Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Spontaneous Spoken Dialogues with the Furhat Human-like Robot Head

Furhat [1] is a robot head that deploys a back-projected animated face that is realistic and human-like in anatomy. Furhat relies on a state-of-the-art facial animation architecture allowing accurate synchronized lip movements with speech, and the control and generation of non-verbal gestures, eye movements and facial expressions. Furhat is built to study, implement and validate patterns and models of human-human and human-machine situated and multiparty multimodal communication, a study that demands the copresence of the talking head in the interaction environment, something that cannot be achieved using virtual avatars displayed on flat screens [2, 3]. In Furhat, the animated face is back-projected on a translucent mask that is a printout of the animated model. The mask is then rigged on a 2DOF neck to allow for the control of head movements. Figure 1 shows a snapshot of Furhat in interaction. We will show in this demonstrator an advanced multimodal and multiparty spoken conversational system using Furhat, a robot head based on projected facial animation. Furhat is an anthropomorphic robot head that utilizes facial animation for physical robot heads using back-projection. In the system, multimodality is enabled using speech and rich visual input signals such as multiperson real-time face tracking and microphone tracking. The demonstrator will showcase a system that is able to carry out social dialogue with multiple interlocutors simultaneously with rich output signals such as eye and head coordination, lips synchronized speech synthesis, and non-verbal facial gestures used to regulate fluent and expressive multiparty conversations. The dialogue design is performed using the IrisTK [4] dialogue authoring toolkit developed at KTH. The system will also be able to perform a moderator in a quiz-game showing different strategies for regulating spoken situated interactions. Categories and Subject Descriptors H.5. 2 [Information Interfaces and Presentation]: User Interfaces – Natural Language; D.2. 2 [Software Engineering] Design Tools and Techniques – State diagrams; D.2. 11 [Software Engineering] Software Architectures – Languages
Beyond co-ethnic solidarity: Mexican and Ecuadorean employment in Korean-owned businesses in New York City

Immigrants have relied on ethnic ties to promote cooperation and mutual support. Middleman minorities and ethnic enclaves have been the most prominent in stressing the role of ethnic solidarity in immigrant entrepreneurship. The ethnic enclave thesis, in particular, posits the mutually beneficial relations between co-ethnic employers and co-ethnic employees. On the one hand, ethnic employers can make use of a large pool of cheap coethnic workers, while co-ethnic employees, on the other hand, can capitalize on reciprocity, on-the-job training, managerial and supervisory positions, and future self-employment (Portes and Bach 1985; Portes and Manning 1991). The increasingly visible employment of Latinos, and particularly Mexicans in Korean-owned small businesses in New York City, often displacing and now replacing Korean employees, questions the prevailing patterns of coethnic employment and future promotion. This article examines when, how and why Korean employers have turned away from the 'benefits' of emp.
Time Theft in Organizations: The Development of the Time Banditry Questionnaire

Time banditry has recently been introduced as a conceptually distinct construct in the counterproductive work behavior literature. An employee is engaged in time banditry if s/he pursues unsanctioned and/or unethical nonwork activities during work time. An analysis of the time banditry construct would be facilitated by the rigorous development of a measure of this construct. The purpose of this research was to develop and refine a multidimensional measure of time banditry. Items were generated through an extensive literature review and numerous workplace discussions with a diverse sample of employees. Through this process, we developed a 45-item time banditry scale (Time Banditry Questionnaire; TBQ) and utilized it with a diverse sample. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses indicated that the construct of time banditry is multidimensional, exhibiting three distinct factors (classic, technology, and social). The TBQ demonstrated an internal consistency reliability of . 90. Implications for the use of the TBQ in future research and application in organizations are discussed. The most salient suggestion in this study is that time banditry is more closely related to situational variables and personality variables than it is related to demographic variables.
Pengecaman Insan Berasaskan kaedah ProfIl sentroId dan Pengelas rangkaIan neural Buatan

Dalam kajian ini, teknik profil sentroid yang berdasarkan pendekatan berasaskan model digunakan bagi tugas pengecaman insan. Kaedah ini dilaksanakan secara mengekstrak ciri–ciri unik perwakilan isyarat gaya lenggang insan serta bukan insan secara automatik dan pasif berasaskan imej pegun. Untuk menilai kekuatan algoritma sarian teknik profil sentroid yang dihasilkan, Rangkaian Neural Buatan (RNB) digunakan sebagai pengelas. Keputusan yang diperolehi membuktikan ciri sarian profil sentroid sesuai digunakan sebagai perwakilan vektor ciri bagi pengelasan insan dengan kadar pengelasan RNB yang dicapai melebihi 98%. Kata kunci: Pengecaman insan; rangkaian neural tiruan; profil sentroid In this study, centroidal profile which is a model based approach is employed for human recognition task. This is done by extracting unique representation of gait features of the subject automatically and passively from static images of human or non human. To evaluate the effectiveness of the generated centroidal profile, Artificial Neural Network (RNB) is used as classifier. Results attained proven that the centroidal profile is appropriate as feature extraction to be used as feature vectors for human shape classification based on classification rate of RNB achieved specifically above 98%. Key words: Human recognition; artificial neural network (ANN); centroidal profile
The Open University ’ s repository of research publications and other research outputs Writing Analytics for Epistemic Features of Student Writing Conference Item

Literacy, encompassing the ability to produce written outputs from the reading of multiple sources, is a key learning goal. Selecting information, and evaluating and integrating claims from potentially competing documents is a complex literacy task. Prior research exploring differing behaviours and their association to constructs such as epistemic cognition has used ‘multiple document processing’ (MDP) tasks. Using this model, 270 paired participants, wrote a review of a document. Reports were assessed using a rubric associated with features of complex literacy behaviours. This paper focuses on the conceptual and empirical associations between those rubric-marks and textual features of the reports on a set of natural language processing (NLP) indicators. Findings indicate the potential of NLP indicators for providing feedback regarding the writing of such outputs, demonstrating clear relationships both across rubric facets and between rubric facets and specific NLP indicators.
FREe: A Fast Routability Estimator

A fast routability estimator, namely FREe, is proposed in this paper. With the fast feedback on congestion, FREe serves incremental placement or guides routing to shorten the physical design time. FREe firstly extends an existing combinatorial model with the extended bounding box for flat tow-pin nets/sections to pre-estimate congestion probabilistically. Then, it routes all nets guided by the pre-estimation to get more exact congestion estimation, which is fast since it does not include any iteration/optimization as a router does. The idea of FREe is net-order-independent. FREe can get a uniform usage of routing resources by probability. The experimental results show that FREe can give more detailed congestion information in a short running time. Compared FREe with a recent router SSTT, we find that FREe has a good congestion correlation with SSTT, but FREe is more objective
A real-time Khim sound synthesizer using IIR resonator implemented with a DSP board

This paper presents a real-time sound synthesis of a musical instrument, named "Khim", one of popular kinds of traditional string instruments in Thailand. An approach of spectral modeling for synthesizing the Khim sound was implemented with a TMS320C6713 DSP board. Due to resource limitation of the DSP board, such as limited memory and only 4 external interrupts available, but up to 21 sounds of Khim pitches from vibration of 42 strings were needed to be synthesized, challenge occurred for the design of the real-time synthesizer. By using approximation of dominant frequency components and applying digital IIR resonators implemented with the DSP processor, the Khim sounds were successfully synthesized in real-time without significant difference from the original. An algorithm for controlling the key selection, implemented with another microprocessor, allowed the synthesizer to have enough input keys. The constructed synthesizer was fast responsive and since it had two input keys for a pitch, it allowed fast and continuously-striking sounds to be generated with unnoticeable latency.
Characteristics and functions of non-suicidal self-injury in a community sample of adolescents

ABSTRACT Background Few studies have investigated non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI), or the deliberate, direct destruction of body tissue without conscious suicidal intent, and the motivations for engaging in NSSI among adolescents. This study assessed the prevalence, associated clinical characteristics, and functions of NSSI in a community sample of adolescents. Method A total of 633 adolescents completed anonymous surveys. NSSI was assessed with the Functional Assessment of Self-Mutilation (FASM). Results Some form of NSSI was endorsed by 46·5% (n=293) of the adolescents within the past year, most frequently biting self, cutting/carving skin, hitting self on purpose, and burning skin. Sixty per cent of these, or 28% of the overall sample, endorsed moderate/severe forms of NSSI. Self-injurers reported an average of 12·9 (s.d.=29·4) incidents in the past 12 months, with an average of 2·4 (s.d.=1·7) types of NSSI used. Moderate/severe self-injurers were more likely than minor self-injurers, who in turn were more likely than non-injurers, to have a history of psychiatric treatment, hospitalization and suicide attempt, as well as current suicide ideation. A four-factor model of NSSI functions was indicated, with self-injurers likely to endorse both reasons of automatic reinforcement and social reinforcement. The most common reasons for NSSI were ‘to try to get a reaction from someone’, ‘to get control of a situation’, and ‘to stop bad feelings’. Conclusions Community adolescents reported high rates of NSSI, engaged in to influence behaviors of others and to manage internal emotions. Intervention efforts should be tailored to reducing individual issues that contribute to NSSI and building alternative skills for positive coping, communication, stress management, and strong social support.
Experimental investigations on the collapse of cavity cluster in high power ultrasound fields

Applications of high power ultrasound span many industrial sectors, from healthcare, through sonochemistry, to ultrasonic cleaning. These applications depend on the dynamics of cavity cluster. This study was conducted to investigate the collapse of cavity cluster in high power ultrasound fields. The cloud cavitation was produced by a 20 kHz ultrasonic horn used for sonochemistry. The dynamics of cavity cluster below the ultrasonic horn was recorded with high-speed photography at framing rate of 100,000 fps. PIV (particle image velocimetry) techniques were also used to get a velocity field of acoustic streaming. The motion of cavitation bubbles was strongly influenced by the acoustic streaming. They moved from the perisphere downward towards the axis and convergent at a point about 2.5 mm below the horn (where small bubbles incorporated into big bubbles) and then move downward along the axial direction. However, bubbles were found stray from the acoustic streaming upwards towards the center of the cavity cluster when the cavitation bubbles collapse. The growth and collapse of incipient cavitation bubbles in the cavity cluster in two acoustic cycles were recorded with high-speed photography and the variation of the diameter of the bubbles with time was investigated. The primary Bjerknes force and jets directed toward the center of the cloud produced during the bubbles collapse may be responsible for the motion of bubbles towards the center of cavity cluster. The first collapse of incipient bubbles is influenced by the maximum diameter of cavitation bubbles, while the subsequent rebound and collapse make the cluster very complicated. Asynchrony of the collapse of cavitation bubbles may be responsible for the propagation of shock wave in the cavity cluster.
Inflammatory bowel disease in patients with primary sclerosing cholangitis: Clinical characterization in liver transplanted and nontransplanted patients

Background: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in patients with primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) seems to differ from IBD without PSC, but a systematic, prospective study of IBD in PSC has until now not been reported. We aimed to describe the clinical, endoscopic, and histopathologic features of PSC‐IBD in liver‐transplanted and nontransplanted patients. Methods: PSC patients (n = 184) were included and underwent ileocolonoscopy with assessment of segmental histopathology. Results: A total of 155 (84%) patients had IBD, of whom 39 (25%) had undergone colectomy. The patients with an intact colon and complete tissue samples (n = 110) were further investigated. Forty‐two (38%) patients had undergone liver transplantation. The median IBD duration was 11 (range, 0–50) years. The majority (65%) had no or sparse IBD symptoms. Inflammatory findings were more frequent by histology than by endoscopy (89% versus 47%, P < 0.001). Histopathological signs of inflammation involved the right colon in 86% of patients and were purely right‐sided in 23%. The findings of inflammation were higher in the right compared to the left colon (P < 0.001), but the general inflammatory activity was low. Backwash ileitis was demonstrated in 20% (17/87) of patients and rectal sparing in 65% (70/107). The liver‐transplanted patients had lower clinical (P = 0.035) and histological (P = 0.013) IBD activity than the nontransplanted group. Conclusions: PSC‐IBD may represent a distinct entity of colitis in which low endoscopic activity may mask an active histologic inflammation that possibly contributes to an increased risk of malignancy. Circumstances related to liver transplantation seem to act favorably on colonic inflammation in PSC. (Inflamm Bowel Dis 2012;)
Raising the curtain on culture change

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to consider how Whitefriars Housing Group has addressed the challenges faced when managing major change, and to provide a successful case study for other organisations and training providers to learn from. The article considers how to introduce a successful culture change strategy and entrench a set of values into an organisation.Design/methodology/approach – Whitefriars codified its cultural change model into seven easy‐to‐digest sections. These were then conveyed to all staff using in‐depth and innovative training methods, ranging from customer care training to theatre forums.Findings – The results, in terms of employee attitudes, customer response and external audits, were all very positive. Tangible evidence of the success of the Stardust Strategy can be found in hard figures. Sickness absence dropped over three years from 9 per cent to 4.5 per cent. Employee turnover dropped from 40 per cent on the front line to around 8 per cent.Practical implications – The pap.
Women in the middle : their parent-care years

"Women in the Middle"was so-named because daughters, who are the main caregivers to elderly disabled parents, most often in their middle years, are caught in the middle of multiple competing demands on their time and energy. Since the first edition, women's responsibilities and the pressures they have experienced have increased and intensified. Dr. Brody revisits this phenomenon in this new, updated edition of her ground-breaking work. "Women in the Middle, 2/e," describes and discusses the caregiving women's subjective feelings, experiences, and problems, and the effects on their mental and physical well-being, life styles, family relationships, and vocational activities. These case studies and narratives present an insider's view of the harsh and sometimes joyful experience of caregiving. Special attention is given to the changing face of social, economic, and environmental conditions, as well as the diversity of the caregiver, in which caregiving, in which caregiving takes place.
TesMa and CATG: Automated Test Generation Tools for Models of Enterprise Applications

We present CATG, an open-source concolic test generation tool for Java and its integration with TesMa, a model-based testing tool which automatically generates test cases from formal design documents. TesMa takes as input a set of design documents of an application under test. The design documents are provided in the form of database table definitions, process-flow diagrams, and screen definitions. From these design documents, TesMa creates Java programs for the feasible execution scenarios of the application. CATG performs concolic testing on these Java programs to generate suitable databases and test inputs required to test the application under test. A demo video of the tool is available at https://www.youtube. com/watch? v=9lEvPwR7g-Q.
Impact of Extracranial–Intracranial Bypass on Cerebrovascular Reactivity and Clinical Outcome in Patients With Symptomatic Moyamoya Vasculopathy

Background and Purpose— The purpose of this study was to evaluate in symptomatic moyamoya patients the effect of surgical revascularization on impaired cerebrovascular reactivity (CVR) and its relationship to clinical outcome. Methods— Brain revascularization was performed using a direct superficial temporal artery to middle cerebral artery bypass or indirect encephalo-dural–arterial synangiosis. CVR was measured pre- and 3 months postoperatively using blood oxygen level-dependent MRI during iso-oxic hypercapnic changes in end-tidal carbon dioxide. Outcomes were assessed by MRI, clinical examination, and modified Rankin Scale scores. Results— Fifty-five hemispheres were revascularized in 39 patients (superficial temporal artery to middle cerebral artery in 47, encephalo-dural–arterial synangiosis in 8). Surgery reversed CVR impairment in 52 hemispheres (94.5%) and in 36 of 39 patients (92.3%; Fisher exact test, P<0.001), and this was predictive of a patent extracranial–intracranial bypass. New, clinically silent perioperative hemorrhages, cortical foci of ischemia, or new white matter T2 hyperintensities were detected after 11 surgeries (20%), but no new lesions arose after 3 postoperative months. One patient had a clinical perioperative stroke (1.8%). In clinical follow-up, 37 of 39 patients (95%) had stable or improved modified Rankin Scale scores and 2 patients (5.1%) worsened. No patients with patent bypasses or CVR improvements exhibited new clinical symptoms, but failure of CVR improvement corresponded to a poorer long-term outcome (Fisher exact test, P<0.001). Conclusions— Cerebral revascularization surgery is a safe and effective treatment for reversing preoperative CVR defects and may prevent recurrence of preoperative symptoms. Moreover, CVR measurements may be useful in long-term follow-up and for predicting bypass patency.
Feasibility of heart-rate monitoring to estimate total level and pattern of energy expenditure in a population-based epidemiological study: the Ely young cohort feasibility study 1994–5

Increasing the precision of measurements of total energy expenditure in population-based epidemiological studies is important for accurately quantifying the relationship between this exposure and disease. Current questionnaire-based methods cannot accurately quantify total energy expenditure, although they may provide an estimate of the frequency of vigorous activities. Heart rate monitoring with individual calibration has been advocated as a method for assessing energy expenditure in field studies and has been compared with the ‘gold standard’ techniques of doubly-labelled water and indirect calorimetry. However the method has previously only been used on small and selected populations. This study was, therefore, established to test the feasibility of using heart rate monitoring in a population-based study of adults. A total of 167 individuals aged 30–40 years were randomly selected and underwent 4 d heart-rate monitoring. Only three individuals could not complete the protocol. The mean physical activity level (PAL) measured over 4 d was 1.89 (sd 0.40) in men and 1.76 (sd 0.31) in women. There was no difference between mean PAL on weekend days compared with weekdays (mean paired difference 0.0008, 95% CI −0.06 to + 0.06). The estimate of mean PAL was not correlated with BMI, percentage body fat or the waist:hip ratio. It was, however, correlated with cardio-respiratory fitness as measured by VO2max per kg (Spearman rank correlation coefficient 0.50 in men and 0.42 in women). The pattern of energy expenditure was assessed by calculating the percentage of daytime hours in which PAL was greater than five times basal energy expenditure. This measure was strongly correlated with the mean PAL in both men (Spearman correlation coefficient 0.77) and women (0.71). We conclude that heart-rate monitoring is a feasible method for assessing the pattern and total level of energy expenditure in medium-sized epidemiological studies. It may also prove useful as the reference technique for calibrating questionnaires to estimate energy expenditure in larger scale studies.
A fractional Fourier transform analysis of the scattering of ultrasonic waves

Many safety critical structures, such as those found in nuclear plants, oil pipelines and in the aerospace industry, rely on key components that are constructed from heterogeneous materials. Ultrasonic non-destructive testing (NDT) uses high-frequency mechanical waves to inspect these parts, ensuring they operate reliably without compromising their integrity. It is possible to employ mathematical models to develop a deeper understanding of the acquired ultrasonic data and enhance defect imaging algorithms. In this paper, a model for the scattering of ultrasonic waves by a crack is derived in the time–frequency domain. The fractional Fourier transform (FrFT) is applied to an inhomogeneous wave equation where the forcing function is prescribed as a linear chirp, modulated by a Gaussian envelope. The homogeneous solution is found via the Born approximation which encapsulates information regarding the flaw geometry. The inhomogeneous solution is obtained via the inverse Fourier transform of a Gaussian-windowed linear chirp excitation. It is observed that, although the scattering profile of the flaw does not change, it is amplified. Thus, the theory demonstrates the enhanced signal-to-noise ratio permitted by the use of coded excitation, as well as establishing a time–frequency domain framework to assist in flaw identification and classification.