an Educational Researcher 7 Chapter 2: Introduction 12 2.1 Introducing the Research Questions 13 2.2 The Evolution of the Research Questions 14 2.2.1 The First Iteration Study 1 14 2.2.2 The Revised Iteration Study 2 15 2.3 Chapter Outlines 17 Chapter 3: Reviewing the Psychology of Education 19 3 Psychology in Education 19 3.1. Brief Overview of Learning Theories 22 3.1.1. Behaviourism 24 3.1.2. Cognitivism 27 3.1.3. Constructivism 30 3.1. 4. Implications of Systemic Learning 32 3.2. Towards a ‘Unified’ Theory 36 3.2.1. More than Teaching and Learning 38 3.2.2. The Science, Art, and Craft of Teaching 42 3.3. The Use of Psychology in Irish Education 43 3.3.1. The Application of Psychological Research 45 3.3.2. Educational Assessment 48 3.3.3. Psychological Assessments: National Educational Psychology Service 50 3.3.3. The ‘Educational Bubble’ 53 3.4. The Environmental Influence 57 3.4. 1. Adapting to the Needs of Education – A Radical Shift 59 3.4. 2. Initiating a Medium of Change 62 3.4. 3. A ‘Self-Assessment’ for Educator Change 64 3.5. The Design of Self-Assessment 66 3.5. 1. Instructional Resources 67
A Reference Architecture for Electronic Business-to-Business Collaboration Setup and Enactment Systems

The question what a business-to-business (B2B) collaborat ion setup and enactment application-system should look like remains open. An important element of such collaboration constitutes the inter-organ izational disclosure of business-process details so that the opposing parties may p rotect their business secrets. For that purpose,Sourcing[37] has been developed as a general businessprocess collaboration concept in the framework of the EU res earch project CrossWork. The eSourcing characteristics are guiding for the des ign and evaluation of an eSourcing ReferenceArchitecture (eSRA) that serves as a starting point for software developers of B2B-collaboration systems. In this paper we present the results of a scenario-based evaluation method conducted wi th the earlier specified eSourcingArchitecture (eSA) that generates as results risks, sensiti vity, and tradeoff points that must be paid attention to if eSA is imple mented. Additionally, the evaluation method detects shortcomings of eSA in t erms of integrated components that are required for electronic B2B-collabora ti n. The evaluation results are used for the specification of eSRA, which compris es all extensions for incorporating the results of the scenario-based evalua tion, on three refinement
Efficient hardware implementations of high throughput SHA-3 candidates keccak, luffa and blue midnight wish for single- and multi-message hashing

In November 2007 NIST announced that it would organize the SHA-3 competition to select a new cryptographic hash function family by 2012. In the selection process, hardware performances of the candidates will play an important role. Our analysis of previously proposed hardware implementations shows that three SHA-3 candidate algorithms can provide superior performance in hardware: Keccak, Luffa and Blue Midnight Wish (BMW). In this paper, we provide efficient and fast hardware implementations of these three algorithms. Considering both single- and multi-message hashing applications with an emphasis on both speed and efficiency, our work presents more comprehensive analysis of their hardware performances by providing different performance figures for different target devices. To our best knowledge, this is the first work that provides a comparative analysis of SHA-3 candidates in multi-message applications. We discover that BMW algorithm can provide much higher throughput than previously reported if used in multi-message hashing. We also show that better utilization of resources can increase speed via different configurations. We implement our designs using Verilog HDL, and map to both ASIC and FPGA devices (Spartan3, Virtex2, and Virtex 4) to give a better comparison with those in the literature. We report total area, maximum frequency, maximum throughput and throughput/area of the designs for all target devices. Given that the selection process for SHA3 is still open; our results will be instrumental to evaluate the hardware performance of the candidates.
Dynamic Dependence in Corporate Credit

Characterizing the dependence in credit spreads and default intensities across companies is a central problem in credit risk. Existing practice typically relies on factor models or simple static Gaussian copula models. We instead use genuinely dynamic copula models which can capture univariate and multivariate non-normalities and asymmetries for large cross-sections of firms. Using weekly data for over nine years on 223 firms, we find that the dependence in default intensities and CDS spreads is highly time-varying and persistent, and it increases significantly in the financial crisis. The dependence between equity returns also increases in the financial crisis, but this increase is much less persistent. We document substantial multivariate non-normalities for CDS spreads and default intensities, but multivariate asymmetries are less important for credit than they are for equities. The increase in cross-sectional dependence during the financial crisis has substantially reduced diversification benefits from selling credit protection, and it is critical to take non-normality into account when computing these benefits. These findings have important implications for the management of portfolio credit risk, the pricing of structured credit products, and the role of credit-risky securities in diversified portfolios. JEL Classification: G12
Real Representations

This paper introduces two new representations for real-parameter spaces—the Dedekind and Isodedekind representations. Point mutation and uniform crossover—in their generalised, representation-independent form—are shown, when instantiated with respect to these representations, to give rise to familiar operators for continuous domains, such as gaussian mutation, blend crossover and line recombination. Both the Dedekind and Isod-edekind representations are highly non-orthogonal(admitting many illegal chromosomes), but, as is demonstrated, this causes no practical or theoretical problems. Moreover, these novel representations are shown to have sensible behaviouras the continuouslimit is taken, while both “traditional” binary coding and Gray coding are shown to have pathological behaviour.
The plenoptic video

This paper presents a system for capturing and rendering a dynamic image-based representation called the plenoptic video. It is a simplified light field for dynamic environments, where user viewpoints are constrained to the camera plane of a linear array of video cameras. Important issues such as multiple camera calibration, real-time compression, decompression and rendering are addressed. The system consists of a camera array of eight Sony CCX-Z11 CCD cameras and eight Pentium 4 1.8-GHz computers connected together through a 100 Base-T local area network. It is possible to perform software-assisted real-time MPEG-2 compression at a resolution of (720/spl times/480). Using selective transmission, we are able to stream continuously plenoptic video with (256/spl times/256) resolution at a rate of 15 f/s over the network. For rendering from raw data on the hard disk, real-time rendering can be achieved with a resolution of (720/spl times/480) and a rate of 15 f/s. A new compression algorithm using both temporal and spatial predictions is also proposed for the efficient compression of the plenoptic videos. Experimental results demonstrate the usefulness of the proposed parallel processing based system in capturing and rendering high-quality dynamic image-based representations using off-the-shelf equipment, and its potential applications in visualization and immersive television systems.
A performance evaluation of Internet access via the General Packet Radio Service of GSM

The General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) is currently being standardized by the European Telecommunications Standard Institute (ETSI) to extend the services provided by the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM). The GPRS is dedicated to support packet-oriented traffic, e.g. Internet traffic. Packet oriented transmission is by nature better suited to convey bursty traffic, as it is generated by Internet applications. Applications contributing most to the data volume in the Internet are WWW, FTP and e-mail. This paper presents a simulator, which was developed to assess the performance of the GPRS when used as a means of access to the Internet. The focus is on the evaluation of the interaction between the protocols applied in the Internet and for the GPRS. Only by considering both parts is the assessment of the overall performance, which will be recognized by the end-user, possible. This paper presents the simulation environment and discusses the simulation results regarding the end-to-end performance of TCP/IP based applications. It is shown that the GPRS is a suitable wireless access to Internet applications.
Duplication removal for a search-based recommendation system

A search-based recommendation system looks, in the code repository, for programs that are relevant to the program being edited. Storing a large amount of open source programs into the repository will make the search results better, but also causes the code clone problem; i.e., recommending a set of program fragments that are almost idential. To tackle this problem, we propose a novel approach that ranks recommended programs by taking their “freshness” count into account. This short paper discusses the background of the problem, and illustrates the proposed algorithm.
Prediction of the asymptotical magnetic polarization tensors for cylindrical samples using the boundary element method

The magnetic polarization tensor is a frequency-dependent, rotation-invariant and object-specific property of a metallic object. This paper presents an approach to compute the magnetic polarization tensor of a metallic object based on the Boundary Element Method (BEM), which treats the object as a perfect electrical conductor (PEC) and therefore is able to predict the limiting cases where very high frequency and/or high conductivity is assumed. A uniform magnetic field is applied to an object and the scattered field at a certain distance is obtained in the simulations. The magnetic tensor can then be deduced from the scattered field. The simulated results agree well with an analytical solution for spheres and with measured results for a number of cylinders for limiting cases.
Central Role of Fatty Liver in the Pathogenesis of Insulin Resistance in Obese Adolescents

OBJECTIVE We evaluated the role of fatty liver in the alteration of insulin sensitivity and β-cell function in two groups of obese adolescents, differing in hepatic fat content (hepatic fat fraction [HFF]) but with similar intrabdominal intramyocellular lipid content (IMCL) and overall degree of obesity. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS We studied 23 obese adolescents with high HFF (HFF >5.5%) and 20 obese adolescents with low HFF (HFF <5.5%), matched for age, Tanner stage, BMI z score, and percentages of body fat, visceral fat, and IMCL. All subjects underwent an oral glucose tolerance test and a two-step hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamp, magnetic resonance imaging and 1H nuclear magnetic resonance to assess abdominal fat distribution, HFF, and IMCL, respectively. RESULTS The high HFF group showed significantly lower whole-body insulin sensitivity index (P = 0.001) and estimates of insulin secretion (P = 0.03). The baseline hepatic glucose production (EGP) rate was not different between the two groups. Suppression of EGP was significantly lower (P = 0.04) in the high HFF group during low-dose insulin; no differences were observed during the second step. Baseline fatty acids, glycerol concentrations, and clamp suppression of glycerol turnover did not differ between the groups. During the second step, the glucose disposal rate was significantly lower (P = 0.01) in the high HFF group. CONCLUSIONS Fatty liver, independent of visceral fat and IMCL, plays a central role in the insulin-resistant state in obese adolescents.
Developing a ‘Classroom as Community’ Approach to Supporting Young Children's Wellbeing

INTRODUCING THE IDEA OF THE ‘classroom as community’, a class of six- to eight-year-old children engaged with a project, The Wellbeing Classroom (McInnes, Diamond & Whitington, 2014), which intended to support and advance their social and emotional development. This paper examines how the notion of ‘classroom as community’ informed the thinking and actions of the adults involved, and identifies six key elements of the approach employed. The teacher employed five strategies over a year: professional learning and reflection; building trust with children and modelling emotional self-regulation; teaching social skills across the day; accessing regular outreach worker support; and involving parents. Led by an upskilled teacher, the ‘classroom as community’ approach was found to have successfully supported children's social and emotional development, particularly those with difficulties. The project's reach included parents, thus extending its effects. This article reports on the significance of the concept of classroom as community to the project's success.
Solving Stochastic Root-Finding with adaptive d-ary search

The most fundamental problem encountered in the field of stochastic optimization, is the Stochastic Root Finding (SRF) problem where the task is to locate an unknown point x* for which g(x*) = 0 for a given function g that can only be observed in the presence of noise. The vast majority of the state-of-the-art solutions to the SRF problem involve the theory of stochastic approximation. The premise of the latter family of algorithms is to operate by means of so-called “small-step” processes that explore the search space in a conservative manner. Using this paradigm, the point investigated at any time instant is in the proximity of the point investigated at the previous time instant, rendering the convergence towards the optimal point, x*, to be sluggish. The unfortunate thing about such a search paradigm is that although g() contains information using which large sections of the search space can be eliminated, this information is unutilized. This paper provides a pioneering and novel scheme to discover and utilize this information. Our solution recursively shrinks the search space by, at least, a factor of 2d/3 at each epoch, where d ≥ 2 is a user-defined parameter of the algorithm. This enhances the convergence significantly. Conceptually, this is achieved through a subtle re-formulation of SRF problem in terms of a continuous-space generalization of the Stochastic Point Location (SPL) problem originally proposed by Oommen. Our scheme is based, in part, on the Continuous Point Location with Adaptive d-ary Search (CPL-AdS), originally presented. The solution to the CPL-AdS, however, is not applicable in our particular domain because of the inherent asymmetry of the SRF problem. Our solution invokes a CPL-AdS-like solution to partition the search interval into d subintervals, evaluates the location of the unknown root x* with respect to these sub-intervals using learning automata, and prunes the search space in each iteration by eliminating at least one partition. Our scheme, the CPL-AdS algorithm for SRF, denoted as SRF-AdS, is shown to converge to the unknown root x* with an arbitrary large degree of accuracy, i.e., with a probability as close to unity as desired. Unlike the classical formulation of the SPL problem proposed by Oommen et al, in our setting, the probability, p, of the “environment” suggesting an accurate response is non-constant. In fact, the latter probability depends of the point x being examined and the region that is a candidate to be pruned. The fact that p is not constant renders the analysis much more involved. The decision rules for pruning are also different from those encountered when p is constant.
Oral inoculation of probiotics Lactobacillus acidophilus NCFM suppresses tumour growth both in segmental orthotopic colon cancer and extra-intestinal tissue

Modulation of the cellular response by the administration of probiotic bacteria may be an effective strategy for preventing or inhibiting tumour growth. We orally pre-inoculated mice with probiotics Lactobacillus acidophilus NCFM (La) for 14 d. Subcutaneous dorsal-flank tumours and segmental orthotopic colon cancers were implanted into mice using CT-26 murine colon adenocarcinoma cells. On day 28 after tumour initiation, the lamina propria of the colon, mesenteric lymph nodes (MLN) and spleen were harvested and purified for flow cytometry and mRNA analyses. We demonstrated that La pre-inoculation reduced tumour volume growth by 50·3 %, compared with untreated mice at 28 d after tumour implants (2465·5 (sem 1290·4) v. 4950·9 (sem 1689·3) mm3, P < 0·001). Inoculation with La reduced the severity of colonic carcinogenesis caused by CT-26 cells, such as level of colonic involvement and structural abnormality of epithelial/crypt damage. Moreover, La enhanced apoptosis of CT-26 cells both in dorsal-flank tumour and segmental orthotopic colon cancer, and the mean counts of apoptotic body were higher in mice pre-inoculated with La (P < 0·05) compared with untreated mice. La pre-inoculation down-regulated the CXCR4 mRNA expressions in the colon, MLN and extra-intestinal tissue, compared with untreated mice (P < 0·05). In addition, La pre-inoculation reduced the mean fluorescence index of MHC class I (H-2Dd, -Kd and -Ld) in flow cytometry analysis. Taken together, these findings suggest that probiotics La may play a role in attenuating tumour growth during CT-26 cell carcinogenesis. The down-regulated expression of CXCR4 mRNA and MHC class I, as well as increasing apoptosis in tumour tissue, indicated that La may be associated with modulating the cellular response triggered by colon carcinogenesis.
Lossy Compression for Compute-and-Forward in Limited Backhaul Uplink Multicell Processing

We study the transmission over a cloud radio access network in which multiple base stations, acting as relay nodes, are connected to a central processor (CP) via error-free rate-limited backhaul links. We propose two lattice-based coding schemes. In the first scheme, each relay node decodes linear combinations of the users' messages in the spirit of compute-and-forward (CoF), but departs from it essentially in that the decoded equations are remapped to equations on the users' input symbols, sent compressed in a lossy manner to the CP, and are not required to be linearly independent. The compression accounts for the correlation between equations at the relay nodes through Wyner-Ziv coding. Also, by opposition to the standard CoF, an appropriate multi-user decoder is utilized to recover the sent messages. The second scheme generalizes the first one by also allowing, at each relay node, a joint compression of the decoded equation on the users' input symbols and the received signal. Both schemes apply in general, but are especially suited for situations in which there are more users that relays. We show that both schemes can outperform standard CoF and successive Wyner-Ziv schemes in certain regimes, and illustrate the gains through some numerical examples.
Assessing the effectiveness of a community food security project for curriculum development

ABSTRACT Many counties of Western North Carolina have high levels of food insecurity that may be addressed by training communities to grow, prepare, and preserve their own food. A curriculum was developed and tested in 2016 at a Section 8 housing development in Polk County, NC. Research investigated successful community agriculture projects and assessed participant learning. Weekly class evaluations were conducted, as well as pre- and post-surveys. Challenges included frustration over constraints enforced by the housing rules, poor soil, and unbearable Polk County heat. The final curriculum product can be applied to any community struggling with food security and community resiliency.