Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
PRODUCTION OF POLISH SIBILANTS IN THE PROCESS OF LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

This paper reports acoustic characteristics of Polish sibilants acquired in the process of language learning. We tested the production of three phonemic sibilants /s, ʂ, ɕ/ produced by 81 Polish children ages 35 to 106 months. Our results based on an acoustic analysis complemented by a perceptual categorization test by adults reveal that the alveolo-palatal /ɕ/ is the first sound which becomes separated from the other sibilants in terms of F2 of the following vowel and centre of gravity. The next sounds acquired are /s/ and /ʂ/. In the perceptual test most errors were found for the retroflex /ʂ/ confirming its late acquisition in comparison to other sibilants. The order of acquisition in Polish partly differs from that of Putonghua (/ɕ/ > /ʂ/ > /s/) which is explained by different frequency of the phonemes /ʂ/ and /s/ in both languages.
Are Education Equity and Efficiency Competing or Complementary Goals ?---Empirical Evidence from a Natural Experiment on High School Quota Admission Policy in China © !

Education policies achieving both equity and efficiency are important not only to students but also to the stability of the entire society and sustainable economic development. Empirical evidences are crucial to test this idea and successful initiatives should be shared with researchers and policy makers. Using nine-year panel data from China and a natural experimental design, this study finds that the high school quota admission policy can effectively reduce education inequality in terms of educational outputs and improve efficiency measured by average test scores.
Effect of Sequential Inoculation with Non-Saccharomyces and Saccharomyces Yeasts on Riesling Wine Chemical Composition

In recent years, studies have reported the positive influence of non-Saccharomyces yeast on wine quality. Many grape varieties under mixed or sequential inoculation show an overall positive effect on aroma enhancement. A potential impact by non-Saccharomyces yeast on volatile and non-volatile compounds should benefit the flavor of Riesling wines. Following this trend, four separate sequential fermentations (using the non-Saccharomyces yeasts Torulaspora delbrueckii, Metschnikowia pulcherrima, Pichia kluyveri, and Lachancea thermotolerans with Saccharomyces cerevisiae) were carried out on Riesling must and compared to a pure culture of S. cerevisiae. Sequential fermentations influenced the final wine aroma. Significant differences were found in esters, acetates, higher alcohols, fatty acids, and low volatile sulfur compounds between the different trials. Other parameters, including the production of non-volatile compounds, showed significant differences. This fermentation process not only allows the modulation of wine aroma but also chemical parameters such as glycerol, ethanol, alcohol, acidity, or fermentation by-products. These potential benefits of wine diversity should be beneficial to the wine industry.
Identity and language teacher education : The potential for sociocultural perspectives in researching language teacher identity

The knowledge base upon which language teacher education relies has tended to confine studies of identity to language learners and learning (e.g., Ricento, 2005; Norton & Toohey, 2002), rather than to studies of language teachers or teaching. Thus, although I concur with Varghese, Morgan, Johnston, and Johnson’s (2005) call for further research on language teacher identity, as well as their assertion that it take into account both “poststructural and postmodern sensitivities to discourse and agency that the theory of the image-text provides [as well as] the nuanced conception of learning in social settings that community of practice theory offers” (p. 40), this paper problematises the “identity-in-discourse” and “identity-in-practice” (p. 39) dichotomy they offer for theorising language teacher identity. Instead, I consider the potential of a framework for understanding language teacher identity that draws on Vygotskian sociocultural and activity theory (Vygotsky, 1978, 1987; Leontiev, 1981; Engeström, 1987), in the notion of “identity-in-activity” 2 .
DIALECT CONTACT ACROSS THREE GENERATIONS: A SOCIOPHONETIC ANALYSIS OF VARIATION IN [ph, th, kh, h] IN A CONTACT VARIETY IN HOHHOT, CHINA

This paper presents a sociophonetic analysis of a linguistic feature in the formation of a contact variety in Hohhot, a Chinese immigrant city. The new mixed variety was induced by contact between the local Jìndialect-speaking community and the Mandarinspeaking migrant community. The linguistic feature examined was the insertion of a period of frication (often [x]) after [ph, th, kh, h]. Linguistic production of 67 speakers (1957 tokens) from three generations of the local and migrant communities were collected and analyzed by perceptual coding (verified by acoustic measurements). Results of mixed effects regression show that this variable is constrained by both social and linguistic factors. Typical Jìn speakers in the older generation is significantly more likely to use the [x] variants than non-Jìn-speaking migrants, while in the middle and younger generation, when the contact variety has formed, the two communities showed convergence in their probability of using this linguistic feature.
Meta Learning for Hyperparameter Optimization in Dialogue System

The performance of dialogue system based on deep reinforcement learning (DRL) highly depends on the selected hyperparameters in DRL algorithms. Traditionally, Gaussian process (GP) provides a probabilistic approach to Bayesian optimization for sequential search which is beneficial to select optimal hyperparameter. However, GP suffers from the expanding computation when the dimension of hyperparameters and the number of search points are increased. This paper presents a meta learning approach to carry out multifidelity Bayesian optimization where a two-level recurrent neural network (RNN) is developed for sequential learning and optimization. The search space is explored via the first-level RNN with cheap and low fidelity over a global region of hyperparameters. The optimization is then exploited and leveraged by the second-level RNN with a high fidelity on the successively small regions. The experiments on the hyperparameter optimization for dialogue system based on the deep Q network show the effectiveness and efficiency by using the proposed multifidelity Bayesian optimization.
Simulation and Exploration of LAURA Processor Architectures with SystemC

The COMPAAN/LAURA tool flow automatically maps digital signal processing applications onto reconfigurable platforms such as FPGAs. The COMPAAN tool generates a Kahn Process Network description for a program written in Matlab. For this KPN, LAURA generates VHDL code that is synthesized into a description that programs the FPGAs; this synthesis step, however, takes a long time. Instead of using VHDL, we could also use SystemC as a new design methodology. It speeds up the design process as it allows for faster exploration of different implementations with almost the same accuracy as VHDL. SystemC is able to simulate faster as it raises the abstraction level at which hardware models are described. In this thesis, we created the IMASC tool that stands for Implementations of Multi-processor Architectures with SystemC. This tool automatically generates for all processes in a Kahn process network, the cycle accurate models for the Read, Execute, and Write unit that make up the LAURA hardware processor model. We validated the correctness of these models and calibrated them against real hardware results for a couple of applications. We found over 99% accuracy with a factor 3 faster execution times compared to realizations in VHDL. We also show a simple design space exploration in which we study the effect of different levels of pipelining and we show how IMASC is used to simulate a heterogeneous KPN realization consisting of hardware and software components.
Combining Electromyography and Fiducial Marker Based Tracking for Intuitive Telemanipulation with a Robot Arm Hand System

Teleoperation and telemanipulation have since the early years of robotics found use in a wide range of applications, including exploration, maintenance, and response in remote or hazardous environments, healthcare, and education settings. As the capabilities of robot manipulators grow, so does the control complexity and the remote execution of intricate manipulation tasks still remains challenging for the user. This paper proposes an intuitive telemanipulation framework based on electromyography (EMG) and fiducial marker based tracking that can be used with a dexterous robot arm hand system. The EMG subsystem captures the myoelectric activations of the user during the execution of specific hand postures and gestures and translates them into the desired grasp type for the robot hand. The pose of the tracked fiducial marker is used as a taskspace goal for the robot end-effector. The system performance is experimentally validated in a remote operation setting, where the system successfully performs a telemanipulation task.
Large-Eddy Simulation of Combustion-Induced Vortex Breakdown in an Unconfined Vortex

Recent development in gas turbine combustion has lead to lean premixed combustion as a promising way to reduce NOx emissions. However, a major issue of lean combustion still is its stability. Lean blowoff and flame flashback are limiting factors to the operational range of the air-fuel-ratio. Several flashback mechanisms have been identified. A very complex one is the combustion-induced vortex breakdown (CIVB) which has been investigated experimentally [1, 2] for confined vortices. Numerical studies in RANS context [3, 5] and with Large-Eddy-Simulations [4] also have been carried out. It is likely to occur in swirl-stabilised combustors if certain conditions of the flow field and of the mixture are fulfilled. However, the CIVB does not only occur in confined vortices like in the gas turbine application but also in free vortices [6]. In the present study the CIVB has been simulated using Large-Eddy-Simulation for a burner configuration with unconfined swirling flow. Two different combustion models have been applied, a presumed PDF model and an flame surface density model, to investigate the sensibility of CIVB to the combustion model.
Kadiri, Sudarsana Reddy; Alku, Paavo Mel-frequency cepstral coefficients of voice source waveforms for classification of phonation types in speech

Voice source characteristics in different phonation types vary due to the tension of laryngeal muscles along with the respiratory effort. This study investigates the use of mel-frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCCs) derived from voice source waveforms for classification of phonation types in speech. The cepstral coefficients are computed using two source waveforms: (1) glottal flow waveforms estimated by the quasi-closed phase (QCP) glottal inverse filtering method and (2) approximate voice source waveforms obtained using the zero frequency filtering (ZFF) method. QCP estimates voice source waveforms based on the source-filter decomposition while ZFF yields source waveforms without explicitly computing the sourcefilter decomposition. Experiments using MFCCs computed from the two source waveforms show improved accuracy in classification of phonation types compared to the existing voice source features and conventional MFCC features. Further, it is observed that the proposed features have complimentary information to the existing features.
Acoustic Analysis of Lahu Nyi Tone System

This study represents the first acoustic analysis of the seven-tone system of Lahu Nyi, a dialect of Lahu, a Tibeto-Burman language spoken in Muang Na subdistrict, Chiang Dao district, Chiang Mai province, Thailand. One male and two female native speakers produced the seven tones in isolation and in a sentence context. Pitch contour analysis showed five long tones in open syllables and two short tones in syllables closed with a glottal stop. Low tones are slightly breathy. Pitch contour modification was observed in the sentence context produced by the male speaker where a high-mid falling tone exhibits a rising contour in the context of a following high-mid falling tone.
MobiVSR : Efficient and Light-Weight Neural Network for Visual Speech Recognition on Mobile Devices

Visual speech recognition (VSR) is the task of recognizing spoken language from video input only, without any audio. VSR has many applications as an assistive technology, especially if it could be deployed in mobile devices and embedded systems. The need for intensive computational resources and large memory footprint are two major obstacles in deploying neural network models for VSR in a resource constrained environment. We propose a novel end-to-end deep neural network architecture for word level VSR called MobiVSR with a design parameter that aids in balancing the model’s accuracy and parameter count. We use depthwise 3D convolution along with channel shuffling for the first time in the domain of VSR and show how it makes our model efficient. MobiVSR achieves an accuracy of 70% on a challenging Lip Reading in the Wild dataset with 6 times fewer parameters and 20 times smaller memory footprint than the current state of the art. MobiVSR can also be compressed to 6 MB by applying post training quantization.
A SCALABLE ENTERPRISE INFRASTRUCTURE SERVICE Protecting against External and Internal Threats

As databases become networked in more complex multi-tiered applications, their vulnerability to external attack grows. We address scalability as a particularly vital problem and propose alternative solutions for data encryption as an enterprise IT infrastructure component. In this paper, we explore a new approach for data privacy and security in which a security administrator protecting privacy at the level of individual fields and records, and providing seamless mechanisms to create, store, and securely access databases. Such a model alleviates the need for organizations to purchase expensive hardware, deal with software modifications, and hire professionals for encryption key management development tasks. Although access control has been deployed as a security mechanism almost since the birth of large database systems, many still look at database security as a problem to be addressed as the need arises – this is often after threats to the secrecy and integrity of data have occurred. Instead of building walls around servers or hard drives, a protective layer of encryption is provided around specific sensitive data items or objects. This prevents outside attacks as well as infiltration from within the server itself. This also allows the security administrator to define which data stored in databases are sensitive and thereby focusing the protection only on the sensitive data, which in turn minimizes the delays or burdens on the system that may occur from other bulk encryption methods. Encryption can provide strong security for data at rest, but developing a database encryption strategy must take many factors into consideration. Different stored data encryption strategies are outlined, so you can decide the best practice for each situation, and each individual field in your database, to handle different security and operating requirements. Application code and database schemas are sensitive to changes in the data type and data length. the paper presents a policy driven solution that allows transparent data level encryption that does not change the data field type or length.
DIFFERENCES IN NECTAR USE POTENTIAL IN A GUILD OF BIRDS : A GUT ’ S VIEW

– Diferencias en el uso potencial de néctar por una comunidad de aves: una mirada desde la tripa. Nectar-feeding birds have been used as models to study both community and physiological ecology. However these two areas have not been linked in the past. Physiological ecologists have found that the mechanisms by which nectar sugars are assimilated can impose limits to the food intake of nectar-feeding animals, affecting their behavior in the field. In this study I quantified the ability to digest sucrose of a community of 10 nectar-feeding birds from the highlands of Western Mexico (7 hummingbirds, 2 warblers and 1 flowerpiercer). I used a mathematical model to predict the birds’ maximal capacity to assimilate sucrose, and linked these predictions with ecological parameters. I compared the birds’ predicted maximal rate of energy intake with their field metabolic rates (FMRs) estimated from allometric equations, and with their food intake. Hummingbirds’ predicted maximal energy intake was either equal to or greater than their expected FMRs. In these birds, maximal digestive capacities exceeded observed food intake by 10 to 70%. The three species of passerines presented different results. Flowerpiercers (Diglossa baritula) and Nashville Warblers (Vermivora ruficapilla) had predicted maximal energy intake values within the lower 95% confidence interval of their predicted FMRs, and predicted energy intakes of Orange-crowned Warblers (V. celata) were lower than their FMRs. Flowerpiercers ingested roughly the same amount of sucrose as expected a priori from intestinal enzyme measurements. Digestion of sucrose seems to limit ingestion rate in passerines but not in hummingbirds. Although V. celata individuals feed heavily on flowers at the study site, my analysis indicates that they need to focus on plant species that produce hexose-rich nectars and/or complement their diet with insects. I suggest that knowledge of interspecific variation in digestive capacities can inform community-level studies of resource use.
The Causality in the Finance-Growth Nexus : Superexogeneity Tests from Five Asian Countries June 2006

Unlike earlier empirical studies, all of which relied essentially on the Granger-causality test, our study utilizes the concepts of control causality and superexogeneity to examine the causality between financial development and economic growth in five Asian Countries; Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand. We find that for the case of Korea and Singapore the financial development control causes the economic growth, providing empirical evidence supporting the view that 'financial development causes economic growth' in these countries. In the case of Malaysia, on the other hand, we find that the economic growth control causes the financial development. For Indonesia and Thailand, we cannot determine the direction of causality between financial development and growth. Therefore, our overall finding as to the direction of the causal relationship in the finance-growth nexus from five Asian countries is mixed. In evaluating the mixed results for the causal direction in the linkage between financial development and economic growth, we realize that we are in need of the microeconomic analysis of the linkage between financial development and growth. In this regard, a clearly promising area of research is microeconomic analysis of the linkage between the financial development and economic growth. JEL Classification: O40, G10, C49
1 USE OF HYDROLYZED PRIMARY SLUDGE AS CARBON SOURCE FOR DENITRIFICATION . A CASE STUDY

The aim of this work was to evaluate the possibility to improve nitrogen removal efficiency by use of hydrolyzed primary sludge as carbon source for denitrification. Activated sludge model No. 2d was chosen as a basis for simulation experiments. The model was calibrated then used to compare several control strategies. High concentration of phosphorus in the digested primary sludge thickener supernatant transported to secondary anoxic reactor results in the increase of phosphorus concentration in the WWTP effluent. The optimal scenario was found as a compromise between N and P removal, which suggested 7% decrease in nitrogen concentration.
IgG 4-related Sclerosing Disease : Autoimmune Pancreatitis and Extrapan-creatic Manifestations 1

Autoimmune pancreatitis is the pancreatic manifestation of IgG4related sclerosing disease, which recently was recognized as a distinct disease entity. Numerous extrapancreatic organs, such as the bile ducts, gallbladder, kidneys, retroperitoneum, thyroid, salivary glands, lung, mediastinum, lymph nodes, and prostate may be involved, either synchronously or metachronously. Most cases of autoimmune pancreatitis are associated with elevated serum IgG4 levels; extensive IgG4-positive plasma cells; and infiltration of lymphocytes into various organs, which leads to fibrosis. There are several established diagnostic criteria systems that are used to diagnose autoimmune pancreatitis and that rely on a combination of imaging findings of the pancreas and other organs, serologic findings, pancreatic histologic findings, and response to corticosteroid therapy. It is important to recognize multiorgan involvement of IgG4-related sclerosing disease and be familiar with its clinical and imaging features because it demonstrates a favorable response to treatment.
Grasp Stability with a Robotic Exoskelton Glove

Grasp stability was studied and researched upon by various research groups, but mainly focused on robotic grippers by devising conditions for a stable grasp. Maintaining grasp stability is important so as to reduce the chances of the object slipping and dropping. But there was little focus on the grasp stability of robotic exoskeleton gloves and most of the research was focused on mechanical design. A robotic exoskeleton glove was developed as well as novel methods to improve the grasp stability. The exoskeleton glove developed is intended for patients who have suffered paralysis of the hand due to stroke or other factors. The robotic glove aids them in grasping objects as part of daily life activities. The glove is constructed with rigidly coupled 4-bar linkages attached to the finger tips. Each linkage mechanism has 1Degree of Freedom (DOF) and is actuated by a linear Series Elastic Actuator (SEA). Two methods were developed to satisfy two of the conditions required for a stable grasp. These include deformation prevention of soft objects, and maintaining force and moment equilibrium of the objects being grasped. Simulations were performed to validate the performance of the algorithms. A battery of experiments was performed on the integrated prototype in order to validate the performance of the algorithms developed. Grasp Stability with a Robotic Exoskeleton Glove
Monetary Transmission Mechanism with Varying Degree of Openness

Using Gali and Monacelli(2005) DSGE model of a small open economy, this paper analyzes how varying degree of openness with di↵erent kinds of disturbances could a↵ect monetary transmission mechanism and the choice of monetary policy regimes, including inflation targeting and exchange rate targeting. The analysis shows that higher degree of openness causes the slope of the dynamic IS curve to be steeper and the slope of Phillips curve to be flatter. Three key results can be drawn from this study. First, for a given degree of openness, there is no clear-cut evidence which regime performs best from the welfare perspective as it depends on the type of shocks. Second, as the economy becomes more open, global supply shocks do not necessarily translate into higher inflation volatility and output volatility. This is due to higher sensitivity of domestic output to a given change in interest rate. Finally, by extending the basic model to include partial indexation of price, the Phillips curve can have both backward and forward-looking elements. Our analysis implies that so long as the central bank can anchor inflation expectations, the problem of choosing monetary policy regimes e.g. whether inflation targeting or exchange rate targeting does not matter as much.