Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The role of intuitive moral foundations in Britain's vote on EU membership

In June 2016, British voters took part in a referendum on the UK’s membership of the European Union (EU). By a margin of 52%:48%, they voted to leave. Studies have demonstrated that fixed demographic factors were the best predictors of voting intentions in either direction, or that ‘Leave’ voters were driven by perceived threats from immigration. In this paper, we examine the role of moral intuitions in referendum voting intentions. In Study 1, demographic variables did not predict voting intentions after adding psychological variables to our statistical model. Instead, voting ‘Leave’ was predicted by political conservatism, social change insecurities, and placing moral importance on personal liberty. In contrast, only an adherence to the care foundation of morality predicted ‘Remain’ voting. These findings were also reflected in linguistic analyses of campaign materials and news items (Study 2). We discuss these data in relation to common discourses around the Brexit vote.
Outage analysis for 5G beamforming heterogeneous networks

With an explosion of wireless mobile devices and services, beam-based communication in 5G heterogeneous network (HetNet) has attracted extensive attention recently due to some potential technologies in 5G such as massive MIMO and millimeter wave. This paper proposes an outage probability analysis framework for 5G beamforming HetNet, which is composed of a multi-layer cellular network including macrocells and small cells. The HetNet is affected by base station (BS) densities, transmission powers, beam gains, beamwidths, path loss exponents and cell association bias factors. We derive the association probability, average number of users in a layer and the PDF of the distance to the serving BS for the proposed beamforming HetNet. Then the SINR (Signal to Interference plus Noise Ratio) function is formulated. Moreover, we derive the outage probability of the network and use stochastic geometry to simulate the system performance.
Sound synthesis by simulation of percussive gesture of a virtual animated agent

This paper presents a system which simulates a physically-based sound synthesis algorithm, controlled by a virtual animated agent. This system provides a global framework for studying the interaction between virtual autonomous and realistic humanoids and audionumeric processes. We are more specifically concerned by physically based simulation, both for the virtual character and the virtual instruments, since we aim at producing natural gestures thus leading to realistic musical interaction and credible synthesized sounds.
Adaptive segment model for spoken document retrieval

In a robust information retrieval system, the documents should be represented by considering the variations of word distributions in different paragraphs or segments. A nonstationary latent Dirichlet allocation (NLDA) was established by incorporating a Markov chain to detect the stylistic segments in a heterogeneous document. Each segment corresponds to a particular style and is generated by different word distributions. However, such NLDA is constrained by a fixed number of segments for different lengths of documents. This paper presents a new adaptive segment model (ASM) by adaptively building the topic-based document model with different segment numbers. By incorporating a multinomial hidden variable with Dirichlet prior, the inference procedure of ASM parameters is built through a variational Bayes EM algorithm. In the experiments, the proposed ASM is evaluated for spoken document retrieval using TDT2 corpus. ASM achieves better performance than LDA and NLDA.
English Learners in K–12 Mathematics Education: A Review of the Literature

Alongside the increased presence of students classified as English learners (ELs) in mathematics classrooms exists a persistent pattern of the marginalization of ELs. Educators have sought research to identify how to provide ELs with high-quality mathematics education. Over the past two decades, education researchers have responded with increased attention to issues related to the teaching and learning of mathematics with ELs. In this review we analyzed literature published between 2000 and 2015 on mathematics teaching and learning with K–12 ELs. We identified 75 peer-reviewed, empirical studies related to the teaching and learning of mathematics with ELs in Grades K–12 and categorized the studies by focus (Learning, Teaching, and Teacher Education). We synthesize the results of these studies through the lens of a sociocultural perspective on language in mathematics. We then discuss avenues for future research and calls to action based on the extant body of literature.
Early stopping in global data computation

The Global Data Computation problem consists of providing each process with the same vector (with one entry per process) such that each entry is filled by a value provided by the corresponding process. This paper presents a protocol that solves this problem in an asynchronous distributed system where processes can crash, but equipped with a perfect failure detector. This protocol requires that processes execute asynchronous computation rounds. The number of rounds is upper bounded by min(f+2, t+1, n), where n, t, and f represent the total number of processes, the maximum number of processes that can crash, and the number of processes that actually crash, respectively. This value is a lower bound for the number of rounds when t<n-1. To our knowledge, this protocol is the first to achieve this lower bound. Interestingly, this protocol meets the same lower bound as the one required in synchronous systems.
Teachers’ opinions on utilizing outdoor learning in the preschools of Estonia

ABSTRACT The Estonian National Curriculum for Preschool Child Care Institutions values learning through games, observation and research in various environments. There are no official guidelines regarding the frequency of outdoor learning or the content that children should experience, but outdoor learning creates the best opportunities to accomplish this purpose. The aim of the current study is to clarify the opinions of teachers about outdoor learning and the possibility of utilizing it in learning activities. The data was collected by questionnaire which consisted of open-ended questions. The results showed that teachers do not practice outdoor learning very often, although they find studying outdoors to be important. The results helped to determine how preschool teachers see themselves as practitioners of outdoor learning and how outdoor learning supports the development of children. Based on the findings, outdoor learning should be included in the teacher training process.
The Affect Misattribution Procedure and cannabis cognitions among a sample of Canadian adolescents

Adolescence is a time when many adolescents begin using cannabis. Cognitions that adolescents hold are predictive of their initiation or increase in cannabis use. Research highlights implicit cognitions in early substance use initiation. The Affect Misattribution Procedure (AMP) measures the affective impact of implicit cognitions by examining their influence on neutral stimuli. The present study used the AMP to examine implicit factors that predict early cannabis use by examining affective reactions of youth to presentations of cannabis images. It was expected that affective misattributions would predict substance use over a 12-month period. This study drew from participants (n = 438) in Grade 8 at baseline (Time 1), 6 months (Time 2), and 12 months (Time 3). Results indicated that scores on the AMP were different for non-users compared to cannabis-users at each time point (p < 0.05). At baseline, the AMP independently predicted cannabis use, β = 2.92, Wald chi square = 11.96 (3.55 – 97.28), p = . 01. An explicit cognitive measure (cannabis outcome expectancy liking; COEL) contributed significantly to the model at Time 1, β = 1.09, Wald chi square = 24.09 (1.93 – 4.62), p = . 01, but did not eliminate the effect of the AMP. At Time 2, the AMP independently predicted cannabis use, β = 1.25, Wald chi square = 5.60 (1.24 – 9.85), p = . 02. However, when COEL, β = 1.02, Wald chi square = 38.38 (2.01 – 3.85), p = . 01, was added to the model, the AMP no longer predicted cannabis use. At Time 3, the AMP did not predict cannabis use independently. COEL predicted cannabis use in the full model, β = 0.99, Wald chi square = 40.33 (1.99 – 3.67), p = . 01. Zero-inflated Poisson regressions showed the AMP also predicted the frequency of use at baseline, β = 1.33, SE = 2.35, p = . 01, had moderate independent prediction at six months, β = 0.66, SE = 0.17, p = . 01, and no predictive value at 12 months, β = -0.11, SE = 0.20, p = . 57. These findings suggest that rapid affective reactions to cannabis images predict cannabis use in adolescents.
The ISL 2007 English speech transcription system for european parliament speeches

The project Technology and Corpora for Speech to Speech Translation (TC-STAR) aims at making a break-through in speech-to-speech translation research, significantly reducing the gap between the performance of machines and humans at this task. Technological and scientific progress is driven by periodic, competitive evaluations within the project. In this paper we describe the ISL speech transcription system for English European Parliament speeches with which we participated in the third TC-STAR evaluation campaing in the spring of 2007. The improvements over last year’s system originate from a recognition hypotheses based segmentation, the utilization of unsupervised in-domain training material, a modified cross-system adaptation and combination scheme, and the enhancement of the language model through the use of web based training material.
On conditions for constant throughput in wireless networks

In this article we propose a set of necessary and sufficient conditions under which the long-term averaged throughput in an ad hoc network can remain constant as the number of nodes n increases. Throughput refers to the minimum achievable rate between a source-destination pair for a given routing mechanism and physical model, when the network is shared by Θ(n) randomly chosen source-destination pairs. The main idea is to use a connectivity graph, which does not represent the actual physical network but rather the available communication resources. This graph also allows one to translate the problem of maximizing the throughput in ad hoc networks to the multicommodity flow problem and directly apply related results.
Maximum Phase Modeling for Sparse Linear Prediction of Speech

Linear prediction (LP) is an ubiquitous analysis method in speech processing. Various studies have focused on sparse LP algorithms by introducing sparsity constraints into the LP framework. Sparse LP has been shown to be effective in several issues related to speech modeling and coding. However, all existing approaches assume the speech signal to be minimum-phase. Because speech is known to be mixed-phase, the resulting residual signal contains a persistent maximum-phase component. The aim of this paper is to propose a novel technique which incorporates a modeling of the maximum-phase contribution of speech, and can be applied to any filter representation. The proposed method is shown to significantly increase the sparsity of the LP residual signal and to be effective in two illustrative applications: speech polarity detection and excitation modeling.
Frame-shifting and Sentential Integration

We consider di erent ways in which understanding a single word can a ect the overall construal of the discourse event. One such process is frame-shifting, semantic reanalysis in which elements of the existing message-level representation are mapped into a new frame. This view predicts that scenarios which occasion frame-shifting present a challenge to the processor di erent from that presented by lexical violations consistent with the currently active frame. To test this hypothesis, we manipulated the relationship between sentence nal words and their preceding contexts, and compared reading times for words which triggered frame-shifting, with those for equally unexpected but frame-consistent words. In both humorous and nonhumorous sentences, participants spent longer reading words which triggered frame-shifting than frame-consistent controls. The pattern of results suggests that the message-level representation involves hierarchically organized attribute-value structures, and includes causal and relational information. Traditional frame-based comprehension systems, however, cannot fully account for the dynamically adaptive nature of frame-shifting. An alternative is mentioned in brief.
Smart cities software architectures: a survey

The smart cities concept arises from the need to manage, automate, optimize and explore all aspects of a city that could be improved. For this purpose it is necessary to build a robust architecture that satisfies a minimal number of requirements such as distributed sensing, integrated management and flexibility. Several architectures have been proposed with different goals, but none of them met satisfactorily the needs that permeate smart cities. In this work various architectures are discussed, highlighting the main requirements that they aim to fulfill. Furthermore, based on different architectures with the most varied purposes, a set of requirements for the implementation of a smart city is presented and discussed.
Performance Analysis of TCP on Channels with Memory

The focus of this paper is to analyze the relative sensitivit y of the bulk throughput performance of different versions of TCP OldTahoe, Tahoe, Reno and New Re no to channel errors that are correlated. We investigate the performance of a single wireless T CP connection and model the multipath fading channel as a first-order Markov chain. A major contrib ution of the paper is aunified analytical approachwhich allows the exact evaluation of the throughput and ener gy performance of various versions of TCP. The main findings of this study are that 1) error c or elations significantly affect the performance of TCP, and in particular result in considerably be tter performance for Tahoe and NewReno, and 2) over slowly fading channels which are characterized b y significant channel memory, NewReno performs no better than Tahoe. This leads us to conclude that a clever design of the lower layers that preserves error correlations, naturally present on wirele ss inks because of the fading behavior could be an attractive alternative to the development of more comp lex versions of TCP. Results for the energy consumption performance of the protocols show that, un like throughput, this metric may be very sensitive to the TCP version used and on the protocol paramet ers. Work partially supported by the Center for Wireless Communications, U iversity of California, San Diego. yCenter for Wireless Communications and Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California, San Diego, Mail Code 0407, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 9 20 3-0407, fax: +1 619-534-2486, e-mail: fzorzi,raog@ece.ucsd. edu zcorresponding author xQualcomm, Inc. 6455 Lusk Boulevard, San Diego, CA 92121-2779, USA M. Zorzi, A. Chockalingam and R.R. Rao: TCP on Channels with Memory 1
Partial Multi-View Clustering

Real data are often with multiple modalities or comingfrom multiple channels, while multi-view clusteringprovides a natural formulation for generating clustersfrom such data. Previous studies assumed that each exampleappears in all views, or at least there is one viewcontaining all examples. In real tasks, however, it is oftenthe case that every view suffers from the missing ofsome data and therefore results in many partial examples,i.e., examples with some views missing. In this paper,we present possibly the first study on partial multiviewclustering. Our proposed approach, PVC, worksby establishing a latent subspace where the instancescorresponding to the same example in different viewsare close to each other, and similar instances (belongingto different examples) in the same view should bewell grouped. Experiments on two-view data demonstratethe advantages of our proposed approach.
Multislice computed tomography coronary angiography for triaging patients with positive radionuclide myocardial perfusion imaging.

Sir, Myocardial perfusion imaging using single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) is the most commonly applied diagnostic imaging modality in patients with suspected coronary artery disease in the US, with more than 9 million procedures performed annually.1 The positive predictive value of SPECT is limited, and in a considerable number of patients with suspected perfusion deficits conventional coronary angiography shows no significant coronary stenoses. Multislice computed tomography (MSCT) coronary angiography allows the non-invasive assessment of coronary artery stenoses, and has a high negative predictive value.2–4 Thus, MSCT might be applied as a secondary gate-keeper in patients with positive SPECT, prior to deciding whether to perform conventional coronary angiography in these patients. We aimed to investigate the role of MSCT (Aquilion, Toshiba), using 16 simultaneous detector rows (according to a previously described protocol)3 to triage 38 patients (63 ± 8 years) with positive SPECT myocardial perfusion imaging (99mTc, n = 24; 201Tl, n = 14; both rest and stress) who were scheduled for conventional coronary angiography. Patients with an equivocal SPECT examination (e.g. examinations in which neither the target heart rate nor a perfusion deficit was achieved) were not included in the study, and SPECT was considered positive when at least either the rest or the stress examination showed a significant …
QVA149 demonstrates superior bronchodilation compared with indacaterol or placebo in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Background This randomised, double-blind, placebo controlled, four-period crossover study assessed the efficacy and safety of once-daily QVA149, a dual bronchodilator consisting of the long-acting β2-agonist indacaterol and the long-acting muscarinic antagonist glycopyrronium (NVA237), in patients with moderate to severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Methods Patients (N=154) were randomly assigned to receive QVA149 (indacaterol/NVA237) 300/50 μg, indacaterol 300 μg, indacaterol 600 μg, or placebo, once daily for 7 days with a 7-day washout period between each treatment. The primary endpoint was trough forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) (mean of 23 h 15 min and 23 h 45 min post-dose values) on day 7. Other endpoints included trough FEV1 on day 1, individual time point FEV1 and monitoring and recording of all adverse events. Results A total of 135 (87.7%) patients completed the study (all randomly assigned patients: mean age 61.7 years, 61.4% male, post-bronchodilator FEV1 52.2% predicted, FEV1/forced vital capacity 47.6%). The estimated treatment difference (95% CI) for trough FEV1 on day 7 between QVA149 and placebo was 226 ml (192 to 260; p<0.001). The estimated treatment difference between QVA149 and indacaterol 300 and 600 μg was 123 ml (89 to 157; p<0.001) and 117 ml (83 to 150; p<0.001), respectively. The improvements in mean trough FEV1 exceeded the predefined minimal clinically important differences of 100–140 ml for QVA149 versus placebo and indacaterol. Similar results were observed on day 1. All treatments were well tolerated. Conclusions QVA149 demonstrated rapid and sustained bronchodilation with significant improvements compared with indacaterol monotherapy and placebo in patients with COPD. Clinical trial registration NCT00570778.
Social Timing in Preschoolers with Autism Spectrum Disorder (M.Phil)

Social timing plays a concurrent and long-term role in social interactions. Cyclicity (a person's coordination of speech, body movements etc.) and synchrony (the coordination between individuals) are especially important. Synchronous interactions in childhood affect later developments, such as language development and emotion regulation. In ASD, timing and social timing are abnormal, which may adversely affect or even cause impairments. Evidence of interactional synchrony skills in ASD is sparse, therefore I sought to investigate cyclicity and synchrony skills in ASD. Video-recordings of interaction with and without music between children with ASD and a caregiver (N = 14; 2 to 8 years) were analysed using an adaptation of the well-established Monadic Phase coding scheme. Time-series analysis enabled quantification of cyclicity, level of synchrony (coherence) and significant synchrony. Cyclicity was present in most interactions (76-90%). Coherence scores ranged from . 08-. 39. Synchrony was present in 19% of time-series without and 60% of time-series with music. Music significantly enhanced presence of synchrony (p < .000) and indicated a trend for enhanced cyclicity (p = .058) and coherence (p = .063). No change over time was observed. Therefore, preschoolers with ASD engaged in rhythmic social timing but consistency was low and diminished compared to neurotypical infants. Music enhanced social timing considerably. No change over time was likely due to fluctuations in children's willingness to engage. Findings are limited by the lack of interrater reliability and control group. The aim of the thesis, to contribute to social timing evidence in ASD was achieved. The method successfully quantified social timing parameters, compared data to previous studies and showed that music enhanced social timing performance. Recommendations for further study include replication with a larger group, more time points, and control groups. This method could be applied to other settings to investigate the concurrent effect of music on social timing.
An aerosol chamber investigation of the heterogeneous ice nucleating potential of refractory nanoparticles

Abstract. Nanoparticles of iron oxide (crystalline and amorphous), silicon oxide and magnesium oxide were investigated for their propensity to nucleate ice over the temperature range 180–250 K, using the AIDA chamber in Karlsruhe, Germany. All samples were observed to initiate ice formation via the deposition mode at threshold ice super-saturations (RHithresh) ranging from 105% to 140% for temperatures below 220 K. Approximately 10% of amorphous Fe2O3 particles (modal diameter = 30 nm) generated in situ from a photochemical aerosol reactor, led to ice nucleation at RHithresh = 140% at an initial chamber temperature of 182 K. Quantitative analysis using a singular hypothesis treatment provided a fitted function [ns(190 K)=10(3.33×sice)+8.16] for the variation in ice-active surface site density (ns:m−2) with ice saturation (sice) for Fe2O3 nanoparticles. This was implemented in an aerosol-cloud model to determine a predicted deposition (mass accommodation) coefficient for water vapour on ice of 0.1 at temperatures appropriate for the upper atmosphere. Classical nucleation theory was used to determine representative contact angles (θ) for the different particle compositions. For the in situ generated Fe2O3 particles, a slight inverse temperature dependence was observed with θ = 10.5° at 182 K, decreasing to 9.0° at 200 K (compared with 10.2° and 11.4° respectively for the SiO2 and MgO particle samples at the higher temperature). These observations indicate that such refractory nanoparticles are relatively efficient materials for the nucleation of ice under the conditions studied in the chamber which correspond to cirrus cloud formation in the upper troposphere. The results also show that Fe2O3 particles do not act as ice nuclei under conditions pertinent for tropospheric mixed phase clouds, which necessarily form above ~233 K. At the lower temperatures (