Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Colour cognition in Arabic and English speakers

This thesis reports three sets of investigations, on Arabic and English samples, into aspects of the ̀ Psychology of Colour'. The first investigates the basic colour terms of Arabic. The results from colour naming and list-tasks indicate that Arabic has 11 basic colour terms that correspond to Berlin and Kay's (1969) universal terms. There was no strong evidence to suggest that two `extra' terms for blue, samawee, and khuhlie, were basic. These findings have implications for theories of the evolution of colour terms and further research is suggested. Second, the thesis investigates whether the recently reported left hemisphere bias in categorical colour perception is independent of reading direction and basic procedural variations. First, left hemisphere colour category effect was found for Arabic speakers who read from right-to-left, as well as English speakers, who read from left-to-right, indicating that the hemispheric asymmetry in categorical colour perception is unaffected by reading direction. Second, the left hemisphere bias was independent of the number of distractors in the visual search task, and was not affected when the spatial component was removed from the target detection task. Avenues for further research are suggested. Third, the thesis investigated colour preference in Arab and English samples. Colour preference for both samples was well summarised in terms of weights on the two fundamental neural processes that underlie early colour coding: L-M; S-(L+M). The claim for a `Universal' sex difference in the weighting of L-M cone-contrast between stimulus and background (Ling, Robinson & Hurlbert, 2006; Hurlbert & Ling, 2007) was not supported. The findings contribute to the debate about the origin and nature of colour preference, and further research is suggested. Overall, the thesis contributes in general to the debate about the origin, nature and interaction of colour language, perception and cognition.
Neural Control of Motion-to-Force Transitions with the Fingertip

The neural control of tasks such as rapid acquisition of precision pinch remains unknown. Therefore, we investigated the neural control of finger musculature when the index fingertip abruptly transitions from motion to static force production. Nine subjects produced a downward tapping motion followed by vertical fingertip force against a rigid surface. We simultaneously recorded three-dimensional fingertip force, plus the complete muscle coordination pattern using intramuscular electromyograms from all seven index finger muscles. We found that the muscle coordination pattern clearly switched from that for motion to that for isometric force ∼65 ms before contact (p = 0.0004). Mathematical modeling and analysis revealed that the underlying neural control also switched between mutually incompatible strategies in a time-critical manner. Importantly, this abrupt switch in underlying neural control polluted fingertip force vector direction beyond what is explained by muscle activation-contraction dynamics and neuromuscular noise (p ≤ 0.003). We further ruled out an impedance control strategy in a separate test showing no systematic change in initial force magnitude for catch trials where the tapping surface was surreptitiously lowered and raised (p = 0.93). We conclude that the nervous system predictively switches between mutually incompatible neural control strategies to bridge the abrupt transition in mechanical constraints between motion and static force. Moreover because the nervous system cannot switch between control strategies instantaneously or exactly, there arise physical limits to the accuracy of force production on contact. The need for such a neurally demanding and time-critical strategy for routine motion-to-force transitions with the fingertip may explain the existence of specialized neural circuits for the human hand.
Dynamic Guaranteed Service Communication on Best-Effort Networks-on-Chip

In order to execute applications under real-time constraints on many-core processors with a Network-on-Chip (NoC), guaranteed service (GS) communication with guaranteed end-to-end latency and bandwidth is required. Several hardware-based solutions for GS communication have been proposed in literature. However, commercially available many-core processors, e.g., Tilera's Tile Pro64 or Adapt Eva's Epiphany, do not support such features. In this paper, we propose a software solution that allows GS communication on 2D-mesh packet-switching NoCs. Our investigation is based on a hardware model that is applicable to commercially available processors, which include multiple NoCs to separate request and response packets and support only best-effort communication. We prove that a common upper bound of the injection rate for all sources limits the congestion which leads to an upper bound of the worst-case transmission latency (WCTL) for any transmission, i.e., the combination of a request and a response packet. Furthermore, our approach supports arbitrary transmission streams that can be modified at runtime without violating the upper bound of the WCTL, as long as the injection rate is not violated. This enables adaptive features such as task migration or dynamic scheduling policies. Experiments evaluate our solution for different traffic patterns.
Analysing Properties, Conjugate and Dual Constructions on Fuzzy s-X(N)or Connectives

The main contribution of this paper is the study of a fuzzy X(N)or class, named as fuzzy s-(N)Xor, which is explicitly defined and graphically represented by the product t-norm, probabilistic sum and standard negation. The fuzzy s-Xor (co)implications obtained by such fuzzy s-X(N)or connectives are also considered along with the corresponding conjugate functions. The relationship between a fuzzy s-Xor E and its conjugate function Eρ is discussed in the following together with their dual constructions. Additionally, for a fuzzy s-Xor E connective both constructions, its dual connective XNor EN and its conjugate Eρ, satisfy analogous properties of the e-Xor class.
Mathematical models for biodegradation of chlorinated solvents. 1: Model framework

Complete mineralization of chlorinated solvents by microbial action has been demonstrated under aerobic as well as anaerobic conditions. In most of the cases, it is believed that the biodegradation is initiated by broad-specificity enzymes involved in metabolism of a primary substrate. Under aerobic conditions, some of the primary carbon and energy substrates are methane, propane, toluene, phenol, and ammonia; under anaerobic conditions, glucose, sucrose, acetate, propionate, isopropanol, methanol, and even natural organics act as the carbon source. Published biochemical studies suggest that the limiting step is often the initial part of the biodegradation pathway within the microbial system. For aerobic systems, the limiting step is thought to be the reaction catalyzed by mono- and dioxygenases which are induced by most primary substrates, although some constitutive strains have been reported. Other critical features of the biodegradative pathway include: (1) activity losses of critical enzyme(s) through the action of metabolic byproducts, (2) energetic needs of contaminant biodegradation which must be met by catabolism of the primary substrates, (3) changes in metabolic patterns in mixed cultures found in nature depending on the availability of electron acceptors, and (4) the associated accumulation and disappearance of metabolic intermediates. Often, the contaminant pool itself consists ofmore » several chlorinated solvents with separate and interactive biochemical needs. The existing models address some of the issues mentioned above. However, their ability to successfully predict biological fate of chlorinated solvents in nature is severely limited due to the existing mathematical models. Limiting step(s), inactivation of critical enzymes, recovery action, energetics, and a framework for multiple degradative pathways will be presented as a comprehensive model. 91 refs.« less
Extending battery lifetime of mobile devices with geofence capabilities on dynamic-speed urban environments

In this work we present a battery-saving algorithm for Location Based Services (LBS) that exploits the geofence functionalities provided by modern mobile operating systems such as iOS and Android. The algorithm detects the surrounding areas of interest (AoI) by taking advantage of the underlying structure of quadtrees, considerably saving the number of requests to the LBS server made by the application, thus extending its battery lifetime even in dynamic-speed environments. The areas of interest can have any arbitrary shape and are not constrained to circles as in previous work. In our experiments, through empirical and simulation tests, we show that a substantial reduction of battery consumption can be achieved (up to 45%) while keeping a perfect detection accuracy of areas of interest in comparison with periodic polling techniques widely used in current mobile applications, with error rates of up to 55%.
Provision and adequacy of corporate support to male expatriate spouses

Male expatriate spouses represent a surprisingly under‐researched area, especially given the crucial importance of spousal support to ensure successful expatriate assignments and the increasing trends of both dual‐career couples and female business expatriates. To somewhat alleviate this deficiency, 46 Western female business expatriates assigned to Hong Kong responded to a mail survey. Almost half of them were married and accompanied by their husbands. The tentative results of this highly exploratory study seem to indicate that, although moderated somewhat by respondents’ perceived adequacy of the extent of corporate support, companies generally failed to support male expatriate spouses. Unfortunately, this main finding does not contradict results of what little previous research there is on the subject. This can be regarded as an early warning sign to international firms trying to globalize, since there is no reason to believe that the escalating trend of women assigned abroad will not continue, given the rising demand for business expatriates. Internationalizing firms need to introduce more corporate support for male expatriate spouses, before reluctance to act in this respect may block their global expansion.
Reinstatement of the communicator in delayed measurement of opinion change.

INTERESTING differences often appear between the immediate and the delayed effects of a communication designed to produce opinion change. Apart from the simple forgetting of the content of the communication, which would lead to a reduced effect with time, certain motivational factors also seem to be at work. Observation of ordinary life situations reveals two opposing phenomena. On the one hand, an individual may be exposed to a communication, and accept the communicator's point of view, but after a period of time he may revert to his previous attitude. On the other hand, an individual may at first reject the communicator's point of view, but after a period of time "come around" to the communicator's position. This latter phenomenon has been described as the sleeper effect by Hovland, Lumsdaine, and Sheffield (4). A recent experiment by Hovland and Weiss (5) suggests that the sleeper effect may be due to the removal with time of a tendency to discount the material presented by an untrustworthy source. These investigators presented identical communications to their subjects (5s), attributing them to "trustworthy" sources with half the 5s and to "untrustworthy" sources with the other half. They found that there was initially a pronounced superiority in the amount of change produced by the trustworthy sources, but that with the passage of time the difference tended to disappear. Delayed measurements showed
.1 a Recursive Solution

Lecture 21 1 Laplacian systems in nearly linear time Building upon the ideas introduced in the previous two lectures, we will see an algorithm for solving Laplacian linear systems in time O(m log 3 n) based on the recent work of Koutis, Miller and Peng [1]. More generally, linear systems in symmetric diagonally dominant matrices reduce to Laplacian systems. The iterative method actually used in the solver is called the recursive preconditioned Chebyshev iteration and it converges in O(√ κ) iterations. Operationally each iteration involves some matrix multiplications so for simplicity we will pretend that the iterative method is gradient descent. Recall the computational steps involved in one iteration of the preconditioned gradient descent method,
Generalized degrees-of-freedom of the 2-user case MISO broadcast channel with distributed CSIT

This work1 analyzes the Generalized Degrees-of-Freedom (GDoF) of the 2-User Multiple-Input Single-Output (MISO) Broadcast Channel (BC) in the so-called Distributed CSIT regime, with application to decentralized wireless networks. This regime differs from the classical limited CSIT one in that the CSIT is not just noisy but also imperfectly shared across the transmitters (TXs). Hence, each TX precodes data on the basis of local CSIT and statistical quality information at other TXs. We derive the GDoF result and obtain the surprising outcome that by specific accounting of the pathloss information, it becomes possible for the decentralized precoded network to reach the same performance as a genie-aided centralized network where the central node has obtained the estimates of both TXs. The key idea allowing this surprising robustness is to let the TXs have asymmetrical roles such that the most informed TX is able to balance the lower CSIT quality at the other TX.
Angiotensin II receptor blockade and insulin sensitivity in overweight and obese adults with elevated blood pressure

We tested the hypothesis that olmesartan, an angiotensin II receptor blocker (ARB) devoid of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ agonist activity, would improve whole-body insulin sensitivity in overweight and obese individuals with elevated blood pressure (BP). Sixteen individuals (8 women, 8 men; age=49.5 ± 2.9 years; body mass index=33.0 ± 1.7 kg/m2) were randomly assigned in a crossover manner to control and ARB interventions. Insulin sensitivity was determined from intravenous glucose tolerances tests before and after each 8-week intervention. BP, body weight, body fat, lipid and lipoprotein concentrations, and insulin sensitivity were similar at baseline for both treatments (all p > 0.05). Diastolic BP and triglyceride concentrations were higher (p = 0.007 and 0.042 respectively) at baseline for the ARB compared with the control intervention. Systolic (−11.7 mmHg; p = 0.008) and diastolic (−12.1 mmHg; p = 0.0001) BP decreased, however insulin sensitivity did not change (p > 0.05) following ARB treatment. Furthermore, there were no significant correlates of changes in insulin sensitivity following the ARB intervention. In summary, our findings indicate that short-term ARB treatment did not affect whole-body insulin sensitivity in overweight or obese individuals with elevated BP. Future studies are needed to clarify the effect of individual ARBs on insulin sensitivity in obesity.
Dividing Time between Work and Study: Are Tuition Fees a Factor?.

This article examines whether rising tuition fees for post-secondary education are a contributing factor in students’ labour market decisions. When labour market decisions for total number of working hours and for participation were measured, the results suggested that concerns about increased tuition fees leading to more work and compromising academic studies were unwarranted. The tuition fee effect was highly seasonal in nature. When tuition fees increased, students devoted more hours and participated more in labour market activities, but they did so only during the summer period, a time when most students are typically not involved in study activities. Dans cet article, les auteurs examinent comment les facteurs d’augmenter ou de maintenir les frais de scolarite, au niveau des etudes post-secondaires, peuvent inﬂ uencer les etudiants et leurs decisions en ce qui concerne le marche du travail. Elles ont mesure les decisions des etudiants en considerant toutes les heures travaillees ainsi que le taux de participation. Les resultats indiquent qu’une augmentation de frais de scolarite ne mene ni a plus d’heures travaillees ni a plus d’etudes academiques compromises. L’effet des frais de scolarite est tres saisonnier. Lorsqu’il y a une augmentation de frais de scolarite, les etudiants travaillent plus d’heures et participent plus dans le marche du travail, mais ceci uniquement pendant la periode d’ete lorsqu’ils ne sont pas impliques aux etudes.
Reliability and Energy-Aware Mapping and Scheduling of Multimedia Applications on Multiprocessor Systems

Lifetime reliability is an emerging concern in multiprocessor systems as escalating power density and hence temperature variation continues to accelerate wear-out leading to a growing prominence of device defects. In this paper, we propose a system-level approach that involves performance-aware mapping of multimedia applications on a multiprocessor system to jointly minimize energy consumption and temperature related wear-out. Fundamental to this approach is a simplified temperature model that incorporates not only the transient and the steady-state behavior (temporal effect), but also the temperature dependency on the surrounding cores (spatial effect). This model is validated against the temperature obtained using the HotSpot tool with transient and steady-state simulations, and is shown to be accurate within 5.5°C, leading to an MTTF estimation accuracy of an average 21 percent with respect to the state-of-the-art approaches. The proposed temperature model is integrated in a gradient-based fast heuristic that controls the voltage and frequency of the cores to limit the average and peak temperature leading to a longer lifetime, simultaneously minimizing the energy consumption. Lifetime computation considers task remapping, which is a common feature available in modern multiprocessor systems. A linear programming approach is then proposed to distribute the cores of a multiprocessor system among concurrent applications to maximize the lifetime. Experiments conducted with a set of synthetic and real-life applications represented as synchronous data flow graphs demonstrate that the proposed approach minimizes energy consumption by an average 24 percent with 47 percent increase in lifetime. For concurrent applications, the proposed lifetime-aware core distribution results in an average 10 percent improvement in lifetime as compared to performance-based core distribution.
Observer-based optimal control of dry clutch engagement

Optimal control of the engagement of a dry clutch is examined paying particular attention to the driver's comfort. Due to the strong constraints and large errors of the torque control for internal combustion engines, only the normal force on the clutch disks is considered as controlled input. The resulting analytically derived controller is used in an observer- based trajectory tracking system whose performances have been tested on a highly realistic nonlinear model yielding very good results.
Socio-cultural effects on children's initiation of joint attention

Exchanging gazes with a social partner in response to an event in the environment is considered an effective means to direct attention, share affective experiences, and highlight a target in the environment. This behavior appears during infancy and plays an important role in children's learning and in shaping their socio-emotional development. It has been suggested that cultural values of the community affect socio-emotional development through attentional dynamics of social reference (Rogoff et al., 1993). Maturational processes of brain-circuits have been found to mediate socio-cultural learning and the behavioral manifestation of cultural norms starting at preschool age (Nelson and Guyer, 2011). The aim of the current study was to investigate the relations between cultural ecology levels and children's joint attention (JA). Initiation of JA bids was studied empirically as a function of the level of social load of the target toy (3 levels), the community level of adherence to traditional values (3 levels), parental education (2 levels), and gender. Sixty-two kindergarten aged children were enrolled in a structured toy-exploration task, during which they were presented with toys of various social loads, with social agents (i.e., mother and experimenter) present nearby, and non-social distracters presented intermittently. Measurements included the child's number of JA bids and the extent of positive affect. Analysis of variance indicated that the child's initiation of JA toward the social partner was affected by all levels of cultural ecology (i.e., toy's social load, adherence to tradition values, parental education, gender), thus supporting the study's hypotheses. The effects were such that overall, children, particularly girls' JA initiation was augmented in social toys and moderated by the socio-cultural variables. These results suggest that cultural ecology is related to children's JA, thereby scaffolding initiation of social sharing cues between children and adults. JA plays a role in adjusting children's internal representations of their respective ecological environment.