Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Integrating Bilingualism, Verbal Fluency, and Executive Functioning across the Lifespan

ABSTRACT Bilingual experience has an impact on an individual’s linguistic processing and general cognitive abilities. The relation between these linguistic and non-linguistic domains, in turn, is mediated by individual linguistic proficiency and developmental changes that take place across the lifespan. This study evaluated this relationship by assessing inhibition skills, and verbal fluency in monolingual and bilingual school-aged children (Experiment 1), young adults (Experiment 2), and older adults (Experiment 3). Results showed that bilinguals outperformed monolinguals in the measure of inhibition, but only in the children and older adult age groups. With regards to verbal fluency, bilingual children outperformed their monolingual peers in the letter verbal fluency task, but no group differences were observed for the young and old adults. These findings suggest that bilingual experience leads to significant advantages in linguistic and non-linguistic domains, but only at the time points when these skills undergo developmental changes.
Patterns in Motion: How Visual Patterns in Ads Affect Product Evaluations

This article contributes to research on advertising effectiveness by investigating the combined influence of ad headlines and visual patterns in the ad on consumer product evaluations. Headlines can convey motion (e.g., “move,” “quick”); when the associated ad features a regular visual pattern, it evokes stronger product evaluations than if it depicts an irregular visual pattern. Thus, the way the advertised products are aligned visually represents critical decisions for ad designers. As Study 1 reveals, if the regular visual pattern of an advertisement combines with verbal information conveying motion, stronger product evaluations result compared with the use of an irregular visual pattern. Study 2 extends these findings by demonstrating that a regular pattern creates mental simulation, such that consumers imagine themselves experiencing the product, which mediates the relationship between visual patterns and product evaluations. Study 3 uses text mining and image annotation analyses to provide ecological validity for the findings, corroborating them in the context of brand messages on Twitter.
The Promise of Precommitment in Democracy and Human Rights: The Hopeful, Forgotten Failure of the Larreta Doctrine

Although international precommitment regimes offer a tool to escape the apparent contradiction between sovereignty and the international protection of democracy and human rights, they raise theoretical and practical questions. This article draws on multinational archival research to explore an overlooked historical episode and suggest new thinking regarding the logjams over sovereignty, incapacity of global decision making, and humanitarian imperialism. In 1945 and 1946, the American states engaged in a debate over the Larreta Doctrine, a Uruguayan proposal about the parallelism between democracy and human rights, and the regional rights and duties to safeguard these values. In the ensuing debate, the Uruguayan foreign minister elaborated a tripartite precommitment mechanism to create a web of national commitments to democratic governance and the domestic protection of human rights, to establish a regional insurance policy against failures to maintain those commitments, and to obligate the great power and neighboring states to precommit to working through the regional system instead of unilaterally. As a proposal that emerged from a weak state—and garnered support from states that faced internal and external threats to democracy and rights—the Larreta Doctrine offers insights on the central tension between state sovereignty and international commitments.
A Qualitative Exploration of the Tertiary Education Experiences of Refugee and Asylum Seekers in Australia

Abstract The world currently has the highest documented level of displaced people in recorded history. This includes a large number of individuals who are spending their youth as asylum seekers or refugees, which often impedes their access to and engagement with educational pursuits. Given that education has been shown to be a fundamental factor to facilitative resettlement and acculturation for newly-arrived refugee families and individuals, continued research attempting to understand the barriers to accessing education is warranted. This study qualitatively examines the educational experiences (with a focus on access to education) of 10 refugee and asylum-seeking students in Australian tertiary education using thematic analysis on semi-structured interview data. Six themes were identified from the interviews as barriers to or facilitators in accessing education. These are: relationships, emotional well-being, logistics, knowledge, instability, and financial hardship. The findings from this study add to a limited empirical knowledge base on this topic, and improve our understanding of the experiences of accessing education for students with refugee backgrounds. This is discussed in relation to its implications for institutes and policy makers.
Lung Lesion Classification Scheme Using Optimization Techniques and Hybrid (KNN-SVM) Classifier

This paper proposes an intellectual classification system to classify normal and abnormal CT scan lung images. Prediction of cancer cells from lung image is such a difficult task for physicians and researchers. A novel technique for lung tumour detection with Grey Wolf Optimized & Whale Optimization Algorithm – Support Vector Machine (GWO & WOA-SVM) is proposed. CT scan images are used as input images. Investigations focused on the segmentation and classification part to find the lung lesion region. For finding the lung abnormality and lesion region in the lung, four different stages are used. The first stage is the image acquisition process. The second stage is the image pre-processing and enhancement stage, here Advanced Clustering (AC) technique is used. The next stage is the segmentation process, here the advanced surface normal overlap (ASNO) lung segmentation algorithm is used. Finally, the lung lesion is classified using the hybrid classifier followed by a different optimization technique. The research gap for this paper is to find the lung lesion using an optimization-based hybrid classification technique. Nowadays, classification decision and treatment of lung tumours are based on symptoms and radiological appearance. Here Hybrid Classifier (KNN-SVM) is used to classify 700 images; it is observed from the results that the Hybrid classifier KNN-SVM demonstrated the highest classification accuracy rate of 97.6% among other methods.
Integral Sliding Mode Control Using a Disturbance Observer for Vehicle Platoons

A novel integral sliding mode control (ISMC) strategy, combining with a disturbance observer (DO) for vehicle-following systems, is presented in this article. The vehicle platoon includes a leading vehicle and multiple following vehicles subjected to unknown acceleration uncertainties. First, the ISMC based on DO and the constant time headway policy is constructed to realize the string stability of the whole vehicle platoon in a finite time, under the condition of zero initial spacing errors. The uncertainties of the vehicular system can be well estimated by extending DO even if the bounds of the uncertainties are not known exactly. In order to alleviate the chattering problem of the traditional ISMC, a continuous sliding surface including sign function is designed for the proposed ISMC strategy. Then, a modified constant time headway (MCTH) policy is proposed to overcome the requirement of zero initial spacing errors. In addition, the developed MCTH policy can effectively improve the string stability and safety of the vehicle platoon system. Finally, the effectiveness and advantages of the proposed algorithm are verified by the simulations and experiments.
Autonomy-Supportive and Controlling Teaching in the Classroom: A Video-Based Case Study

This study explored teachers’ autonomy-supportive and controlling behaviors through video-taped observation in the classroom. Four lessons by two teachers from a secondary school in Finland were videotaped and analyzed using a rigorous coding protocol. It was found that teachers employed both autonomy-supportive and controlling teaching during the same lesson, and even combined them in the same instructional sequence. This finding suggests the complexity of the use of autonomy support and control in the classroom, as well as their context-dependent aspects. The novel finding from this study was that teachers showed error tolerance and creativity to support students’ autonomy. Showing error tolerance and teaching creatively have not been investigated from the perspective of autonomy support in previous research. Furthermore, this study suggested that indirect control and its negative effects on students’ learning and well-being should arouse more concern in future research. Implications for teaching practice concerning supporting students’ autonomy have been provided.
Multiple Objective Decision Making - Methods and Applications: A State-of-the-Art Survey

I. Introduction. - II. Basic Concepts and Foundations. - 1. Definitions. - 1.1 Terms for MCDM Environment. - 1.2 MCDM Solutions. - 2. Models for MADM. - 2.1 Noncompensatory Model. - 2.2 Compensatory Model. - 3. Transformation of Attributes. - 3.1 Quantification of Fuzzy Attributes. - 3.2 Normalization. - 4. Fuzzy Decision Rules. - 4.1 Definition of Fuzzy Set. - 4.2 Some Basic Operations of Fuzzy Sets. - 5. Methods for Assessing Weight. - 5.1 Eigenvector Method. - 5.2 Weighted Least Square Method. - 5.3 Entropy Method. - 5.4 Linmap. - III. Methods for Multiple Attribute Decision Making. - 1. Methods for No Preference Information Given. - 1.1.1 Dominance. - 1.1.2 Maximin. - 1.1. 3 Maximax. - 2. Methods for Information on Attribute Given. - 2.1 Methods for Standard Level of Attribute Given. - 2.1.1 Conjunctive Method (Satisficing Method). - 2.1.2 Disjunctive Method. - 2.2 Methods for Ordinal Preference of Attribute Given. - 2.2.1 Lexicographic Method. - 2.2.2 Elimination By Aspects. - 2.2.3 Permutation Method. - 2.3 Methods for Cardinal Preference of Attribute Given. - 2.3.1 Linear Assignment Method. - 2.3.2 Simple Additive Weighting Method. - 2.3. 3 Hierarchical Additive Weighting Method. - 2.3. 4 ELECTRE Method. - 2.3. 5 TOPSIS. - 2.4 Methods for Marginal Rate of Substitution of Attributes Given. - 2.4.1 Hierarchical Tradeoffs. - 3. Methods for Information on Alternative Given. - 3.1 Methods for Pairwise Preference Given. - 3.1.1 LINMAP. - 3.1.2 Interactive Simple Additive Weighting Method. - 3.2 Method for Pairwise Proximity Given. - 3.2.1 Multidimensional Scaling with Ideal Point. - IV. Applications. - 1. Commodity Selection. - 2. Facility Location (Siting) Selection. - 3. Personnel Selection. - 4. Project Selection. - 4.1 Environmental Planning. - 4.2 Land Use Planning. - 4.3 R & D Project. - 4.4 Water Resources Planning. - 4.5 Miscellaneous. - 5. Public Facility Selection. - V. Concluding Remarks. - On MADM Methods Classification. - On Applications of MADM. - On Multiple Objective Decision Making (MODM) Methods. - On Multiattribute Utility Theory (MAUT). - A Choice Rule for MADM Methods. - A Unified Approach to MADM. - On Future Study. - VI. Bibliography. - Books, Monographs, and Conference Proceedings. - Journal Articles, Technical Reports, and Theses.
The Association Between Emotional Competencies and E-Cigarette Susceptibility

THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN EMOTIONAL COMPETENCIES AND E-CIGARETTE SUSCEPTIBILITY Laurel Brockenberry Old Dominion University, 2018 Co-Directors: Dr. Paul Harrell Dr. Robin Lewis The prevalence of e-cigarette use in young adults rose dramatically in the United States over the past decade. Nonetheless, our understanding of the motives that make young adults more susceptible to e-cigarette use remains limited. Risk factors associated with susceptibility to combustible cigarettes suggest that negative affect reduction outcome expectancies are positively associated with cigarette susceptibility in this age group. Further, emotion competencies, such as emotion regulation difficulties, distress tolerance, and positive and negative urgency have been positively associated with both susceptibility and negative affect reduction expectancies. Determining the role of negative affect reduction outcome expectancies on e-cigarette use requires further research and investigation to clarify the relationship between these emotional competencies and e-cigarette susceptibility. Participants were undergraduate students who completed measures on e-cigarette use and susceptibility, e-cigarette outcome expectancies, emotion dysregulation, anxiety sensitivity, distress tolerance, and urgency. In contrast to our hypotheses, a multivariate analysis of variance failed to find differences between individuals who engaged in e-cigarettes and those that did not in regards to emotion regulation, distress tolerance or positive or negative urgency. Results of two separate analyses of covariance indicated that individuals who engaged in e-cigarette use ecigarettes did not have higher smoking negative affect reduction outcome expectancies or cigarette susceptibility. Negative affect reduction outcome expectancies did not mediate the relationship between these emotional difficulties and e-cigarette susceptibility. Further, negative affect reduction outcome expectancies did not mediate the relationship between these emotional difficulties and e-cigarette susceptibility. However, path analysis indicated two significant direct pathways from negative urgency and emotion dysregulation to e-cigarette susceptibility. The results indicate that emotional competencies, particularly negative urgency and emotion dysregulation, may be important factors to examine for interventions to reduce substance use susceptibility in the young adult population. Interventions should focus on building emotion regulation skills and emotion coping skills to decrease negative urgency. Future research should aim to expand the research by replicating longitudinally and in more diverse samples.
Interpersonal Rejection Anxiety Questionnaire (IRAQ): Psychometric Properties of the Greek Version

The purpose of this work was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Interpersonal Relationship Anxiety Questionnaire (IRAQ) in Greek adults of the general population. The single factor structure of IRAQ was verified for the Greek context. We used CFA with covariates (MIMIC modeling) for the evaluation of invariance in multiple groups, regressing the latent variables and indicators onto three covariates: 1) age, 2) gender, 3) relationship status. The direct effects of the covariates on interpersonal anxiety were not statistically significant. That is the mean of interpersonal anxiety is not different at different levels of the covariates. Thus, population heterogeneity was absent in IRAQ. The direct effects of the three covariates on all indicators of interpersonal anxiety were not statistically significant. Thus, measurement invariance was supported. Additionally, reliability was adequate. Finally, correlation analysis revealed expected relations with fear of interpersonal relationships and parental rejection. IRAQ is a reliable and valid measure to use in the Greek context.
18. The playful city: Citizens making the smart city

This chapter about playful urban planning argues that play and games can help foster smart citizenship. In recent years, many cities have embarked on what is termed smart-city policies, deploying ICT to optimize a variety of urban processes. Various authors have noted that these smart-city policies often leave little room for civic action and agency. This contribution proposes the notion of the ‘playful city’ as an alternative vision for leveraging the smartness of people in creating more livable and lively cities. Play, it is argued, should not be positioned as offering solutions to urban problems. Instead, play offers alternative narratives about the potential futures of city-making, and reinserts the ‘political’ into smart city-making.
Implementing Mindfulness in K-12 Schools: Exploring Educators’ Perceptions of Students’ Academic Skills, Behavior, and Well-Being

esearch indicates that academic performance and social and emotional well-being are fundamentally interrelated (Schonert-Reichl, Oberle, Lawlor, Abbott, Thomson, Oberlander, & Diamond, 2015). Given that 13-20% of children in the United States experience social and emotional challenges, schools are required to attend to the social, emotional, and behavioral needs of students (Maynard, Solis, Miller, & Brendel, 2017). However, students are often unequipped with the skills to effectively cope with stress and resort to behaviors that cause emotional, mental, and physical suffering, all of which thwart the learning process (Schonert-Reichl et al., 2015). Schools warrant interventions that support the whole student, given the increase in mental health statistics (Meiklejohn, Phillips, Freedman, Griffin, Biegel, Roach, Frank, Burke, Pinger, Soloway, Isberg, Sibinga, Grossman, & Saltzman, 2012). Given that the stakes for student success and well-being are high, many schools have integrated mindfulness practices within classrooms. This study sought to understand the efficacy of mindfulness programs in the K-12 education setting, specifically educators’ perceptions of mindfulness on students’ academic skills, behavior, and well-being. This qualitative study involved semi-structured interviews with ten participants from schools in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. The findings indicate that mindfulness is successful when applied both indirectly and directly, is adaptable within class structures and transitional periods, is practiced using a variety of techniques, and supports a diverse student climate. However, while there is little to no data to support the effects of mindfulness on academics, this study does suggest that mindfulness can be an effective means of supporting students’ behavior and well-being. Further research measuring the effects of mindfulness on academic skills is needed.
Symbolic gesturing: creating opportunities for emotional connections between practitioners and infants in day care

ABSTRACT This article reports on how symbolic gesturing was applied in a nursery setting. Forms of signing systems have been well documented as contributing to communication, predominately used alongside speech when there is a different mother tongue or a physical impairment [Goodwyn, S. W. , & Acredolo, L. P. (1993). Symbolic gesture versus word: Is there a modality advantage for onset of symbol use? Child Development, 6, 688–701]. Symbolic Gesturing (SG) is an emerging area to support pre-verbal infants in communicating more effectively. In this article, SG was evaluated as way of reflecting and developing practitioner’s emotional responses and initiations with the infants in their care. The narratives of three practitioners using SG were gathered over several months and revealed how SG created further opportunities for reflection regarding the emotional relationships with infants they cared for. SG was considered a valuable approach to enhancing the emotional interactional connections with infants, resulting in closer, more attuned relationships.
Tagging and Retrieval of Room Impulse Responses Using Semantic Word Vectors and Perceptual Measures of Reverberation

This paper studies tagging and retrieval of room impulse responses from a labelled library. A similarity-based method is introduced that relies on perceptually relevant characteristics of reverberation. This method is developed using a publicly available dataset of algorithmic reverberation settings. Semantic word vectors are introduced to exploit semantic correlation among tags and allow for unseen words to be used for retrieval. Average precision is reported on a subset of the dataset as well as tagging of recorded room impulse responses. The developed approach manages to assign downloaded room impulse responses to tags that match their short descriptions. Furthermore, introducing semantic word vectors allows it to perform well even when large portions of the training data have been replaced by synonyms
Methods in NPD for Startups: Evaluating Stage Gate, Design Thinking & Lean Startup key concepts with students

In the last 5 years, the demand for new goods has increased dramatically with the consumer products business seeing large gains in online sales and still some growth in brick and mortar stores. These types of manufactured products target different customer purchasing behaviours in areas of convenience, shopping, specialty and unsought goods. Thus, this upward trend in consumer products continues as competition expands globally, emphasis on strategies for innovation gain momentum and there is an ever-increasing focus on customer engagement. At the same time, big business has had an impact on stifling start-ups with expansive market power, widening regulation and an escalated concentration in major industries leading to big companies being able to block new competitors easily. Nevertheless, there is still a need for entrepreneurial new businesses, like start-ups, to help spur/sustain job creation and provide global market competition especially with new products to aid in economic growth. These types of companies have extreme uncertainty which is reflected in the nearly 95% failure rate of start-ups globally. Typically market fit, product/customer value and ineffective product implementation are among the top contributing NPD failure factors. This paper presents the results of a 4-month study from an entrepreneurial simulation to develop new consumer products with groups of university students (up to prototype stage). Students used some of the significant methods in innovation/new product creation that are prevalent in big business as guides. Some form of these creative strategies from Stage-Gate, Design Thinking and Lean Startup are used in most medium to large size established businesses. Studies with university students have shown to be quite useful in simulating/solving real-world problems. In general, students at universities have access to cutting-edge technology, time to explore and are surrounded by individuals from different disciplines and perspectives similar to what they will face in the real world. They also share some of the traits of start-ups by many having high-risk tolerance, ambition and intelligence to try something new. The goal of this exercise initially was to evaluate whether the high degree of uncertainty in a start-up environment would be impacted using either the more rigid linear process practices (derived from Stage Gate) or more flexible iterative process practices (from Design Thinking / Lean Startup). These formalized processes typically occur in the more stable New Product Development (NPD) environments of medium to large size established businesses. Some of the specific research outcomes include: comparisons with time spent developing the product, customer concept acceptance and the amount of data related to costs (i.e. development costs, projected ROI). These can be indicators of product success. Nevertheless, other factors became apparent during the simulation and the findings suggest that further research opportunities around innovation methods and start-up success rates should be pursued.